Dianne led a trip to the Feminist Art Show in Santa Rosa, which I had already seen, so I joined her, Nan, Connie, and Ellen for lunch at the Bird and Bottle restaurant. Great fun as we shared the dishes, as the menu is designed.
Apr21
Apr17
Easter Chatter 2022
Peggy sent us some old photos and this was the email chat on Easter morning.
This was taken around 1973 at a pig farm Dad rented for a month in Normandy (or Brittany), France.
Greg Chris MR Dave Dad
The pigs there were HUGE — like the size of cows.
The liner we had taken across the Atlantic dropped us at Cherbourg, France, and Helene’s sister Noelle was working nearby at a funny farm (she was doing her physician’s internship at a local hospital). Helene was staying somewhere close by and would visit Dad daily.
We would play bocci ball in the evenings and, when Helene wasn’t looking, Davy would drive her little deux chevaux around the yard. The stick shift came out of the dashboard.
Helene’s Deux Chevaux
The daffodil photo was taken at Trent Park, London, where Dad was working (before Chris worked there years later) during Dad’s and Gill’s honeymoon when Peggy was babysitting. MR said, “I think Christy is wearing a headband knitted by Timmy. (No, seriously, Timmy used to knit with multi-colored yarn.) And we were laughing because Chris was talking into the daffodil as if it were an old telephone.
Chris Talking Into Daffodil Phone
“We went to the zoo and were kicked out of the monkey exhibit because a monkey was jerking off,” Peg chimed in. “We all crammed into a tiny car and drove to Stonehenge.”
Franky Sandra Greg MR Jeremy
The hottie with his arm around me? Mmm mm! Jeremy Ironside, New Zealand hottie who I met him on the ship. Called him up. He lived in South London, so took the tube up to visit while Peg & Billy Hutch were babysitting.
Jaysus — how many did we have in that green Renault 16?
Five in back + Peg & Bill Hutch in front. The steering wheel was on the English side, so that must be Peg’s long hair on Jeremy, because I remember Hutch was driving.The girl to Greg’s right? Sandra Young. Last week she What’sApp’d about Tea for the Tillerman, a Cat Stevens album we used to listen to at that time 🎵”I’m being followed by a moon shadow” 🎶
Greg Frank MR Dave Chris Gill Dad in the Fall, 1976
Franky said, “The photo with Chris in the Navy uniform was taken in Shirlington, VA where we briefly lived [when we returned from France]. I was a senior at Bishop Ireton boys school and worked stock at Sloan’s Furniture. Later Dad and Gill moved again and I was housed by the Richardson family around the corner until I finished high school and went to Radford U.”
MR chimed in, “I was going to Northern Virginia Community College at that time.” [If Franky was a senior at Ireton, Greg must have been a junior.] “Greg was going to O’Connell, but Dad shipped him off to Connie & Dave’s [in Bellingham, Washington]. Around the same time, he put me on a Greyhound Bus (with rotten chicken he had cooked) to Peg’s in San Rafael.
“Dave, I believe, was the maintenance guy at the apartments in S. Arlington. Gill worked at the jewelry counter at Woodward & Lothrup. Dad discovered Sizzler Steakhouse, so put on all the lbs. he had lost in France.”
Chris said, “I was in D.C. for two weeks the end of September/October time 1976.”
Apr13
California Funk Art – SVMA
About 12 of us visited the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art in the city of Sonoma to check out the work of Clayton Bailey and Tony Natsoulas. It is a small museum, but I think many of us were eager to explore again after two years of COVID isolation. This is the first trip I led and I forgot to take a group photo in the gallery. I was so happy Linda Loveland Reid offered to drive carpool — I was nervous and really appreciated the company and the ride. Linda made the cool flyer below.
We received many suggestions for lunch places and selected Hopmonk tavern, recommended by the gallery, because it is just down the street at 691 Broadway and can handle big groups. Here are a few of the nine or so who were there.
Other recommendations were The Red Grape 529 First St. West, Sunflower Cafe, El Dorado Kitchen, Sonoma Grill (fish), Oso (closed Wednesday, the day of our visit).
Apr10
Saunterer Brunch April 2022
Front: Joe, Betty, Marsha, Eileen, Martha, Jane, Delores, Nicole, Anet.
Back Row: Graalfs, John, Jason, Wendy,, Bob
Bob’s wife, Eva, and their daughter, Susie, had just left for Sicily when Bob hosted a potluck get-together at his home. Because asparagus was in season, I wanted something to serve cold that would be easy to eat with a fork. No hand-twirling asparagus spears in hollandaise for people standing up holding plates! I combined two recipes from the Food Network to make asparagus-campanile-kalamata salad with honey mustard vinaigrette. It was good, and even better the next day. I think maybe people mistook it for ordinary bean salad. Next time I will buy three bunches of asparagus and use only the top halfs for the buffet dish, reserving the lower stalk for myself at home. I will slice on the diagonal a use a smaller red bowl and a tablespoon for a serving spoon. My gluten-free friends simply picked out the pasta. I ran out of time to sliver the kalamata olives so there were too few. It should be mostly asparagus tips, 1/3 pasta and 1/6 olives.
To really look like asparagus on a crowded buffet table, it needs to be bright emerald and half “spear tops.” I should take it out of the boiling water as soon as it turns emerald. It will cook a few seconds more before cooling, and marinating it overnight will make it taste “cooked.” Marinating the pasta will also soften it, so cook it al dente. Chilled dishes should be a little crunchy. I substituted seasoned (salt and sugar) rice vinegar for white vinegar, and whole-seed Dijon for smooth which did not improve it. The honey is important for the body of the dressing so I am showing the original recipe because that’s probably the best.
2 lemons, juiced
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
2 tablespoons smooth Dijon mustard
4 tablespooms olive oil
The video shows how to stiffen the stalks in an ice bath, poach them briefly, then plunge back in the ice bath again. The color and crunchiness of the asparagus is crucial for the attractive presentation. Leave some time to drain thoroughly so that you are dressing dry stalks. Cut on the diagonal. Cut off white, then cut in half and reserve bottoms for home. With the pretty top-halfs, cut into fork-size pieces so that at least half are clearly spear-shaped tops. Marinate overnight.
Clockwise from top: Jill, John, Betty, Ezra, Nicole, Jeanie, Frances, Jason, Martha, David
Lorelei, RG, Nicole, Frances, Jason, Rachel, Marsha, David, John
Feb11
Abstract Expressionism
A few days ago, Linda Loveland Reid gave a wonderful talk on Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns as a fundraiser for the Sebastopol Center for the arts. As I though about Abstract Expressionism and its impact on artists, I sent this Email to Linda.
I have been thinking about what you said about Abstract Expressionism. I remember Judy Chicago’s rage at being excluded from prestige museums despite producing art that seemed to be exactly what they defined. The ones we saw at the DeYoung show were “perfect.”
I think the art establishment used the stringent intellectual shibboleths as a way to exclude people they didn’t like — clangorous Judy Chicago, for example, or not-straight white males like Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. The Art Establishment clinging to their elite status was like trying to hold a wolf by the ears.
Their forceful superiority got knocked down so far that the neo-Dadaists were supplanted by Pop artists. And yet two prime examples of tall, slim, elegant, educated, congenial, social male artists are Diebenkorn and Jeff Koons. I never could figure out why Koons got away with the stuff he peddled until I saw him speak on a panel at the Getty Museum in Malibu as part of their “Plato” show. The Getty was actually displaying his “Play-Doh” as part of the exhibition ancient Greek and Roman art as a play-on-words. The room-size sculpture is made of enameled aluminum, and yet somehow it seemed to smell like the children’s toy.
When elegant, refined Koons spoke, I could see why the new-money in L.A. swooned over him. It really felt, to me, like “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”
Koons’s work made me long for abstract expressionism in all its christian-white-male-chauvinist glory.
Feb3
Agency – Feminist Art
Linda treated me to a visit to the Sonoma County Art Museum to see the feminist art exhibit. It was great and had much more READING than I expected. My favorite was the video of balloons pinned to a wall, each with a different positive personal attribute including “sexy” and “cute.” Eventually, all the unnecessary attributes were exploded except the only ones that count in a patriarchal, narcissistic, addicted world. It was funny.
The main building had an interesting display of old-time things like a really heavy canoe, old pictures of the area as a resort for the wealthy San Franciscans, and a telephone switchboard. I liked this yellow sculpture in the courtyard between the two buildings.
Feb1
Book: A Gentleman in Moscow
The Metropol Hotel in Moscow (above), scene of Amor Towles “A Gentleman In Moscow” which was recommended by two members of the OLLI Art Club. The gentleman in the title spends most of his life there under house arrest by the Soviets. At more than 460 pages, it took me a month to read but now I understand how it got on the NYTimes reader-generated list of 25 Best Books.
I wrote to my art club friend, saying “I just finished “Book Two” of the books-within-the-book and I see an interesting pattern. “The Bishop,” the waiter who didn’t know much about wine but pompously gave bad advice anyway, just got the central committee to remove all the labels from the wine bottles in the cellar. The Count remembers a time he tried to … I don’t know — motivate? — the Bishop to do better, but apparently the Bishop took offense and spent years plotting his revenge against the Count for making him feel bad.
And the Hussar, who gobbled up all the roast beef and drank too much wine, then gambled with the Count, lost big, and fled from the table to “return his dinner to the field from which it came” spent years plotting his revenge for the Count publicly tearing up the Hussar’s marker. He wooed the Count’s sister, and on her birthday ravaged her maid. He might have ravaged the sister but the Count was there to visit. The Count shot the Hussar but failed to kill him. Apparently the Hussar had taken offense and spent years plotting his revenge for the Count making him feel bad.
Is the writer saying something about the grandiosity of the nobility trying to pass itself off as virtue and the resentment of the proletariat? Is he trying to say something about how to defend oneself from a narcissist? The Count was dignified and civil, but did he treat the Bishop and the Hussar with respect? I wonder what the author is implying. Any thoughts? Is this resolved in Book Three?
My friend replied with this link to a talk Amor Towles gave at the Pequot Library. After watching the author speak about what was going on in Russia at the time the Gentleman was there, I realize how brilliant Amor Towles is. The talk provided no spoilers for those who had not yet read the book, and filled in so much for the people who enjoyed the thick book.
Jan22
Birthday Lunch for Betty
Last month, Betty took me to lunch for my birthday. She commented that she loves curry and has been to India seven times, so for her 87th birthday, I made chicken and cauliflower curry and brown basmati rice. Mary Rose joined us, along with with singing friend Linda.
What went well: the low flower arrangement that we could see over. Instead of spring colors, I might have picked up the blue of the tablecloth and the burnt orange of the plates.
The mandarin oranges on the buffet in the center of the image were dessert, along with a single dark chocolate truffle from See’s candy. The salad was spring mix with cruciferous crunch with my sesame/ginger dressing. Mary liked the dressing. I heated fresh naan bread in the oven too long and it was hard on the bottom. I hated firing up the oven just to heat the bread, but it was 68° outside and the windows were open slightly and the kitchen vent fan on because the Covid Omicron variant it peaking here and two of my guests are in their 80s.
I had set out dolmas and peanut-butter filled dolmas on the coffee table as appetizers, but the air was redolent with the fragrance of the curry and everyone wanted to sit right down and eat. Betty left about 2 and her thank you note said, in part, “What a fun, exciting afternoon I had with you yesterday. I really enjoyed every minute of it. Mary Rose is stimulating and provocative. I really enjoyed her, and Linda is lovely to be with, too. You are the best. Thank you for producing that delicious lunch. I ate every last drop and it was so good.”
Mary left at 3 because she needed to give Peggy’s dog its medication, and Linda stayed until 4, saying:
Thank you! It was the most enjoyable lunch I’ve had for many years. I loved the conversation, the sharing of ideas and confidences and backgrounds. I don’t know whether the fact that for me it was one of the most stimulating conversations Ive had means that I lead a very boring life, or that it was really good. I am happy to have met (or re-met) Betty, and your sister, sweet faced Mary. For me she is a charming puzzle. The food was delicious…. “
Do better: I left the naan in the oven too long and the bottoms became hard — I inadvertently cooked them a little. Only Mary drank the Early Gray tea. Betty liked the Stella beer and Mary brought some Italian Pirone beer.
Today’s NYTimes ran this graph of the current thinking on the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
Jan19
Kitchen Grout
Some quick notes on replacing the silicon seal near the sink. I should have had a little bullnose ledge installed behind the faucet when the sink was put in but I did not know how to negotiate the curved corner. Now water collects in the crack. Spraying it with vinegar will kill the mold.
I applied the sealant heavily in the hope it would be easier to remove than the previous thin seal which broke easily upon removal. I smoothed it with my finger, pressing it into the crack. The material is self leveling, and when it dries to clear (about two days) it is invisible.
Tips: rubber-band a baggie over the kitchen faucet to remind yourself not to use it because moisture impairs the curing of the sealant. Have a bowl of water for cleanup of tools and fingers. Buy a new container of sealant, the old one was hard to squeeze.
Internet searches on how to clean mold from the sealant recommended ammonia and bleach (separately) but they only softened the sealant to make scraping it off easier. The vinegar kills the mold. If I can’t keep the crack dry, I have to keep it acidic.
Oct7
Paulin Creek is Dry
Paulin Creek Is Dry
The neighbors, some of whom have been here longer than the 20 years I have, are fretting because Paulin Creek has gone dry for the first time in memory. So far this year, we have escaped wildfires in this area, but the anniversary of the 2017 Tubbs fire is a couple of days away. This summer has been cool — I have only worn shorts a couple of times — and we got a few sprinkles of rain in September, but the fire hazard does not abate until the first good rain. No rain is in the 10 day forecast.
As soon as he survived the recall election, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law:
S.B. 9 allows duplexes to be built in most neighborhoods across the state, including places where apartments have long been banned. It essentially ends single-family zoning, but with a modest shift: Under the bill, property owners can build up to three additional units on their land, allowing single-family homes to be transformed into as many as four units.
S.B. 10 reduces environmental rules on multifamily housing and makes it easier for cities to add high-density development.
It is true we need more moderate-income housing and new shelters to accommodate the homeless, increasing population density as water supply diminishes and wildfires become annual predicts a downtrend in quality of life for Sonoma County. The number of county residents who were shelterless became exacerbated after the Tubbs/Nuns fires in 2017, the Kincade fire in 2019 and the Glass fire last year (2020). I realize that the outlook is trending in the wrong direction.