Momentary flash of Paris

This morning:  dark, wet, chilly.  Walking the dogs, car lights reflecting on the wet boulevard. From the corner restaurant comes the smells of bacon and pancakes.  A bus goes by, spewing diesel fumes.  The smell of baked goods and diesel fumes together, the sound of tires on the wet road, the slight scent of rain in the air:  it's a perfect sense memory of Paris.  For a second there's a jab in my chest, a clear longing to be in that city, smelling pastries and cars on a wet morning.

Luxembourg Gardens, Paris.

The Fontaine de Mars restaurant, 7th arrondisment, Paris.

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Sunday

Nothing much to say, just touching base with my readers out there.  I went to the Giants game yesterday, shouldn't have spent the money, esp since they lost, but it was a perfect day for a game.  But zut alors!  The price of tickets has certainly gone up now that they are Champions!  It will certainly curb my game-going ability this year.

Off to see my Mom tomorrow for a couple of days, and hopefully up to West Marin at the end of the week.  I will check in with you all middle of the week.

Ciao.

Not quite Friday night

Gosh, look at all the people reading this blog right now, just because I emailed you all and reminded you!  It's like a miracle of technology.  Or not.

As they say, strange things are afoot at the Circle K.  Well, no one actually says that but I feel things are afoot, if not at the Circle K then at least in my life.  My last posting, for those of you who read it, was sad.  I was sad, I was (and still am) at a loss of what to do with my life right now.  The word "depressed" wouldn't be too harsh.  But I realized that if depressed was going to be the operative word in my life, there were better places to be depressed than Daly City.  Don't get me wrong, Daly City is, as the markers indicate,  "The Gateway to the Peninsula" and that is about as fine of a description of DC as one is going to get.  It is a city that you drive through to get to other cities. It is a pass-through city, a phantom city that leads you to other places.

Where Gabe and Annie's house is located is perfect, however.  SF is literally steps away, the SF Golf Club is 20 feet from their back door and the dogs and I are secret members. (The human members would be appalled to know that.)  We are a couple of miles from the ocean, about a quarter mile from the freeway and downtown SF is 10 minutes or less.  This part of DC is great.   But still, I don't want to be here forever, and G & A would nod their heads in agreement over that.  They don't want to be here forever and they don't want me to be here forever either.

So I need to find somewhere else to be.  A few good friends have offered up temporary accommodations and I will be seriously considering those offers.  As I mentioned previously, I can always go to Texas for a couple of months (or more) until my daughter's Texas sentence is commuted, which will be in a year.  Or I can branch out and move to .....  I don't know, let's say Boise or Le Grande, Oregon, or someplace where you can buy a house for less than $200,000.  Or a trailer for less than $35,000. 

What I am trying to say is that it is clear I need a new map for my life.  The next couple of weeks will be spent attempting to create that map.  Instead of being depressed I will try to be creative.  If that fails, I will accept the offers of "come stay with me" that I have received and see how the life of a nomad works out.

But stay tuned.  Who knows, it might be entertaining.  At least it won't be too dull.

This is in southern Utah.  Yumm, "ho-made" pies.


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Whine and wine and why

A couple of people have asked why nothing has been written after my Santa Ynez posting.  I had planned on writing about Paso Robles and the wineries there but the past week has not been kind to me. The the entire wine experience was great but it has been overshadowed by the sense of creeping depression I am trying to avoid.

At the end of April I will have been living with Gabe and Annie for six months. I will have crossed the 18 month out-of-work point.  And there is nothing on the horizon that even looks promising.  I have a job interview on Wednesday for a good company (Cowgirl Creamery) in the Ferry Building in SF but I almost want to ask myself what's the point of this interview?  They have two positions open.  One starts at $12.25 an hour and maxes out at $14.50 an hour.  $12.25 an hour means a person nets around $1500 a month.  Where could I live on that income?  Even if I had no other expenses, finding an apartment in the bay area for under $1000 a month is almost impossible.  $1500 just isn't going to go very far. 

The second position, a supervisor position, starts at $14.00 an hour.  Maxes out at $17.  So if they wanted to hire me, I would make around $1750 a month.  Even that is barely enough to pay for the basic bills to get through each month.

What's a person to do? I haven't even had the interview and therefore there is no job offer on the table but if that happens, what should I do?   Rent a room at a flop house in the Tenderloin?  Rent a room in a shared old house with 3 other people, one or two bathrooms, at my age of 60 and revert to a kind of dorm life existence?  What would you do?  Come on, I am looking for advice here, give it your best shot.  And no, I am not whining. I am simply perplexed and have no idea what to do now.

I can move to Texas and live with my daughter for the next year until she can sell her house (she has to stay until June 2012) and then figure out something after that.  Me, heat, Texas in the summer...... if you know me at all, you know the heat is not my friend.  But maybe that's the only option right now.  It's not a bad option but how does that affect my chances of getting a job once the Texas gig ends?

So that's why I haven't been blogging.  I am totally stymied right now.  I have no idea what to do, where to do it and how to do it.  And I am serious.  Any suggestions are appreciated.


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Santa Ynez Valley Wine Sloshing

For someone like myself, a consummate wino, it's rather odd that I have never visited the Santa Ynez area of California and tasted their wines. The area is northeast of Santa Barbara, near the frightening town of Solvang, nestled in rolling hills and the area is quite beautiful.  The towns of Los Olivos and Ballard and a few others dot the area, but they are very small and more like villages.  This is the area where the movie "Sideways" was filmed about eight years ago and it is much nicer in person than on the screen, which says a lot because it looked lovely in the movie.  This was the perfect time to visit: warm, sunny days, cool nights, not crowded at all, winery personnel had time to talk to us.  However, I still had trepidation about going, since my love of wine tasting as a day's occupation has long since left me.  I would rather just buy a bottle of wine and drink it, leave the sipping to the neophytes.

My brother John has been visiting this area for about 30 years so he was the perfect tour guide.  We visited four wineries on Monday, two that John wanted to see and two that were recommended by winery people we met along the way.  Delicious wines, all of them.  These places are smaller than most Napa and Sonoma wineries and they are all about the wine.  The weather is much different than northern California as well so the varietals have different characteristics and there are different varietals grown here.

Not so much Cabernet, it's too hot.  Zinfandel is rare as well, same reason.  But Grenache, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc...... bring it on!  And other Rhone varietals, too, like Rousanne, Viogner, and more.  I tasted the best Chardonnay I have had in the US, more like French Chablis, crisp, flinty, no oak, minerals...... awesome.  And the best Pinot Noir since I was able to imbibe French Burgundy (another lifetime ago.)  Not like California Pinots, this was light in color, lower in alcohol (around 13.5%) and the taste went on and on.  I could have married it if that would have been sanctioned by California law.  I swooned.  I bought a bottle at a price that was much too high for an unemployed person but totally fair for the quality of the wine.

Needless to say, my wine tasting gene kicked in rather quickly.  While I knew these grapes, they tasted much different here in Santa Ynez Valley.  I was happy.  My brother was even happier, having made me a convert.

We stayed in a very nice inn, the Ballard Inn, an old establishment with pretty rooms, modernized enough but not too much.  Good common areas, nice porch to sit on, wines poured in the afternoon with good cheese and olives.  Excellent breakfast.  Pricey, but probably the best place to stay in the area.  Since I had a gift certificate for one night, I was totally happy with my room and balcony.  I never stay in inns, having worked in one for 15 years, but as a guest it was quite pleasant.  They tack on an additional 10% for the staff (i.e. tips) and it shows: the staff is happy, willing to solve any problems that might arise and seem to actually like their jobs.  What a concept.

So that was our Monday.  We went out to dinner, came back and watched some of the Giants game, sadly losing to the creepy LA Dodgers, had a good sleep and a good breakfast on Tuesday morning.  We then hit the road for Paso Robles, and that is the story for tomorrow.  This blog has gone on long enough.

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Sunday - Wednesday

Until Thursday, I will be out of touch, leaving the computer at home while I go off to do what people who have money and time do:  wine tasting!  As we are all aware, I have very little money but I do make up for it on the other side of the equation with a lot of time. Having never visited the Santa Inez Valley, I am looking forward to the experience.

Re:  the dogs.  You know how parents always think their kid is the cutest, the smartest, the most beautiful, the most talented?  I am beginning to think that owners of dogs are inclined to that same kind of prejudice.  We all know that Cooper is a small, smart, low-maintenance kind of dog.  He doesn't bark too much, he doesn't jump on people, he really doesn't have too many faults.  The dogs I have been watching since Wednesday are not Cooper.  I will leave it at that and I readily admit that if the tables were turned, anyone could find faults in Cooper that I simply do not see.  Suffice it to say that I appreciate my dog's quiet ways and his "Gay Professor" personality.

If you have been reading this blog, thank you.  I know most people read it for a few days and then forget about it, so if you are one of those who return often, I appreciate your interest.  Just saying..... and I feel like I am balanced on the edge of something right now, don't know what it is.  Not a job, that situation hasn't changed. But I may be making some other changes in the next month or so.  Keep reading, see what develops.

I'll be back at you next Thursday, with a total recap of the Exciting Wine Adventures!  Tune in then.

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Creating coffee

One of the more surprising offshoots of not having one's own abode is the willingness to sleep in other people's houses, preferably when they aren't there. In other words, the availability to house and pet sit, or to stay overnight in different accommodations, like a cottage on the bay or a water tower with mice.

This week I am house and pet sitting for a friend in Marin County.  There are two resident dogs and my small Cooper, so the four of us are learning how to get along. Cooper is pissed, of course, that he once again must cope with plans other than his own, but since he is a dog and has little power, I am not too concerned about his haughty attitude.  One of the dogs at this house is young and frisky and large and should be taken out for walks to curb the energy he exudes, but alas, he will not let me get near him with the leash.  I can pet him, no problem, but if I have the leash in my hand he swiftly darts away and eludes my grasp.  His loss.

Additionally, living for a few days in someone else's place makes one realize how set in one's ways one is.  OK, OK, how set in my own ways I am.  One small example:  coffee.  I like coffee, good, strong, hot coffee.  I like to drink it in the morning, after I have walked whichever dogs are willing to walk with me.  I even bring my own ground coffee with me to make sure I get yummy and fresh brew.  But here, in a house that is equipped with every cooking device a person could want, there is no way to make coffee!  No coffee maker, which is fine, but no french press, no Melita cone, no hi-tech espresso maker.  Nada.  But I will not be discouraged!  I will find a way to have my morning cup of joe.

Hmmm, no paper towels.  That could be a problem.  But here are some sturdy paper napkins, and in this drawer a small strainer that will fit on the top of a large coffee mug.  By using my yankee ingenuity, I smush the paper napkin into the small strainer, add some delicious coffee grounds and slowly, very slowly pour very hot water over the grounds, just a bit at a time, until the coffee mug is half full.  I remove the strainer, sip the brew and it is friggin delicious!  I have coffee and no actual coffee maker was needed!  I feel like a pioneer.

Of course I could have boiled the grounds in a saucepan with water and made a version of camp coffee but this is so much more tasty and there are no nasty grounds to get stuck in my teeth.  My day has started off well, it is a good omen.  Now if I can only get that large dog to accept the leash, everyone will be happy.  Except for Cooper, of course, but even Cooper will eventually forgive me for once again disrupting his life.  Get use to it, little guy, life is all about disruption.  And pioneer coffee.

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Back home

Yes, I did get home safe and sound. Nothing to report about the trip home, about being here, about jobs, about nothing. All is well.  This week I am spending Wednesday through Sunday in Fairfax, house and dogsitting, seeing some friends.  Next Monday morning I fly to LAX, get picked up by my brother (his school has spring break next week) and we are going to visit the wine country in the Santa Inez Valley and in Paso Robles as well.  Since I am making him pay for everything except lodging, (he has a job, after all) it should be a nice couple of days.  And after that, no plans.

Cooper, as one would imagine, is delighted to be out of the car and catching up on his sleep and playing with his girlfriend Hannah. 

More to follow, I'm sure.

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