Back safe and sound

This time the delay was deliberate - I wanted to wait to make sure I hadn't caught anything yucky on my trip before I wrote again.  I seem to be okay, so am reporting in.

The trip to San Francisco was as it should be, uneventful.  Until I got to the San Francisco airport, that is, when my limitations became apparent.  I usually take BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit, for the uninitiated) from the airport to town.  This time, though, by the time I finished the airport sprint, through miles and miles of airport corridors, masked, I could barely breathe.  No, make that I couldn't breathe at all.  It was all I could do to make it to the taxi.  Luckily, the price of a taxi doesn't seem to have gone up at all (at the time that I arrived, Uber was twice as expensive), and by the time I got to the San Francisco Suites, I had my breathe back.

The San Francisco Suites is new for me, so let me explain.  Since Hank died several years ago (Peter's place has been off limits for sleepovers for decades) staying over in San Francisco has been catch-as-catch-can.  For a while, I was staying at the Hays Valley Inn, a b & b a few blocks from the opera, but that has gotten way too expensive.  Enter friend Geoff, who is on the board of the Suites.  It is a time share of sorts; I won't bore you with the details, but a share entitles the owner to a suite for $200 a night, or sometimes less, depending on the circumstances.  That passes for cheap in San Francisco, so I recently "adopted" a share.

The location is great (Powell and Pine, for those of you who know San Francisco), and the rooms are delightful.

The people are great too, more like a b & b (without the breakfast) than a hotel, and I am already looking forward to staying there again.

Friend Geoff happened to be staying there as well, and after wine and cheese in his room, we met friend Peter (previously often mentioned in these pages) at Kokkari for dinner.  Kokkari has been voted best restaurant in San Francisco by the critics, and it is our favorite too.

There's Geoff, below....

... and, of course, Peter

Peter and Geoff are from different parts of my life, but have a lot in common, and get along famously.  And, of course, I love them both.  Great conversation, and, of course, great food...  Generally speaking, I am not one to take pictures of food, but...

..... those are smelts, an appetizer I had been looking forward to since my last visit a number of years ago.  They were even better than I remembered.  The main course was lamb (did I say it was a Greek restaurant?).  All yummy.  Too expensive for regular visits, but still my go-to place for a special occasion.

The next day, Peter introduced me to West Edge Opera. a small opera company which he supports.  With good reason, it turns out (not that I doubted him).  They don't have a permanent home, so it is catch-as-catch-can with venues.  This one was in a small outdoor theater in the East Bay, specifically, Orinda.  They were performing Eliogabalo, by Cavali.  No, I hadn't heard of it either, but as early music operas go, the music was quite wonderful.

As you can see, the location was spectacular...  and the staging - nudity and all - actually worked.

The next day, we headed off for Santa Fe, the main reason for the trip.  Because of the timing of the opera on the subsequent four nights, the first night was the only night we were going to have time for a serious dinner.  We did, at a Mexican restaurant called La Cena.

As you can see, lovely spot...

... and here I am, taking pictures of food again...

....couldn't help myself.  The presentation was so lovely, and yes that is caviar....

The fly in the ointment?  Although I have been to Santa Fe many times before, I forgot about the altitude - 8.000 feet or so?  I couldn't breath during the day, and couldn't sleep very well at night (although the hotel, Drury Plaza was quite adequate).  It slowed me down, but didn't stop me.  Luckily, having been to Santa Fe numerous times, I didn't have any touristy agenda items, just the opera, which we managed quite well.  More about that below.

We did see the cathedral (again), and a number of the museums and galleries in town.

.....spent some time in the plaza....

..... and met up with Stephen, an old college buddy of Peter's, for lunch.

Mexican again, but I have to say that the Mexican food in Santa Fe is very different from the Tex Mex we get in California - much spicier, for starters....

And now, the opera....

As you can see. open air. masks required, and distancing enforced with empty seats between bubbles, so felt quite safe...  The four operas were Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, John Corigliano's The Lord of Cries (a world premier, more about it below). Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin (the big draw for me; a favorite  not performed all that often in North America) and Benjamin Britten's Midsummer Night's Dream (not my favorite of Shakespeare;s plays, but you know me - anything Shakespeare will do...).  

The singing was uniformly good - it always is at Santa Fe, the staging mostly so.  The exception, unfortunately, was Eugene Onegin.  The director was American, but otherwise met the definition of Eurotrash - the director getting in the way of the story and the music.

Re The Lord of Cries, the story was a mash-up of Dracula and The Bachae by Euripides - sounds just like something I'd like, right?  (NOT)  Turns out, it was quite wonderful story, music and staging.  I would see it again if it were on offer - although perhaps not too often (too intense).

Going to the opera with Peter is always magical - not only the opera, but Peter's knowledgeable conversation about the opera, the singers, and, of course, music world gossip.  

We flew back to San Francisco the day following the last opera.  I stayed one more night at the Suites, and flew back to Palm Springs the next day.  The visit was undoubtedly a success, but I was happy to get home.  I felt very fragile out there....

The following week included a return to bridge (considering how much I had been playing before the trip, it is amazing I didn't go into withdrawal without it), and dinner at Sami G's with Sue...

It is one of our favorite Italian restaurants in town, and neither of us had been for a long time, so great fun.

And, finally, the long promised book list....

I have been reading (and listening to) lots of trash, including popular novels by David Baldacci and Harlan Coben.  For trash, it is actually pretty well written.  The recurring theme, of course, is the past coming to haunt the present.  Resonates with me.  

Other trash, in the mystery rather than the thriller vein, was The Noel Letters, by Richard Paul Evans, and Transient Desires, by Donna Leon.  The latter is part of a series, set in Venice, and I hope to ultimately read all of them.  Also, read Troubled Blood, by Robert Galbraith, aka JKRowling, very good indeed.  

I had read The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides some time back.  It was his first novel, and a very intelligent thriller.  His second book, The Maidens, was just as good.  I think we have a winner.

There were a number of rejects:  The best of Elizabeth Hand (highly touted short stories, two thumbs down); Whereabouts, by Indian writer Jhumpa Lahiri (couldn't get into it); and Dark Tides by Philippa Gregory (discovered I had already read it).

On a more serious note, The Premonition: a Pandemic Story, by Michael Lewis.  I would read anything he wrote (and have), and in the current circumstances, this was very worth while.  Hemmet, by Maggie O'Farrell.  This was actually a novel, but based on Shakespeare's life, and, more specifically, on the (short) life of Hammet, his son.  (Shakespeare wrote Hamlet - another form of Hammet in Elizabethan English - shortly after his son's death.  I devour all things Shakespeare, as some of you know.  This was a great addition.

Then This is your Life on Plants, by Michael Pollen.  This one was a disappointment.  I used to like his books, but now he has got a been in his bonnet about psychedelic drugs, and it is getting boring.  Thumbs down.  

Finally, I am reading the ultimate biography of Toscanini, by Harvey Sachs.  I love biographies anyway, but this one is particularly fascinating, involving as it does the whole history of modern opera, not to mention the literary and cultural history of the 20th century (it is amazing to me how much of it is familiar, and like revisiting old friends).  This was given to me by Geoff (see above), and I couldn't be more thrilled.

Well, that's all folks.  As we are all going back into COVID hibernation, I don't know how much there will be to write about, but I will keep you apprised....

Another week (okay, 3) and the world has changed

 

Friend Sue and I went for lunch at Billy Reeds.  Twice.  (Actually, the first time was for dinner....)  Sue had never been there before - I actually don't think she had ever heard of it - and it is one of my favourites - so I had to introduce her to it.   She loves it, and it is so fun when you introduce a friend to one of your favs and she loves it too.  It is really only a glorified diner, but it has been a Palm Springs go- to for forever - it is still on the list!!!!

Also went on Thursday to Encina. for a get together with the bunch from the gym....

... we have these get-togethers five or six times a year, and even the heat of the summer can't stop us!

But all that has stopped now.  The bridge club has "paused" face-to-face games even for the fully vaccinated, to see how the new Delta variant of COVID plays out.  The gym and zumba are still open, but I have paused them, discretion being the better part of valour and all of that.  It is sort of fitting that the gym get-together will be my last (local) outing for a while.  Dorothy's (pictured immediately above) 80th birthday party, in March 2019, was the last outing before everything closed down then....

I am going on an outing, though, previously planned and not readily cancelled.  I am heading out to San Francisco and Santa Fe for opera, and any other cultural events that I can fit into 10 days....  I'm going with Peter, my long time opera buddy.  I will be careful of course, double mask on the plane, etc.  Let's hope for the best.

I will probably not write while I'm gone - I am not taking a computer - and the book list will have to wait.  Can't do it now.

Ta ta for now....

Yesterday was my 75th birthday.  Three quarters of a century - who would have thought?  My birthday line for a while has been, "If I'd known I would live this long, I would have taken better care of myself..."  It still applies..... 

I had a lovely day.  Lots of cards - yes, real cards - and calls and Facebook shoutouts and emails.  The bridge director told everyone in the club, it seems like, and my partner of the day even baked a cake.  And neighbor Michael took me to Norma's at the Parker, an exclusive little spot in the neighborhood.

It was a delightful evening, our first celebrating my birthday (this is the first year I have been here in the summer...)

Between Zumba

... and bridge....

... and the gym, my days are getting fuller. I am also babysitting friend Michael #2's cat, which takes some time.   

I promised you pictures of the house, though...

...... and the neighborhood'''

.

.and now, to bed.  But know that I am grateful for all of the good wishes, and am content.

More anon

 

Goal Accomplished

 Well, I am well and truly settled in.  My stuff arrived from Vancouver as advertised on June 6, and here we are, a month later, and all is unpacked and stowed away.  Of course, I have way too much stuff (yes, John, I will admit it), and will go through every closet and drawer and get rid of enough so that what I have is accessible.  But I am here, and it still feels right.

For those of you concerned about the heat, a report.  Yes, it is hot.  Like everywhere else, it is probably hotter than normal this year too - we have already had a number of 116 degree days (that`s around 44 degrees I think).  I know it is a trope to say, yes, but it is a dry heat, but it`s true.  I swear, 80 degrees in Houston feels hotter than this.  I go for my walk at about 5 A.M., and it is still a quite pleasant 70 degrees about that time, and stays reasonable until 10 or 11.   I go for a brief walk around the neighborhood about 8:30 P.M.. when it is again quite balmy.  Lots of people like the pool at night, although I myself haven`t tried it.  And during the day, air conditioning everywhere makes activities like the weight training class at the gym, the Zumba class at the community center, bridge and dining, all quite pleasant. 

With everything opening up again, friendships are increasing exponentially - I think we are all so grateful to be seeing - and hugging - people that people are connecting possibly more than they normally would.  Admittedly, there are fewer people here than there will be when the season starts in October, but the good news is that I have the time and opportunity to solidify my newly found friendships.

Reading goes on too, of course.  Helga, a neighbor, lent me Girl, Woman, Other, by Bernardine Evaristo, which won the Booker Prize in 2019.  Not the type of book I normally read - about black-lesbian-other women (and not the type of book I would have expected Helga to read either - you can learn a lot about your friends by sharing books....), but if the criteria for a good book is that it takes you somewhere you wouldn`t otherwise go, well, it was a good book.  

Likewise A Hundred Suns, by Karin Tanabe.  This is a book about Vietnam, a place that I know very little about.  However, I have a trip to Vietnam scheduled for late October, and nothing beats fiction for getting to know the heart of a place (this one is about the French involvement, not ours, so a bit easier to read, I imagine).  Anyway, I can recommend it.

Next up was Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro, who wrote Remains of the Day.  Again, an unusual book for me - I am not usually fond of books about dystopias, but he is a wonderful writer, and I will read anything he writes (I think I already told you about Klara and the Sun, a book he wrote about robots designed as artificial friends, which, believe it or not, I couldn`t put down, or, more accurately, stop listening to) 

Some time ago, I read Olive Again, a book about a cantankerous old lady named Olive, by Elizabeth Strout.  I finally picked up the first Olive book, Olive Kitteridge, which shows how she got to be a cantankerous old lady.  It reminds me of nothing so much as Winesburg, Ohio, the classic about a small town, with descriptions of the people of the town and how they interact.Again. two thumbs up.

Little Fires Everywhere is a novel by Celeste Eng, which I enjoyed.  And for the middle aged white male contribution, I read two thrillers by an old favourite, Robert Crais, Free Fall and The Watchman.  If you like thrillers, add Robert Crais to your repertoire.  (I don`t generally speaking read thrillers, but I make an exception for him.)

 Other books I`ve listened to since we last spoke: The Punishment She Deserves, a mystery by Elizabeth George; and The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova, who wrote the very popular The Historian a number of years ago.  This one is difficult to listen to - the destruction of a country, Romania,through war and revolution - but a good book nonetheless.

What else can I tell you?  Nothing right now - it is time for my evening walk.  So, another boring post, sans pictures.  However, my camera is charging as we speak, and I promise there will be pictures of my newly installed library and my environs next time....

Everything is proceeding apace.....

Exciting news - my stuff is arriving from Canada on June 6.  That is sooner than I expected, and cheaper than I expected to (thank you, John)  In anticipation, I have had some work done to expand the capacity of my closets, and ordered bookshelves for the arriving library.  So, everything is falling into place, and the goal is that by July 18, my 75th birthday, I will be unpacked and settled in. The clothes should just be a matter of hanging up in the newly expanded closets, and I already have volunteers - my reading friends, of course - to help me sort and shelve books.  Then, the pictures, and, voila, ready for my new life.

So far, no regrets.  It just feels right.  I don't believe in regrets anyway - I have had a few in my life, but not many - and my nature is such that I am not tormented by them.

Part of the reason for moving down here is my much more fulsome social life down here, a lot of which is opening up now.  Opera in the movies will be back soon, restaurant dining is back in swing (3 dinners with 3 different sets of friends this week alone), and, wonder of wonder miracle of miracles, a Memorial Day party next weekend.  I will try to get the camera in gear to memorialize the post-COVID start up of my social life.

And in the midst of all this, quite a bit of reading as well... really, some reading and some listening, as mostly I listen to books when I am doing my 5 mile a day walk (that's give of take 12,000 steps, but who's counting except my tyrannical phone).  Reading includes mostly mysteries.  I was introduced to Susan Hill (The Various Haunts of Men) by friend Nan, and since some of my old favorite authors are dying off, new additions are always welcome; this one was a good read.  Another author new to me (but around for a while) is Stuart Woods.  The one I read (again courtesy of Nan) was called Double Jeopardy.  A complete piece of fluff, but not objectionable; I would read another if it came my way (although I wouldn't seek it out, and I certainly wouldn't spend money for it).  Next up was The Wedding Guest by Joseph Kellerman.  As mystery fans know, Kellerman has been around for a while as well, but I have someone managed to avoid reading him till now.  A good read, though, and I will certainly read more - and there are many!

In cleaning out my current bookshelves, in anticipation of the new arrivals, discovered Ruth Rendell's No Man's Nightengale.  I have read any number of her books, but not this one.  It may be her last, as she died not too many years after this one was published.  Inspector Wexford, her sleuth, solves this one from retirement.  Not her best outing, but good nonetheless.  

In a more serious vein ( I would go so far as to say depressing) was Atul Gawande's Being Mortal, which explores the relationship between modern medicine and aging.  He is a doctor, and his thesis, with which I heartily agree, is just because medicine can do something doesn't mean it should, and that we should all take control of our medical fate.  And god bless hospice.....

The final contribution in the "physical books" department is The Mapmaker's Wife, by Robert Whitaker.  It is a true story of French scientists in the Amazon in the 17th century. or, as the subtitle has it "A True Tale of Love, Murder and Survival in the Amazon".  As most of you know, science doesn't interest me much - I skipped over the heavier bits - but it was interesting to me because it was in Equador and the Amazon, which I have visited - and was amazingly well written for the type of book it is.  

And now the listening bits....I am currently listening to Surrender, New York, by Caleb Carr.  I previously listened to Angel of Darkness, by the same author, and I do love his writing....Elizabeth George is an old favourite, and I just listed to The Punishment She Deserves. I think I have now "read" all of hers.  Sigh.

Well, I will keep you posted...

  

Bid Changes

 So once again, it has been a month since I spoke to you, but for a change there is an excuse.  Big changes are happening.

I have decided to stay down in the Desert.  When we last spoke, I said that without work to draw me, I was feeling precious little pull to go back to Vancouver.  And, of course, Canada has made it very difficult for citizens to come home, requiring 3 COVID tests, a mandatory stay at a government-chosen hotel at a cost to me of $2000.00 plus, followed by a 14 day quarantine.  All of this in spite of the fact that I have had both shots of the vaccine.  

Meanwhile, a friend's son and his bride would like to house-sit  my apartment, my friend Paul has made my kitchen goods disappear, friend John and his moving and storage company have packed my books and clothes and whisked them into storage, my car in Vancouver has found a new home, and bob's your uncle, I can stay in the Desert.

Yes, the summers here are hot.  But that is why god created air conditioners, I am assuming.  And several other friends are spending their first summer here (one having moved from Michigan, the other from Brooklyn), and we are looking at sharing a house in Idyllwilde for a few months this summer.  It is an hour's drive from Palm Spring, but is in the surrounding mountain, and is about 30-35 degrees cooler than it is in Palm Springs in the summer.  We drove to Idyllwile today, and it is really a sweet town, with lots of restaurants, book stores and other little shops.  So we will see.

Meanwhile,  back in Palm Springs, almost everyone (and certainly every one I know) has been vaccinated - twice - and pretty nearly everything is open here in Palm Springs, with limitations - masking, hand washing, and distancing, so life is wonderful.  I have had several Scrabble "dates" with friend Michael, several dinners out - a new (to me) Vietnamese restaurant - called 533 - with friends John and Tom, a new (to me) Mexican restaurant - Las Casuelas -  with friend Sue, and dinner with a group - yes, you read that right - a group - of friends at the venerable Thunderbird Club.  Oh my god, how much fun was that.  

I know I am leaving my friends up North in the lurch, but I am hopeful that next year the borders will be open, and I will certainly be receiving guests.  

I know some of you are worried about the state of my health - having read my last post, I am not surprised.  I will no doubt not live forever  - nor do I want to - but I am feeling much better, and among my other accomplishments this last month, I have organized my pills on this side of the border, and generally, my ongoing health care is in place.  So, worry not, my friends.

Wish me well, folks, and I will keep you posted...