The zen of (re)discovering the Bay area

Some very dear friends came to visit for a few days and left yesterday. Unlike many house guests, this family wanted me to accompany them on their sight-seeing adventures. Usually, when folks come to see us, they don't actually end up seeing us for very long. Because our home is situated equidistant from points of interest north (San Francisco) and south (Santa Cruz) we are a perfect home base, allowing for day trips here and there, arriving back at the home base just in time for drinks, dinner, and maybe a movie or card playing. Although I did not accompany them everywhere, we managed to squeeze in some long neighborhood walks, a trip to the farmer's market, and my friends contributed heartily to the tourist economy in Santa Cruz and Monterey, as well as a very fun albeit long day in the City.

I've never toured San Francisco as a tourist, so Monday was a first. Based on the sheer number of "must see" things on their list, they first had to decide: drive or take the train? Driving won out. Once there, drive ourselves or hop on a tour bus? Tour bus won. Having never been on a tour bus of any type, ever, I was slightly intrigued by the idea of being hauled around (by someone else for a change) and wondered how long it would take before I needed to hop off and go my own way. My guests purposely chose the "hop on, hop off" type of tour, which would allow us the opportunity to see more of what we wanted, in depth. They decided the best course of action would be to take the entire tour once (advertised at one and a half hours), then decide what warranted further investigation.

I am now (at least slightly) a bigger fan of the tour bus approach. After completing one full round of sights atop the open-air, double-deck bus, we stopped for lunch, and walked to our in-depth destinations.

Towards the end of the late afternoon/early evening, our group decided that Chinatown was worth a second look, and we hopped back on the bus, as no one really felt like walking up those hills to then more hills in Chinatown. This particular bus was outfitted with a very poor P.A. system, had only one level, which was all open-air, and had very few riders. Perfect. We plopped ourselves in the back, taking up the entire back row of seats and settled in for a leisurely ride to Chinatown; not directly, mind you, but through the prescribed route all the buses took. This meant that we had at least 45 minutes to rest our "barking dogs" as we wound around the City once again.

So far, so good. Sounds terrific, doesn't it? Well, it was. Until we noticed a couple of helicopters hovering overhead in the distance, headed in the very same direction we were headed. "Humm", pondered the tour bus operator. "Wonder where they're going?" As we got closer and closer to our next destination, the helicopters increased in number, and curiously enough, black and white police vehicles were lining the streets. We could see police officers sitting in their vehicles. Many of them. Too many to count. "Uh, oh", the tour bus operator announces, as he speeds up. He doesn't abort the tour, doesn't take an alternate route. No, no, no. He drives directly into the area in question, gaining speed, cutting off an ambulance (in front of a bunch of police cars? Really?) talking the whole time (remember the crappy P.A. system? Still really muffled and crappy at this point).

Suddenly, the tour bus operator decides to take a quick vote to see where we are all headed. It turns out we were the only group that was planning to get off the bus in Chinatown. Everyone else was going back to the home base (near the Embarcadero). Once we realized that our jaunt through Chinatown would not include being picked up at a later time, we decided to forgo the Chinatown stop, and get some dinner at Fisherman's Wharf. With that information, the driver whips the bus around, and we are now headed for the streets of Chinatown. As we leave the congested, police-in-riot-gear area, the P.A. system magically clears up just enough to hear the driver mutter to himself "Jesus". Crystal clear sound. Every nuance of his frustration, and fear of the unknown up ahead could be heard by all in the bus. Priceless. Absolutely priceless.

As it turns out, we inadvertently drove right into a potential protest area, where officers were anticipating BART protesters to arrive and protest the cell phone turn-off incident recently on BART. Who knew? Certainly not us and obviously, not our driver. Our reward for dodging a potentially lethal situation (remember, this is an open-air bus, so we are completely vulnerable to whatever happens to fly by, including possible bullets, tear gas, etc.) was that the driver drove us all through Chinatown, off the regular route, and then we continued on our merry way, none the worse for wear.

Who knew the power of lesung?

I just read Orkes Manohara's blog to learn more about the women of Gerwani. Such oppression and violence! For so many of us in the U.S., we will never have an inkling as to what that must have been like. In their strength, these women have found a way to bring beauty through music into their daily (often horrific) existence. Listen with me here:



Now, go to kickstarter and give a few bucks for this most worthy cause!

So many things to do! FREE or CHEAP!

Oh my gosh! Check out The Weekend in Cheap for lots of great ideas to get outside and enjoy your weekend! How about this?

Saturday, August 6

East Bay Hella Free Day
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, so pack up your usable items, foods, skills and talents to bring to the monthly East Bay Hella Free Day on Saturday, August 6, where you can find anything from fresh produce to on-the-spot yoga.

Lake Merritt Amphitheater (across from the Oakland Public Library, between Lakeshore Ave. & Grand Ave, Oakland) | Saturday, August 6 | Noon-4p | FREE

Or, how about this:


Lower Haight Art Walk
Spend a lovely day in the Lower Haight with live art, potlucks and loud music at their neighborhood Summer Art Walk, which includes art openings, music, arts & crafts, a skate area, fortune telling, a 3 p.m. potluck at the Peacock Lounge and more, as well as a fun photo scavenger hunt.

Lower Haight (Steiner St., between Haight St. & Waller St., SF) | Saturday, August 6 | Noon-6p | FREE

Check out Free and Cheap Events and Things to get the lowdown on where to be this weekend. Enjoy the amazing summer weather!

Wanitani: The Songs for Women of Gerwani

My daughter and her family (Orkes Manohara) are hoping to embark on an important and interesting research project. Click the video below and go to the website to get more information. With the help of you all and Kickstarter, they are hoping to fund their research by very early September. Can you help them out with a buck or two?

Joys of Summer

After a fairly unpleasant semester and an exceedingly unpleasant start to the summer, I have been unexpectedly treated to spur-of-the-moment excursions, complete with fun friends, a lake, a beautiful boat with sea-worthy dogs, and camping.

I have also made a commitment to ride my bike much, much more, since bike riding makes me so happy. I am pleased to report that any errand 5 miles or less from home is completed a la bicycle. Since my sense of direction, ability to read maps with any accuracy, as well as estimate distances has been completely unplugged since I moved to NorCal, I am often riding more than the 10 miles round trip I thought I was in for. Fortunately, I have an extremely patient bike riding partner who is in much better shape than I am, looks better on a bike than I ever will, and is very good-natured about the whole thing, so it's all okey dokey. No worries, no drama, no tears.

I also took a quick road trip to visit Little Lady Luscious, affectionately now known as Our Luscious Little Lady of Holy Terror...not named by me, her loving grandparent, mind you...by her mom, no less. Our little bundle of joy is now walking backwards, singing constantly, can count to 10 in three languages, and is in constant motion. Her favorite words? "NO". "MINE". Often run together and expressed at quite a volume.

WTF? Or, more politely, You're joking, right?

I can't believe it. I just read on A Cup of Jo about the police officer in New York that allegedly had a problem with this young lady riding her bike while wearing a skirt. As this story continues, the officer's rationale for stopping this young lady was that she was a distraction to motorists, and therefore, quite dangerous. (italics mine.) Ironically, the bike rider was in town for the New Amsterdam Bike Show, and is a bike company general manager in Holland. No ticket was issued, but she was reprimanded. Huh!



In the good old fashioned "Let's give 'em a little hell" style, a skirt-wearing, bide riding protest of sorts ensued, with even men wearing skirts! Pedal on!


Photos courtesy of A Cup of Jo and Refinery 29

The sizzle and pop of the 4th of July!

Not that I'm advocating for anyone to actually do this, but just in case you were wondering where you could buy fireworks, check this out.

I'm just saying. Be safe. Be sane. Have fun!

The joys of camping at Pismo and at home, too!

I thoroughly enjoyed myself last weekend, camping with good friends at Pismo Beach. It was super relaxing, beautiful scenery, great company, and did I mention relaxing? Just what I needed. I was so relaxed I forgot to take any photos!

Little did I know that I would be "pretend camping" for a few days back at the Hacienda. Yesterday, in my quest for ultimate health and well-being, I cut up half of a cantaloupe along with some strawberries for breakfast, and decided to put all of the rind and seeds and pulp down the garbage disposal. In my defense, I did NOT deposit said rind, etc., in the disposal whole. No, no, no. I dutifully cut the rind into smallish pieces, and fed it into the disposal. Let me add here that it sounds like it could grind the entire house in one swoop...kind of a turbo disposal. This is normal for this particular disposal.

Anyhoo, later in the day as I fixed myself a salad for lunch, I did not put anything more down the disposal. No need. I ate all that I fixed. Every drop. Hours later I decided to make some coffee and as I emptied the french press to wash it, suddenly the turbo disposal was churning with its usual vigor, but once I turned the turbo disposal off, all the water came bubbling back up. Yum. Not quite believing my eyes, of course, I tried it several times. More and more water bubbled back up. Mr. Fix-it (little Johnny) got home about 9:00ish, informed me that we would need to let the sink sit for at least 24 hours before attempting any type of clean-it-out with chemicals solution. He reiterated to me that no water should be put down the now really clogged drain for at least 24 hours. No rinsing anything, no running the dishwasher, nothing. Period. Hummmm. Much later last night, I trotted outside and rinsed the dinner dishes off with the hose, placed them in the dishwasher, and went to bed.

This morning, as I was outside, cleaning the french press again for my morning cup of joe, it occurred to me that, much like "living Amish" (that's what I called it back in the day, when my kids were in trouble and all electronic devices were off limits, or "on groundation" as Flannery liked to call it), I could grumble about the fact that I was out in the cold, wet yard (it rained a ton yesterday, inexplicably...really, in late June? Go figure.), washing my french press before I even had my first cup of coffee, or I could just pretend I was camping. So, I'm camping at the Hacienda. S'mores, anyone?

Note: For anyone that has never washed dishes outside, see the Thanksgiving post of 2009, where little Johnny pressure-washed all the Thanksgiving dishes, because the turbo disposal took an unscheduled and certainly unappreciated day off. We thought it was the pipes, but now I am thinking it was both pipes and disposal. Whatever. The joys of living in a very charming, albeit old home.

Let me count the ways to beat the heat!

As everyone in NorCal knows, it's been hella hot here the past few days.

Samson decided to take matters into his own hands early yesterday morning, while I was making coffee. Apparently, the water in his water dish, along with the water in the toilets (actually his very favorite, usually), just wasn't good enough...maybe not fresh enough.

My friend Bonnie suggested we visit China Camp, since it's one of the CA state parks slated to close in July. Not only was it much, much cooler in San Rafael, it was really beautiful, peaceful, and interesting, all rolled in one! Plus, it was just extra nice to spend time with my good friend!

We managed to squeeze in a quick trip to Sam's Anchor Cafe for their legendary fish and chips, while we watched the boats coming and going.



Yes, indeedy. It was a fun, relaxing, and dare I say, educational, day, all in all.

Arrrgh! Free events in and around the Bay Area

There's something for everyone this weekend in and around SF. For sweet tooth satisfaction, enjoy a taste of FREE Ben and Jerry's ice cream:



For the over 21 crowd, enjoy your FREE local brew and cheese tasting extravaganza here:


Last, but certainly not least, for the pirate in all of us, Arrrgh!, check out the FREE Pirate Festival:


Did I mention these events are all FREE?

Enjoy.

Some things in life really are FREE!

Imagine a world where you might get something for FREE! That's right, you heard it right here. Check out this bakery in SF that hands out freshly baked bagels on Mondays from about 9:00 a.m. until about 3:00 p.m. Enjoy!

La Victoria Bakery
2937 24th Street (@ Alabama), SF (Mission Dist.)
Fresh bagels come out starting around 9am each Monday – Free for everyone.

One way to beat the heat in the City

In a very expensive city (and the entire Bay area), it's really nice to find a free/cheap resource for fun stuff to do. I found this by listening to npr this morning. Check it out!

http://sf.funcheap.com/

There's even a naked bike ride in SF this weekend. It's legendary!



Awww, come on. It'll be fun! You know you want to! I double dare you!

I was reading Janet's blog, This Confetti Life, and, as usual, I was impressed with her creativity, and her ability to create beautiful, yet simple decorations. I don't mean simple in a negative way. I mean it in a "just the right touch" kind of way.

Personally, I believe that some (not all) things that appear simple are actually a ton of work. This one, maybe not so much. Janet, in her usual, thoughtful way, also included directions on how to make these cute favors. I suppose I don't really have an artsy-fartsy, creative, crafty muscle or bone in my body. The only time I excelled at crafty stuff was when my kids were in the "colored macaroni, Popsicle sticks, and paper plates" stage of life. I even made homemade Play-Dough from scratch (it's really easy and cool to make). I can be silly, pathetic, giggly, childish, somber, inappropriate...any number of things, but crafty in an artsy-fartsy way? I just can't see it. I'm fairly creative in how I do my job; I can sew, quilt, garden, cook, bake, and decorate. I even learned how to knit (no small feat for me...I'm a lefty and I figured it out by watching a youtube video and having my daughter Maeg show me over and over and over again) but put a craft in front of me, and watch me melt. It's not pretty. But maybe, just maybe, even I could pull this off. Just look at these little party favors. SO CUTE!

Feeling Takei?

George Takei of Star Trek fame posted a video in response to anti-gay remarks made on Facebook by Clint McCance, school board member in Arkansas several months ago. Amazingly, Mr. McCance's response with Cooper Anderson was almost as insulting as the original messages on Facebook. He states, unequivocally, that he "used the wrong language", but never really apologizes for the sentiment behind his words. The interview is very long, but if you listen to the first few minutes, you'll get the gist of what he's saying. Here's the clip of the interview with Cooper Anderson:



George Takei takes a strong stance, and although I find the name he calls McCance objectionable from a feminist standpoint, I do like his straightforward approach and humor:



According to Takei's subsequent videos, one way to avoid the near occasion of offending or stirring up anti-gay sentiment would be to simply substitute the word "Takei" for the word "gay"; let's try this, shall we? Instead of the bullying taunt "You are so gay" on the playground, we would hear instead, "You are SO Takei". You get the idea, right?

Let the gardening begin!

At long last, after a particularly hectic semester, it's time to break out the seeds, the gloves (which I rarely use, but really should), the trowel, a cold beer (well, okay maybe later today), and of course, this lovely gardening journal I received as a birthday gift last year from my good friend, Wilda. What fun!
Surprisingly, after throwing some sweet pea seeds randomly in a flower bed following some unsuccessful attempts to grow them in almost every other suitable area in the yard, these sprung up just as my winter/spring bulbs began to wither. Go figure!
Yes, I know they are not prolific. Yes, I know they could be bigger, brighter, taller, showier. But, by golly, they're here and they survived! Actually, they survived much better than I did after this rather brutal semester.

After spending my first official day off yesterday under the covers, reading, napping, eating, reading, napping, eating, interrupted only once by a very brief bike ride to a couple of stores no more than a mile away, followed by more reading, and napping, I figured it was time to get my bum in gear and be productive today. I am, however, still in my jammies (or jim jams, as Flanny and Ryan call them) and it's almost 11:00 a.m. Hummmm. I've certainly gardened in my jammies before. At least I brushed my teeth and washed my face. I'm off to a grand beginning, don't you think?

The Rain in Spain Stays Mainly...

I have a new name! Finally, after arduous and lengthy linguistic training by yours truly, in person and on Skype, Miss Zippy now says my name. As a matter of fact, she's been saying it for quite some time. Silly me, I didn't recognize it as "Grams".

Little Lady Luscious has been saying "Poppers" since, well, since forever. Poppers is the name we use to refer to her great-Uncle John, who is my brother. He's not her grandfather, but he certainly lovingly fills that role; so, he decided when she was born that he preferred to be known as "Poppers". She began adding something after "Poppers", but we couldn't figure out what she was saying. "Poppers" came out of her mouth early, often, and clearly. "Grams"? Not so much. I decided when my little spot of sunshine was born that I didn't want to be called "Grandma". It just sounds so grandmotherly! I like "Grammie", but my children call their grandmother "Grammie", so that was out. I wanted something easy, and "Grams" just seemed to fit.

So, are you ready for it? Here's "Grams" in Miss Zippy's world: Galish Mia Mia.

Music to my ears!

Hats off (or on) to the Royal Couple!

Congratulations to the lovely couple!

The love fest was celebrated by the Brits in all kinds of interesting ways...the hats, of course,



and even the nails!


So, let's all hoist a pint in celebration of love and romance!

Look what $100,000 will buy you!

I meandered through Vashon Island last week looking for property (or really vacant land) with my little spot of sunshine in tow (herein referred to as Miss Zippy until further notice, based on the fact that not only can my 16 month amazingly articulate granddaughter walk and run, she can nimbly walk backward with absolutely no hesitation). The house in the same neighborhood as Miss Zippy's is for sale, but at $849,000, it's a little steep for my budget. I'm sure it's a great deal, considering it's on the water, has its own beach, breathtaking views, and is gorgeous and very roomy. In the Bay area, $849,000 won't buy you anything close to the beach! Have a look at it:


So, unless I can find 11 friends/BFFs that want to co-own this beauty for a month of fun each and every year (for each investor) in the surf and sand, the casual search continues.

I did notice that for under $100,000, Country Living has several homes listed in their Real Estate Sampler (each month has a different theme...this month's is homes for sale that are priced under $100,000). Have a look:


For the low, low price of $99,500., this baby can be yours. Here's the catch: It's in Texas. I repeat, Texas.

How about this one?
It's only $69,900 in Wallace, Idaho. I must remember to tell my friend Wilda (and her family, whom I adore) who I've been plotting and scheming with for years to open a Bed & Breakfast with once we "retire", that I've found her B & B in a town that shares her last name! (Oops. I just clicked on this and realized that the picture is crappy. Click on the photo itself and you'll see the real charmer here. Sorry about that.)


Here's another bargain at only $38,800 in Skidmore, Missouri. I don't know about you, but I can't imagine life in "Skidmore", MO. Better than that, this property is listed by the Twaddle Realty Company. Seriously. Twaddle. In Skidmore.

Click, click, click! go the keyboards

Moving right along with the "Professor Mom" series, the week ended with a workshop on Procrastination and Time Management. It was fairly well attended by young and old alike, and I was even asked how to get a messy teenager out of bed to clean her room on her only day off. Hummm. I wasn't exactly counting on parenting issues to be brought up, but, oh well, off we went on a quick sidebar.

The most distracting portion of the workshop was that several students were typing on keyboards during my presentation. The workshops are all held in the Library/Technology Center, in one of the "smart" classrooms, and there is a computer at each seat. There is nowhere else to sit, so I assumed (oh, so erroneously) that the students would sit there and not actually use the computers. Normally, one would only hold classes in such a room when the students were supposed to be using the computers, but there I was, in what we refer to as a "computer lab", completely distracted by students furiously typing away while I was speaking, and showing, I might add, my highly entertaining audio/visual aids, I mean multimedia/Vimeo video.

I tried to ignore the click, click, click of the keyboards until I could stand it no more. At one point, as I was talking about all the things we do to avoid getting to the task at hand that we are procrastinating about, I cleverly segued into a remark that this was, in fact, a workshop on PROCRASTINATION AND TIME MANAGEMENT, and NOT a typing class.

Excusez-moi. Pardonnez-moi. My bad. I was sweetly informed by a student attending the high school plus college academy that resides on our campus that they were "journaling" as they listened to my presentation, and this a was "required" part of their attendance in this workshop.

Then, just as sweetly, a student in the back piped up "They aren't all journaling. You got a couple a gamers back here".

The only time I did NOT hear the click, click, click of the "journalizers" was when I played this video on procrastination:

Procrastination from ism studios on Vimeo.

Google's giggle

A friend sent me this video, produced by Google, that is pretty funny. Check it out, and be sure to click on the "Try Gmail Motion" button at the end:

A new way to communicate
The mouse and keyboard were invented before the Internet even existed. Since then, countless technological advancements have allowed for much more efficient human computer interaction. Why then do we continue to use outdated technology? Introducing Gmail Motion -- now you can control Gmail with your body.

Sorry, I uploaded it and it was too small, so you don't really see the whole thing. Just click on the link below and you'll get the full effect!

http://mail.google.com/mail/help/motion.html