Archive for January, 2013

Jan 30 2013

Lost & Found

Published by under Country Life,Family,Work

The other day I gave Rob a ride home from the Big Town. As usual, we had fun chatting in the car, and it was really hard not to look at the spectacular pink and gold sunset over the ocean. One of the many drawbacks of driving is that you can’t really admire the scenery, even though you’re driving right through it.

At Rob and Megan’s house, I carried in the Chico bags of groceries while Rob brought the dogs in. When I got home and started changing out of my work clothes, I discovered that my mother’s silver bracelets, which I wear every day, were missing.

My heart sank, and I looked through my pockets and handbag. Nothing. By now, it was too dark to look in the car or the driveway, but I thought that perhaps I had taken them off at the jobette and left them on my desk. I do that often when I have a lot of typing to do.

The next day, I looked in the car and the driveway and asked Megan to search her house and driveway. Arriving at the jobette, I rushed to my desk and there they weren’t. I asked my coworkers to keep an eye out for them, and called Starbuck’s, where I had met Megan and Rob the evening before. I talked to the girl who had closed that night and she said she hadn’t seen them. She checked the lost and found, and nothing.

Megan texted me later to say she hadn’t found them, either. I was surprisingly upset by the loss, and tried to tell myself that we shouldn’t get too attached to things and objects, but inside I just wanted to cry. We don’t have much left from our parents, so what we do have is especially precious.

Later in the day, I was putting things away in the storage room when I spotted my bracelets by the side of the sink. I had taken them off the day before when washing the dishes! I grabbed them and ran to show Erin, who hugged me and said, “Yay!” That pretty much summed it up for me.

2 responses so far

Jan 27 2013

Updates

Published by under Country Life,Family,Garden,Weather,Work

Well, hello there!

Things have been really busy (and somewhat stressful) at the job and jobette ever since I got back from San Francisco. And as you know, work = no fun = nothing to blog about. I have the last three quarterly due diligence conference calls at 6 am on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this week. Then I have to write up all ten of them, arguably the hardest and most time-consuming part of the process.

We had a little spot of rain the other day, but other than that, it’s been what my sister calls “Junuary”, sunny and in the 50s during the day, though cold and starry at night and frosty in the morning, the Ridge glittering with ice. I was surprised to see in the paper that we have received 27 inches of rain this season, versus 19 inches at this time last year – must have been those early season storms. Last night I noticed the first full moon of the new year beaming through the skylight of the sleeping loft.

I made a little time to head over to the property a couple of days ago. I realized that I hadn’t seen my brother for exactly a month, ever since Christmas Eve. Megan and the dogs came with me, and together we inspected the orchard in progress, which will be right next to the garden they created about this time last year.

There will be apple trees, peaches, and cherry trees. Olives and almonds are under consideration, as are raspberry bushes. Jonathan thinks they will have to electrify the fence, like the one around the bee hives. Otherwise, the bears will move right in and eat everything.

I picked up a hitchhiker this past week. I know what you’re thinking, but I only pick up people I know or the occasional woman. This was an older lady, who turned out to be a delightful German named Heidi, who has been visiting here since the 1970s. There seems to be a mystical connection between Germans and the County. My fabulous stylist is from Germany, as was Rose, my house’s previous owner and occupant. Even Rob was born in Germany. I asked Heidi what brought her here in the first place, and what kept drawing her back.

She said, “We Germans find all the best places. And there is nowhere on earth like Mendocino.”

2 responses so far

Jan 19 2013

Photo Opportunity

Published by under San Francisco,Work

You’d think I was still in Hooterville, getting up at 6 am for an 11 am photo shoot. But I had my reasons.

I am slow to get going at the best of times, and on this particular morning, I had to make Self look more presentable than usual, since the main purpose of the trip to San Francisco was to get professional photos taken of Boss and Self for our in-progress website. After putting on make-up and once again being thankful for learning how to do this quickly and well from makeup artists back in A’s modeling days, I called a cab and went out to meet it around 7:30.

The cab appeared sooner than I expected, and I was off to Drybar to get a blowout. I’m not that great at doing my hair, so I followed Megan’s advice and let the professionals do it. I figured, if I have to live with this picture for posterity – or at least the next few years – I should look as good as possible.

Drybar was delightful. I was immediately provided with cucumber water and taken care of by a fabulous gay guy, of which there is a total shortage in Hooterville. No-one can make a girl feel prettier – and in this case, look prettier, too – than a fabulous gay guy. I sat at a long white bar accessorized with dishes of candy and a flat screen TV playing “Dirty Dancing” (Jennifer Grey with her original nose! The ever-gnomish Patrick Swayze! Kelly Bishop before she was Emily Gilmore!) with captioning on, so you could follow the movie over the whir of hairdryers.

My stylist even hailed a cab and opened and closed the door for me, which I love. Talk about full service! My shiny hair and I made our way to BART. As I walked onto the platform, the train I needed was whooshing into the station, saving me a 15 minute wait. As I settled into my seat, I texted Boss to tell him my ETA. iPhones can be useful.

I knew I had an hour long train ride ahead of me, so I was equipped with a book, but when it went above ground, I looked out of the window from time to time. I have been away from Civilization for so long that burned out, graffitied buildings and swooping cloverleafs of highways and herds of cars and acres of cement are as foreign to me as the moon now.

Boss picked me up at the BART station and we drove to the photographer’s studio. She is Boss’s neighbor and a total sweetheart. She has been taking pictures since she was a child, and you could tell she really knew her stuff. Although I have known Boss for nearly 20 years, it was a total revelation to me when he told the photographer that his father was one of the very first medical photographers.

I don’t photograph well, in my opinion. I’m not saying that in the hopes of being contradicted. There have literally been two pictures ever taken of me that I liked: one when I was 3:

and one when I was 40:

This is not a good average. I hope these will turn out well, since as I mentioned earlier, they will be there for posterity, or at least the next few years, which may well be the same thing in internet terms.

As we left the studio, it occurred to me that this may well be the first time I have ever had a professional portrait taken. My parents may have done one when we were kids, but I don’t remember it, and I didn’t have professional photos of my wedding, graduation, or anything like that. Maybe having a professional is the secret to a good photo?

After our photo session, Boss and I went to lunch, and then stopped by to see his lovely wife at the hotel she manages. It was so great to catch up with them and spend some time together. We hugged goodbye at the BART station, and as I rode the train back to San Francisco, I thought how lucky I am to have a boss who is also my friend. I’m hoping this year will be kinder to us.

5 responses so far

Jan 18 2013

Evening at the Museum

Published by under San Francisco

The Legion of Honor (or, to use its full title, The California Palace of the Legion of Honor) is one of my favorite museums in San Francisco. It may actually be my favorite. Its setting is beautiful, overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge:

and it is lovely and classical:

a little jewel box for a small but good collection. Despite the long trip, it refreshed me just to be there.

Speaking of long trips, the Lincoln Highway, which turns 100 this year, ends at the Legion. It starts in Times Square, and was the first road built across the country specifically for cars:

Going to the museum late on a Wednesday afternoon is the perfect time to go. It’s not crowded, and you can stop to admire the conservationists, hard at work restoring 18th century French gilded wooden doors:

The exhibit I went to see was called “Royal Treasures from the Louvre”, which focused on the lovely possessions accumulated by the Sun King, Louis XIV, who we can thank for the beauty that is Versailles, through to the ill-fated Louis XVI and his Queen, Marie-Antoinette.

As usual, the things I liked most were not available either in postcard form or in photos on the museum’s website, and the public is forbidden to take pictures. I loved the gold and diamond snuffboxes; a cabinet inlaid in a zigzag pattern that surprisingly opened up to a writing desk, glass fronted bookcase, and a plush footstool; a pair of deep turquoise Chinese porcelain vases set in bronze and swagged with delicate chains, belonging to Marie-Antoinette; and a silver tureen graced with silver pomegranates, twigs, and leaves. One of the pomegranates was split open to reveal its silvery seeds.

I love how these patrons of the arts were able to find artists who made every day, useful objects works of art, such as Madame de Pompadour’s gold and ivory coffee grinder:

Madame de Pompadour was Louis XIV’s favorite for many years. When she died at a still youthful 42, he watched her coffin being carried from Versailles in the rain with the wistful words, “The Marquise will not have good weather for her journey.”

Miniature of Louis XIV, the Sun King, with huge, original diamonds:

Amazing that the diamonds survived the anti-monarchy frenzy of the Revolution.

Louis XIV was a great collector what he called “gemmes”, semi-precious stones carved into bowls, pitchers, and cups, set with bronze and jewels and sometimes enamelled. Here is an agate ewer set with enamel and gems:

This is Marie Antoinette’s inlaid rolltop desk from the Tuileries:

Many people don’t know that Louis XVI was in the process of creating a public museum to display the beautiful objects his he, his grandfather, and father had amassed and commissioned, when the Revolution broke out. The Revolutionaries got all the credit, and the fact that it was Louis’ inspiration was forgotten.

Monday marks the 220th anniversary of Louis XVI’s execution, and it has just been discovered that some of his blood was preserved, proving the legend that someone dipped their handkerchief in his blood and preserved it in a gourd to be true.

Truth really is stranger than fiction.

4 responses so far

Jan 16 2013

Busyday

Published by under San Francisco

This “day” madness will have to end at some point – how did this happen? – but in the meantime, I’ll just go with it.

The sunny days have continued in Hooterville, and in Northern California, sunny days mean cold, starry nights. Lately it’s been below freezing every night, from 28 to 26. The orchids basically live in the bathroom now, and the cats sleep with me every night. Roscoe is the only one who sleeps under the covers with me, and sometimes I hold him like a teddy bear, and sometimes I have the luxury of feeling him stretched out along the length of my back.

And sometimes he bites me.

Relationships are like that.

This morning I got up in the pre-dawn darkness, partly due to my inability to sleep well when I know I have to travel, and partly because of the Evil Genius demanding to go outside.

I packed up Miss Scarlett, and let the motor run for about 10 minutes to get the hard frost melted enough to scrape off the windows. I drove carefully on the icy Ridge, as warned by Megan, and there were several “ICY” signs on Highway 128, replacing the usual (for this time of year) “FLOODED” ones. I almost pulled over to take pictures of the frozen grass and frosty trees – and the frost burning off the trees, looking like smoke – but I had a date.

A date with a Genius.

It all started when I decided – probably foolishly; technology has been turning me into something of a Luddite, if a Luddite can have an old version iPhone – to upgrade my operating system. I still have House Cat, or whatever OS it was 7 years ago. When I was in the City two weeks ago, I asked about upgrading my OS and learned that I had to order discs. Yes, actual discs. The entire disc concept is so antiquated that the Apple stores themselves no longer carry them.

Getting the discs delivered was not all that easy, either. I had to have them sent to the property where I live, instead of the mailbox. Things that arrive by UPS or FedEx are delivered to a semi-decaying shack, so I stuck my “please leave it without signing” notice and hoped for the best. The package was there on Tuesday night.

I tried to install it after I got home, but I discovered that there was a disc stuck in the drive. I tried everything, but alas, nothing. I made an appointment with a Genius at the Apple Store in Santa Rosa for Wednesday at noon. I left the house at 9:15 and arrived at the Apple Store about fifteen minutes early. The Genius took my aged MacBook away to fix it, and appeared half an hour later with the disc and my MacBook in his hands.

Cost: nothing, including parking.

I have to say: I am so unused to malls at this point that I almost died when I stepped into Macy’s. The entire mall seemed to be suffused with perfume. Ugh. It was horrifying. On the other hand, the Apple store made me want to buy everything. I totally covet the MacBook Air, but I’m not too crazy about the black keys.

I grabbed some lunch – or breakfast, or both – traveling makes me nervous, and I hadn’t eaten, and then got back on the road. Somehow, it was after 3:00 by the time I got to the modest motel, but I knew I had to keep going and get to the Legion of Honor exhibit that I missed on my last visit two weeks ago. Sitting down would have been fatal at that point, so I got back in the car and drove there.

I will address the visit tomorrow. I ended up driving back to the modest motel in rush hour, past my not so modest former apartment. I forced myself to go and get a coffee from Notes from Underground, thinking that I would rather do it then than 6 am tomorrow.

My plan for tomorrow: get up at 6 am, caffeinate, take shower, put in contacts and put on make-up, take cab to Drybar to blow out my hair; another cab to BART; meet my boss; get photos done. Eventually take BART back.

Wish me kitty-free luck.

6 responses so far

Jan 15 2013

Swimday

Published by under Cats,Country Life,Jessica

On Saturday, Jessica woke up later than Audrey: about 7:00, when the sky is thinking about daytime but hasn’t really woken up yet.

I let Audrey out and started coffee before I heard Jessica’s voice wishing me good morning. We took our time waking up, Jessica looking through my jewelry collection and asking the occasional question while I caffeinated and read my fan mail. I am not quick at getting it together in the mornings, and some days I never do*.

Some of Jessica’s observations:

On Audrey: “She’s something of an evil genius, isn’t she?”

I asked Jessica if she thought it was light enough for the boys to go outside, and she said, “They’re cats. They’ll find their way.”

On the Tooth Fairy (Jessica lost two teeth over the holidays): “I think she melts down the old teeth and gets rid of all the icky stuff, and then makes them into new teeth.” A discussion ensued about whether the Fairy had helpers – after all, Santa has elves and provides a similar door to door world-wide service – and why we assume the Fairy is a girl.

We headed to the pool, where swimming lessons had started again. Yay! Once there, we discovered that the Powers that Be had meddled with the schedule, so instead of Jessica’s class starting right after ours, she had an additional 45 minute wait. Sallie, our teacher, is trying to change it back, so I guess we’ll see this Saturday.

Jessica’s response: “My mama always says, ‘Suck it up and deal'”. So she did.

I certainly noticed the three week hiatus as I splashed around. I’d have to say that breathing is still my biggest challenge. I can do the breast stroke perfectly if I don’t have to worry about the breathing part. But I was pretty tired when the class ended. Swimming makes me tired and hungry.

After class, it was time to get dressed and go to work, and the fun was officially over.

Until this Saturday, anyway.

*Today, for example, I forgot to put the gas cap on after I filled the car. I heard it go clunk as I drove away. I put it back on and then noticed a whale spouting in the ocean across the street from the gas station. Later, a visitor told me that she had been tracking this particular pod for years, and that three of the whales in it are tagged.

4 responses so far

Jan 13 2013

Funday

Published by under Country Life,Family,Jessica

Weirdsday was followed by Funday.

I went to get my hair cut by the delightful Angelika, the same miracle-working stylist who beautified it in honor of my grand birthday last July. Here’s her little salon:

One of the good things about the iPhone is that I can add a note to her phone number with the directions to her house (go to the 3 mile marker; turn left at the power pole with the orange wrapping, etc.) so I won’t have to ask her every time. Since the looming photo shoot for the work website is the reason for the emergency haircut (not that I didn’t need it), I wonder if I can get my boss to pay for it?

We had a great time chatting and she did a wonderful job. I had just enough time to hop back in the car and go meet Erica and Jessica at our usual spot in the redwoods:

Jessica settled into the backseat with her little bag – she definitely travels light, though she brought four books* with her – and we set off for Hooterville with the winter sun filtering through the canopy of trees. I asked Jessica if she minded if I stopped off at the post office, and she said she didn’t mind, but she’d prefer to stay in the car. Post offices, she said, are boring, much like grocery shopping.

I asked her if it wasn’t fun to help pick out things to cook, and she said “Well, I’m a kid, so I don’t have a say,” which was a good point. It made me wonder all over again why on earth Dad piled us all into the car on Saturday mornings to go to the Victory Market (New York State) or Don’s Shop & Save (Maine) instead of just going by himself. And we didn’t get to pick things out, either. Though we did get to go to the library afterwards.

Back home, we dropped off the car and headed over to Megan’s. She was laying a fire in the stove and chopping things up for pizza. Megan made the pizza while Jessica and I played Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders. Guess who won nearly all of the games?

We happily watched the first Harry Potter movie with the pizza, and later, some candy canes left over from Christmas. They weren’t classic flavored, but they did turn our tongues blue and green, which was even better. After that, Jessica and I headed back to my house, where I had a bed made up for her on the sofa. I left the heater on for her – I didn’t think it was fair to make a kidlet wake up in a 42 degree house, and I must say that it was pretty nice waking up to a warm house in the morning.

It was pretty nice to wake up to Jessica, too.

*A nice selection, too: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; Matilda by Roald Dahl; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and a Nancy Drew, The Bungalow Mystery. I’m glad that Nancy Drew still holds her eternal appeal, more than 80 years since they were first published.

2 responses so far

Jan 11 2013

Weirdsday

Published by under Country Life,Work

When I arrived at work on Wednesday, my co-worker Erin told me that when she arrived at work that morning, she found both front doors unlocked. There’s a door that leads to the lobby, and another door that goes into the shop/office. Erin went in and called out, looking for intruders. Fortunately, no-one had decided to set up camp in our bathroom or steal our computers – or the many bottles of wine in the conference room – but we both found it unnerving.

We had left together with a couple of the guys still there the night before, and apparently they didn’t think to check the doors before they left by the back door that leads to the alley where we park our cars.

Speaking of the alley: when I went out at lunch, there was a police car in the alley, blocking my car with its lights on and windshield wipers going. A glance down the street revealed the police themselves trying to wrestle a screaming person to his or her feet outside of a bar. By the time I came back from bringing Monica glossy magazines and a bag of food for the rescue dogs, they were all gone. I was glad that Megan wasn’t at work, since I’m pretty sure they were headed to the ER.

Then I got the email from my boss telling me about the repeat performance in the city next week (though having said that, he still hasn’t made the appointment with the photographer and/or told me about it, so stay tuned).

All in all, a pretty weird day, all the way around.

3 responses so far

Jan 10 2013

The Monkey’s Paw

Published by under Memories,Work

When my father died, all I wanted was to have him back. But I knew that if that wish were granted, it would be in a horrifying Monkey’s Paw manner – he would be an autopsied zombie knocking at my door instead of the delightful companion who walked with me on the moors, enjoyed the artwork at the Hermitage, cooked the best food I ever ate, knew his wine, and still told Pooh stories.

I have always loved children’s books where magic becomes part of the every day life of otherwise ordinary-ish kids, such as the wonderful work by E. Nesbit and Edward Eager, but even as a child (and while enjoying these books), the whole three wishes set up struck me as silly. All you have to do is wish for as many wishes as you want, and use the second wish to ward off the possible Monkey’s Paw consequences. Then you still have the third one in reserve, not to mention all the unlimited ones.

I’m sure there is some secret condition that makes sure you get the Monkey’s Paw and not the unlimited wish-filled life of bliss, though.

So, as the old saw says, be careful what you wish for…

When I said that I was having a hard time getting back into my routine, someone heard me and decided to throw me a curve ball, in the form of my boss/partner telling me that I have to return to San Francisco next week.

Since we are trying to grow our business, we really need a good website, and part of this new and improved website will be our bios and accompanying professional photos. Boss suggested that I get the photo taken this week. He was astonished to learn that there are no such photographers in the Big Town, which also has no dry cleaner, for example. He said he’d set up something in the distant East Bay town where he lives, so I will have to take a day off from the jobette (with no pay) and drive back to the Bay Area next week.

We’ll go together to the photographer, and it will be good to see him. We were supposed to get together when I was there last week, but his 90 year father had health issues and Boss had to fly to his bedside back East. So it will be good to see him, and I might get to see the exhibit at the Legion of Honor which I did not get around to last week despite my plans. I’m not looking forward to doing that drive again so soon, though.

4 responses so far

Jan 09 2013

Adjustments

Published by under Cats,Country Life

It’s been hard getting back into the swing (or routine) of things. I took New Year’s week off, and although I worked five days in a row starting on Boxing Day (which doesn’t exist here – as soon as Christmas is over, it’s back to work for you!), I only worked from 11 to 4.

While I was working 11 to 4, I couldn’t help thinking that I could get used to those hours. It was light out for driving, and I could do things like go to the post office and grocery shop before work. Normally the post office is closed both before and after work, and I try to squeeze grocery and drugstore shopping into my half hour lunch break. So it felt kind of luxurious.

Then I had the whole week off the week of New Year’s, and spent most of it in San Francisco. Clearly I also spent most of it sleeping in, because I was kind of shocked by how dark it is at 6:30 am these days. I have to wait until nearly 7:30 to let the boys out, the poor things.

On the other hand, the sun is setting later, so it’s not totally dark on the way home, which is a total bonus.

4 responses so far

Jan 06 2013

Home Again

Published by under Cats,Country Life


It’s a Hooterville morning

Well, I’m pretty sure the kitties missed me.

Clyde climbed on me and purred, Audrey sat on my lap, and Roscoe cuddled up to me on the couch on the evening I got home from the city. They all slept with me that night, and in the morning, Audrey, for the first time in her life, did not start campaigning to be let out in the early morning darkness. She actually stayed in bed until I started making coffee, when they all trailed downstairs for breakfast. I could get used to that.

Good thing I didn’t, though, because Audrey was back to her old ways this morning, pounding on the balcony door and scritching her claws against the glass. Not to mention swiping at me with her claw-y paw. On the other hand, they hung out with me most of the afternoon. Something about the way they napped seemed kind of relieved.

This morning, I took down the Christmas decorations, putting them carefully away in boxes for the next 11 months. I vacuumed all the fallen fake tree needles, and I have to admit that the house looks a lot bigger, though a lot sadder, without the holiday decorations. I decided to keep the blue and white porch lights up for now, partly because I need something festive, partly because they match the wind chimes, and partly because I can.

One response so far

Jan 04 2013

New Year, New Look

Published by under San Francisco,Technology

Evening on Market Street

What else would a girl with freshly manicured nails do but take her car to the salon?

I know that cars don’t get as excited about primping as certain girls do, but I thought it would be a good opportunity to take Miss Scarlett to the car wash which used to take care of my Mustang, Josephine. This is the only picture I could find of Josephine, and it’s teeny:

When I upgraded to WordPress I lost most of the picture links in old entries. You win some, you lose some.

The car wash was super busy as always, despite it being the middle of the day and the middle of the week:

I could have gone to the barber shop while I waited:

When they were finished, the car looked as new as a 16 year old car with 118,000 miles on it can look. All the gravel, pine needles, and puff dust were magically gone, and they had even shampooed the seats. They put what looked like plastic dry cleaning bags on the seats just in case they weren’t dry enough.

I know the dazzling shine and clean wheels won’t last long once I get home to Hooterville, but hopefully I can maintain the interior. At least until my next trip to Civilization.

I drove the shiny car to the East Bay, where I met up with our IT person to get…a brand new iPhone!

It was a free upgrade and is the version 4, not the latest 5, but free is free. Now I just have to learn how to use it. One thing that will be great is that texting will be a lot easier. I am terrible at texting on flip phones. It takes me so long that I can usually call the person 5 times in the time it takes me to enter one text.

It will be much better to just type in the texts, especially since you can send texts where there is no cell service, and there are a lot of places in the Hooterville environs where there is no cell service. For example, there is none for the 65 miles between Cloverdale and Hooterville, so if the car breaks down or something, I could at least text my sibs for help, since I can’t call for it.

On my way back to the modest motel, I stopped off to do some shopping, and ended up not buying anything, but I did take the time to admire a festive cable car:

I was really surprised by how long the line was for cable cars, even now the holidays are over, and remembered all over again why I so rarely took them when I lived here.

My plans for today are: breakfast at Polker’s; a trip to the Legion of Honor to admire the Treasures of the Louvre; and home again in the bright sunshine.

2 responses so far

Jan 02 2013

New Year, Old Place

Published by under San Francisco

Good morning, Polk Street!

Well, I started the new year off right by heading to San Francisco on New Year’s Day.

It was a beautiful, sunny day, the sky the clear, arching blue you only get in California. The sun peeked through the canopy of the ancient redwoods as I drove the long and winding road to Civilization, past the fields blazing green with winter rains and dotted with snowy white lambs, and the vineyards dreaming of summer. My heart lifted as always at the sight of the majestic Golden Gate Bridge and the first glimpse of the beautiful city, its pastel buildings tumbling down hills toward the brilliant blue Bay.

I settled into my modest motel in my old neighborhood. It’s a few blocks from my first apartment here and just around the corner from my last apartment, which just sold a few months ago for half a million dollars more than John and I paid for it. Maybe we should have held onto it…

I ordered dinner from my old friends at Lemongrass and went to sleep virtuously early, to the familiar sound of fog horns and the hum of the city.

I woke up to sunshine and the wild parrots wishing me good morning. I made my way to Polk Street and did a little delightful shopping, including a card for a friend whose second son was born on Christmas Eve and a birthday card or two. After getting my nails done (appropriately enough, OPI’s “Sweet Memories”) at my cheap and cheerful nail salon, I sat at a little green table outside the French bakery and had a prosciutto and fig sandwich on a freshly-baked walnut baguette, enjoying the sunshine and the passing crowds. Also the “dog parking” sign:

Tomorrow I’m heading over to Berkeley to meet up with our IT person to get…an iPhone. Wish me luck figuring it out!

One response so far