Pat takes a photo class and Henry gets an Ikea oven

First of all, IPhotos from class really need to talk about the weather.  o.k., it is not ideal, it is cool, sometimes rainy and cool sometimes rainy, windy and cool.   But today was nice.  very sunny.  Yes cool.  In the 40's.  I spend this time saying this because the forecast had been for SNOW.  and, of course, there was none.  But not to discourage the local news, they had about 1/2 hour broadcast on the weather, that being snow, even though there was none, except on elevated spots.  Coming from Northern Michigan, I dont' WANT to see any snow, but the Bay area residents are mightily disappointed.  Oh well, that is how it goes.


I took a photography class today that I had bought through groupon.com.  It was actually fun.  it could have been more instructive, though if the photographer, John Ater, actually critiques my Picassa folder, it would be worthwhile.   Here is a link to my gallery

 http://gallery.me.com/pathaber#100658

He stressed composition in the first half, and texture in the second half.  We met at the Ferry Building on Farmers Market day, so there was so much to take pictures of, with the food and the colors, etc.   It was a fun class, here is the link to my pictures, as yet , unedited.     I was thinking in my head of two themes-colors of the food and the signs.
I then took the Bart to Oakland, where Dan picked me up.   ( I love the Bart, though I had a little bit of difficulty buying the ticket---I also found it disconcerting that there was only one staircase down to all of the trains leaving from my station, since I have been in NYC recently, which has a maze of stations and levels and staircases for all their lines.
Dan picked me up, an we got to Jay and Lindsey's, and hung out with them and Henry.  we had bought Henry a toy kitchen from Ikea for Xmas, and we finally assembled it.  Or rather, Dan did while the rest of us entertained Henry.  Henry's not benn in a great mood lately--he may not feel well as he has a cold that has lasted for weeks that we have all caught, or, he's reaching the terrible two's a bit early.  So, he's a bit cranky and stubborn, with a constantly running nose.  Yes, if he weren't your grandchild, you would not rush to him at this moment, but of course, he is, and I do.   Anyway, he loved this little kitchen, and made dinner for all of us on it---he was dancing up and down with excitement! 
We then left and came home to our doggy ward, Duffy, who, at 17 years old, actually plays.  He plays "chase" which is rather hilarious as he is about 4 lbs. and 9 inches in length.

A Good Quote to Think About and my Theme

We weren't blogging during Martin Luther King Day, but I wanted to include a great quote:

"Faith is taking the First Step Even Though don't See the Whole Staircase."

Pat Gets Tipsy with Francis Ford Coppola

At last, a sunny, warm day!   We met our friend, Kathleen, in Sonoma today.  Picked her up at her condo in Sebastapol, and took the back way through beautiful vineyards and countryside to do some wine tasting, then to have lunch at Rustic, the charming restaurant at the Coppola winery.
First stop was Wilson's, where we had been last year.  Excellent wines.  I do not have a good "palate", as they say, I cannot describe wines, or discern their "nose" (the smell), but when you are doing wine tastings in California, they help you.  The person who is pouring describes them for you, in glowing, exact terms.

I just know if I like the wine or not!   I did like the wines at Wilson, a lot, and we bought a bottle of Petit, Petit syrah.   We took a picture of Kathleen and me that is identical to one we took of the two of us in Italy a few years ago when we were wine tasting there!

Pat and Kathleen Italy 2007

                                          Pat and Kathleen California, drinking again 2011

We then went on to Mauritson winery and those wines were really good! Particularly their Rockpile label.  I was beginning to feel it, I can't do much tasting without getting a little tipsy, especially before lunch.  The day was getting better and better.
This winery had these very cute yellow labs, Soho and Chelsea.  They were so cute.

It was time for lunch, so we left there before finishing the better wines, and went on to Coppola's for a wonderful lunch at their restaurant Rustic.  We had Chicken Mattone, which was chicken that was cooked under a brick (Jason, you would love this) flattened, and sauteed.  Delicious!  Also had pasta puttanesca, marinated anchovies (I opted out of these) and a Caesar salad.   The three of us split it all.  Before eating, we were served a beignet like roll, hot from the oven.   Kathleen and I are both on Weight Watchers, so we didn't watch our weight together. Still, splitting it three ways was a great idea.

After lunch, we returned to the Mauritson Winery to try their Rockpile Pinot Noir, shiraz, -------.  Oh, they were good!  We splurged on the Bordeaux, called Buck Pasture.  Wonderful!  Paul, are you reading this?

We returned Kathleen to her condo, came home, and relaxed.  Watched a movie we had from Netflix, it's a Danish movie "After the Wedding". We realized we had seen it at the Traverse City Film Festival a few years ago, but had forgotten the plot, so watched it again.    Pat finally had a nice sleep.

It Doesn't Take Much to Make it Heaven

This was a good day, in many ways, heaven!  Here's why:

1. I bought a pair of sandals at DSW--I am in total heaven now, because I can walk without my blisters being affected .
2. Dan got to eat at Tommy's Joynt again!  This was featured on Dives n Diners on the Food Channel once, and it is a S.F. institution.
3. Stairway walk!   This wasn't heaven, because it shouldn't even count as a stairway, but it was an interesting place.  It was near the "Wave Organ".  This is a concrete structure built with concrete tubes--when the waves hit, mostly at high tide, they make a singing sound through the tubes.  Pretty cool!

Famous Farmers Market and Famous House!

It was finally sunny today!   Not warm, but sunny.  We went to the Farmers Market at the San Rafael Civic Center.  We love this market, and have been craving the fresh produce of Northern Ca., especially  the strawberries for Dan, and artichokes for Pat.  

In the evening, we went to see "Cedar Rapids", a new indie movie with Ed Helms and John C. Riley.  It was a very good movie, we enjoyed it.  But the reason we saw it is that it was partly filmed in Ann Arbor, and OUR HOUSE is in it!   Well, maybe just one shot, and just the side.   But it WAS shot in our neighbors' house.   If you look closely, Ed Helms is putting bird food in a feeder, and his house is green.  The neighboring house is red, and it is ours!   Here is the trailer:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJqFUWbITug.          don't blink, you may miss it!

A Love-In

Went to Jay and Lindsey's to babysit, so that they could start packing for their move to their new house.
Enjoyed it immensely, Henry is very sweet.    He loves to go downstairs with me, I had the job of teaching him how to go down stairs, by turning around and sliding feet first.  He is so good, he remembers and he listens.   (an important thing to learn, for a toddler)
They got quite a bit of packing done, then we stayed around for dinner.  I had made some chicken soup, a chicken casserole for them, and we made quesadillas while there.  Jay made the quesadillas, Lindsey and I helped, she made salad and no pudge brownies (quite good, I must say) and Dan played with Henry.  O.K., bragging time--Henry is 19 months old, and recognizes his letters, or most of them.  We are quite impressed!

It was a jolly day by the end, with us all being a bit goofy--or, rather, the adults.

waa, waa, I'd Rather Have Snow! friday

Since we aren't going to be here as long, we are trying to make the most of it and do things we love every day.
It is, however, raining out.  Raining, and raining.  And windy.  And cold.   I want to do a stairway walk, but it's not possible because of the weather, and my blisters.
I did go to jazzercize today and saw my old friends from there.  It was nice to get back to it, but after all my whining about missing it in Traverse City, I decided I prefer Zumba--it's not as structured, the music is better, and it's more fun.   But, I still like it.  I danced in my socks, no shoes yet!
Later, we decided to go into San Francisco to see the "Black Sabbath" exhibit at the Contemporary Jewish Museum.  www.cjm.org   It was a great exhibit that had all this music of Black Musicians singing Jewish songs.  My favorites were Johnny Mathis singing "Kol Nidre" and Cannonball Adderly playing the Sabbath Song from Fiddler on the Roof.   Very enjoyable.
It was, however, quite an adventure to get there.  Our trusty GPS brought us to the wrong location, their old location, it turned out.  We found street parking, almost an impossibility in this city, but we had to walk about 7 blocks to get to the museum.  Not normally a big problem, but since the maximum time limit was an hour, we figured we had about 20 minutes to experience the exhibit!  Dan was a good guy and went back to the car to add more $$$.  Plus, we walked there as fast as possible because of the time, but also, the rain and wind and cold were ferocious!   The wind kept blowing my umbrella inside out, so I just gave up on it and put on Dan's cap, as he had a hood on his coat.  It was FREEZING!   Plus, of course, my blisters were hurting.
We then went to dinner at a place called "Lime".  Do not ever go there!  It was very bad.  I had bought a Groupon coupon for it, so we were committed to it, and Jay and Lindsey said they liked it.   The coupon was for a Champagne Prix Fixe dinner for two.  It consisted of a bottle of champagne (this was very good, though neither of us love champagne) and 4 courses of small bites--very small bites, like deviled eggs, which did not taste good, mini grilled cheese sandwiches, mini burgers, and mini Caesar salad on a leaf.   Also desserts, which were fair.   The worst part was that the restaurant had no heat and it too was freezing!
I have no picture for today, but you should look up the link, that was the fun part.  You don't want to see my feet! Or, the broken umbrella!

Little Bo Peep Has Lost Her Sheep--in the floods of Sonoma!

in the morning, we did some errands, none of which worked out. went to the AT and T
 store to upgrade dan's iphone so he could give me his--can't do it yet, the contract isn't up. went to look for a new jacket for him, no luck. wanted to go to the farmers market in San Rafael, a wonderful farmers market that we've been craving for--we got out of the car, walked 2 feet and gave up as it was raining so hard!

Came back home for lunch, and went to Napa for the afternoon. the day got much , much better then. I got some cool clothes at the CAbi outlet in Napa, as well as some great shoes, which i think will be great once my blisters heel! then went to look for the Coppola winery just to have a destination. stopped at St Helena's on the way, which is a wonderful town we never tire of.  It's lively, full of interesting stores (not all ritzy, some but not all) and pretty. Drove up to calistoga and then realized whoops, Coppola is in Sonoma Valley, not Napa Valley!  Oh well, we didn't care. found a wine tasting store, which stocks wineries that don't have tasting rooms. some very good, but expensive wines.

In St. Helena's, Dan bought a very cool hat.

On the way up to Napa, there are vineyards all over the place. in one vineyard, we saw sheep all over the vineyard, which we thought was probably a very good sustainable idea, as they say in Ca. , as the sheep keep the grass short around the vines, we think. anyway, I  wanted to take a picture of this for this day's blog, but decided that later. well, it had been raining on and off all day. the rain in Ca. is so different than in Michigan. it is sort of relentless, just keeps coming and coming, then will stop, then keeps coming. and because we're near sea level, there is nowhere for it to go, so it floods really easily here. It comes in torrents down the ease troughs too.

So we were driving back, trying to get to the vineyard where the sheep were. As we neared Sonoma, the roads were closed, flooded out. we kept taking detours, and kept seeing closed roads! felt like we were going in circles. There are very few roads in this area, and some are dirt, small private roads.  We finally got through, but alas, the sheep were all gone!  Where were they, I don't know but I may have to go back and find them!

anyway, it was a nice day.

Aching feet, barking doggy and Laughing Henry

I arrived in Alameda on Sunday, Feb 13. I got in earlier than Dan. Jay picked me up, we went to the house, got Henry and Lindsey, and went to see their new house.
Oh, i love it! It's 100 yrs. old, in really good shape. The floors are all inlaid wood, the staircase is mahogany, and there are many built in cabinets.
It is very large and there is much work to be done, however. They will love this, they love a project and work together very well.  Pictures will follow at some point.

Dan came in just in time for dinner, which the 3 of us made, with Henry looking on. He has a high chair he sits in, as he watches all of us cook, and tries to help out. 
we stayed there a few days, then moved to our Novato house.  This is a really nice house, near where we've been for the past 3 years. We are house and dog sitting. the dog is named Duffy, and we disagree on what breed he is. i think he is a yorkie, dan thinks he is a lapso abso. (Owner just told me he is a Maltese Alaskan Husky mix-Dan)  any ideas, readers? votes?
Anyway, Duffy is 17, and needs some coddling. he does not like us yet, but is beginning to. We were not very happy with him the first night, as he barked quite a bit, and we thought he had to go out. Dan finally just slept on the couch, not getting much sleep. I hardly got any either, as the barking kept me up, plus I was getting a cold from Henry, took some meds, which of course, jazzed me up.

Last night,  I got up and let him out, but i realized he didn't necessarily want to go out, he wanted to be in bed with us. over dan's protestations, Duffy finally got his way, and was quiet for the rest of the night. it is weird for me to have a dog sleeping with me, the only 2 dogs i have owned have been 140 lbs. and 90lbs, so getting in bed with us was out of the question! I fear i think of him as a cat!
We are settling in, of course it's taking a few days. i want to start my jazz. routine again, but I have blisters--on top of my bunions! Oh woe is me and getting older.   Just to kind to anyone reading this, I will not include a picture of my feet!

California here we are

Well we are back in California, We were greeted with warm sunny weather, which quickly turned to rain. After a couple of nights with Jason, Lindsey and Henry, we have moved into our temporary home in Novato. We are house sitting for people we met through Home Link. It is a very nice home, and we are quite happy to be here. Just hope it dries out a little. We are charged with caring for Duffy, who is a 17 year old little terrier, who is very sweet. He is very slow moving but does let his needs be known.

After all the activity of the last couple of months, it is nice to be in one place for a while

Wonderful Weather

Pat left on Friday, Feb. 11th for this winter's trip.  Stopped in Salt Lake City for the weekend first to visit Matt, Rachel and Isaac.   Got in late, went to sleep pretty much right away.   I finally got a good night's sleep, seems like it's been weeks!  I felt so relaxed.
Next day, did the usual routine shopping with Isaac and Matt, love to do this.   Then, went back and played with Isaac til  nap time, when Matt and I did errands together.   That night, they went out to dinner to celebrate Matt's Valentine's Day Birthday, while I baby sat Isaac.   We did a project together--brought stuff so he could make them valentines and a birthday card.  He got so caught up in it that, had to put on every little dot from the sticker page.   Later, we watched a movie.

Left the next day after breakfast for Alameda.
What amazed me there was the weather!  I've been there before in winter, but either because it was a glorious day, or because it's been so grey and cold at home, I was reveling in the weather.   The sun was so bright, the air was so clear, and it was warm.   The mountains were so clear in the background.   I felt almost jubilent, making me wonder if I had SADS in the greyness of Michigan!
Isaac was so cute.   two cute things, but mostly for us, I want to remember them.
1) I rented a bright yellow car, and Matt and Isaac rode in it to the grocery store.  Isaac said, "Hmm, it's been a long time since I've been in a yellow car."   (i'm sure he's never been in one!)
Later, when we were playing, he was making up a baseball game, with a made up bat.  I had a big ball, and he wanted me to throw it to him, so he said, "come closer, my dear." ! I asked him where he got that, and he said something about the wolf!   He must have just heard the story of Little Red Riding Hood.  He has such a funny sense of humor, will all of a sudden say something that sounds silly to him and he'll go"  that's so funny."
I miss him already.   He told me I was his "favorite friend."

On the road again

Well we started the year with sadness. My Father passed away  on Dec 28 and we had the funeral on Jan 3 2011. He was 88 and lived a long life. R.I.P. Florian.

During the funeral time, I was offered a consulting opportunity with the New York City Public Schools. It is a great opportunity and requires me to be in New York City for five weeks. It looks like they may now extend that for a couple of more weeks in March. The first four weeks have been exciting. I started out with training in Springfield Massachusetts, then came to New York. They fly me back to Traverse City on Fridays and then I return to NY on Sundays. I have two more weeks then we will go to California for three weeks, then back to NY for one week. Pat joined me this week, and she has enjoyed museums and shopping while I am working. We have had some great food, but so far our favorite is Armando's in Brooklyn. An old time Brooklyn restaurant which was a hang out of Marilyn Monroe, Bogie, and many others. Pat loved the Lasagna. We will return. I have found various neighborhood bars and restaurants that give you a good meal for the price.
We are being housed at the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott. It is very convenient to the subways, and is in Brooklyn Heights, which has many neighborhood restaurants and bars, An added bonus is that it is less than one mile from Adam's house, so I have gotten to see him quite a bit. He even cooked a meal for Pat and me when she was here.
So far I have been to schools in Flushing NY (Queens), Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx. We are helping schools implement a new electronic IEP. The NY public school bureaucracy is quite daunting, but we are getting through it. 1.25 million students, 1600 schools, 225,000 IEP's per year. Quite an operation.
This segment of the training is over, so now it's off to San Francisco. I return to New York on March 6.