Sunday, July 27, 2008

Dale Chihuly Day at the museum and other events this week. And last.

Well, Dale's beautiful glass will be there several days, I only one. Today Annie drove she and I to San Francisco. She asked me to get a map from google, then drove out of Napa in the direction she felt was best, not the one Mr. google had in mind. So, we made it to Golden Gate Park to the DeYoung Museum after much driving around in the park which is quite large with a number of roads and few street signs. Very few. We couldn't find our way, and the directions worked from the other side of the world, not the one we drove in on. And I had to go. Annie finally found a Starbuck's and dropped me on the street to use their facility because she was getting tired of the whining and I was ready to get out at almost any spot that had a tree or shrub. She somehow maneuvered back to where she left me. She gave me the driving job while she used google maps on her Iphone until we honed in on the museum.

If you are not familiar with Chihuly's work, you can check it out on www.chihuly.com. It is beautifully colored, and huge proportions for glass art. The museum has a 360 degree look out from the 9th floor, so we took that in as well. By now, we were getting hungry. Missed the route back the way we came, which was across the Golden Gate Bridge, and left SF by the Bay Bridge. It works too. It gave us a chance to eat in a Chinese restaurant we've eaten at before. We had a nice lunch with enough left overs for us to each have another meal.

It was a foggy day which means it's not sunny (duh!) and it's not warm. The marine layer covered the city, but as we got closer to Napa, it was sunny. I'm guessing it was 65 in the city and 85 in Napa. On the way home through Oakland we saw a big kite flying event from a distance. It was along the water front, but we were on the freeway. It looked like hundreds of kites, some were just dots but one was clearly a very large dragon. I was sorry we didn't have time to see it, too.

Yesterday there was a fund raiser at Napa College in which volunteers teams walk from 9:00 AM Saturday til the same time on Sunday to raise money for the Cancer society. Annie had a group of friends who were committed to walk. They had gazillion kids and held a pot luck supper. So I made my special brownies, you know the ones that come in a box from Trader Joe's. Yum. And came for dinner. They had tents and stages set up around the athletic track around which everyone walked. It was such nice weather.

The kids sold lemonade which they planned for the whole year, I guess, the mom's freezing gallons of lemon juice. They had a little wooden booth. When I came there were a bunch of little girls who were all excited as they had been "interviewed" by a newswoman. The only one who made the paper was Tess. It's a front page story, but she is on the continuation on page 5. Sorry I can't see you to shove it under your nose. Thank goodness for the internet. You can see the article and the piture on the newspaper's web site. I'm becoming such a web address dropper!

Copy and paste this into your browser. When you see the story, click on next picture to see Tess.

http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2008/07/27/news/local/doc488bf8ff80c11685769326.txt

By time here is getting shorter. I'm not sure when I'll go home to Phoenix, but it will be by the end of August. I miss Bill but I don't want to go there, I want us to be here. I am very thankful for this precious time I have had with Annie and the girls. Also, the weather! In Phoenix, for me, it's like being snowed in all winter. I don't go to events, or spend much time with friends. Just travel to work, the store, and home to crawl out of sweaty cloths and crash. Of course, in Napa, it is also nice to be working part time, no commuting, not much laundry, cooking, and evenings with no company.

I've also become more introspective. It's easier to think without my cluttered house and a bunch of unfinished chores and projects. I love the drive from here to Annie's and back. It's so leafy.

When Bill was here, we were driving from Mt. Veeder to Napa and smack across my lane of a two lane curvey road, at night, was a downed tree part; like a curtain. Thanks to good brakes, we were safe. Bill thought he would get out and pull it out of the way. Oops, it was lying on a power-line. So we drove around it and stopped at the first house to call 911 to report. The TV was on and the windows and doors open, but no people. I hollered and finally the guy came to the door and told me I could use his phone. Yes, I have a cell, but there is no reception on the Mountain. It was kinda a scary house, very unkempt and raggedy. The guy had to stand on a chair to turn on a light in the room were his phone was plugged into the wall. You still have one like that, don't you. The dispatcher wanted to know if there was sparking, no, but there could be quite a wreck if some hits it or swerves to avoid it. The guy and his friend came out to the road to God bless us as we drove away.

With their (Calif) wild fires, I thought we would pass an emergency or at least utility vehicle on the way to town. I called Annie when I got home and she said there were fire truck from the other way. Guess there's something over the mountain, but I haven't been.

The next time I drove home from her place, there was a skunk waddling across the road. Thank God again for good brakes. I would probably be better off hitting a power line than a skunk, but I missed him, too. The headlights really hit that white streak.

I think someone is looking out for me this summer and I would like to express that I am very grateful. It's been a summer full of new stuff and family warmth.

Glory, glory.

ps there is a story in the paper about a couple that is making rhinestone studded t-shirts with a wine theme. I think it's funny that one says Wine Rack.

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