closing out 2015

We went to find spawning salmon. And while we didn't see any, I knew they were there. We toasted in 2016 with some champagne and oysters, made pizza, and were in bed by 10:30. It was a good New Year's Eve.

peace on earth

finding comfort in marin county

Today was a field trip day, the Bay Model and the Matthew Turner in Sausalito. The Bay Model is a rather interesting old school museum, no fancy special effects, the section on Marinship was well done. We will have to make visits often to the Matthew Turner to track it's progress.
When it came time for lunch we headed to San Rafael Joes. It was exactly what we wanted, no kale on the menu. As comforting as it gets with older waitresses, older chefs, older clientele and decor that probably hasn't changed much since 1947:
"Welcoming friends and families since 1947, San Rafael Joe's has established itself as a Marin County Tradition." 
That's how they bill themselves and that's what we wanted. We each had a glass of wine with lunch. And while Marin County may not be the same as it was in my childhood, at least I found some of the past. And the horseradish was the real thing. We were told that the Thursday special of corned beef has an even hotter mustard served with it. We are going back.

december

Dash And Aero have the right idea. If only they looked like this more often. We are all trying to lay low for the holidays.

thanksgiving

What I'm thankful for:

My Parisian orange zester .

 

Making cranberry sauce.

 The simple things in life.

Just add a paper bag and life is good.

ebay, russell chatham, and cheda's garage

Mike is  a careful  follower of Ebay. You never know what quirky things you may find. Russell Chatham is a writer and landscape painter well known to those of us who fish or who are ghillies.

Point Reyes Summer

Cheda's Garage in Point Reyes Station is an old fashion garage, family run for the past 90 years.

We proudly sport Cheda's Garage license plate holders on both of our vehicles which has lead to interesting conversations as we travel around the state.
All of the above came together last Tuesday when we set out for Point Reyes Station to deliver a very obscure immigration paper of Chatham's great uncle that Mike found on Ebay. We knew Russell had a studio in West Marin, and we knew that he knew the very helpful woman at the garage because we had seen them together on a past visit out west. The very helpful woman turns out to be Hillary Cheda and when we stopped in just hoping she might give the paper to Russell she said oh you should just go find him and give it to him directly and she pointed the way to his studio. In today's totally wacky world of mistrust and fear, I found this astonishing that a place exists where someone would do this. I suppose we look honest and without agendas. So on our way out of town to find the studio we actually ran into Chatham himself. And when Mike gave him the paper he was amazed and asked what can I do for you. With quick thinking Mike said "how about a tour of you studio". He said follow me and off we went.

We spent an hour and a half with him talking life, art, fishing and today's world.

Here's Russell reaction to kid's today and their "devices".

This painting is a current project.

This is a collection of his striped bass flies.
We left his studio in complete amazement with a gift of three books from his Clark City Press and smiles on our faces.

and the winner !

Persimmon is the new apple my friend Chris just told me. In fact the 2015 Building 14 pie contest winner was pear/persimmon, thanks to my workmate Rhys bringing in some beautiful persimmons to go with my already planned "San Francisco Fire House Pear Pie". I am so excited, I can't wait to see my name on the plaque in the lobby.

Here were the other entries:

Lucky did not get to vote, although if he could have he would have cast his ballot to the the pies served with whipped cream. That he got to taste after he was found wandering around the shop under the pianos.

There were some serious discussions and scoring as usual, but pretty much everything was consumed.

life with two kittens

These are two sleepy peaceful kittens.

These are two well rested kittens, attacking everything and anything they can find.

Including each other.

Getting into (literally) anything they can find.

Here is a quote a friend just sent me:

There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats. 

—Albert Schweitzer

This household is currently misery free.

aero and dash

We've done it, re-populated the house with felines, two 4 month old step brothers. We have never taken in two at once, so this is quite an interesting venture. And it has been years since a kitten of any sorts has come to live with us. So after many years of one well adjusted indoor/outdoor cat and no cat box we have two very active little ones climbing up our legs and eating houseplants. We won't talk about the litter box. But we couldn't be happier.

And they seem to be too.

Taos 2015

Here's Alli in Natarajasana in front of the Sacred Mountain. On the plane ride home, Alli and I discovered we had the same birthday. I think we've bonded. This year was my eighth yoga retreat in Taos, they have all been wonderful and they all have been different. My analogy for this trip is based on the last piano we finished at the shop. It was a Steinert A, a wee 5 foot piano. We all loved it, one of our favorite restorations. It was sweet sounding. Not the power of a Steinway B at seven feet, but sometimes you don't need or want that.
The aspens were giving us a show, the cottonwoods not yet peaked.

We visited my favorite Taos photographer Geraint Smith at his gallery in Arroyo Seco.

There is something about the sky in Taos that surrounds you. I feel like I have my arms outstretched as far as I can reach just trying to take it in. And you add the the clear light and the storm clouds and I kept trying to breath in deeply, inhale it into my mind to bring out when I need it.

The food and friendship were wonderful, the time passed too quickly. I am ready to put it on my calendar for next October. Namaste.

across the state and back

We left the island last Saturday for a trek across the state. Our first stop was Truckee to spend a night at an Airbnb and have dinner with my "daughter" Yumie. Now working as a planner for the city of Truckee we haven't seen each other in over a year so it was time to reconnect. And I conned her into cooking. We checked into our accommodations and were greeted by the host and his three dogs, two border collies and a small 12 week old mix of every small breed possible. Fiona didn't know or think she was small dog, and seemed to be in training by her 10 year old brother Brody to be a full fledged border collie. She had only had a week of training but seemed to be well on her way to complete big dogness. In the morning we met the two cats who resided with the dogs, not totally approving, but accepting their fate.
Our dinner was fun and my pet cravings were met. I really do want to return and see how Fiona matures both physically and educationally.
From Truckee we headed over to Reno and drove south on 395 to Tom's Place, our home away from home.

the bughouse

Above is my my new setup, an attempt to keep me shaded and happy. It was successful in both ways. I managed to avoid sunscreen and not sunburn myself. This may be a first.

I got to work right away, as soon as Mike headed out to fish the upper Owens River.
The trip yielded one bowl, one scarf, and an almost complete sweater. Okay, I had been working on the sweater for quite awhile before we left. I only managed to read one book, but you can't do every thing in only a week off.
We did get in a great hike up Little Lakes Valley at the end of Rock Creek Road. The trailhead starts at over 10,000 feet and gets you up to close to 11,000 feet without any really steep climbs. Yes, some huffing and puffing, for those of us used to living at sea level, but doable. Our four combined knees seemed to work, although I must admit I did put on a knee brace for the trip back to the car.

This trail gets you into the heart of the Sierra though and I think I smiled through most of the trip, it was pure joy to just be in the mountains.
The next day we returned to the Owens River for more fishing and knitting.

Owens River Road

On Friday we packed up and headed back west, over Tioga Pass, through Yosemite, stopping at Olmstead Point for lunch.

Best lunch stop in the state, and my sandwiches were good too.
Down through Yosemite Valley, as always crowded, we made our way out the park, west to Mariposa.
It was hot, we don't like hot, but we were on our way to Tom and Mitch's house and they have a swimming pool. A nice swimming pool, with an incredible view.

And they had snacks and cold drinks for us, and fixed us a great dinner. It is not often that we get to sit outside evenings beside a pool, watching the sky and we took full advantage of it. But before the heat set in the next morning we bid them farewell, promising them a crab dinner here in Alameda this winter.

Not completely sure what they are all laughing at, but definitely having a good time.