Ready to go!

First of all, Unmute Yourself, Girlfriend is already published. BookBaby has been distributing the pre-orders, not waiting for the July 4 publication date. Susan, our chief editor, who laid out all the publishing cost, has recovered her expenses and from that point on, all the money goes to the alumnae association for a scholorship for a Girls' High girl for college. On BookBaby, you can order an e-version and or the print version, but the Kindle version will not be out until it's available on Amazon, which, I suppose will be next week. If you are thinking of ordering it, via BookBaby will allow us more funds for the alumnae association than Amazon will.

For anyone wondering about the cover, the school has pink marble halls (and the real cover is more pink than the purple in this image) and there is a replica of the Winged Victory in the main hall. 

We went to Najac for a few days earlier this month, visiting Emma and Gabriel in Ginals, and we came back with Emma, who spent a few days going to museums and trying to see friends. She managed to see her best friend since Ecole Maternelle (pre-K) but was not so successful with the other visits and her appointment with the dentist was cancelled at that last minute because of water damage in the office or the building. Not a complete failure, but not a complete success, either. 

While we were there, I took picures of the vegetable garden. We picked lots and lots of cherries and we came home with some fresh artichokes, which I just finished up cooking, yesterday. Here, I managed to pick some raspberries this past week. It's not the kind of crop we've had in the past. There are fewer plants and they are not producing as much. I did manage to make a small jar of jam, though. And I suppose we'll get some more to eat this week.

Yesterday, Anne invited me to the Magritte / Renoir exhibit at the Orangerie. We had lunch together beforehand. Our reservation was for 2:00 p.m. It's not a big exhibit and doesn't take much time to walk through. I liked seeing the Renoir and Magritte paintings associated like that. I would not have imagined such a powerful influence on Magritte. I was also impressed by Magritte's efforts to lighten up the Surrealist movement during and especially after the war -- to focus on the positive. There are arrows on the floor to make sure you follow the flow and, of course, there aren't many people allowed in each time slot. It makes it really pleasant. You can step back to see the whole picture; you can get up close if you need to. Since it didn't take us much more than half an hour, we walked through some of the permanent exhibit - Matisse, Picasso - and sat for a while among Monet's Waterlilies, where I really appreciated not having a crowd block the view between the seat in the center of the room and the paintings. This is one nice effect of the Covid restrictions. 

From there, we went up the Champs-Elysées by métro because I was not feeling up to the walk from Concorde almost all the way up to the Arc de Triomphe. That gave us time for a smoothie at a café (2 smoothies cost us more than lunch for the two of us!) before going to the movies (again, thanks to Anne) to see "Minari". It's the Korean Film Festival week. A foreign movie, on a weekday afternoon -- I think there were not more than 10 of us in the theater. That's too bad. It's a good movie. 

It was a full day out and about in the city. I can't remember the last time I had such a day. I hope to start up my Navigo transportation pass again in September and go into Paris more frequently as I used to. 

Unmute Yourself, Girlfriend is ready for pre-orders

I have already told you that my high school classmates have been meeting on Zoom since May 2020. We've been getting closer and closer since the 40th reunion back in 2008, first with an email list, then in a private Facebook group, and spurred on by the Covid-19 pandemic, on Zoom.

I've already told you that some of us, 43 to be exact, have written an anthology of our memoirs: Unmute Yourself, Girlfriend.

Quoting from a friend's publication notification:

"A Woodstock Icon, a Judge, a Columbine survivor, an Archaeologist, a Midwife/Pot Farmer/CEO, a Sex Therapist, Accountants, a Linguist, Dancer, a Molecular Biophysicist, Artists, a Film Production masochist, a Ballistic/Engineer Scientist, a Topless Dancer who became a Nurse, numerous Teachers, Writers and Doctorates & many Wives and Mothers - all well imagined and fully realized women, these are our Authors.

"Unmute Yourself, Girlfriend will be released July 4^th 2021 and is now available to pre-order in either print or e-book. Please visit our page at: BookBaby.com 

"All the profits from the sale of this book will go toward scholarships at our alumnae association at The Philadelphia High School for Girls. It is our gift to Girls’ High for what it took many of us fifty-plus-years to realize - that there were influences bestowed upon us by just being Girls’ High girls - even as some of us, including me, were kicking and screaming at the time. The stories are from the straight-A-students to the summer school attendees… varied and as unique as they all are – the forty-three seventy-year-old-women who were once teenagers together in an all girls’ school 1964-68 and who continue to share their tears & laughter…

"We have also started a blog and we’d love to see you there: Unmute Yourself, Girlfriend

I may be posting more on the Unmute Yourself, Girlfriend blog -- at least for serious thoughts.
.  

Catching up these past few months -- Happy New Year!

 

A Journal, sort of

January 9, 2021

A friend reminded me that I hadn't written a blog post in a long, long while. I didn't feel like writing, frankly. I made a sweater for Co. on the renovated machine. In September, after consulting again with the surgeon, we decided to proceed with a hip replacement in mid-November. Then, in France, we went on partial reconfinement -- for us, it was the same as the first one. One-hour out-of-home activity, curfew, etc. There were a few high school classmate reunions on Zoom and the following journal is a result of those meetings. I have configured it so that the reader bores down to the past. That way, once it was started, the reader doesn't have to scroll down all the way to the latest installment; it's at the top. I've edited slightly for the blog, taking out full names. (My friends and family can figure out who's who; other readers don't really need to know.) This, then, is a long post, with a lot of catching up.

January 7, 2021

I can't believe what I saw last night when I turned on the TV. But let's get the good news out of the way.

Yesterday, before 7a.m., I left on a 5-hour drive to Mulhouse in our 14-year-old Prius. It was a very smooth trip. I got to the dealership before they were closing for their two-hour lunch break. I left after 1p.m. to return home in our new-to-us one-year-old Prius. 

I can't describe the pleasure I have on long, solitary drives. I can listen to the radio. I can drive as I like to drive. I got home just before 7p.m., before our 8p.m. curfew. A long 12-hour day.

After a bite eat, I turned on CNN. The thugs were still "just" on the Capitol steps; they hadn't yet broken in. The scene brought me to tears. I've been to the Capitol. I've been to the office of Nancy Pelosi -- when she was the Minority Leader. I've been to the office buildings, especially Cannon, where my Representative from PA-3, Dwight Evans, is. Seeing an attempted coup in Washington is just too much. 

This morning, I woke up to the Pennsylvania electoral college vote being objected to. As I write this, they are getting back to the full session to continue the tally. It's. 3:23a.m. in DC, 9:23 in France. I'm confident the procedure will now continue smoothly. 

I'm not confident that the inauguration on the 20th will go smoothly. I'm afraid that even after the inauguration, President Biden and Vice President Harris will be in danger. I'm sad and angry to see how low our country has fallen.

January 5, 2021

Good news first. Yesterday, I wanted to go for a walk and P agreed to go, too. Then I suggested that maybe R and M could join us. They've been our dear friends since our daughters, now 45, started école maternelle when they were going on 3. R and I have been out walking together a few times since December. It was time to get our husbands out. We went into the Bois de Vincennes and went around the lac des Minimes. For us, from home and back, that's precisely 5km. As we chatted away, it was a smooth walk. I think I can declare my recovery complete.

It's the doctor who will really decide if I'm fully recovered. My appointment with him is this afternoon. 

Not such good news. Cl is still coughing and exhausted. G is still so exhausted he couldn't take Ch to the halfway stop for N to meet them and take her home. N came all the way to Northampton to pick her up. A, the 11 year old, has become the family chef. She loves to cook. As Cl says, the meals are not balanced, but at least they're eating and she's having fun. She's also been a bit anxious with both parents sick. C, 7, is very quiet. As of today, the U.K. is back on full lockdown. Cl says it'll give her more time to get back her strength as she didn't feel she'd have been able to walk Co to school starting today.

We discussed the catastrophic vaccine distribution strategies in the U.K. and in France. In two weeks, France is still counting vaccination in the hundreds, not yet reaching 1000! In the U.K. they've decided to delay the second dose.

Trump should be arrested for trying to tamper with an election, with extortion of a public official. The Senate runoff in Georgia is today. Will there ever be good news coming from the U.S. again. Biden has such an uphill struggle to get some sort of bipartisan peace again.

January 2, 2021

Here’s wishing us all a Happier 2021 than 2020 was. Covid is still rampant in Europe, where we seem to have better governance than the U.S. does, and in the U.S. where better governance should be coming after January 20. France is taking a tiptoe approach. First only those in care facilities are being vaccinated and in a week, they’d only managed 332, whereas Germany had vaccinated in the many thousands. After much protest, the French have added medical workers over 50. They do not anticipate reaching people with high risk and over 75 until late February and we younger folk will have to wait until March or April. Maybe, by then, they’ll get rid of the “informed consent” document. My thought is that if you are reticent and do not consent, then you don’t get the shot. To have to see the doctor beforehand, get informed, and then make another appointment to get the shot and a third appointment for the second dose is overkill. Still, it’s better than what the British have just done -- put off the second dose to a later date so they can give more people a first dose. Pfizer has not done any study as to whether that approach will work.

Update on the UK family -- so far, so good. The kids are fine and keeping occupied. Ch is doing a great job on that front. To prepare for her upcoming exams, she’s been playing school with the others, teaching them what she needs to be studying. If they (7 and 11 years old) get what she’s saying, then she’s got it down pat. She’s also been doing watercolor workshops with them. Cl is still coughing a lot during the day, but sleeping fine and her husband is stuck with a stuffy nose and a headache. But the symptoms have not gotten worse.

Update on the car -- I’m going to pick it up on the 6th. I will probably have to spend the night on the way back. It’s a lot of driving for a single day and there’s a curfew in effect, so I’ll play it safe.

Today, an Italian woman currently in Paris is coming over to check out my knitting machines. She may decide to take one of them off my hands. I think I only really want to keep one standard and the mid-gauge so getting rid of two of the standards would be nice but I’m still too attached to them to create an ad and put them up for sale.

December 26, 2020

Christmas gift? Cl and G spent Christmas morning getting tested for Covid. They got the results, today -- both positive.

After Christmas Eve dinner they went to bed feeling a bit under the weather and woke up on Christmas Day coughing and feverish. G was supposed to drive Ch halfway so she could transfer home to her mum, but of course, that did not happen. That is a good thing because she's about to turn 16 and with both Cl and G ill, she will be the adult in the house. I'm sure A, 11, and Co, 7, will be as helpful as they can possibly be but I'm reassured that Ch is with them.

My own inclination would normally be to get on a plane or train and go to them, but it's just not feasible. Thank goodness they have wonderful friends who are already volunteering to drop off shopping and food for them. I feel so damn helpless.

December 23, 2020

I woke up this morning with one of my high school friends on my mind and how sorry I was that she would be missing her usual holiday travel for Christmas with her family and the missing people in her family who had died from Covid earlier this year. This has been a terrifying year.

Another reason she, in particular, came to mind is something she had said about never leaving the country to live abroad and eventually abandoning U.S. citizenship. Certainly not at the age we are, now. I did not leave with such an intention. I came to France as a student, just turned 19, and fell in love. Just like Kathleen Damerol, whose story is much like mine, with the added distress that she has because she had a business and a tax-advantaged account in France that was specifically for retirement but is not recognized as such by the IRS.

https://youtu.be/UaTILxfPs0M

What's extraordinary is that Keith Richmond, a mutual friend (also participating in the video), sent Kathleen and me an introduction email just last month. It was when I had my surgery and I sent her my phone number but we never talked. Yesterday, I wrote to her again and we agreed to a call this morning. Then, I saw that video, so now I feel I already know her. I'm looking forward to our call even more.

The distress of considering renunciation is very real. I go through thinking of it every year, sometimes several times a year. I haven't done it. I always manage to reason with myself that I can manage the status quo. But I don't have my own business. I don't have a job that would require signatory authority on company accounts. My friend D-L vomited when she left the embassy after renouncing.

PS: I just got off the phone with Kathleen.

December 21, 2020

Okay, it looks like this is going to be a once-a-week deal. First thing, very early this morning, I looked at my emails and found a flurry from some GHS friends about an upcoming class-wide announcement/invitation to the GHS Stories. It was a pleasant thought and I went back to sleep. However, that reminded me that I needed to do some cleaning tasks in the group’s folder that S had requested last Friday. That led me to catching up on some stories that had been modified or added since the last time I looked. Reading P’s piece reminded me that I should probably update this journal.

One thing leads to another and the days go by. It’s raining so I don’t think I’ll go out for a walk unless it clears up. I took a long (for me, at least) walk, yesterday, to the Picard frozen food shop in Fontenay. According to “Map My Walk”, that’s 1.23km. Let’s just say it was 2.5km round trip, with the return trip a bit slow because I had a backpack full of frozen food on my back. P estimated about 15kg. I don’t think it was that much but it was heavy and my leg was a bit wobbly by the time I got home. I think I was more sprite a week ago and have been overdoing it since then. I walked a bit over 2km with R on Friday. When I see the pictures on Facebook of wonderful hikes in the snowy woods, I wonder if I’ll get anywhere near the stamina to do those kinds of walks again. 

We are going to buy a car. Our Prius will be 14 in May and I think P is just tired of it. We got it as a recent used car in 2008. Once shops were reopened, we scheduled a meeting (can’t just walk in any more because of the limits on the number of people allowed inside at one time) and got the info for a new Prius, leased or bought, cash or credit. Then we were told that one would be available in April. On a used car website, we found just what we were looking for, a 2020 model, only 4000 km, in Mulhouse. That is not the town next door. Now that restrictions on going from one region to another have been lifted, we thought I could drive there on Saturday, trade in the old for the new one, and drive back, either the same day, or the next. Oh, no. The vendor is treating this as an online sale with a retraction period of 14 days. Plus he’s now on vacation for the holidays. Then, he has to handle the transfer of registration paperwork (which is really online work) and does not anticipate our coming to get the car until January 9. I hope that France is not back to shopping and or travel restrictions, again, by then. 

I am not hopeful about the progression of Covid. I’m pretty sure that this fast-spreading variant that has forced a strict lockdown in the London area is not limited to London, nor to the U.K. The numbers have gone back up in France over the past week instead of staying at their plateau or going down, as hoped. I’m sure this is going to mean stricter measures are in store. The hospitals are okay, so far. The percentage of Covid patients in ICU is holding steady at less than 55%. The famous effective R number is creeping back up -- now at 0.9. Vaccinations start in France this week. We may be in the “elder” category but we are not the top priority, nor should we be. First the health care workers and the occupants of care facilities. Those of us in our own homes, with no health problems, can wait a bit.  

14 Dec. 2020

During the Zoom meeting on Dec. 13, it was suggested that we might add a story 6 months on. I had already left the meeting at that point, so I don’t know exactly what was discussed. Susan told me about it today.

That brings me to bringing this whole Covid business up to now before I carry on with the future.

In France, it really started hitting us hard in March. There were municipal elections scheduled in the middle of the month and there were already questions about whether they could go through, as scheduled, or not. (An aside, here, for non-French readers. There are no absentee ballots, here. If you know you are not going to be able to go to the polling place on election day, you have to go to the police station and fill out a proxy to allow someone else in your town to vote for you. You trust that person to vote as you want.)  At this late stage, it was a matter of delaying the election or carrying on as scheduled. To delay would have required a special law. The President went on the air to announce that France would be going into lockdown (called “confinement”) after the election. The many parties involved in the election had met with the President and had decided to go ahead with the election. 

My husband and I went early to the polling station, which is our usual habit. We are usually the first, or at least in the first 10 people present. We voted and walked home with our friend and neighbor who was just behind us at the polling place. We were already keeping apart, scarves over our faces, no kissing cheeks, shaking hands. 

The second round of the election, two weeks later, was postponed. We were in lockdown. Our neighbors were wonderful, checking on us to see if we needed anything. Spring was coming. Days were getting longer. We could open our windows and hold conversations across the street. There was a festive air about it. Every evening, after the Italian and Spanish models, we were all at our windows clapping our appreciation for the medical workers. Festivity is one thing but the grim numbers of people getting sick and dying is another. 

By May, things were looking up and by the end of the month, confinement was over. We no longer needed permission slips to be out of the home. We could finally see our son’s family in their apartment into which they had moved just the weekend before the confinement started. We could see the grandchildren. We could see our daughter who lives in Paris. The French confinement eased just in time to fit in the delayed runoff election before it would have been necessary to start all over.

Zoom had started to enter our lives. Our daughter in England, has a step-daughter whose grandmother is a talented artist and a great teacher. She gave us watercolor lessons every week over Zoom. She lives near Tours, France; I’m just outside Paris; Cl and the girls are in Northampton, England; and V, Ch’s mom, is near London. We had a great time. We also had a few family Zoom meetings with immediate and more distant family.

Then, S suggested a 212 Zoom meeting. From Europe, all across the United States, some classmates joined in the meeting. Covid was on our minds. Long-term care facilities everywhere were hard hit. Hospitals were under considerable strain. Although statistics show that Europe was really more severely hit in terms of numbers of deaths per 100,000 population, it seems that the governments tried to flatten the curve and succeeded to some extent while the states in the U.S. were not reacting in concert and the President was not taking the illness seriously, at all. Europe seemed calmer and reports in the U.S. seemed more panicked.

I missed the July Zoom because we were in the southwest of France with our Parisian grandchildren, visiting our daughter who lives down there. Cl and her family came down with their trailer and parked it at E’s. It was great that the cousins were able to spend about 10 days together. Anne even came for a few days of her vacation. With hindsight, this could have been a risky gathering. We spent all our time outdoors at E's. It was wonderful. Luckily for us, no one became ill. 

In September, people started going back to their offices; the children went back to school. The English family, too, started a more normal routine. Cafés and restaurants had set up service on sidewalks and in the parking spaces in front of them. We could eat with friends. At our age, we were still being very cautious. 

By the time of the October 212 Zoom meeting, the second Covid-19 wave was hitting Europe and in the United States, there was debate as to whether this was the second or the third wave! Schools in France did not seem affected. Our grandchildren have not missed a day of going to school. In England, one of the children had to remain at home because there had been an outbreak of Covid in her section of the building. It was becoming evident, though, that a second confinement period was coming. That came in early November.

Stay at home -- except for medical appointments, to take care of someone, to shop for necessities, to walk the dog, to go for a walk (limited to 1 hour). However, I do not consider this a hardship. I’m fine. I’m not doing much, but I’m not particularly bored. 

Between April and November, I had made each grandchild a sweater. I had picked up another old knitting machine in July and restored it. I feel no urge to knit every day. I even started some projects by hand. I’ve read several books. I’ve watched lots of YouTube. 

After my shoulder replacement in September 2019, my hip problems became more noticeable. This ended up with a hip replacement on November 18. Luckily, the confinement was decided early enough to avoid the strain on hospitals and clinics, so this kind of elective surgery has been able to continue. 

The numbers in France have not declined to the desired level, but have gone down and stabilized enough. Our confinement has been eased. We can go out for 3 hours. As of tomorrow, we’ll be able to go to other regions of France. There is a stay-at-home curfew after 7pm. This will allow for limited family gatherings at Christmas. However, we will be home. A will come over. The other Parisian family will go to the other grandparents. The U.K. family will stay in the U.K. 

That brings me to today. We went to the Toyota sales point in Vincennes. I walked to the bus stop without a crutch. That’s the longest walk I’ve done without a crutch. The second bus stopped almost in front of the sales office. We think we know what we are going to do, now. We’ve gone over the recent used versus new, and buying versus 3-year lease. This is the future. By this coming Spring, we will be ready to head out on the road. I hope we will have been vaccinated by then. 

 

 

Travel month

Birthday candles

October was a month of travel. The last weekend of September, Paul and I took the Eurostar to see the family in the U.K. and to celebrate C's 5th birthday. We got to walk the kids to school and back, and see almost everyone on the Sunday, when we had the first birthday party, family only. I love relaxing when I'm there and don't feel like doing any interesting touring or sightseeing. I just love reading when the kids are at school and then watching them play when they're home. I also like doing a few mother-daughter things. Mostly, though, I laze and watch.
C. is in Reception year. In England, this precedes Year 1, so in age group it's like Kindergarden in the U.S., but it's full day, not half, and like the last year of Maternelle in France. In content, though, it's more like 1st grade (U.S.) or CP (France). S. is in CP in France and both kids are learning to read. I've now had a chance to have each of them read to me and they are about at the same level of sounding out the words. I love it when they read to me. C. is starting gymnastics, continuing swimming, and has decided that she doesn't want to do the "Foundation" class in music but would rather go straight to the piano. That's a pretty full schedule for a 5-year-old.
A. is in Year 4. She hates doing homework and practicing her viola. I don't know that she actually hates doing those things as much as she hates starting. In the time she spends complaining and putting off the start, she could finish the task. Once she gets started, though, she's fine. She's given up the piano and switched from violin to viola. She prefers the deeper tone. She still does gymnastics and Brownies, so she has a pretty full schedule.
We returned home on the 4th, did a laundry, and Paul took me to the airport the next morning so I could catch my flights to Philly, via Dublin. One of the good things about flying via Dublin is that you go through U.S. Immigration and Customs in Dublin. As you get off the plane in Dublin to transfer to the U.S. leg, you are directed separately from passengers transferring to other destinations. You end up in the U.S. sector, in the passport check line. It's a long line, but shorter than what we normally go through at a U.S. airport. Once through that, there's the security check, as at any airport, and then straight to the gate for departure. I had just enough time to grab a sandwich and some water for lunch before we left. Good thing, too, since the food on Aer Lingus was less appealing than on other airlines I've been on recently. I binge-watched half a season of Fargo.
We were late leaving Dublin and late getting into Philly. I took a cab to the hotel, found my roommate, N., for the weekend, gabbed a bit with other reunion attendees in the lobby, but I was pretty tired. I went out to mail my absentee ballot and walk around the neighborhood -- Locust street, then a bit of Spruce St., up to Rittenhouse Square, to Sansom St. and back to the hotel. I was craving a corned beef sandwich, but couldn't find a deli. I did not go south to Panama St. to walk by the house. It was warm and muggy. By the time I got back, my friends had all disappeared and I simply went to bed. N. and I gabbed for a bit when she got in, later. I love sharing my room when I go to these reunions. This time, N. had flown in from Alaska and I had come in from France -- opposing jetlags. We were not really on the same sleep schedule!
The 50th reunion of Girls High class 212 was wonderful afternoon. Just us. No spouses. Several of the band/orchestra group were there and we managed to grab a table for serious catching up. There was lots of table hopping, finding old friends and discovering new ones. J. drove me home with her, so I got to see her husband, E. This was a nice chance for quiet talk. In the evening about 20 of us ventured up to Ambler to see Anita Wise, classmate and stand-up comedian. It was a good show -- a fun evening.
The very next morning, Sunday, I headed over to the Greyhound bus terminal for a 6-hour drive to Pittsburgh. I had hoped I'd catch signs of fall -- red and gold leaves on the trees. Nope. Although I was freezing on the bus, the outside temperature, when we stopped for a break on the turnpike, was in the 80s F° (almost 30°C)! Visible signs of lack water -- dried up ditches and ponds. We got into Pittsburgh exactly on schedule and J. and T. were there to meet me and take me to their house. We had a pleasant few days together, went out to eat, had sandwiches in (I got my corned beef sandwich!) and just caught up. I went to the gym with T. and lasted no more than 15 minutes before caving.
Wednesday, they took me to the airport and I got the first of my flights to San Diego via Chicago on Southwest. Having just barely gotten on schedule on the east coast, I was back in jetlag mode on the west coast. I slept. I got an early shuttle back to the airport the next morning to pick up the car I had reserved. First of all, the off-site car rental garage is really far away. Yes, there are shuttles to go there and you don't have to wait too long for one, but the ride there is long. I went to the Avis counter and got all the way to handing over my card, when the guy said that they couldn't take a debit card. I immediately went outside, loaded my phone with Uber and Lyft, and got a Lyft to visit T&B. I then worked out, mentally, how much it would cost to Lyft for the rest of the stay and it came to less than the car rental would have been even before factoring in parking and gas costs.
T&B are in an elegant independent living residence that has multiple levels of care for when more assistance or convalescence is needed. They have an enormous apartment with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, a big kitchen area, good-sized living room and dining area and even a separate office area. The residence has an art studio, mail room, several dining rooms from small lunch to full meals to fine dining, a movie theater, a pool, a gym, a library, and other activity rooms. All very upscale. We had lunch at the snack/light-lunch room. Then, they had to go off to an appointment and I went back to the hotel and spent some time relaxing by the pool.

Plane landing -- on my walk to the Midway

Navy ship being guided to port -- on my walk to the Midway

The hotel, the Best Western, was at the fisherman's harbor end of  N. Harbor Drive. I had had dinner the previous evening at Mitch's Seafood, so I had fulfilled my seafood craving. The oysters were not great, but I did like the shrimp taco. The second evening, I headed to Rosecrans St. to see what I might find, there, to eat. Nothing attracted me, really, so I went to the supermarket, Ralph's, and got a sandwich. Friday, I had plans to see friends, one, a high school classmate who had not made it to the reunion because it was the weekend of her daughter's wedding and the other, a classmate from the technical communications course at the American University in Paris. For the morning, though, I decided to visit the Midway, the aircraft carrier right in downtown San Diego. I looked at the Google map, which said it was 5 miles away and it was on a bus route not far from the hotel to the Midway. I thought I'd see how far I could walk. I walked the entire way. I did stop to sit down for a little while, near the Coast Guard heliport, where I watched a helicoptor come in to land and the navy ships coming in to port and planes coming in and leaving the airport. When I got to the Midway and opened my phone to present my pre-paid ticket, I saw there was a text from the friend I was going to have dinner with and she had to cancel.
The Midway is well worth visiting. It's not the first time I've visited an aircraft carrier and they are all, basically, the same, but here, the docents actually served on the ship and they give wonderful talks, explaining the procedures for taking off, landing, and more. They have their personal anecdotes. I did not go up to visit the "island", the control tower. I did not feel up to taking the steep stairs. I was feeling a bit wobbly from the long walk.
After the visit, I went to the tourist office to ask about buses and discovered that seniors get a nice discount in San Diego, so I got change to have $1.10 in exact change and crossed the street to sit for a while and wait for the bus that took me back to the supermarket at Nimitz and Rosecrans, where I got some fruit and another sandwich. After walking back to the hotel, I took a well-deserved nap. The second friend and I rescheduled our meeting for the next morning, breakfast.

My Local Bag, with a French touch! With knitting in it.

I love catching up with friends. Cindy has had a very diverse career. Now, she is a craftswoman. She does all sorts of things with a die-cutter and she makes fantastic shopping bags from regular brown paper bags. Visit her Local Bag site! Buy a bag. They are sturdy, beautifully made. The only caveat is to be careful not to get them wet. I remember when she was pregnant with her third child, when I last saw her, in fact, and now he's finishing high school!
After breakfast, T. and R. picked me up to take me back for family lunch with T&B. This time, we had lunch in the main dining room. Again, it was good to catch up.
Sunday morning, I had to catch a 7:20 flight to Dallas before the last leg to Philly. The early flight time was one of the reasons I had chosen the hotel. They have a shuttle. What you don't see until you read the fine print is that the shuttle service doesn't start until 7. I needed to get to the airport much earlier than that, so I got a Lyft. It's a good thing I had read the fine print before. Not having to return the car to that far-away car-rental center was an added advantage to Lyft.
Sunday evening, I stayed near the Philadelphia airport and E. and M. came to have dinner with me in the bar of the hotel. In movies, the bar area always seems a very muted, quiet area. Not so in Philly when they have football playing on the big screen. It was horribly loud. Conversation was difficult as we almost had to shout, but once again, we were able to catch up.

The first start -- before it went haywire

All of this was almost 3 weeks ago! First one thing (jetlag), then another (the Parisian grandchildren visiting), then another (a frustrating start to a fairisle jacket) kept me from the computer. Today, it's the blog that is keeping me, voluntarily, from that frustrating jacket that I think I have to rip back and start -- again!

The Internet is chronophage

In France, the term for time-consuming and time-wasting is "chronophage". Its a good word. I like it. It is useful.
If you start your day looking at what emails came in during the night and trashing most of them and then proceed to Facebook to see what notifications came in, you know what I mean. You look over the notifications -- most of mine, nowadays, are from Girls High classmates, groups of Americans living abroad (generally) and in France, or Paris (specifically), and many machine knitting groups. Then, on to the "home" icon to see what's new. By the time I'm finished, it's time to check the email, again. A whole day can go by like this!
The machine knitting groups are the most chronophage. There are so many of them! There might be a new video showing a technique I'm not familiar with, or something I do know but want to see how this other person does it. There might be a question that I can help with, but I have to read all the replies to see if what I want to say has already been said. (I hate reading a long list of replies that merely repeat what someone else has said without adding any new insight! I do sometimes fall into that trap, though.)
I've dropped a few of the Americans abroad groups. They got too depressing. They also became too virulent, with some participants insulting others for daring to disagree or not taking what they considered appropriate action. I also decided to participate less in the groups I'm still following. It's quite a relief. It doesn't mean I've become disinterested. I've just decided to detach myself from the divisiveness.
My classmates are a different story. I love seeing what they are up to. They have their own passions and I continue to be educated by them.  We have our 50th reunion coming up in October and I've got my plane and hotel reservations, and even a reservation to see a comedy show where one of them is performing. I'm excited.  I'm extending the stay for family visits to Pittsburgh and San Diego.
I'll be returning to the U.S. in December, with my son and his family. A Florida vacation at Christmas, like the days our family would go down to Key West. And that'll be it, for a long while, I think.
Today looks like it's going to be a nice day. I'm finishing up my first task - this post and I'm turning off the computer as soon as I post it. I'm going to go for a walk after lunch and find time to redo that sweater that Au. started.

GHS 212 Mini-reunion in Paris

Last weekend, we had a mini-reunion -- in Paris. It was not a "big" year, like a decade year; the next one of those will be the 50th and I'm sure it'll be in Philly so the maximum number can attend. No, this was the 47th and not an official reunion, of course. It all started at the 45th, two years ago, with people saying how they would really like to come to Paris. Over the years, several classmates have come to Paris, individually, and occasionally their trips have coincided and we've had lunch or dinner together. I always enjoy meeting up with these visitors. As I've said before, most of these women and I did not know each other in high school. It was, and still is, a very big high school, with hundreds of girls in a graduation year (what the French call "une promo"). Class 212 graduated in 1968.
A little over a year ago, I created a poll to find out how many of our classmates wanted to come to Paris, thought they could do it, and when they would prefer to do it. Of course, not everyone could come and of those who could, not everyone could come at just any date, so I had to find the best solution. For the teachers in the group, we had to do it before classes started, and that pushed us to August instead of September and this year just seemed more popular than next year. I wrote to a couple of tour directors I know to ask about how to organize a group. I had about 25 classmates interested and if I added in spouses and other travelling companions it could have been a very large group. Gary Kraut, of France Revisited gave me some very sound advice: involve a travel agent in the US and get a deposit from the participants at least 6 months before the reunion. No one used the travel agent, but she was nevertheless very helpful in suggesting they make their own flight arrangements and even suggested a hotel or two. And once the request for deposits went out, the group size dropped, too, which, for me, was easier to deal with.
I'm not going to name names in the blog; I don't know how each person feels about having her name out there, so I'll just use initials, if I talk of anyone specifically, at all. If you decide to leave a comment, it's up to you to name yourself, but please leave out others' names unless they have already identified themselves. This is also why I am only going to post the "official" photo that was taken before we went for our walks, because Tom, the photographer asked if anyone minded it going up and no one did.

The reunion was from Friday evening to Sunday noon. Some arrived a few days before, some stayed a few days after, but the part I took care of was just that bit. (a couple GB and EZ with E's husband) arrived for a great stay with us and a little trip to the southwest of France -- preceding posts) First off, a dinner cruise on the Capitaine Fracasse. We met at the loading dock on the Ile des Cygnes between the Bir-Hakeim and Grenelle bridges. Four of the group were in a taxi whose driver did not know how to get onto the Bir-Hakeim bridge to leave them off and drove them around and around. But they made it! And one whose flight was via Moscow came running across the bridge trailing her suitcase, and she made it! All 17 of us (11 classmates, spouses and friends) made it. It was a warm evening and the banks of the Seine were packed with people just hanging out, drinking, eating, dancing. We didn't see much of the monuments; we were too busy talking! The food was excellent, much better than I think anyone expected. After dinner, we went up to the upper deck to see the sights and just before we docked, the Eiffel Tower did its hourly show of blinking lights right in front of us. (I can't seem to add the image google made of the assembled burst of shots -- quite nice, but sorry, not here.)
This was the real reunion.
On Saturday morning, everyone dragged herself out of bed to meet at the Splendid Hotel Tour Eiffel, where most were staying, for our 4-hour bus tour of Paris. To start, the four at the Hotel Albe had a taxi driver who took them to a different Hotel Splendid and they had to walk fast to be on time. (By the way, everyone was satisfied with the hotels. The Splendid will be completely renovated starting next month, so I imagine it'll be more expensive next season.) On the way, they were able to take in the cavalry horses in training at the Ecole Militaire, not a sight most tourists get. The guide was a few minutes early, but the bus was an hour late!
Our guide, Richard, is from Madagascar. His English is good, when just speaking with him individually, but on the bus, in the fuzzy mike, giving his tourist spiel, well, no. His accent got in the way. It's not a typical French accent. He didn't stress the right syllables (NA-po-leen), and he mixed up some syllables (lily water flowers - liliwarflor), so if anyone was really listening, it was next to impossible to follow. We had to cut the tour to 3 hours, and we did get a discount. We stopped at Montmartre and most of the group climbed all the way to the top. As requested, we got dropped off at the Place d'Odéon and were able to get a bit to eat before the walking tours started at 2.
Most of the group went on the James Baldwin in Paris walk with Monique Wells. I wasn't on this walk. The impressions I got later in the evening were that it was a very hot day and the pace was perhaps a bit too fast. They heard a lot about the fights he got into and not much about what he wrote in Paris or the political circumstances. On the whole, though, they liked the walk. A suggestion to tourists on a guided walk would be to give the feedback as you go, so the guide can adjust the spiel.
I had the privilege of leading the smaller group in the Marais. We caught the 96 bus at Odéon and got off at Saint Gervais, to start the tour at the Shoah Memorial. I think it went well. It was a very, very hot day and we stopped about half way through for some drinks or ice cream. (I had the advantage of being part of the group, not an external, hired guide.) This stop also allowed us to readjust our expectations, so we cut out going all the way to the Museum of Jewish Art and History and I cut short the commentary on the mansions north of the rue des Francs Bourgeois. We ended at the Place des Vosges and went on to Bastille to catch a bus back to the hotels.
Dinner on Saturday evening was at the Grand Bistro on the Place Breteuil. The terrace was open; it was almost like being outside. It was perfect. By this time, we had decided to cancel the Sunday picnic at the Parc Floral since it was going to rain, and it did rain on Sunday morning. Some, not all, of us gathered at the Splendid and then went to a café on the deserted rue Cler for a coffee/late breakfast. I left the group, there, to go home and flop on the couch, while the others continued their tourism. From the pictures they've shared, I think they got a lot out of their short stay and I'm so, so happy they came.

To Najac and Back, part 2

It was just an hour to go from Cordes-sur-Ciel to Najac. We crossed the 13th century bridge, St. Blaise and watched a group of kids who had stopped for a swim and a few kayakers trying to get the feel of the kayaks as they fought the current. (Very little current and the river is very low in spite of the recent rain. In fact, they were going with the current and still had trouble.)
This bridge is already part of Najac. The hotel is just the next bridge upstream, within walking distance. We got to the hotel early enough to just rest. Having spent three days driving, we were ready to just settle a bit and have dinner at the hotel. This was our third stay at the Belle Rive and this time we were treated to a big room. Well, two rooms since we had our friends with us: a double and a triple. Each room also had a sofa and a desk or coffee table and plenty of closed space. This was nice for a four-day stay. We had dinner there the first evening and two other dinners -- the menu doesn't change enough for a really long stay. Everything was well-prepared and well-served, but a longer stay would have been monotonous, I think. The asparagus omelet from April has become a mushroom omelet in summer. I've posted a view of the fortress from the hotel before, so here is one of the hotel from the fortress. Click on the photo to enlarge it. You can see the hotel, the swimming pool and the tennis court. Since it had rained, the pool was a bit too chilly. We had another day of relaxation our last day there and I dipped, but didn't swim.

On Sunday, we went to Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val after a brief walk in Najac, up on the crest of the hill. The whole idea of going to St. Antonin on a Sunday was to see the town on a market day, except we couldn't see the market or the town (medieval) for all the people! The place has become more and more popular as they exploit the filming of The Hundred Foot Journey (La Recette du Bonheur) a couple of years ago. It was released in 2014. I had asked Emma to reserve a table at La Festin de Babette for an excellent lunch and meeting up with them. It was a long, leisurely, Sunday lunch along the river. After lunch, we went up to Le Pède to see the new kittens and show off the site.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in conversation, walking around, admiring the views, the work done, the work still coming up, the kittens, the vegetable garden, the kittens. There are three, but I only dared put up a photo of one. I'm a sucker for kittens and I'm not alone.
We got back to Najac just in time to see the austere church and climb up to the fortress for one of the last tours of the day. It's really very interesting. The site was inhabited before the 10th century because the area was rich in copper, silver, iron and more. All those trees we see around were not there; it was almost entirely vineyard.

By the 10th century, there was a château. The difference between a château, a château-fort, and a fortress is a château is inhabited by the lord; a château-fort is a fortified château, and a fortress is occupied by troops, only. Najac was in the Comte de Toulouse's territory, with a strong Cathare population. It was also the administrative capital of the Rouergue region. After the victory of Alphonse de Poitiers, King Louis IX (St. Louis)'s brother, in 1229, the city of 6000 lost it's status. Alphonse de Poitiers created the new town of Villefranche-de-Rouergue, upstream on the river, tempted the population with a tax-free incentive and that was the end of Najac's wealth. The château was mostly destroyed (there's still a square tower) and replaced by the military fortress, with a drawbridge, an offset main door, the longest archer slots in the world (where have we heard that before?) and more.
In spite of the climb up to there, we were still stuffed from our lunch and picked up something for dinner from the bakery in Najac.

I had promised M that we'd see dolmens. Monday, we went looking for dolmens near Martiel and finally found them. I had printed out the map and we only did a little of the walk, points 1to 5.
At the end, 5, there was a depression, maybe the quarry where they got the stones in about 1500 BC. There was also a cave. Paul and I did not go into the cave; we left to go back to the car thinking the others were just behind us. After telling us they'd follow, they went into the cave and explored and took pictures. They lost track of time and when they came out they lost track of the track. We were worried, having waited an hour by the car. They had the keys, so we couldn't go for help and there was no phone reception. Big, big sigh of relief when they came down the trail, at last.
It was already past noon and we sped to Villefranche for lunch, followed by a short visit of the town and then on to the potter in Saint-André-de-Najac. Since our very first visit, when we noticed his window display in Najac, we'd been wanting to go to his place.
The original plan was to go to Toulouse on Tuesday, but we were all spent and decided on a day of rest before heading back to Nogent on Wednesday.

Philadelphia Weekend

I went to Philadelphia on Friday to attend a class reunion on Saturday. I arrived home this morning, Monday. No time for jet lag!
I am not really going to talk about the reunion, here. Not much. It's the first real high school reunion event I've been to. Five years ago, a group of us who have remained friends over the years got together for a weekend in the Catskills and three years ago, a larger group, 16, spent a weekend at Barnegat Light. In the five years, an email group and then a Facebook group have grown and grown and I've made lots of virtual friends. Some have become real, in the flesh friends on their trips through Paris and I've made an effort to meet up with them on my trips -- old friends and new ones that I never knew in high school. I've said it before and it continues to astound me how strong and supportive a group of women friends can be. I'm very glad I made this special trip for this reunion. There were around 120 of us.
Thank you again, Tony and Barbara, for picking me up and driving me from NY to Philly. I'll try to remember the next time I'm looking up flights and have separate browser windows open that I should not click so quickly on the least expensive flight. I loved seeing you. If I had flown into Philly direct, we could have met there and not had that long drive. Of course the long drive did give us time for a good chat and I loved it. Best to avoid Friday rush hour out of N.Y., though!
Jon, thank you for driving over. I enjoyed dinner with you and Eric and the speedy view of the Barnes.
I almost missed going to the Barnes and if Jon hadn't gone through the trouble of getting himself a ticket, I wouldn't have gone. I arranged for a shuttle ride back to JFK and for my 7:10 flight, with the recommended check-in 3 hours before, so the shuttle was to pick me up at 11:30! You kind of forget that you get a tour of Philly as the shuttle picks up customers all over town. I was not the first, so I can't complain. We got a nice tour of the Northeast before heading for the first drop-offs at Newark. The traffic delays on the N.J. turnpike going north were as bad as the ones we had southbound on Friday and we got to JFK at 4:30.
Back to the Barnes. I liked it. One hour is not enough. The museum building is interesting; the reproduction of the rooms of the original house is well done, so the works are shown as they were in the house in Merion. Barnes' disposition is, in my opinion, coherent. I could see the way the colors flowed from painting to painting to Pennsylvania Dutch chest. I liked the chairs and the pewter ware. I could see how the door hinges and other hardware guided the eye and framed the works on the walls. I could connect the works of different origins, different painters, and see their similarities.
I was not surprised that viewers are not allowed to photograph the rooms, but I was surprised that you can't draw or sketch, either. There's a lot of Renoir and I am convinced that I don't like Renoir as much as I thought I did years ago. I merely mentioned back in 2009 that Paul and I had been to see the Renoir exhibit and that it was too crowded, but I forgot to say how disappointed I was in seeing so many Renoirs. Barnes collected a lot of Renoir - the portraits of little girls, the family paintings, nudes. When I see a lot of Renoir all together, I just don't like it all that much. Cézanne is different. I like some of his landscapes and stilllife paintings, but I get depressed when I see his portraits. Barnes collected a lot of Cézanne, too. He also collected a lot of other painters, so I let my eyes wander away from the familiar Renoirs and Cézannes to look at the others. I'll take a notebook next time to jot down thoughts as I go through the exhibit. And I'll make it to the second floor!
Honestly though, a weekend trip to another continent with considerable time zone differences is not a reasonable thing to do.





.

Bum shoulder

Still snowing as I finish up this post

Here we are, mid-March, and it's snowing again. Before the snow, we had freezing rain, so it's very slippery out. I think I'll not go to the library today. I have to return the video projector to the AARO office and I think that can wait until tomorrow, too. Tomorrow, I want to spend some time with Gwen and Sacha. So, I hope the weather cooperates. 

What really astounds me is that OAW was a full month ago! Before that week started, I had a couple of very nice, even snowy, days in Swarthmore. J and E live very near the college campus in a beautiful, comfortable house with their two Basenji dogs, who entertained me thoroughly. We went to see "Silver Linings Playbook" and it was strange to recognize the local places. Well, I didn't recognize them, except that I knew it had been filmed nearby, but J & E certainly recognized the high school, the diner, etc. That was followed by a light supper with K & J. K is another discovered Girls High mate! I can't say enough how wonderful it has been, these past few years, to discover these wonderful women I never knew before. What is great about having never known them in the past, or having no memory of ever knowing them, is that I have no pre-conceived ideas of what kind of people they are -- none of that "we weren't in the same crowd" attitude. The ones I do remember are also wonderful; I'm very pleased to meet so many more.  Speaking of light supper, that was a fantastic homemade minestrone, a complete meal, hot and filling, followed by a thick, homemade pumpkin pie. Whoever complains about how badly Americans eat (French friends do that), they just don't get fed in homes! They certainly don't get fed by J!

Leaving them for Washington, in spite of the snow, I managed to catch my train to D.C. It was so cold, some fo the train's doors were frozen shut and some refused to close once they opened, so we were a few minutes late getting in. Connecting to the D.C. metro, though, is easy and I called T & B, who met me at the Hyatt, which is just at the exit of the Bethesda station. Good thing, too, because it was very, very cold and I didn't have to wait outside. We had a good lunch, there. Of course, we ended up with doggy bags because the servings were too big. On Sunday, we went to a local art show and then they dropped me off at the house my OAW mates and I had rented via airbnb. Ben, the host, was there waiting for me and showed me around. It's right across the street from a supermarket, but we didn't need to get any food. M, one of my housemates, arrived with a ton of food from Costco that she'd bought in anticipation of our kickoff get-together that evening at G's appartment. We had too much food, way too much. We left some of the leftovers with G and brought the rest home with us. Even after we had a mid-week get-together at our place, we still had leftovers, which I hope our hosts managed to finish off. J and I each had our own rooms and M had the sofabed and we did not get in each other's way getting up, using the bathrooms, etc. We had a nice dining table to do our evening prep work and just chat around. It was a short, direct walk to the metro station (Potomac Ave.) and only two stops to Capitol South. We were definitely the closest to our daily destination. I would certainly try to get this house again for the next OAW!

The jigsaw puzzle

All things come to an end and I left DC on Friday to go to Boston to see E & M. E is a true Girls High friend, one that I've never lost touch with, one I love and we can just pick up our conversation. At last I got to relax. It was relaxing at J & E's, but I was jet-lagged. It was relaxing at T & B's, but I was excited and a bit anxious about the week to come. At E & M's, the week was over; jetlag was over; I could relax. Besides, it was going to snow, so we didn't go out. We talked, and talked, and talked and started a jigsaw puzzle, and listened to "Car Talk" and "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me". I have now programmed my nice internet radio to NPR podcasts, and to a several stations in the US and the UK, too. 

E & M digging out to take me to the airport!

Since just before Christmas, my shoulder has been hurting. I started out taking something for the pain and inflammation, but there was no change in the pain, so I didn't keep it up. In addition to the shoulder, the biceps hurts constantly, as if I were By the end of January, my right arm could hardly move, but our trip to England, followed by my trip to the States was coming up, so I went to see an osteopath here n Nogent and he worked more than an hour on my locked joints and got my arm to move. He sent me home with a recommendation to put ice on my shoulder and warned me it might hurt a bit more for a few days. We went off to England and my shoulder hurt more and then settled to its regular pain. In the couple of days home, before leaving for the States, I decided not to go back to the osteopath so soon, because I really couldn't bear having it hurt more again when I needed to wear a backpack and pull a suitcase. I had a very good massage at the airport in Boston on my way home; I could feel the knots undoing. And on arriving home, I went straight to the osteopath, who did his thing and remarked that it was easier to manipulate the joints. It was not more painful in the following days and I managed to lift my arm and use it. The next week was even a bit better. I still needed to make an appointment with the doctor because this is not the first time I've had this and I need to have the underlying cause of it taken care of. With the school vacation, though, I can't get through to her. This past week, I've regressed to where I was two months ago and I realize how time flies. I guess, too, that I'm trying to compensate for awkwardness and straining my back in the process. Tomorrow -- return to the osteopath.

Sorry to complain. But that's why I haven't felt like writing much.  I have managed to get back to scanning the negatives and I came across more than 200 black and white negatives of Paul's that go back to before we met. I scanned those yesterday and am trying to figure out some order to them. I'll put a few up on Picasa to share with D.L., P & J, and K. B. -- some pictures of the Pierwige from 1967-69! Only a few more days to go with the negatives and I'll be all caught up on what I have. But still can't find the ones that got me started on this -- from the trip out West in '93. I found the first part of the trip -- Jon and Tobi's new house, Claire holding the baby, Eric, Louis' birthday party at Terry and Roger's, some beautiful black and white shots of Roger's furniture...and scattered photos from the West.

Short vacation in California

Most of you know this by now: Emma won a week-long trip to California some time ago and chose to go now, end of September-beginning of October and asked me to accompany her. It's a really short trip, with lots to do and people to see.

We arrived in San Francisco last Saturday afternoon and got to the Hotel Vertigo just as night was coming. Good thing because all we wanted to do was sleep. That meant we got up very early on Sunday morning and waited patiently until just after 6:30 and set out to find a bank ATM and breakfast. The hotel is on Sutter, Nob Hill, and we found Lori's diner open at Sutter and Powell, where we had breakfast. From there we continued over a block to Post and Union Square, quite deserted at 7:30 on a Sunday morning. Down Post to Market, Financial District. So we took Montgomery and then saw that it was a rather steep climb up Telegraph Hill, so we took Pine up to Grant and walked through a charming, sleeping Chinatown, so different from what you usually see with tourists swarming all over the place. Anyway, we continued on Grant all the way to Fisherman's Wharf and walked around there a bit until we walked back up Powell, with a slight detour at the end, to Sutter and back to the hotel. That was about 5.5 miles (8.7 km.) and it was just after 9!

Emma had a friend pick her up and at elevenish, Psylvia picked me up and took me, first, on a little hike to the beach and then on to her house. We talked and talked, and talked some more. And we walked. It's a beautiful walk, Tennessee Valley! And it was hot! She lives in Fairfax, up on the side of a hill (her vegetable garden looked like it was three flights of stairs below the deck!) on a two-way, one-lane winding road -- beautiful and shady. Although it was really hot out, the house was comfortable. Paula managed to come -- a four-hour drive in from Nevada, where she's been working on a voter-registration campaign! Rachel, unfortunately, was not able to come down from her place as she had hoped to. A baby decided it was time and a midwife can't ask the mother to put it on hold! She did manage to call when we were all together, so that was nice. It was all too short because just after 5, Psyl and Paula drove me over to catch a bus back to the city. Pablo, Psyl's husband sent me off with a supply of books. (Today, I finished the first one and traded it with a British lady at the pool at the hotel, who had just finished the book she was reading...). Pablo was very much like Paul in his patience with all the gabbing going and and took pictures of the three of us high school friends together.

I got back to the hotel just before 7 and Emma got back at about 7:30. She, too, had gone to the Pacific, a bit higher up on the peninsula! They drove through Fairfax on their way back. If only we had known, they could have picked me up! We went to a Thai restaurant, Lers Ros, that Psylvia had recommended and just a couple of blocks from the hotel. And it was well-recommended. There was quite a crowd, so we had to wait a bit for the second seating and it looked like there was going to be a third sitting when we saw the people waiting as we left.

On Monday, yesterday, we got up early again, but we had picked up some bagels, cream cheese and yogurt on our way back from the restaurant, so we had breakfast in the room and headed down to the Embarcadero and then to the rental car agency, where we had to wait forever. We finally got the car and picked up our bags at the hotel (by the way, it's a fine hotel, very comfortable and with a very friendly and helpful staff) and headed off for Monterey. We drove through the park, past the conservatory and I took a picture. This will go with the one I took in 1967! Scenic coastal CA 1 all the way to Monterey. We stopped for a light lunch at a taqueria -- excellent and cheap. I hiked to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which got top scores in the guide book we had. They do great work and you pay for it. There's got to be a better balance between research and entertainment. It costs a fortune to visit. I can't imagine a family visit. Emma hadn't been tempted and went on a walk on her own and found me at the exit of the aquarium. We walked back to the fisherman's wharf, where, you are told, you must try the clam chowder. Well, every restaurant was giving out samples of its clam chowder, so after a few samples, you've had dinner!

Today was the drive from Monterey to San Simeon. It's a beautiful drive. One minute you're along the ocean, the next in a redwood forest or a eucalyptus grove. It's a windy road, so, although, this is not where I would have chosen to stop (there's nothing but the Hearst Castle to visit), it's nice to have the time to relax by the pool, read, and now, do some blogging. We're going to go down to the next town for dinner, soon. I was going to see another high school mate in L.A., but she's not going to be able to meet me after all, so we had a nice chat while I was at the pool. That was good.