Updates

Posted on by July 26, 2017  

As I found out again, the WordPress App on my iPad just spins forever but doesn’t seem able to upload a post.

Happily humming along, I think I have been updating the blog.

Nope – the post is written and 30 minutes later it is still saying “Uploading” Thank goodness I can take a screenshot and save the post. Most of the words are visible and it isn’t extremely difficult to fill in the blanks covered by the box claiming it was working…. not that it was.

Otherwise it was a quiet day. George had board meetings, I worked on a couple of projects. We took Noah out to dinner at the end of the day before leaving him in New Haven and heading back to the hotel.

Guilford

Posted on by July 25, 2017  

as in Connecticut, not Surrey.

Did I mention that it was raining and that we had a briefcase, backpack, suitcase and one ladylike umbrella between the two of us as we hustled from the hotel to Grand Central Station? Thought not. If you live on the US East Coast, rain is just something you prepare for. Something that you might actually expect as you check the daily weather report.

Those of living in California? Prepared? Not so much. There are trains as often as twice an hour from Grand Central to New Haven, CT. The good thing about traveling after 1000 is that you can avoid the morning commuters of which apparently there are a number going north although not anywhere near as many, I suspect, as the hordes of lemmings headed into NYC.

It was still raining the 90+ minutes later when we disembarked and headed out of the station to the rental car place. Need I mention anything about hiking in the wrong direction first? Or going back into the station to find that the rental agencies offer courtesy phones and train station pickups?

Thought not.

After an afternoon of getting a tour of where Noah is doing his internship this summer, we headed to what turned out to be fancier hotel than expected in Madison Beach. I am still running fairly tired and it was lovely to have a location completely undisturbed by city noise.

Citi Field

Posted on by July 24, 2017  

What would a weekend be without a baseball game?

In this case, it was take the 7 from Manhattan almost all the way to Flushing.

I actually don’t mind some of the design of Citi Field. Certainly it is a lot newer than either the Coliseum or A T&T park. Some of the design features I do find issue with. The stairways are hard to find and ADA access? Absolutely no signage – you have to know where to go and how to find it. And we will not bother with discussing subway lack of easy accessibility…. not worth going there. The do have the sense of just wanding everyone which eliminated all the metal detectors. Actually quicker and easier!

The design of the stadium, however, does lead to decent right and left field bleacher ares.

FYI – the Mets – like too many other teams outlaws noise makers. The fans today lacked what I would call ongoing team spirit, perhaps fueled by what is now the Mets Sunday 2-7 record at home. According to Angel (Pratt grad along with the Maus) there is a solid bleacher group which primarily comes to home evening games and does a lot of supporting cheering.

But still? No banners? No flags? No drums or cow bells? It is part of the experience at home for the As.

Daniel Gossett managed to pull off five good innings before starting to lose it in the sixth. The relief pitchers held it together. Casilla after pulling his usual idiocy managed to get the three outs in the bottom of the 9th thanks in no small part do to excellent fielding on the part of Brugman in the outfield. A win is good, especially after pitchers gave away more than comfortable leads to lose the last two games.

We are off to Connecticut in the morning. My chance to see where Noah is working for the summer and ride the trains on the East Coast…

(photos not yet downloaded….

MoMA

Posted on by July 23, 2017 2

Once again, I agree with Maus – most modern art is a matter of taste. In this taste – I think 90+% has absolutely no business being offerred up anywhere. I think those critics and experts are perpetuating a hoax on the unsuspecting and generally naive public. We are told this is important – right? We are told it is good, says something, reflects deep meaning. Kvatch!

Meanwhile, there were two excellent exhibits –

Louise Lawler – Why Pictures Now?

who does some amazing work and

Making Space – Women Artists and Post War Abstractions.

which looks at the post WWII changes in the art movements and both women artists contributions and the channeling of those artists into traditional crafts (textiles, pottery) and generally being ignored whenever possible.

Unlike the exhibits on several of the prominent male artists – the MoMA didn’t even bother to produce a catalog for either exhibit. Says something, doesn’t it?

FYI – the As are here in NYC. For the second night in a row, they managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory…

Untied

Posted on by July 23, 2017  

There was a long time ago when we used to make fun of the airlines. Before a lot of consolidation and one actually depended on those trips that you would arrive on time, fed, and with your luggage. TWA  – Transworld Airlines was referred to as Tiny Weeny Airlines. Northwest was Northworst. Allegheny was Agony…. And United was Untied.

That was perhaps the best and most accurate of the nicknames. Today, once again United proved it. The first flight out of SFO this morning hit maintenance and was cancelled. Then, of course there was a bit of a weather problem in Newark. (sometimes I don’t think direct flights are all that great. The options for alternative routes can actually be better as you get further east). Our flight actually took off, after a “slight maintenance ” check but it was over 90 minutes late.

Since EWR was our destination, it really didn’t matter. Yes, being stuck in the last row in a middle seat between two gentlemen who would have each been required to purchase two seats did. Obviously, neither food nor moving around was an option for the entire flight. George was also middle seated, but across the isle.

Arriving late is not always negative, the traffic into the city had actually started to clear, Dinner was a different issue. Hotel grill had closed, fast food is mostly directed toward the working crowd and the prices in NYC on the menus are insane.

Absolutely nothing

Posted on by July 23, 2017

Seriously, this is one of those dry spells where days run into each other separated only by the presence or absence of an Athletic’s home game. The dogs are doing well and adore taking turns being a warehouse dog at Dani’s job. Gwen (the Golden Retriever)

Dog, reporting for duty

and helping with orders

and exactly why can’t I do the orders?

while the other pup (different day), just needed a nap after her hike to work (only 7 km…)

just give me a minute…

She has a lot more energy and it didn’t take her all that long to recover. A solid game of ball fetch over lunch let her keep it together for the rest of the day.

House construction is proceeding apace. The new foundation will be poured sometime next week.

And we head to NYC in the morning.

Thread

Posted on by July 23, 2017 2

Isacord – 40w poly. 423 colors

Let me take you back in history: a long, long time ago when I lived in Germany I bought a Pffaf sewing machine and brought it back with me the first time I lived in the DC area circa 1984. Carmen and her husband picked us up at the airport (me, Shana, a ton of luggage which included the sewing machine) and dropped us off at our new but empty house in Kensington. There was a small embroidery attachment and I had great dreams about “doing stuff.”

Over the years I added machines which included increased machine embroidery capability but never quite got the hang of it. I did accumulate a bit of thread (Sulky, Isacord, Maderia, plus a couple of other brands) which meant that I never quite had the colors or combinations that I needed and continued to add thread one spool at a time.

This past Dec I had to change sewing machine manufactures. Pfaff is no longer made in Germany but China and all the attachments weren’t going to fit anymore. I bought a Viking (which is European made) and went for the relatively high end. It can do all sorts of things including embroider. I had a variety of stabilizers, I had the software. What I didn’t have was a thread set. When I did this for Alex

On the back of a jacket

I had to pull from five different thread lines to come up with the colors. It is not that it wasn’t appreciated –

the kids, the dog, the jacket

But I really wanted to avoid the hunt and color substitution agony that was involved.

Poly is not quite as shiny as rayon, but it is very washable and color fast which is why I bought what I did. I sorted through and found I already had about 20 colors. Even so, buying the set saved a chunk over individual spools, especially since the storage boxes were included.

FYI – Casilla managed to lose a winning game in the 9th by giving up two runs to Tampa Bay

Frozen Phone

Posted on by July 23, 2017  

Did I mention that my phone had an accident that involved water on Saturday?

I initially thought it was going to be fine. There were a few quirks – like taking a dozen screen shots related to nothing when it wanted to and not taking screen shots when I attempted the same task. But I was hoping that all was recoverable. I thought it would be happy spending all day yesterday and part of today in a bag of rice.

Oh, not so as I sadly found out. Charging the phone was not an option and nothing was working quite right.

So….. after we spent a couple of hours with our architect redesigning the kitchen from your standard apartment ugly to something everyone could live with (and adding a bit of lighting while we were at it) I went to the Apple Store.

The bad news? Phone might make it, but probably not. I could wait and see, but that would leave me in New York this coming weekend potentially without a phone. The Good News? George had purchased the Apple Care plan for my phone. It didn’t cost me all that much to just replace it, get a new screen cover and load the backup. (It is here where I remind you once again that if you are not good about automatic backups, please, please, please set them up so that they happen with frequent regularity on auto-pilot).

And when I arrived home? My new phone cover had been delivered. I am back to the wrist strap in hopes that it will help…..

Not that I needed this or anything –

Posted on by July 23, 2017  

Ok – the good news up front – A’s 7: Cleveland 3. Getting back and forth on the BART worked.

the rest? Meh –

 

These are screen shots that my phone chose to take.

That is right – it just fired off on its own. Along with changing channels on the radio, deleting email and otherwise driving me up the wall.

It could be because it got wet yesterday, but that would make it my fault and I would never want to own that expensive little errors. It will spend another night with rice since I elected to go to the game today rather than to the Apple store….

Bark in the Park

Posted on by July 23, 2017  

There is a craze which has hit major league (and I suspect minor as well) in the last few years.

You have hear of of “take your child to work? which in some areas of the country seems to have spread to “take your pet to work.”

Well, in baseball it is the annual opportunity to take your pup out to a ball game. Of course, an official ticket is required and there is a seating section reserved for dogs and their people. There is a dog play area set aside, judging for costumes (yes, really) with prizes for themes, cutest and a whole long list. Since the sponsors locally are a couple of pet food producers there are also samples. Nylabone (sp) is one of the multiple site sponsors, so that expensive ticket also includes a bone in the goodie bag.

The dogging parade went along the warning track which meant that we could look straight down from the right field bleachers. Of note, the kids costumes were as much fun as those on the dogs with cowkids, superheros and more than one ballerina. Alex came along for the game, but sensibly left dogs at home.

The As even managed a 5:0 win!

Maybe gray hair

Posted on by July 11, 2017 1

But what would you expect of a handsome man turning 69 today?

George

He certainly isn’t the shaggy haired guy that I married in 1978

10 Sept 1978

But then, I don’t exactly look the same either!

Last year we spent a weekend white water rafting and wine tasting. This year things are a bit tamer. Lunch with those in the family who are local (minus the dogs) and dinner for the two of us on Thurs. He is someone who actually appreciates both big bashes and birthday acknowledgements. But with the house under construction, a large shindig is going to have to be next year (and besides, 70 is something more fun to celebrate).

I’ll be happy to pass along greetings or you can contact him directly (georgeDOTRehmATicloud.com)

 

Fireworks

Posted on by July 10, 2017  

Did I tell you that I skipped the fireworks at the stadium on Monday night in favor of 4th of July fireworks?

I had the bright idea – which turned out to be not so bright – of catching the photos from home. I can see all three bridges from my upstairs window. I can see the Berkeley Marina – home to the local fireworks. What I hadn’t remembered is how low the fireworks are actually shot.

When you sit out in the open, the fireworks can seem to fill up the sky stretching up and out to cover your view. In reality, they are not more than 100-200 feet in the air. This creates a problem if you are up on a tree covered hill of more than that in elevation. As it turned out, the fireworks were beautiful. And just on the other side of a lovely, thick, bushy tree….

see the slight bit of light?

with the occasional bit shot from the SF side

across the bay

 

Even having fireworks photography not in my grasp this year didn’t take away my fun of the As actually pulling out a victory at the Coliseum. Not pleased about the pitcher who gained the win, since it was his fault the White Sox tied the game in the top of the ninth…. The fact that the rookie short stop managed to hit a homer was nothing to the relieving pitchers credit.

Ah, well, back to the cross stitch.

Carl won’t leave

Posted on by July 4, 2017

No I don’t have a house guest who has been here longer than three days. What we have is a marine layer – fog in the evening completely obscuring the sky. Since Berkeley can occasionally be thought of as a University town, a literary location you might have figured out the reference:

“The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on”

and thus is referred to as Carl.

It makes attempting to photograph the night sky impossible on this side of the hills (and Hayward Fault).

George and I went to the game and watched along with over 40,000 other fans the As manage to lose yet another game. They have younger players. They are learning; but those errors are costing way too much. I was sorry to see Cotton take the loss since the relief pitchers were the ones whose continual provision of wonderful pitches caused the White Sox batters to run up the numbers and make recovery impossible.

I was going to stay and take fireworks photos from the parking lot, but just got too cold and too tired. My excuse was that there was just too much light (grin).

You can’t stay

Posted on by July 4, 2017  

One of the guys from that photo class on the 26th and I were going to attempt to do night photography this evening. George had volunteered to be the chauffeur. The eldest begged off after having to work late. She turned out to be the smartest in the group.

(and yes, the As lost this afternoon).

Since it was completely socked in around the bay we thought to try the other side of the hills. Well Mt Diablo Park might be a good place to be. But the park gates are closed and locked at 2030 in the evening leaving you on one side of the divide or the other till morning. Since we hadn’t come prepared with sleeping bags or camping gear, this didn’t sound like a great idea.

Driving around, there didn’t seem to be any other decent place without either lights or trees obscuring the sky. Back over on our side, the fog was almost to the top of Grizzly Peak taking out that option as well. Seems like one needs a combination of good pre-trip scouting and a lot of luck with the weather. July is probably a better bet if the skies clear (meaning the weather needs to warm up a bit.).

It isn’t so much that

Posted on by July 1, 2017  

the As keep trying to lose. It is more a matter of fouling up a good thing. For example, an error by the shortstop in the first inning turned a routine out into a two base grab. Said runner later scored. And then there were the 2-3 innings including one with bases loaded that the As at bat managed to strike out, pop out or land themselves in a a double play instead of scoring a go ahead run.

Go figure – I can’t.

Meanwhile I am still playing with machine embroidery, working on a cross stitch and just finished Graphic Audio’s Mike Oberon – Hallow Point.

Not a No-Hitter

Posted on by July 1, 2017  

Is probably the best thing that can be said about tonight’s game. A solo home run by Matt Olson in the bottom of the ninth was the As only score. Next batter up hit a double but that, unfortunately was followed by a few too many swings and misses.

I otherwise slept in, messed around with my sewing machine and attempted to avoid screaming at people.

(grin – a good day all around. Except for the As…..)

Wonder Woman

Posted on by June 29, 2017  

I am not sure what I was expecting from this particular movie. I hadn’t seen any of the trailers and hadn’t looked at comic books for years.  Yes, they were definitely comic books when I was a kid. What the difference between a comic book and graphic novel is eludes me completely. Discounting the issue of length and cost. Those perhaps contribute to which category one might apply.

Anyway. Wonder Woman. The movie, what I saw of it was well done. Costuming, fight scenes and all the usual paraphernalia involving the imagining of an ancient but sophisticated culture. Otherwise – I hated it. I never, ever, ever go to fight, war, or violence movies and would not have gone to this one had I known.

I’ve done my time, seen enough death and weapons. Seen what they do to people and can’t see anyway to put heroics, a positive spin or to rewrite history for the sake of a plot. I certainly don’t read fiction related. And besides – this movie doesn’t match the original story of Wonder Woman which was true to the time period in which it was written….

Your mileage may very

Alameda County Fair

Posted on by June 28, 2017  

It is not that I go all that often to county fairs. The last one, if my memory serves me correctly was in 1988 where I was the weaver in a Sheep-to-Shawl team. Considering that I was pregnant with Daughter #2 at the time what I mostly remember were smells, heat and nausea.

I hadn’t even thought about such things for years. In fact, I had no idea that there were even such things as county fairs in this area of the country till I was given a free ticket at an As game a week or so ago. Since I had the ticket, it made sense (sort of) to use it. Canvasing the household, Alex was the only taker.

So off we went – Alameda County encompasses a huge portion of the East Bay (including, but not limited to Oakland, Dublin, Pleasanton, San Leandro, Berkeley, Emeryville). Rather large in population as such places go. The fairgrounds are in Pleasanton, which is just about as far from my house as you can get and still be in the county. We drove south and east….

Parking cost, of course. Fairgrounds entry didn’t. Alex took my free ticket and the fairground doesn’t charge either active military or veterans. There were the usual midway rides, games to separate you from your money with cheap prizes as a reward. There was junk food galore.

Of no surprise to me were the buildings containing vendors hawking knives, cookware, magic blenders, massage chairs, windows, siding, sports related souvenirs. Except for the teams which were most prominently displayed, I’d swear it was the same old guy from another state and decades ago. There has to be a fair circuit and things that are only and always sold there.

After an hour or so of wandering we finally found the buildings housing the hobbies, exhibits, small animals and other fun. The hobbies building turned out to have old people (whoops – folks of my age) demonstrating various crafts) while the rest of the hall was filled with cases featuring various “collections.” There is no way I can really put words to this strangeness so I will add in photos as soon as I track down the USB cable.

The small animal barn had bunnies, lots and lots of bunnies along with ducklings and chicks and a few other small birds. The Agriculture and Wine building had plants, bee keeping and one wine merchant. In the building labeled “Exhibits” I struck gold (for me). Not surprising, quilting seems to have taken over here much as it had 30 years ago in Maryland. There were a few entries in the knitting, spinning and weaving categories. More in the crochet (yes, the obligate baby stuff). Nothing in needlepoint, only one entry in cross-stitch. There was also a category which I found extremely strange – place settings. Like the hobby entries, these can only be seen and not well described or understood.

I never did find the large animals, but the hour was getting toward heavy traffic and we decided to skip both the rides and the late evening concert. There wasn’t any horse racing today, not that I minded at all.

Tomorrow’s plan? Wonder Woman.

Four eyes

Posted on by June 28, 2017  

The VA, as part of my benefits, provides me a new pair of glasses without cost every two years. That was Jan/Feb 2016. As glasses more complicated than those needed by the average 35 year old (i.e. bifocals, trifocals or progressives) are made in a central location it means something less than a few day turn around. I had a second pair made at a local Lens Crafters before I left for India last year.

Of course my pair from the VA arrived in the afternoon mail, the same day I was already at SFO on an outbound airplane…

So that made two pairs; except that I hadn’t dared travel with only one pair so I had found an older pair (see pink…. see the bifocal line…) which I think date back more than 10 years.

Fast forward to this year. Even with a scratch resistant coating, my VA haven’t survived all that well. The commercial pair was stepped on (not me) and, funny thing, there are no replacement frames to be had – would I like to order a completely new pair?

I don’t think so, not at that price.

So for $500 less than what Lens Crafter’s wanted, I ordered a new pair from the VA. Progressives, no photo grey and dark frames so I know which pair is the newest.

And, I now have four pairs of glasses to lose in the house….

glasses, so I can find at least one pair

Up from the depths

Posted on by June 24, 2017 2

the only way I can describe this past week is like a deep well. It has been a combination of the chemo hitting me, the house construction with the jack hammering and pounding to the point where it seems like my whole body vibrates to a complete lack of interest in people and/or food.

I think I am starting to get it together which means that I will release the last weeks worth of blog posts as soon as I have a chance to go back and clear out the worst of the evil thoughts and bad languages.

Tonight I am allegedly participating in a class over at Rodeo Beach on the Marin headlands on night photography. The only challenge, besides going completely manual on my camera is going to be if the fog – aka marine layer – doesn’t cooperate enough to let us see the sky. It is pretty hard to photo the night sky when all you see is a blur of white descending to the tips of the closest dunes and hills.