“Holiday gatherings – and another one, and yet another one”
Diana’s friend, Amy, joined us in Pacifica on Monday. I encouraged the girls to get out of the house for a while and they took me up on it. Champagne at Nick’s and a view of the waves:
You don’t really get the perspective from the video, but those were some large swells – the same ones that washed away the pier in Santa Cruz. After that the girls shopped at Sirens and then ran some other errands. Diana always enjoys hanging out with Amy.
Tuesday (Christmas Eve) started with a visit from Campbell, Will, Christine, and Ollie.
Will brought some very yummy Indian food from Redwood City. I don’t remember the name of the lamb dish, but that and the chicken Tikka were both delicious. Thanks Will!
We had a fun gift exchange – I’ll have to show you a picture of my fancy purple hat when I wear it for the first time.
One of the more entertaining episodes was Will reminding us of his track and field and cross country activities in high school. Funny that Campbell and I don’t remember anything about that. He called his friend, Otter, who verified that they did high jump and long jump. Hmmm.
I do remember Will skateboarding ALL THE TIME. Told him to bring his board next time and take advantage of the new half pipe in Adamo’s back garden:
Immediately after that, it was time to start preparing for the Feast of the Seven Fishes. Do we really need to go to this trouble every year? Absolutely, apparently! The seven fishes were:
Petrale Sole with prep by Giancarlo:
Scallops and lobster by Adamo:
Smoked salmon from Diana and Marco. Regular salmon from Diana. Anchovy pasta from Diana. Shrimp wontons from Carolyn. And it seems like we had a bonus fish that I’m forgetting. I would ask Diana, but she’s having a well deserved nap.
There were a total of nineteen people for the fishes. Clorinda had a great time holding court with everyone.
That feast was a lot of work and delicious. Everyone had a good time.
Next up – Christmas dinner. We worked on lamb lollipops, baked ham, and scalloped potatoes. Carlo did a great job with the lamb, Alicia with the potatoes, and Giancarlo with a very healthy salad. This was a more manageable group – Marco and Julie and family, Giancarlo and Carlo, and the residents of 1 Gypsy Hill road.
We wondered about adding the livestock outside the kitchen window to the feast:
Dinner was followed by a gift exchange. I should have made a video of the dancing dog singing “We wish you a Merry Xmas” that Marco got his Mom. She has quite a collection of those silly things now – that she loves.
Boxing Day – we met Sean and Sheri at Buck’s in Woodside for lunch – halfway point between south San Jose and Pacifica. We hadn’t seen these guys in a while and we had a lengthy catchup on family, jobs and everything else. A very pleasant few hours.
Friday – time for another group. A lovely group consisting of Diana’s stepsons John and Joey and their families. The four kids are so wonderfully interactive and well behaved. Diana did a great job raising those two boys.
You don’t hear about these guys too often, so from left to right:
Bonna, Joey, Lilly, Ezra, Diana, Clorinda, Lianna, Ben, Alicia, Maddie, and John. Such a great group of people.
We had leftovers and a gift exchange for the kids. One of the highlights was a mask for Lianna that Diana got her in the French Quarter after her birthday brunch.
She has a masquerade ball dance coming up and was very excited. Grammie is sporting a mask that she’s had in her closet forever.
This was such a nice visit and so calm – maybe my favourite of the week.
Saturday – time to pack up and head home. I couldn’t believe how quiet the airport was. We left early, expecting a very crowded situation. There was nobody in front of us in the TSA line and the entire concourse was empty:
Gave us time for a drink and a salad at the Lark Creek Grill – very good. We had a very friendly flight attendant that made the flight to New Orleans fun. Fortunately our flight arrived just as the thunder storms moved out of the area – the three flights ahead of us were diverted to Dallas, which would have been a real pain.
We dropped off my library book and made a visit to Martin to stock up for New Year’s Eve. Interestingly, Jude Law was spotted there this week:
I pulled up to the intersection of Prytania and Washington and it was all blocked off by police vehicles. After discussion, they allowed us in to park in our drive, just before a second line parade came down the street in front of our house. This is unusual – they usually turn on St. Charles.
The rest of today will be spent watching football and prepping for New Year’s Eve.
Look at this gorgeous view from my sister and brother in law’s home in Aberdeenshire this week:
I finished up Demon Copperhead this week – finally. Kelly had recommended this to me with:
“This is a book that is funny, sad and endearing. 5 stars for sure.”
It won the Pulitzer prize and was an Oprah’s book club selection.
All that is well and good, but it really wasn’t a great read for me. I must have missed the “funny” parts. It was a slog through all the sad things that happen to disadvantaged children in the midst of the opioid crisis in underprivileged parts of the country.
I think Kingsolver did an amazing job of putting herself into Damon’s mind and writing from his perspective. Really amazing.
The last quarter of the book held my attention much better than the earlier sections – likely because a bit of optimism crept in.
The last page was maybe my favorite, as it uses an oyster metaphor for the relationship between Demon and Angus:
“I was extremely unclear about where we were headed. Was she still my sister?
She smacked her forehead. “Oh my God. Oysters.”
“What about them.”
“You can only eat them in winter! June, July, August, they’re poison.
You have to wait till the months that have the letter R.”
This sounded highly doubtful. “Why is that?”
“Believe it or not, with my amazingly advanced degree, I don’t know.
It’s one of these things you pick up. I went to New Orleans a few times with friends.”
There he was, the friend. “And you’re saying it’s worth the wait? Because I’m saying Mrs. Peggot used to cook them in soup at Christmas, and I was not a fan.”
“This is nothing like that. At the beach they’re fresh. You crack them open and drink them right off the shell. Raw. Technically I guess still alive.”
“And that’s a good thing?”
“You won’t believe how good. It’s like kissing the ocean. Demon.” She leaned forward so I could see her face, and drilled those bad-girl eyes into me with a look that threatened my perfect driving record. “And it’s kissing you back.”
Oh my Lord. The girl has set her cap. Not my sister.
We talked the whole way through the Shenandoah Valley. The end of the day grew long on the hills, then the dark pulled in close around us. Snowflakes looped and glared in the headlights like off-season lightning bugs. Ridiculous nut that I’d been to crack. I drove left-handed with my right arm resting on her seat back, running my thumb over the little hairs on the back of her neck. The trip itself, just the getting there, possibly the best part of my life so far.
That’s where we are. Well past the Christiansburg exit. Past Rich-mond, and still pointed east. Headed for the one big thing I know is not going to swallow me alive.””
I don’t think I agree with all the hype around this book, and really don’t recommend it unless you want a deep view into the tough life of disadvantaged children from many aspects.
I really enjoyed the guitar sound and atmosphere of this new one from T Bone:
This sounds like something modern from the Grateful Dead’s “American Beauty” album:
Kathleen Edward’s voice is so pure on this Springsteen cover:
Another great version of this song:
And finally, Nick Lowe showing all the age in his voice to great effect:
Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!
After dinner we were looking for some music and I finally found a piano player at the Saturn bar – a short stroll from Acamaya. BC Coogan treated us to “Classified” by James Booker on arrival.
Merry Lee came over for a walk with Diana on Thursday morning, and suggested that we meet Jeff downtown for lunch. We had another yummy meal at Meril – the restaurant that Emeril named after his daughter.
Diana was back out in California to be with her Mom this week until late Thursday. This is an amazing sunset picture.
I went for a walk in Audubon park on Monday and made a small diversion for brunch at Tartine. Diana had told me about going there with Kara and it sounded very good. The baked eggs in brioche was excellent and I look forward to returning soon. Every plate I saw going past looked tasty.
I suggested to Kenny and Kara that we might want to attend the free concert by John Boutte in St Louis cathedral. Kenny drove down, parked us at the fire house and then we had a drink at the Pirates Alley bar by the cathedral. We got there fifteen minutes before show time and were very surprised to find the place completely full – standing room only. One can go and see John Boutte at DBA during the week and have five to ten people join you – but a free concert draws thousands of folks?
We had a drink at Fives bar after the show. This is a sister to the Columns and has excellent craft cocktails.
Mike reports that Simon loved it. And I get ahead of myself yet again. After the Columns lunch, I invited the crew back to the house to check out my Linn audio setup and listen to some music. We picked up Diana from her hair appointment on the way. A walking tour of the Garden District ensued. And then Diana was quite happy to host the group for oysters at Superior Seafood. I had a very nice time hanging out with the Mead boys.
I got tired of standing in place and so we walked down to Canal Street to see the end of it. “We’re almost at the Roosevelt hotel, why not go in and see the lights?” What a silly idea. There were oodles of families taking their Christmas card pictures – a complete zoo. Note to self – don’t do this after the parade next year.
I watched “Churchill at War” on Netflix this week. Very interesting series that tracks his life and decisions before World War II – did he really have such a big opportunity to avert the rise of Hitler?
I watched a short documentary, “Only Girl in the Orchestra”, about the first lady to play in the New York Philharmonic – so well done. It featured the second movement from Beethoven’s symphony number seven – amazing.
Neffie and Shaun and kids arrived on Thursday night late, on their way to New York to support another kid dancing in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. They are nuts to drive!
I gave up on “The Bee Sting” this week. I just can’t deal with the complete lack of punctuation for hundreds of pages – no periods, commas, or quotation marks. Why? What’s the point the author is trying to make? I can parse it and read it, and I persevered for a while. But no more. This is the first book that I’ve given up on in several years. Disappointing. All of you reviewers that raved about this book need to rethink your opinions!