.....and a beautiful weekend it was, too, although I was a bit blue.
But first, the week. As advertised, it was quiet. Brunch with friends and now neighbors Geoff and Tom at Cimona (a local joint here in Steveston) on Sunday...
...followed by my usual walk.....
It is salmon season, so lots of fishing boats, lots of fish being sold on the docks, and lots of salmon jumping in the Fraser. It's a bumper crop! Yay! (I have been very good about taking a long walk every day this week. It is back to the gym in Palm Springs in a month, so I might as well take advantage....)
And aside from a few coffees with colleagues, that is about it. Did go to the farmers market (it is hardly "the" farmers market - I have at least 4 to chose from between office and home, and that is only if I don't go a block out of my way.)
.
But this is my favorite one, and this is my favorite time of year, with all the peppers and squash and corn and pumpkins...
So why an I blue? Well, mostly a poor choice of reading material. I did read (or I should say, re-read) Alexander McCall Smith's The Double Comfort Safari Clue, the newest (I think) No 1 Ladies Detective Agency Novel. As most of you know, he writes a number of series, including The Isabel Dalhousie Series (about philosophy) and 44 Scotland Street, all sweet, gentle, well written books. This one was no exception.
The problem was where I went from there. First, there was Spillover, a new book on the spillover of diseases from the animal kingdom to the human kingdom. Given the state of Africa right now, and the Ebola crisis, well, that book wasn't exactly happy-making.
...and it led me to The Band Played On, the Randy Shilts book from 1987 about the onset of the AIDS crisis and ensuing paralysis from everyone. You can't close our bathhouses - it is a violation of our civil rights! You can't get AIDS from transfusions - where's your proof? What do you mean, we have to stop having miscellaneous sex? We fought for years for the right to have miscellaneous sex... I suppose if you prevent people from having open, monogamous relationships, it is hardly surprising that they go out and have miscellaneous sex, but shit, man, people were dying....
...and I couldn't stop reading. I stayed up nights and lost sleep screaming at the book. I was there, in San Francisco, watching everyone die. And coming only a few weeks after seeing Larry Kramer's play The Normal Heart, about the Aids crisis in New York, and the response of the media and the closet gay elite..... it was all too depressing.
So, there was that. Then, there was the Tugboat Festival, first annual, held on Granville Island this weekend. I love tugboats, but I didn't go. I couldn't. Do you know who else loved tugboats? David. I would have been walking around the docks bawling. So I stuck closer to home, but was melancholy nonetheless.
Well, enough of that. You will be happy to know that I have put the books (2) about Israel at the bottom of the pile - I couldn't take that right now. Instead, I am reading a novel called The Bookman's Tale: A Novel of Obsession by Charlie Lovett. It will be a nice change, I think.
A bit more going on next week, so hopefully by the time I write next weekend, I will be out of my funk! Thanks for being so patient with me....
But first, the week. As advertised, it was quiet. Brunch with friends and now neighbors Geoff and Tom at Cimona (a local joint here in Steveston) on Sunday...
m
...followed by my usual walk.....
It is salmon season, so lots of fishing boats, lots of fish being sold on the docks, and lots of salmon jumping in the Fraser. It's a bumper crop! Yay! (I have been very good about taking a long walk every day this week. It is back to the gym in Palm Springs in a month, so I might as well take advantage....)
And aside from a few coffees with colleagues, that is about it. Did go to the farmers market (it is hardly "the" farmers market - I have at least 4 to chose from between office and home, and that is only if I don't go a block out of my way.)
.But this is my favorite one, and this is my favorite time of year, with all the peppers and squash and corn and pumpkins...
So why an I blue? Well, mostly a poor choice of reading material. I did read (or I should say, re-read) Alexander McCall Smith's The Double Comfort Safari Clue, the newest (I think) No 1 Ladies Detective Agency Novel. As most of you know, he writes a number of series, including The Isabel Dalhousie Series (about philosophy) and 44 Scotland Street, all sweet, gentle, well written books. This one was no exception.
The problem was where I went from there. First, there was Spillover, a new book on the spillover of diseases from the animal kingdom to the human kingdom. Given the state of Africa right now, and the Ebola crisis, well, that book wasn't exactly happy-making.
...and it led me to The Band Played On, the Randy Shilts book from 1987 about the onset of the AIDS crisis and ensuing paralysis from everyone. You can't close our bathhouses - it is a violation of our civil rights! You can't get AIDS from transfusions - where's your proof? What do you mean, we have to stop having miscellaneous sex? We fought for years for the right to have miscellaneous sex... I suppose if you prevent people from having open, monogamous relationships, it is hardly surprising that they go out and have miscellaneous sex, but shit, man, people were dying....
...and I couldn't stop reading. I stayed up nights and lost sleep screaming at the book. I was there, in San Francisco, watching everyone die. And coming only a few weeks after seeing Larry Kramer's play The Normal Heart, about the Aids crisis in New York, and the response of the media and the closet gay elite..... it was all too depressing.
So, there was that. Then, there was the Tugboat Festival, first annual, held on Granville Island this weekend. I love tugboats, but I didn't go. I couldn't. Do you know who else loved tugboats? David. I would have been walking around the docks bawling. So I stuck closer to home, but was melancholy nonetheless.
Well, enough of that. You will be happy to know that I have put the books (2) about Israel at the bottom of the pile - I couldn't take that right now. Instead, I am reading a novel called The Bookman's Tale: A Novel of Obsession by Charlie Lovett. It will be a nice change, I think.
A bit more going on next week, so hopefully by the time I write next weekend, I will be out of my funk! Thanks for being so patient with me....
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