so yes there was polenta at siena
then last night 18 of us gathered at SJ Municipal Stadium to watch (mostly) the giants defeat Visalia Rawhide. the giants are way out in front. dinners were yummy, i brought unsalted peanuts that got demolished nicely. highlight of the evening (besides the cake i brought from the ballpark, required) was when four of us competed in the "musical chairs" event down on the field. rochelle was the winner!! it was a great evening. good choice to buy the cake. they have a big knife. but no candles. i had matches. we improvised (last year was the french fry menorah) with one toothpick in paper wrapper. worked pretty well. that was the only really difficult part, singing happy birthday to linda. but we did it. new faces. mostly old faces. good to be together.
today was cpr training at the office. first time for me. ok now. not sure i want ever to use it.
i'm tired. need to shower before getting into clean sheets. it was good being home this weekend. but then i won't be here this weekend. it's a pretty amazing cycle. if i'm here, then i won't be next weekend. very simple. santa monica is still beautiful but the visits are getting a tad more difficult for both me and elinor.
Ted Kennedy has died. what a loss. a true liberal champion.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
290 posts, but who's counting?
well, blogger is. counting.
so monday is the 3rd annual Linda B. Klein Birthday Baseball Bash. I've decided to order a cake. the garlic fries were less than satisfactory last year. some of the regulars won't be with us physically. we may need to resort to cell phones for connection. it will have some new elements in the group as well as the same old reliable faces. weekday night is not so great.
tomorrow night i'm going out to dinner to a place that Linda and I used to frequent. that will be nice. hoping for polenta. yum. or mushroom soup. double yum. not wanting to be alone on Linda's actual birthday, i solicited a dinner invitation, and it worked. woo hoo.
had a long phone conversation this morning with a very old friend (well he is older than i am) whose wife is now pretty actively dying after being sick for more than 10 years. it was an interesting and pretty far-reaching conversation.
i am looking forward to a lot of things, and that feels good:
dinner tomorrow; writing in silence workshop saturday; dinner in bkly sunday; monday baseball game ... keeping busy.
on the to-do list beside the regular maintenance things: find a drumming class; do more writing; maybe find a tai chi class (or xi gong as some call it). a personal recommendations would be nice. i think i need to put those out there more and see if anyone has had good experiences.
smoothly. i like when things go mostly smoothly.
there is an unruffledness that feels good even as the panic begins to rise briefly. elements of the high holy days are coming together nicely and that is excellent.
garbage is more than taking the barrels out of the garage. cleaning the litter box is on the agenda tonight as well. there are critters back in the garage and overhead. not good. not liking that part. maybe i'll find someone to do a variety of small tasks around here: new shower head, critter traps (and retrieval?), deadheading the agapanthus in front. a list. no time.
fresh tofu is so delicious. maybe that's the after garbage snack tonight!
so monday is the 3rd annual Linda B. Klein Birthday Baseball Bash. I've decided to order a cake. the garlic fries were less than satisfactory last year. some of the regulars won't be with us physically. we may need to resort to cell phones for connection. it will have some new elements in the group as well as the same old reliable faces. weekday night is not so great.
tomorrow night i'm going out to dinner to a place that Linda and I used to frequent. that will be nice. hoping for polenta. yum. or mushroom soup. double yum. not wanting to be alone on Linda's actual birthday, i solicited a dinner invitation, and it worked. woo hoo.
had a long phone conversation this morning with a very old friend (well he is older than i am) whose wife is now pretty actively dying after being sick for more than 10 years. it was an interesting and pretty far-reaching conversation.
i am looking forward to a lot of things, and that feels good:
dinner tomorrow; writing in silence workshop saturday; dinner in bkly sunday; monday baseball game ... keeping busy.
on the to-do list beside the regular maintenance things: find a drumming class; do more writing; maybe find a tai chi class (or xi gong as some call it). a personal recommendations would be nice. i think i need to put those out there more and see if anyone has had good experiences.
smoothly. i like when things go mostly smoothly.
there is an unruffledness that feels good even as the panic begins to rise briefly. elements of the high holy days are coming together nicely and that is excellent.
garbage is more than taking the barrels out of the garage. cleaning the litter box is on the agenda tonight as well. there are critters back in the garage and overhead. not good. not liking that part. maybe i'll find someone to do a variety of small tasks around here: new shower head, critter traps (and retrieval?), deadheading the agapanthus in front. a list. no time.
fresh tofu is so delicious. maybe that's the after garbage snack tonight!
Monday, August 17, 2009
i am getting way behind here
so the home weekend was very productive. i miss that already. i need more.
so this weekend was another short visit to santa monica. things are declining a lot lately, which is difficult. both physically and mentally, my father is getting weaker. we are so fortunate to have the caregivers we do. they are so sweet and gentle with him.
saturday before i flew down was my first ever visit to Filoli Gardens in Woodside, with our tour guide being an old (literally) friend who has been a docent there for more than 20 years. he is 5 days younger than my father. that is sometimes difficult because he has all his marbles, charles does. the comparison is tough.
talking last night with someone about last year's high holy days and then this year's coming up and i realized (well i knew already) that it starts in less than a month. o dear o dear o dear. panic may set in now in full bloom.
last night on the walk with ketzl after i got home from the airport, the lawn sprinklers were on next door. ketzl alternately batted at and tried to drink from them. it was pretty hysterical.
this coming saturday, i'm taking a post-grief writing workshop with the woman who was the facilitator for the partner loss support group. that should be very interesting. i need to get back to writing.
and tomorrow is a significant date: it was my parents' wedding anniversary, from 1940. wow. and it is the day that Linda arrived in California for her first visit, ten years ago: August 18, 1999. also wow.
so this weekend was another short visit to santa monica. things are declining a lot lately, which is difficult. both physically and mentally, my father is getting weaker. we are so fortunate to have the caregivers we do. they are so sweet and gentle with him.
saturday before i flew down was my first ever visit to Filoli Gardens in Woodside, with our tour guide being an old (literally) friend who has been a docent there for more than 20 years. he is 5 days younger than my father. that is sometimes difficult because he has all his marbles, charles does. the comparison is tough.
talking last night with someone about last year's high holy days and then this year's coming up and i realized (well i knew already) that it starts in less than a month. o dear o dear o dear. panic may set in now in full bloom.
last night on the walk with ketzl after i got home from the airport, the lawn sprinklers were on next door. ketzl alternately batted at and tried to drink from them. it was pretty hysterical.
this coming saturday, i'm taking a post-grief writing workshop with the woman who was the facilitator for the partner loss support group. that should be very interesting. i need to get back to writing.
and tomorrow is a significant date: it was my parents' wedding anniversary, from 1940. wow. and it is the day that Linda arrived in California for her first visit, ten years ago: August 18, 1999. also wow.
Friday, August 7, 2009
more on the blog
so there was a reminder in LBK821's yahoo inbox that may have been prompted by Aud's poking around. but i think i also successfully downloaded the entire blog in compressed form. that's the hope. i know Aud got it also. nice to know. i spent about an hour cleaning out some irrelevant stuff in the inbox. i need to figure out a way to get linda's calendar reminders to come to me. not sure that will be possible but i've missed a LOT of birthdays in july. for those of you i missed, i do apologize.
so this is my first weekend home in 5 weeks. amazing. so much needs to be done. it will be nice to have concentrated chunks of time. laundry, vacuuming, letting ketzl in and out at will and other mundanities. he will like that a lot. laid in some nice foodstuffs from trader joes. ketzl likes honeydew melon as well as cantaloupe. woo hoo.
so this is my first weekend home in 5 weeks. amazing. so much needs to be done. it will be nice to have concentrated chunks of time. laundry, vacuuming, letting ketzl in and out at will and other mundanities. he will like that a lot. laid in some nice foodstuffs from trader joes. ketzl likes honeydew melon as well as cantaloupe. woo hoo.
linda's blog
thx to my sister for alerting me to the fact that yahoo360 where linda's blog was hosted is no longer functioning. but thanks to Jeff for pulling all the data off beforehand. i have until aug 19 to move it myself to a different location. i'll see if i can make that work.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
how powerful is the sense of smell...
tonight as i was driving home, i was struck by the sweet smell of kettle corn. there is a man who lives a block away with a kettle in his garage. i think he sells it at farmers markets and similar places. the smell is so distinctive. and it makes me miss Linda a lot. she was the queen of kettle corn (well, the queen of f**king everything, according to the magnet on the fridge, and now according to the mug which was brought to me from england!) but definitely the master of regular popcorn and more recently kettle corn. i would be completely unable to stop eating it. a bag or a bowl would simply sit there in my lap, and my right hand would move, reflexively, back and forth, from bowl to mouth, until it was all gone. many times Linda would make a batch on the stove (after she got used to the differences with an electric burner) and we would contentedly munch the slightly salty, slightly sweet kernels. yum.
tonight on NPR there was a Radio Lab broadcast on choice. and a small snippet with Malcolm Gladwell on his new book "The Outliers," people who are successful. the show on choice was very interesting. i learned that the part of the brain which registers warmth (temperature) is right next to the part which registers trust. this goes back to our infancies, where we need to trust that which keeps us warm, as in survival. psychologists have done studies where someone who holds a warm cup of coffee is more likely to have a positive view of a photograph or description of someone, than a person who holds (even momentarily) a cup of iced coffee. another snippet was about choice: if we have to describe why we chose something, it affects the choice process itself (we choose differently and possibly less sophisticated) than if we can make the choice without explanation. very interesting stuff. researchers ask intriguing questions.
this weekend will be my first at "home" in 5 weeks. wow. that in itself is remarkable. hopefully i will have something to show for that. i have goals.
tonight on NPR there was a Radio Lab broadcast on choice. and a small snippet with Malcolm Gladwell on his new book "The Outliers," people who are successful. the show on choice was very interesting. i learned that the part of the brain which registers warmth (temperature) is right next to the part which registers trust. this goes back to our infancies, where we need to trust that which keeps us warm, as in survival. psychologists have done studies where someone who holds a warm cup of coffee is more likely to have a positive view of a photograph or description of someone, than a person who holds (even momentarily) a cup of iced coffee. another snippet was about choice: if we have to describe why we chose something, it affects the choice process itself (we choose differently and possibly less sophisticated) than if we can make the choice without explanation. very interesting stuff. researchers ask intriguing questions.
this weekend will be my first at "home" in 5 weeks. wow. that in itself is remarkable. hopefully i will have something to show for that. i have goals.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
time flying by revisited
wow. another week flew. lots going on. at work we are getting ready for things that i will not mention lest i get terrified.
nice meal at Xanh in Mt. View: mostly vietnamese, excellent modern presentations (ahi tartare over dry ice, very steamy). yum. got recommendations from the waiter for the next two meals.
back in santa monica. right now there is someone blaring from a car stereo i think. wonder how long it will take before someone calls the cops. i know it is partly how sound moves up to the 5th floor, but it is LOUD. perhaps it is from the building lower down? i can't tell. but it is loud.
so in the last two weeks i have given away 3 business cards on airplanes. let's look at the similarities of the recipients. on the return flight from Israel to NY, there were two ultra-orthodox young women, returning from their first trip to Israel. they live in Brooklyn, and now, having graduated from high school, they will begin teaching. one loves chemistry and math. they wear long sleeves, high necks. they have no internet access, and they are OK with it. some of the students in their school come from less observant homes and they see how much yucky stuff is "out there." i gave them my card and said i would reply if they wrote to me. they were perfectly fine chatting with me, obviously not observant, wearing pants, short sleeves, etc. they were very nice. next: on the flight down to LA there was a group of muslim women who have been at stanford and now coming to play in SoCalif. some of them are younger and not wearing headscarves. they were bouncing to music on an ipod. but the woman i sit next to is a bit older. she wears a head scarf. she lives in riyadh, saudi arabia. she also does not have internet access, no email. she teaches 7-12 year olds. she has 2 sisters and one brother. and lots of nieces and nephews, but she is not married. women do not vote. she is ok with that for now. hopefully one day it will change, she says. i gave her my card as well. so at the poles, ultra=orthodox jews from brooklyn and a muslim from saudia arabia now have cards from a reform synagogue in california. the experience made me feel bold. whatever happens.
things are slowing down here. and i leave early tomorrow (late morning instead of evening) to return to the sj giants jewish heritage evening. keep your fingers crossed cuz it is going to be madness. hopefully we will all survive and live to tell the story, and i'll blog about it later.
nice meal at Xanh in Mt. View: mostly vietnamese, excellent modern presentations (ahi tartare over dry ice, very steamy). yum. got recommendations from the waiter for the next two meals.
back in santa monica. right now there is someone blaring from a car stereo i think. wonder how long it will take before someone calls the cops. i know it is partly how sound moves up to the 5th floor, but it is LOUD. perhaps it is from the building lower down? i can't tell. but it is loud.
so in the last two weeks i have given away 3 business cards on airplanes. let's look at the similarities of the recipients. on the return flight from Israel to NY, there were two ultra-orthodox young women, returning from their first trip to Israel. they live in Brooklyn, and now, having graduated from high school, they will begin teaching. one loves chemistry and math. they wear long sleeves, high necks. they have no internet access, and they are OK with it. some of the students in their school come from less observant homes and they see how much yucky stuff is "out there." i gave them my card and said i would reply if they wrote to me. they were perfectly fine chatting with me, obviously not observant, wearing pants, short sleeves, etc. they were very nice. next: on the flight down to LA there was a group of muslim women who have been at stanford and now coming to play in SoCalif. some of them are younger and not wearing headscarves. they were bouncing to music on an ipod. but the woman i sit next to is a bit older. she wears a head scarf. she lives in riyadh, saudi arabia. she also does not have internet access, no email. she teaches 7-12 year olds. she has 2 sisters and one brother. and lots of nieces and nephews, but she is not married. women do not vote. she is ok with that for now. hopefully one day it will change, she says. i gave her my card as well. so at the poles, ultra=orthodox jews from brooklyn and a muslim from saudia arabia now have cards from a reform synagogue in california. the experience made me feel bold. whatever happens.
things are slowing down here. and i leave early tomorrow (late morning instead of evening) to return to the sj giants jewish heritage evening. keep your fingers crossed cuz it is going to be madness. hopefully we will all survive and live to tell the story, and i'll blog about it later.
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