Random traveling thoughts

If you have ever driven across the country,  you know that parts of it are fine, parts are great and parts are just plain boring.  It helps if you have either good music or good books on CD or both.  One can sing along to the music and in moments of incredible boredom, talk back to the narrator of the book.  In fact,  you can create your own character that argues with the characters in the book.  Case in point:  I listened to a Michael Connelly book and early in the book they were talking to someone who was in no way a suspect, but I knew right away he was the one who killed the girl.  I tried, politely at first, to explain to Detective Bosch why he should give this guy a serious look.  As the novel went on, I began to rant at the detective, pointing out that for someone who has been a police detective for more than 30 years he was a total joke, an embarrassment to the force.  He did not listen to me and I have to say that I was 100% correct:  my suspect did commit the crime.  At least it gave me something to pay attention to.  Interaction is always important on long road trips and Cooper is just not willing to participate in my verbal diatribes these days.

Justice:  at one point a black sports car zoomed around me and many others, skipping along at least 90 miles per hour when the speed limit was 75.  A menace to the highway.  Imagine my delight when 10 minutes later I passed him as he sat on the shoulder of the road with a friendly CHP, getting a fat ticket!  There is some justice in the world after all.

Gas:  gas gets cheaper the farther east you go.  I bought gas today for $3.23 a gallon.  Not bad.

Highway: again, if you have ever driven long distances you know the freedom of the road, the cool thrill of cresting a hill and seeing the road just waiting for you, a dead straight line until it hits the mountains in the far distance.  I know some people hate road trips, and I get that.  They can be boring. But even in the boring parts (think north west Texas, or Highway10 from Blythe to Tuscon) there is a sense of "getting away with something."  Like you are skipping school, or running away from the law.  (And maybe you are!)  I think it is in part because we are all so regimented in our lives, we have jobs that tie us down, family commitments, bills to pay.  And because of those things we don't take the time necessary for a road trip.  Road trips by their nature have a beginning and an end, but they can be totally random in their individual map.  You can just drive to the desert and hang out and drive back.  One of the things that the invention of the car spawned is the ability to simply move along.  I think people don't move along enough, they don't pack up some crappy snacks and simply drive.

Highway 10:  the stretch of 10 from San Antonio to New Orleans is quite lovely.  Rolling hills, wide open sky, nice sagebrush, no billboards, few gas stations, just like you would want Texas to be.  It is a good road and a good drive.  However, the stretch from El Paso to here (and I have no idea where I am right now) is just flat and often ugly.  But still it is fine. 

Hotels:  Cooper and I drove out of Tuscon this morning at 6:30.  We started looking for a place to stay around 3:00 Pacific time, which is 5:00 Central time.  We finally found a place at ten minutes to 7:00 (5:00 California time.)  That translates to almost 12 hours in the car, close to 10 of them spent driving and over 700  miles today. I hopped in and out of the car about 8 times, looking for a room.  One young and kind front desk guy at one place called another motel and yes!  They had a room!  I was over there in 5 minutes. It seems that there is some kind of oil boom happening here and for the last 2 weeks all the hotels and motels are full almost every night with oil rig workers.  They leave at 5:30 in the morning, get back 12 hours later.  I am lucky to have a very nice room on the third floor, not in a sleazy Motel 6, with a great view of flat Texas.  And to clarify, I stopped in Odessa, Midland and am actually in Big Springs right now.

Midland, TX:  as you come into town (what there is of it) there is a large sign telling you that this is the home of George W. Bush and Laura Bush. If I had lived in a place this flat and ugly, I would have done anything to get out of town.  Well, maybe not have the Supreme Court appoint me President, but anything else.

Pizza:  my  musings were just interrupted by a knock on the door with my pizza, which I was told would arrive around 9:00.  It is not even 8:30 and here it is!  Delicious.  Must go eat some more.  If I had my camera from the car I would send you a photo. Maybe tomorrow.  So much more to talk about.

Below is a photo of Midland, TX decades before GWB lived there, during the Dust Bowl days, with the huge cloud of dust pouring over.  FYI, if you are interested in history and especially history of the Dust Bowl, check out Tim Egan's book, "The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the American Dust Bowl."  It is a great read.

Over and out for now.

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Tuscon, AZ

Cooper and I left Lakewood, CA this morning at 5:30, drove until 2:30 today and got a room. Not a nice room, but a room and it has AC, which is quite important because it is 108 degrees outside right now.  And windy.  It's awful..... we go out for 5 minutes so Cooper can pee and by the time we get back in the room, my clothes are hot, like I just took them out of a hot clothes dryer.  I don't think I have ever experienced heat like this.  I am very sure that I don't like it.

We will leave really early tomorrow morning as well.  The hottest part of the day is from 3 - dusk, and I hate to be driving at that time.  I don't know how cars survive heat like this.  And to think that people actually CHOOSE to live in Arizona, in this weather. 

I did notice a rather bizarre phenomenon today while trying to stay awake along the mind-numbing Hwy. 10.  While I was checking out the shredded tires along the shoulder of the road I began to notice an abundance of plastic bottles partly filled with orange liquid.  The bottles weren't all the same kind but I was noticing way more bottles with orange liquid than with any other.  In fact, in about a three miles stretch of highway I probably saw at least 50 such bottles.  Then, for another ten miles or so, not so many.  And then another lot of them, on both sides of the road, randomly tossed, but so many with orange liquid in them.  What gives?  I have no idea.  And why half full?  Why not totally full or empty?   Why orange?   Baffling.

More tomorrow, as we go through New Mexico and into Texas.  I wish I could say "hopefully it will be cooler"  but I am fairly certain that is not gonna happen.

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In love

With the exception of my kids, my daughter-in-law and the Sam's parents, I really can't think of anyone I love more than Sam.  Sorry siblings, sorry friends. There is something about a 15 month old boy that surpasses everyone else.  He says something that sort of resembles my name and I take it to be his declaration of love for me.  Not to mention the fact that as he saw me tonight (hey, it's been at least two weeks since we last met) his face broke into a huge grin and he ran at me and jumped in my lap (it helped that I was sitting on the ground) and actually hugged me!  I swooned. I got to sit next to him at the dinner table and he told me, in no uncertain words, how he really wasn't a fan of the zucchini but the steak and garlic bread were outstandingly delicious.  He also told me, sotto voce, that while his Mom and Dad were usually really good cooks, this squash phase they were in right now was not working for him.  To illustrate his point, he discreetly dropped the zucchini on the floor. 

Later in the evening he invited me to watch him in the bath and he let me play with some of his toys.  I also was an invited guest to his secret reading room and unlike most nights when just his Dad reads to him, tonight it was Dad and Mom and me on the bed with Sam, reading and playing.  Sigh.  I am totally charmed by this small person.  Charmed and bewitched.  In love.

Here he is.  Eat your hearts out, he's mine, not yours!  (And yes, I realize this is a rather goofy post, but hey, what can I say?  He's so cool!)

How could any woman not love this! The clogs alone are heartbreakingly attractive.

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Get some culture

Whenever I see "from the private collection of....." in front of an art exhibit, I want to see that show.  Having viewed private collections in museums in several different countries, I am always amazed that one family (or one person) was able to collect such a vast array of what we know as incredible art.  The current exhibit at SFMOMA is one of the best.  "The Steins Collect" shows a jaw-dropping amount of modern art from Gertrude Stein and her brother.  Not only did they own an amazing number of artworks, they also owned some of the best.  Picasso, Matisse, Renoir, Cezanne, the list goes on and on.  The scope of this collection is surprising, you just keep walking from room to room, seeing more and more fantastic art. 

The curators took photos of Stein and friends sitting in her house, surrounded by these paintings on the walls, blew the photos up to wall-size and hung these in the show as well.  You can see, for example, a dozen art works on one wall of their dining room!  Another room has another 20 pieces on its walls.  Imagine living every day with paintings like these right in front of you, seeing them as you sip your morning coffee or glancing up at them as you tie your shoes before going out for groceries.  These paintings were simply a part of their life, day in and day out, as were the artists themselves, coming to Stein's house for dinner or for conversation.

If you have the chance, try and see this exhibit. It runs into the first week of September and you unless you are a member of SFMOMA you will need to get tickets in advance.  It is truly remarkable.

Above is Woman with a Hat by Matisse and below is The Girl with Green Eyes, also by Matisse.

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Movie Review: "Midnight in Paris"

Full disclosure:  I was primed to like this movie before I walked into the theater.  If you know me at all, you know I love Paris, truly, madly, deeply.  I also am a big Woody Allen fan, so the combination of the two was a true set-up for me.

And yes, I did love the movie.  In a big part because it is filmed in Paris and the first few minutes of the movie are nothing but random shots of the city, different neighborhoods, different times of day, rain and sun.  The city of Paris is an intregal character in this film and I was hooked before a human character appeared on the screen.  Additionally, the main themes of the movie are true Woody Allen themes: love, happiness, the meaning of life.  Not that he ever explains any of those, but he questions everything that we think about them as he does in all his films.

In "Midnight in Paris" Allen creates characters that are almost larger than life because they are mostly from the past, and therefore cannot be real because they are dead.  Doesn't sound very interesting, but it works because they are almost caricatures of who they were in their time.  And it's incredibly funny;  every time we see Hemingway, for example, he talks like he writes, which is not how normal people talk, so he sounds like a book.  Perhaps you have to hear it to get it, but is very funny.  You also have to buy into the fantasy, of course, in order to like the movie, but once you accept that Gil, the main character, really is being transported to the 1920's and 30's, once you relax into the romantic notion of it all, you can simply enjoy the journey.

I won't get into the plot because it really doesn't matter and from the beginning of the film you almost know how it is going to end.  Just taking that ride with Gil is what is so charming about the movie.  In my opinion, this is a small gem, something that I want to hold in my hand, put in my pocket and keep with me for a while.

Two thumbs up, four stars, Little Man standing in his chair clapping enthusiastically.  See it on the big screen if only to see Paris as lovely as she can be.

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Good food

A quick review of food:  yesterday Tom and I met in Santa Rosa at Willi's Wine Bar, north of the town on Old Redwood Highway.  From the outside this place looks like an old roadhouse.  The inside is simple, and we ate out on the patio, where you can have a dog.  The menu is all small plates and everything we had was 100% delicious. I would go back tomorrow and order the same things, or mix it up and order some new ones.  Great tastes, beautiful presentation, innovative food combos and bottom line, excellent.  The wine list is extensive and you can get everything in a 2.5 ounce pour, a 5 ounce pour, half a bottle or a full bottle. Very casual. I can see why it has made Michael Bauer's "100 Best Restaurants of the Bay Area" list several times.  One of the best meals I have had in a long time, much due to the creativity of everything.  (OK, OK, I know I say that every time I have a good meal out.  Sad, I know, but I am a sucker for good food.)

Today my brother Steve came up to Healdsburg and we went to Diavola in Geyserville, just a couple miles up the road.  I have eaten there three or four times and it never disappoints.  We ordered two different pizzas and they were perfect.  One had smoked pork belly, goat cheese, caramelized onions and roasted red peppers and some fresh herbs.  The other had house-cured salami,  tomatoes, fresh arugula and some other things.  They were perfect and they were a good contrast to each other.  The pork belly pizza was luscious, soft, extravagantly tasty.  The salami and arugula was crisper, cleaner feel in your mouth, spicy and sparky.  Very good.  We each brought slices home and that is dinner tonight.  Along with a home-made mint julep!  Or two.

It's hot in H'burg.... in the 90's.  A precursor of what to experience in Tex Ass.  Getting ready..... stick around for that adventure.

more to follow.


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A couple of reviews and catching up

I have been lax in keeping up with the blog and promise to do better.  It's been hot here in Healdsburg, over 90 yesterday and this farmhouse does heat up.  Makes me even more slothful than normal. It's morning right now so I am not yet overcome with the heat and thus can perhaps get some words on the screen without my brain feeling hot and melty.

I finished the book mentioned in a previous blog, "The Invisible Bridge"  by Julie Orringer.  While I am not a book reviewer by trade and don't have the correct lingo that reviewers use, I definitely can recommend this book for the good character development, the narrative of Paris in the 1930's, the sinister rise of the Nazi regime. It's long and probably could have used some editing, especially in the first half, but it is compelling enough to make you continue reading.  The story starts in the very early days of Hitler's rise to power and ends, rather quickly, at the end of World War Two.  In fact, the last couple of chapters almost feel rushed when compared to the slow pace of the first half of the book.  You know that you will be reading some very hard passages because the book deals with Jews in Hungary during the Nazi regime.  Even though we have all read novels of this historical period, seeing it through Orringer's eyes gives us a new slant on part of it because not much has been written about Hungary's part during the war.  In fact, it sparked my interest enough historically that I did some computer research on the Jews in Hungary during WW2.

The main criticism I have of the writing is that it is occasionally too flowery, or ethereal.  Not always, of course, but sometimes the characters reactions and thoughts seem written in a "too precious" style.  But as the story gets darker, and it does, that style shows up less and less.  Bottom line, it's a very good book.  If you read it, let me know your thoughts on it.

Another review of sorts:  a good friend of mine, Kara, was here in Healdsburg visiting me this week, stayed at the house with me and we had a great time.  On Tuesday we went out to dinner at Bistro Ralph, just on the town square.  There is live music on the square on Tuesday nights so town was very busy and music was blaring.  We sat at an outside table and got to enjoy a good meal and hear the music at the same time.  Very civilized, no sitting on the grass for these two women!

I have been doing some work at the Calderwood Inn, greeting guests, making breakfasts.  That will continue for another week or so until I leave Healdsburg and head off to Texas for a couple of months.  Again, I will keep you posted on what's happening.  Thanks for sharing my adventures!

This is a photo of a painting Kara did of the front porch of the house.  It is sitting on the railing of the porch which is why you can see daylight around the photo, but it is a good rendering of the front porch.

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Birthday Eats!

Yesterday I was taken out for cocktails and dinner by Gabe and Annie and Ben and Stacey.  This morning I am still stuffed from a great dinner.  We started at the Rickhouse, a great bar in the financial district.  They make all sorts of different cocktails and have an incredible list of different liquors. It was a Friday night so it was hopping and noisy.  We had drinks and then headed over to the Wayfare Tavern for dinner.  Here is the inside of the Rickhouse:

The Wayfare Tavern is also in the financial district, in a building that has housed restaurants in the past. It is owned by Tyler Florence, the very popular chef who has several places in the bay area.  The decor is sort of pub-like, but more upscale than a regular pub.  Great service, great booths to sit in (at least on the main floor) and the food was excellent.  It's a great restaurant to go to with friends because sharing the plates is the way to go.  Appetizers include roasted bone marrow, butter lettuce with green goddess dressing, sometimes they have poutine which is french fries covered with short rib gravy and truffle oil and cheese curds.  Sounds odd but it is almost a national dish in Canada and it is so incredibly rich and luscious.  Main courses are from really good fried chicken to steak and frites to a huge hamburger with a fried egg!  We had a great time and came home with left-overs for a second meal tonight.  I can recommend this place for a really solid meal and a fun evening.  I had a great time with my little posse and would definitely go back for a second round once the cholesterol level of my blood goes back to normal!

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Staying alive

In case you wondered if I fell off the planet, the answer is no.  Still here, still fine.  I've been in Daly City watching the wonder dog Hannah while her masters have been out celebrating a wedding anniversary.  Rain, rain, more rain all weekend, except yesterday when it was sunny enough to take the dogs to the park and run them.  Unlike 99% of the people on the west coast, I haven't tired of the rain yet.  I must have been somewhere else when California got all the rain this year because it seems as if I have only seen about 10 days worth of bad weather.  Since I definitely do not suffer from that seasonal personality disorder, where you get all depressed in the winter because of the lack of sunlight, I still like the dark, gloomy winter days.  True, it is spring now, not winter, and it will be summer very soon but it has not yet arrived.

Off to the foothills to visit my Mom for a couple of days, helping her clean out some of the accumulated junk that has grown up like moss in her small apartment.  I will be back in touch after that, providing there is something salient to say.

Recommendation:  "Luther", a short-seasoned BBC drama about a police inspector who gets the really difficult and nasty cases.  Only 6 or 7 episodes but if you are a Netflix subscriber  you can watch it instantly on your computer or,  if you have the appropriate hardware and software, on your TV.  It's a good show, sometimes a little creepy in the crime department but the characters are excellent, the writing is very good, and it just drops you into the show from the get-go, no back story, no explanation.  As in all good foreign drama, you must watch and think and work a little bit to stay on top of it.  Check it out.

OK, hitting the road now.

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Live Music

Despite the cold and wet weather of yesterday, the famed Tuesday night music event on the town square in Healdsburg still brought out a lot of people.  Not as many as a sunny, warm day would produce but a fine crowd in a fine mood drinking fine wine and having a fine time.  Roy Rogers and the Delta Rhythm Kings opened the season and for two hours the skies cleared and music ran like water through the square and down the side streets. 

                                Roy Rogers at work.

Today the skies are dark again, rain is expected for most of the day, the gas fireplace is on and Cooper and I are curled up on the couch, enjoying the excuse to stay at home and do nothing but read a good book.  Speaking of which: I am reading "Invisible Bridge" by Julie Orringer, published this year.  It takes place in Paris around 1939, just as Hitler is rising to power in Germany and thus is impacting all of Europe. The main character is a young Hungarian Jew and a student in Paris. It's a big novel and very good, the characters are well defined, the narrative is excellent and I recommend it.  I find it oddly engaging, not in a block-buster way but in a quieter, more intense way.  You are carried along not just by the story and the interaction of the characters but by the darkness that you know will come because of the time and place.  I have read about half the book so far and on a dark day like today it is the perfect companion.

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