Monthly Archives: July 2018

Cleaning

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

Which is absolutely not my favorite thing in the whole world. But then, I have a daughter due back from Germany today, a couple of cats to get back to their own cozy home and no in town baseball game to provide me an excuse.

You see, I have this upstairs room that is variously called my craft room, my studio or that junk room. You get the idea. It had gotten to the point where I wasn’t willing to even step inside the room which leads to serious secondary and tertiary affects. Projects don’t get completed, I contemplate buying more supplies since I can’t locate what I know is in the room and my kids look at me with the “lead by example much?” quizzical look that I can’t refute. So I broke down starting yesterday and started to put the room in order.

To understand the magnitude of the task just think sewing, machine embroidery, knitting, spinning, quilting, cross stitch and you will get the idea. Each of those mentioned above has supplies: patterns, books, fabric, threads, yarn, needles, notions, machines, a spinning wheel or two, fiber, coffee mugs, tea cups and a sheep skin (doesn’t everyone need a sheep skin?) to just start the list. And then there are the various audiobooks in physical copy that I have accumulated from both Graphic Audio and Audiobookstand (going out of business….) that I haven’t yet heard.

plus the able helper

I did mention the cats? Onyx seemed to think it was his job to assist in all things. The third time I pulled him out of behind boxes or that he tumbled boxes and books off the shelves along the slanted wall he was evicted. Not pleased, as it is the given right of cats to walk wherever they want. Ten minutes later, I was forgiven as the custodian of the bag of treats.

Any way, we picked up the daughter safely, transferred her and the cats to her house and it still left me enough time to make a serious dent in the disaster.

I can actually find the floor…..

Not visible here

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

It was during the winter that I sat outside for hours, middle of the night to watch a lunar eclipse. There was another one last night (the 27th) which was not exactly visible in my half of the world.

I didn’t miss it completely as both the Eldest and a friend in Southern Germany sent me some lovely pictures. So I will share with you and we can all enjoy the sky sights by proxy.

through the lunar eclipse

and the series from Christian in Bayern

Prettier than new

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

After driving a rental car since 3 July, I picked up our shiny clean car yesterday from Hustead’s on 7th in Berkeley. I am so used the size of our Golf and the standard transmission that I have found myself not willing to parallel park due to car size. And then there is the uncomfortable feeling of searching for the clutch which just doesn’t happen to exist. What is also noticeable to me is that I much prefer the hatchback/station wagon back opening to a trunk. Just sliding things like suitcases and groceries is easier than lifting them out.

It is also interesting to have a clean car. Mind you, once in a blue moon or so I drive the car through a car wash. Being a good citizen of California I would rather take it somewhere that processes the runoff water properly than to run up my own water bill and have slime all over the driveway. You see, it is the redwoods around our property. They have a tendency to shed and drip on any vehicle left in the parking area. To get it off requires not just cleaner and water but a lot of scrubbing. Car washes have these lovely big rotating brushes that manage to get off the sticky stuff with one pass through. Much easier on me as well.

At least that is my story and excuse for not washing a car. As far as the rest of it? They actually vacuumed out the inside. And changed the radio station which tells me that the battery in the car is well functioning and provided entertainment to the crews while working. At least I am assuming that you don’t bother to change the station if the only thing you are doing is moving the car in and out of the shop.

Back to the car. I have a new right rear passenger door. A repaired rear quarter panel and a new right rear tire. There is lovely, clean shiny paint along that side.

While waiting for the last bit of polishing, the manager and I talked about the challengers of traveling with family. His most recent experience involved daughters, excess baggage and outrage that he expected them to stay within weight limits. Then I think of the size suitcases I used to travel with and have some sympathy. It takes time and energy to learn how to coordinate clothing so that you can minimize what you pack. It takes a willingness to ignore current fashion in favor of light weight and layer. And besides – if I brought too much in the way of shoes or clothes, I wouldn’t have enough room for the knitting and cross-stitch projects now would I?

Minnesota Lynx

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

No, not four footed creatures but a team in the Women’s National Basketball Association. If you are not US based, you are excused for not knowing that there has been professional women’s basketball for several decades. The Minnesota Lynx date from 1999 as an active team. I have friends in St. Paul who have been fans since the team’s founding. Since there was a game tonight, it made total and complete sense (ok, as much sense as anything else I do) to attend this evenings game with them.

After all, flying from SFO to MSP is not enough to totally wipe me out for a day even given BART on the home and dealing with a rental car on arrival.

Since it is not winter but rather the season known as road construction, I was not surprised to find that the basic driving route that I had planned provided a few challenges. Never the less, I made it safely to St Paul in plenty of time. Time enough to see that the apartment that I occupied in 1978 across the street from the Commodore Hotel is still standing. I heard it went condo a couple of decades or more ago.

Back to the Lynx – it was a pretty full arena. The fans are loud. Now this is Minnesota and – Garrison Keillor aside – people are pretty polite. These folks were LOUD. Nice, but loud. Not the bad language and name calling that has come to be associated with professional sports (men – baseball and US style football. We will completely ignore the UK’s soccer) but high levels of positive cheering.

Of course, winning does help.

Minnesota Drivers

Holly Doyne Posted on by 2

I love Minnesota Drivers. They are polite; they merge flawlessly and without honking horns. They obey traffic signals. Not like the Bay Area where driving can be a cross between a game of chicken and a combat sport. Everyone for themselves and watch out! I can’t blame diversity, transplants or immigrants although we have more than enough of all of the above. The laid back California attitude simply vanishes when someone gets behind the wheel of a car.

Never in Berkeley would someone stop and let you out from a parking spot at the curb simply because you signaled and were waiting for side traffic to clear. Wouldn’t see drivers being careful to always pass on the left. Perhaps Minnesota has a soporific effect on its residents. The politeness and reserve extending to insuring that you don’t interfere with anyone else on the road.

Or maybe it is the long cold winters that instills both a hardiness and a sense of community responsibility. In any case, it was a pleasure driving from the airport to my friends house. Not something I can say often in California.

The 4th

Holly Doyne Posted on by

I am long past the point where I am interested in fireworks or large crowded holiday celebrations. So why in the world, you wonder, am I at the ballpark with thousands of others on a sunny Wednesday afternoon? It might be because I actually enjoy watching baseball live. It might be because I really enjoy the griup with whom I sit.

It also could just be that I really didn’t want to clean and organize house, stufio, or garage.

Or more than one if the above. Don’tyou just love multiple guess?

Today’s score biard

The As won, pulling off their – come back in later innings game.

But really. I came to see what André was wearing.

In celebration of the 4th

Crunch

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

As I was driving home from dropping off daughter #2, I took a variation on my usual route. Not sure why, but that is what I did. Maybe my brain said I was driving back from North Berkeley BART rather from dropping off Dani. In any case, I drove up Cedar rather than Rose. At early in the morning, most of the traffic lights are flashing rather than regular red/green cycles. Depending on the intersection, the change from night to normal happens sometime between 0500 and 0600 on weekdays. And this is a Tuesday, not a holiday.

For whatever reason, as I approached the Cedar/MLK intersection I didn’t completely register the stoplight as having changed. The end result it that a Lyft driver who was turning right interested with my right rear passenger door. No one was injured and his car, from what we could see in the dark, seemed to have only minor scratches on the front grill. Not so my Golf. After exchanging information we both headed on our way. He said he had a passenger to pick up then would check in about a police report. Just to make sure, as soon as I got home I called the non-emergency Berkeley Police Line. This is not Germany. Since no one was injured, I was told just to notify my insurance company and an official report wasn’t required. What? No ticket? No. Amazing.

Next call was to USAA. By 1000 I had dropped off my car, been picked up by the rental car agency, provided a 2018 Japanese something or other and was back home. It made me glad that I had paid the extra few dollars a month for rental car coverage.

This was not exactly how I had planned on spending my day. But it did help that the As managed to win 6:2 against the Padres.

Loosing big time

Holly Doyne Posted on by

It all came crashing down today. The As “winning and doing well” streak came to an abrupt end. I won’t even call it foreshadowing even though Cleveland promptly scored in the first inning. It was the 8th inning that really punched the going down hard button. Eight runs. One can’t blame just the starting pitcher, every reliever added to the mess as did more than one fielding stupidity.

On the positive side – it was one of the nicest day imaginable. The sky was slightly overcast, the temperature was decent and there was a mild breeze.