The World Does Turn Faster as You Get Older!!!!

I swear, it is true!  I often feel that the days are very long, and then - whoosh - two weeks have gone by since I've written!  Not too much to report, but nevertheless, the time flew by!

When last we spoke, I was heading into the office on a wet and rainy Sunday.  I did that, but the day was saved by appies at a neighbor's when I got home.  We were sending off a neighbor, one who actually sold her house in this stalled market, but wine and appies and good conversation turned it into a happy occasion!

....Karen, our hostess....

...oops, I didn't mean to say that!

As you can see, my neighbors are just the way I like them, too old to have small children!

On Monday night (yes, I know, I know, who goes out on a Monday night, but it was the only night that all three of us were free - we have been trying to do this for months!), Robin, Debbie and I went out for our annual birthday dinner!  My birthday is in July, Debbie's is in September, and Robin is in October, so somewhere in there, we go out and treat each other to dinner, and have been doing it for many, many years.  This year, as last, we went to The French Table, a wonderful restaurant which manages to serve French food without the attitude (it is amazing how much better it seems to taste without the attitude!).

Debbie, Robin and Nora...

We have known each other since we started law school, and we graduated law school 35 years ago - you do the math!  Debbie is still the one with the common sense, Robin is still drop dead gorgeous, and Nora - well, Nora is still Nora - people don't change all that much, do they?

And the week continues with still more food, lunch on Tuesday with former colleague and friend Mickey.  We do that from time to time, to catch up with our now-separate lives and the gossip from the office.  Always fun, but we were too busy talking (and eating Vietnamese food at our favourite dive) for pictures!

Wednesday, current colleagues who live in Victoria stayed over at my house (we had a meeting the following morning and the early morning ferry doesn't get in on time - I played hookey to play bridge, but that is another story).  We decided to get Chinese delivered - all the better for drinking wine and not driving, don't ya know - and once again, a lot of talking going on.

Lois, elegant in black as always...

Deidre, still the flower child after all these years...

And yes, bridge on Thursday.  No points this time, but our playing is getting better and better, I think, and I still love it.  As far as I'm concerned, an hour at the bridge table is a happy hour, cocktails or no!

And Friday night, I finally caught up with friend Donna, who dragged me to see Argo (okay, repeat after me, friends are meant to drag you kicking and screaming to places you wouldn't otherwise go).  I am sure you have all heard of the movie; it is about the Iran hostage taking in the 70's, and the rescue of the 6 Americans who had hidden out in the Canadian embassy.  Again, this is not a movie I would ordinarily see, but I have to say it was very well done.  I doubt highly that it is historically accurate, but the spirit of it surely is!  Thumbs up!

Donna and I debriefed over drinks at the nearby brew pub, our usual haunt.

(that passes for Nora being pensive)

And Saturday and Sunday I played bridge.  Robin and I were supposed to play this tournament together, but she has already decamped for the desert, to the bridge club fixed me up with another partner.  We got our conventions and signals straight, and actually played really well together.  The competition was stiff, and so only a few (albeit silver) points came our way, but it was better than nothing, and (see above) I had a great time.  Gordon, my partner, is 84 years old, and still plays a damn fine game of bridge.  It does give one hope!

And poof, another week goes by!

Last week was more or less all work, with the usual kitchen bridge on Wednesday night (which enabled me to, thankfully, totally avoid Halloween, a holiday I thoroughly loathe, probably because there are too many children!)

 But on Thursday, another cultural bit of business (haven't had any culture for a while, really, I have to keep reminding myself that I still do more than most).  The National Theater of London filmed their production of Timon of Athens live in HD, and it was showing in movie theaters on Thursday night.  Friend Heather, her husband Jack and I try to see these as often as we can, and this one was especially gripping.  It is a pretty depressing story in any event, and the staging made it particularly stark.  In short, rich man - Timon - spends all of his worldly goods on his friends, bailing them out of jail and debt, showering them with presents.  When his money is gone, however, they leave him in the lurch, and....well, I won't spoil it for you.  It is one of the ways that you know that Shakespeare is timeless and universal.  Done in modern dress and setting, and it looks like something that could have happened in New York to the masters of the universe in 2008.

Again, if you ever get a chance to see it (check out National Theater Live on the internet for their schedule), or any of the other ones they do, do it.  It is what theater should be about, it is what I live for - and it is what, some would say, has spoiled me for real life!

Another rainy, wet, windy, cold weekend, when being at work did not seem like a bad option.  Work was interrupted on Sunday morning by dim sum with colleagues.  I adore dim sum, as most of you know, but it is one of the few meals that can't be eaten alone (that and all you can eat sushi!).  So, I didn't!

Our little neighbor, above, was very curious about me.  No wonder - I was the only "round eye" in the place, and trust me, it was full!  Just so you know, it is called Fisherman's Terrace, and is my current favourite place for dim sum.  You too can try it - you need but visit!

But in the spring, because in one little week from today, I am heading for Palm Springs.  I will catch you up (as they say here) when I get there.

Meanwhile, be safe!

Back to San Francisco, and Beyond

When I left you, I was still in San Francisco.  At this point, it seems like a million years ago - now, where were we?

Oh, right, It was Sunday, and Hank and I had gone to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.  Monday was a holiday, Columbus Day, in San Francisco, so Hank had the day off work.  We couldn't work up the energy to drive down to Santa Cruz, so instead, we went to the movies, seeing two movies I would never see but for Hank dragging me kicking and screaming to them.  This is sounding familiar - have I told you this before?  I know, I know, if I were more technologically savvy, I could go back and check the previous blog without worrying that I would lose this page, but I'm not, so bear with me.  We first saw Perks of Being a Wall Flower, one he Hank's favorite genres, coming of age movies.  Usually not my cup of tea, as mentioned, but this one was really quite good, with some good dialogue and acting, and, for a change, some unexpected twists and turns.  Thumbs up again, and the same for the next one, Frankenweenies, a Tim Burton extravaganza, quite witty (I love his subtle - or not so subtle, since I caught them - references to old movies).  Not as good as some of his others, but worth seeing nonetheless.

On Tuesday, I shipped Hank back to work, and took myself off to Golden Gate Park.....

.....and the De Jonge Museum....

....visiting some of my old favourites there, as well as seeing the special exhibit about Nureyev (no pictures allowed - sorry - but the costumes were fabulous) and on Paley (of CBS fame)'s collection, under the heading of Modernism.  Both were quite interesting, and took me where I had never been before - just what a museum is meant to do.

I even had a chance to treat myself to a milk shake at Mel's Diner...

On Wednesday, I took Bart (everyone thinks that I am against public transportation - I love it, actually, when it works, as it does in San Francisco) to the East Bay to have lunch with Jim, David's brother.  Jim was always very supportive of us, and has been good about keeping in touch since David died.  We try to get together whenever I am in the Bay Area. Since I have given up on fighting with him over the bill (that ship has sailed, I am afraid), we generally have a good time, and I get to catch up on all the family gossip - and not to feel guilty about talking about David too much.  Jim's 81 years old now, and getting frail, I am afraid, but his mind is as sharp as a tack, which is a wonderful thing!

In the evening, I managed two more belt notches - a new restaurant and a new opera.  The new restaurant is in the Inn at the Opera, which is, as you might expect, right across from the opera.  It is Scandinavian (I don't remember the name - see above for why I am not looking it up for you) but I can say that the food was interesting - I had pickled herring for an appetizer and Swedish meatballs for a main course - as well as tasty, and, if I could remember its name, I would recommended it to you.  (Someone please send me a teenager to help me manage this computer!!!)

As most of you know, San Francisco City Hall is right across from the opera house on the other side, and I couldn't resist taking a picture before we went in.

As it turns out, I should have waited until intermission - it is bathed in orange light at night right now, in honour of the San Francisco Giants making it to the playoffs!  For sure, that is an "only in San Francisco" story!

The Opera?  Well, first let me "Qvell"  (for those uninitiated in Yiddish, that means "crow") about getting a rush ticket, for 14th row center - a $200 ticket - for $30!  (one of the few benefits, besides retiring, of getting old!).  The opera itself was Moby Dick, with music by Jake Heggie.  It premiered a few years ago in Dallas, and, unlike most new operas, it is incredibly melodic, hugely powerful.  Jay Hunter Morris as Captain Ahab was stellar, as was the all-male San Francisco Chorus.  Staging, costumes, all were brilliant!  Friend Peter and I thoroughly enjoyed both dinner and opera - and have confirmed that if we don't get tickets for Bayreuth this year (and it is not likely that we will, because there is a ten year wait and we have only been in the lottery for two years), we will go to the Glynbourne Opera Festival in England this summer.  That is a big bucket list item for me, so I am very excited that we are going to nail it down. 

And you guys wonder why I keep working whenever I can?

Thursday, Hank and I had arranged to meet friend Carolyn and husband George in Marin for dinner.  Carolyn used to work with David in the Bank, and, more recently, with Hank, at a different bank.  Husband George, who is in his 80's had several falls in recent memory, and as a result, several hospital stays.  Neither Hank nor I had seen them for a while, so we were anxious to do so.  We decided on the Buckhorn Roadside Inn, a Marin county tradition and their favourite restaurant.

We were very much relieved to see that they looked great, and felt great.  Once again, both food and drink were wonderful, and a good time was had by all (although, I much admit, there was considerably less drinking than we used to do when we got together - probably a good thing, too!)

And Friday, I came back to Vancouver.  Once again, the trip was as it should be, uneventful, but it was long, and I was glad to get home.

Not that I did much lazing about.  I had signed up for a knitting seminar/trade fair on Saturday.  (No lectures, please, about how the last thing in the world that I need is more yarn!).  I actually was too late for most of the lectures - they were sold out, would you believe - but I did get to see a lot of beautiful yarn, buy a bit of it, and get some tips from some experts on the fly.  (One of the things I am trying to do in retirement is up my knitting game, taking it to the next level, pick your sports metaphor...)

And Saturday night, I went to a colleague's 60th birthday party.  Kathy and I both lost our husbands from the same cancer within 6 months of each other, and it brought us closer than we might otherwise have been.  She has found a new partner, and started a new life.  Ken clearly adores her, and worked very hard to make the party a grand success, from the food....

...to the people....

....to a bagpiper playing and singing Happy Birthday...




 .......to the birthday girl herself.

There were a lot of people I hadn't seen since her husband Keith's memorial 7 years ago, and a lot of former colleagues, who had either not had their contracts renewed or had retired, so there was lots of catching up do do.  Very classy, great fun!

The rest of the week has been spent working (see above -noted expenses for why), and playing bridge - my usual bi-weekly kitchen bridge with the boys on Wednesday (where I came in first for a change!), and  by now regular weekly duplicate with friend Robin on Thursday (once again we placed, making master points in the process).  I am really not all that competitive - I don't care if I win as along as I play reasonably well - but I must say winning is nice!

Which brings me to the weekend, the time when most people go out, and I go to the office to catch up for the work I didn't do during the week!  I don't mind, though - it is once again rainy and miserable in Vancouver, and the office is as good a place to be as anywhere.  I can't wait to get to Palm Springs, though - a little more than 2 weeks from now!  However, you will hear from me before then!

oops!

Forgot the pictures from Hardly Strictly Bluegrass!

Later...

Fast Forward to San Francisco

When I last left you, I had just arrived back in Vancouver, on Tuesday, September 25, to a busy, busy schedule (and, you might justly say, what else is new?)

On Thursday, I played bridge with Robin and the group in White Rock.  It was Polka Dot Swiss Teams (the polka dot only referring to the required mode of dress - everyone had to wear polka dots - and I am  sorry that my camera was temporarily missing in action.  It was great fun - even I found some polka dot attire, including polka dot shoes which were greatly admired!)  I won't bore you with the details - the bridge players will know and the rest won't care - suffice it to say, a good time was had by all, and although we didn't do tremendously well as a team, at least Robin and I held our end up!

On Friday, I tried a new adventure, attending the Vancouver Film  Festival.  The reason that I never did it before is that I am  too conservative to really like avant garde films; the reason that I did it now was that they were showing Midnight's Children, an adaptation of the Salman Rushdie book, for which he himself wrote the screen play and the direction was done by the Canadian director (whose name escapes me at the moment) who directed Slum Dog Millionare.  I loved the book - I buy of his books just to show support, but think that this was his best.

[ Rushdie, interviewed recently after the controversy over the anti-muslim  film, for obvious reasons, looked straight at the camera and said, "Tell me where it is written that we have a right not to be offended?"  I just loved that.  And, I might add, when civilized people get offended, they write letters to the editor, they don't go around shooting people!]

Anyway, the film was all I could have hoped for and more.  The story, of course, was great, and the cinematography was spectacular.  I am  sure it will go into general release; see it if you can.  Two thumbs up!

Unfortunately, Saturday night's experience was not so great.  As you know, I volunteer for several theaters, and I had contracted to volunteer for one of the more experimental ones.  (See above about my feelings about experimental anything - what was I thinking?)  It was called Brief Encounters, and took 12 different kinds of artists, put them together in unlikely pairings (for example, the first pair was an astrophysicist and a puppeteer) and, having never met each other before, gave them two weeks to come up with a fifteen minutes to come up with a performance piece.  Suffice it to say, I finished my volunteer work, sat down to the performance - and lasted through the first one (only because it was too small an audience to walk out, as I might otherwise have done).  I mean, I do try to stretch my boundaries, but this was one step too far...

I actually do still work, and Monday and Tuesday, I attended a seminar on Mediation given by the B.C. Council of Administrative Tribunals, an organization where I was (briefly) on the Board of Directors.  I'd like to have mediation as yet another arrow in my quiver of possible part time employment possibilities, so this was a great fit for me. 

....friend Lisa, studious as always...

It was a lively group, and the exercises avoided the "california woo woo shit" stuff that these things sometimes deteriorate into, and were actually quite useful in making you mindful of the assumptions one makes and the minefields that can occur in a mediation situation.  After so many years in the administrative tribunal business, I know a number of the players, so, all in all, a good way to spend a couple of days.

And here comes the fast forward part; Wednesday night, dinner and bridge with the boys; Thursday, back to regular bridge in White Rock with Robin (this time we came in 3rd out of 12 tables of very good players, master points and strokes for us); and after a celebratory lunch with Robin, off to Seattle for dinner with Mariah and a brief sleep; and, on Friday morning at my usual crack of dawn flight, off to San Francisco.

[A brief digression.  Long time friends (we are getting of an age when I can't say "old friends" any more) know that I had a rather chaotic childhood, to put it charitably.  I suspect that is why I latch on to any traditions I can find.  I did it with David (summer parties, Boxing Day at homes and the like), and now with friends.  As you can imagine, Hank and I have developed any number of them.]

.....and our by now traditional lunch at Henry Hunan's, a local chain where, truth be told, we have been lunching since my banking days.  Now, since I regularly take the early flight to San Francisco, we generally get a group together for a first lunch at Henry Hunan's.

.....Hank and Chuck...

...and Scott, caught in mid-sentence (sorry Scott! I know you are better looking that you look here!)

Chinese food always makes me sleepy, so I went off to Hank's for a nap while he went back to work (not to worry, he is on the countdown for retirement as well), and then off to drinks and dinner at Perry's, a local watering hold downtown near the Embarcadero (also thumbs up by the way, if you want to put it on your list) with sights along the way....



...although I must say, there was more drinking than eating going on....

Hank's friend and fellow U of Arizona alumnus, Holly

....and Nick, ditto

I should have mentioned that the whole - by now annual, traditional - excuse for the trip was the Arizona/Stanford football game, so at least the first part of it was bound to be littered with U of A alums.

And Saturday was game time.  The game itself was scheduled to start at noon, so the tailgater started at 9:30 A.M.  My ostensible - and, again, traditional - role is to sell raffle tickets.  I am told I could sell snow to the Eskimos (and it is my firm - although unverified - belief that there was a pushcart in my ghetto past), and so I did, snapping pictures along the way.

I know, I know, I don't believe it either. What can I tell you?  However, I was a big hit, and sold over $1,200 in raffle tickets (with a bit of help, of course), a personal best!

Then, off to the game, where, at least one could sit down (and, the Stanford alumni, having more money than god, have rennovated their stadium to include backs for the seats - I guess they are getting old too!)

(You might ask, where did this green come from in the sea of red?   It is friend Andy, previously seen in these pages at Ashland, and, hopefully introduced as a long time friend of both Hank and myself from the Bank of America.  He has been helping Hank out at these tailgaters/games for way longer than I - perhaps 30 years?  He will wear a piece of Arizona gear, but insists on his University of Oregon tee.)

A disappointing finish (i.e., we lost), but a great game (so they tell me - I still don't understand the game, but I am getting better at keeping track of the ball - like everything else, practice makes perfect!), and a good time was had by all!

And yesterday, another adventure.  We went to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, a free music festival, held over three days in Golden Gate Park, attended litterally by the hundreds of thousands.  Hank had a specific agenda, though; we got there and settled down in time to hear Patti Smith, a legend in our day, sing her set, including - wait for it - her cover of the Springsteen song, Because the Night Belongs to Love.  Truth be told, Springsteen does it better (and did it better as recently as a few weeks ago in New Jersey), and Gloria.  I wasn't hugely impressed, but it was an event, and yet another belt notch, and was followed by a lovely dinner at my favorite local joint, Alama Square Bistro, where we decompressed and headed home.

San Francisco is always such an urban experience - crowds and public transportation and lots of walking, followed by good (and cheap, certainly by Vancouver standards) food and drink, and friendly people everywhere.  I love it.

No real plans for the rest of the week (except for the opera with Peter on Thursday, about which more anon), but I will, as always, keep you posted.  Enough for now.