Things sort of Normal and yet changes in my life~~~~

Hello Sweet Things,

I have been busy, and I've been neglecting my blog, but that is what happens when life interfers.

A friend of mine who use to work as a Librarian and is now retired, happily she says, told me that Library work is a series of interuptions, interupted by interuptions, multitasking required.

Well the Bart strike is long over, finally settled but the public is not happy with neither the Unions or Management, to the point where the Liut. Govenor Gavin Newsom was sitting at the table.  I have a suspection that he told them they better settle because the rumble is to pass a bill outlawing strikes by any public transit agencies, such a law is in a number of cities and states and it can happen here.  So they settled.  But I think such a bill will continue to be in the works, the damage is done.

The new bridge is now open, our old one is sitting to one side, a source of wonder to the people who use the new pedestrian walk to to walk up to it and take pictures, to see it from view they never saw unless they were on a tour boat,  I look at it when I take the transbay bus, I admire it, it is like an old steel worker, solid and as dependable as humanly possible, its hugeness and quiet power dwarfs the sleek lines of the new bridge, it is like a boxer that knows all the moves, can still do it but it has gone too many rounds and yet in its age still shows its power, it is not defeated, it can still take on the kid and still win.

But bit by bit it will be torn down, it will not be imploded, but dismantled piece by piece it will take years to remove it and yet during that time it will with its revits and steel beams still be a thing of wonder of the early 20th century.  Word is out that eventually you can buy pieces of it as a souviner.  I want a piece, to hold that power in my hands, that tiny fragment.

Joe and I had fun at the Vintage Fashion show, I found a few outfits that I like, as well as small accesories, Joe had fun purchasing two fedora's from one vendor who deals in men's fashions, and has taken Joe's measurements, he will call when he has several items in his size.  We drove up in one of the vintage cars we have, dressed in our vintage clothing,  there was a costume contest, music, food and drink, I love it.  I found some patterns for Mother that I think she'll enjoy.

Joe and his friend have finalized the purchase of the place they want to do car restoration and have made a deal with several people to rent space while they restore their cars, the extra money will come in handy, of course they had to go through all the safety things, insurance and such, and one of the cars that he's been working on has sold, the new owner will complete the body painting and finish up the interior, which is good.   So a hobby that will pay for itself as they say.   His friend will live in the upstairs apartment as a onsite caretaker and they are going to make sure no fire hazzards.

The house that Joe and I were looking at was taken off the market by the owners, they were planning to move out of state but whatever it was that they had planned on fell through and they are staying.  It's too bad because it would have been perfect.

Halloween has come and gone with quite a few trick or treaters, mostly little one's, there were several haunted houses being done by charities so the teens were going to that.  The little one's were so darling in their costumes, of course myself dressed as Maleficent and Joe dressed as Jafar was off putting for the tiniest, but we had fun.

And now we are on standard time, the nights come sooner, dawn comes at a time that seems normal.  Heather and her folks have invited us over for dinner several times and they are very nice people and doing much better than earlier in the year.  Heather is going for her Master's in art, but she is studying a form of art that I can only discribe as forensic reconstruction, by knowing the facial bone structure she can recreate a face, and from what her teacher has told her she is quite good at it.  She has discovered the joy and immediacy of oil pastels and is doing quick study sketches, she's been inspired by the California artist Jade Fong, espeically his portrait work but it is his landscapes he's best known for.  We shall see where this will lead her.

And I am still going to the Gunshows, the bill to remove the gun show from the Cal Palace was vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown, one of the few things he's done that's right.  Joe and I could not believe the number of families attending, with babies in strollers and little ones, all of them inquiring about security, and taking the gun tests, espeically a lot of women taking the tests with their husbands holding the babies, every one of them finding out what is the best way to protect themselves.   I've been noticing a change in the demographics of late, more families and less individuals and it is not just to prepare for the Zombie appocolypse, it was like a "war mentality"  they were very serious.

This morning it was foggy outside, Foggy!!! There was no fog in last night's forecast. Heather told me that this morning the little beast called "Baby" was puzzeled by it, thinking that the boogins hides in the fog, it might be right.


I stepped out onto the balcony and just enjoyed the fresh feeling of the air, that dampness that is not rain but surrounds you, in many ways I like it better than snow or rain.  I could just barely hear the sound of fog horns of the ships at anchor in the Bay, San Francisco was hidden by the foggy shroud.

Fog is mysterious, its effect creates mystery, its the stuff of old Film noirs and horror movies, it hides the imperfections of the city, of even my view of what I can see in a hazy, filmy dream like substance and creates a hidden distance, from which a mysterious figure could emerge, like Sam Spade, Philip Marlow, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, the hound of the Baskervilles or the blood thristy victorian serial killer,  Jack the Ripper.

It's the atmosphere of ships at dock, abandon wharfs, fog horns in the distance, gloomy castles, haunted houses that have a sad air, lonely cemeteries where strange beings rise up from hidden depths, and it's just perfect to curl up in front of a fireplace, with a cup of hot chocolate and a good book to read in the evening.

The down side of fog is the dangerous driving conditions, slippery sidewalks, catching cold. Oh well one can't have it all, come to think of it I do have a good murder mystery to read this evening.

And Joe has arrived, I'm glad I had the day off,  Joe asked if it were possible for me to make stew tonight and I have,  with french bread, a good red wine, a salad, and hot apple pie for dessert.  It's a good thing we both work out otherwise we'd be fat.

Kisses Sweet Things.

Chilly weather and hot coffee~~~~

Hello Sweet Things,

There is nothing like the scent of coffee perking on a chilly Sunday morning to revive a person,  I was sitting outside enjoying a cup and enjoying the view from my balcony before turning to my computer and catching up with e-mail.

The nip on the tip of my nose tells me we may have a very cold winter, but will rain come enough to ease our water problems?  That I do not know.  I do know I'm rotating the wardrobe and bringing out my heavy coats for the city and gloves.

On the wines we bought, there were a number of wineries in Napa and Sonoma that are very excellenct and I really cannot recommend one over the other, only that the trip was relaxing and buying the wine was an excuse for our trip,  we did stop to walk the Petrified Forest and see California's old Faithful gyeser, it was just an excuse to get away from the city and re-breath ourselves.  Some of the wines were limited editions and seasonal.  But it was mostly scenery for us.

Last night at the Pirates Haunted house was so much fun and exhausting as well,  giggles and laughter,  Joe wants to go back again next weekend, he swears and I agree that we missed somethings.   It was good to see Heather laughing again, she had been down for sometime after Lillian had passed away.

One e-mail remarked that I was off on what I posted yesterday, I looked and the person was correct.

The lady who passed away had two other sisters, one died in an accident with her husband and the other who lived with the lady never married and died in the house several years before her.  That was the confusion.

Now I must go, Joe is out of the shower and we have errands to run, I had not realized how bare was the cupboard.

Kisses Sweet Things

Coyote howls and Sea and Sand~~~

Hello Sweet Things,

Just a short post, I'm on a borrowed computer, and the owner is kind enough for me to use his wi fi.

Joe had enough of the insanity happening in Oakland with all the marching and protesting.   His company was able to provide more video footage of those alleged protesters that were doing serious damage to the local businesses.

I'm not going to get into the Martin/Zimmerman thing, but all I can say is it was a mistake by both parties involved, and then to discover on Piers Morgan that the girl that Martin was talking to was egging him on to confront Zimmerman because he might be a rapists???   Well with that interview I knew who really got the fight going.  Young and over active testosteron vs. older and over zealous and both stupid.

All all this protesting??? What is it going to solve??? Nothing, because parents are not parenting the young people, Bill Cosby in an interesting observation remarked what was wrong.  But then there are those that chose to ignore it.

So Joe loaded the Jeep with camping gear, tent etc.  and we went to the Santa Cruz mountians and are now camping for the extended weekend.  

I have to say it was nice to be away from the T.V. and just read, hike, nap, read some more, nap some more and of course eat.

But last night got a bit chilling, at least for me.  I had packed the food into the lock box in the jeep for safety, don't want ravenous squirrels attacking the Bisquit mix.  When around 1 a.m. I woke up to hear a pack of Coyoties running, yipping, howling, now sometimes we'll hear them in the morning, but from the sound of it they were coming closer and we didn't have a nearby neighbor in another tent, they got closer and closer and Joe even woke up.

Finally they were running back and forth in front of and behind the tent, we could see their shadows thrown on the tent walls from some ambient light, and yipping and howling, I felt so frightened, Joe sat up and grabed the base ball bat, and I grabed a crowbar that was under my cot. 

But the minute I felt that cold Iron in my hand I suddenly felt this energy coming up from the ground and I yelled in my deepest voice "Get out of here you curs, Get! Get!! Get!!!  Get Going!!!  Get out of here!!!"   and they retreated and ran away still yipping and howling but going North of us. 

Joe looked at me and said "Now where did that come from?"  and I said "The Coyoties?"  and he said "No, your voice and energy."  and I said "I haven't a clue."   dropped the crowbar and fell back to sleep.

This morning Joe made a good size pot of coffee and said he'd cook breakfast while I went and took a shower, I took the base ball bat with me, never know if you need to beat down a good size spider.

He put the coffee into an insulated thermos so we'd have coffee for an hour or so with out it getting burned, and talked about the Coyote event, some people who were also camping came by and we offered our coffee which they were happy to have.  The man a little younger than Joe said that those Coyote's were feeling their oats last night, must have been some young one's and we talked more about it.  The woman said if that person had not yelled at them they weren't sure what would have happened and did we know who it was that yelled at the pack, Joe and I looked at each other and said "No" and left it at that.

Because of our interupted sleep we thought we'd stay around the area instead and took a hike on the Redwood loop trail, we went over to Roaring Camp and bought tickets for the Beach train for tomorrow, then drove over to the Store to buy more ice.  Joe is grilling some nice small steaks and we are going to try Bubba Ray's Bar-B-Que sauce,  and a nice bottle of red wine.  We may turn in early tonight and hope for a good nights sleep, unless the Coyote pups come back.

Kisses Sweet Things