Month: July 2015

We had a lot of fun at the wedding last night. It was at Cornerstone, which is this side of Sonoma, so it was an easy drive home afterwards. Beautiful place, lots of dancing.

Today is  the end of my last week of sabbatical — though I have Monday next week off also. I would like to visit Petaluma Hills brewery before we end, maybe we’ll do that today. Also it’s time to get some real domestic stuff done in preparation for stepping back into real life.

I’ll probably end up being less regular about my writing (link) once I start working again — but hopefully I’ll keep it going.

Well, we never made it to the South Bay yesterday. Kathleen refuses to consider commuting by train, so we’ll just have to accept her being crabby. 😉

Today, we’re going to a wedding — which should be fun. I’ve been growing a beard for the last couple of days, but it’s at that awkward length where you look homeless. I’m guessing my wife will make me shave it off for the wedding.

[ADDENDUM: Ann never even noticed that I was unshaven then shaven. After nearly 30 years of marriage, apparently she doesn’t even look at me. 🙁 ]

Say it with me — South Bay! Today! We plan to go down there, hang, shop, and see the girls. Not sure whether Laura can make time for us, but I want to ride the train with Kathleen. Will is onboard with coming with us — it will be fun.

Did a winery (Rutherford Hill) and dinner (Cole’s Chop House) yesterday in Napa valley. Very fun. We expected the winery to have lots of cabernets, but it didn’t 🙁 . Sad. I’m on a quest to find Ann an affordable cab that she likes.

We need to decide what to do today. One good possibility is bopping down to the south bay and seeing the girls. I’m a little worried about Laura after breaking up with Andrew, plus I want to ride the train with Kathleen so she can see how relaxing it is (shh! don’t tell her about my plan). I’m convinced that if she rides it once, she’ll see it is a good solution for her stressful commute.

If we don’t do that, we might do some tourist or outdoor stuff closer to home.

The target today is the beach in Bolinas — hopefully we’ll hit it. Should be great weather, plus we can take the dog. I’ll write more later — it’s a little busy here now.

[later–] We went to Bolinas — it was fantastic. Much better than Dillon, the other dog-friendly beach nearby. Leo fetched a stick from the ocean for maybe 45 minutes nonstop. It was crazy. We should go back more often.

One variable that I’ve failed to appreciate is the tide. The beach at Bolinas is awful at high tide and great at low tide — like today. In fact, the tide was coming in as we left, and the beach was nearly gone. So in the future, to make the trip worthwhile, we need to ensure both good weather and low tide.

We’re going to a Giants game today — they are playing the A’s. Should be a lot of fun. My wife is secretly fat because the first thing she thinks about when she learns that we are going to the game is what she’ll have for lunch at the ballpark.

Today is cowboy hat day at the ballpark, which seems an unfortunate handout since everyone wearing one will block the view of those behind them. (Behind the scenes at the Giants marketing department: ‘What can we give to the fans to minimize their ability to watch the game? Fully-assembled kites? Large suitcases? Card tables? Wait, I know! Cowboy hats!’)

Many years ago, it was during one of these ‘Battle of the Bay’ games (Oakland vs. SF) that the big earthquake hit. I’m not expecting one today, but you never know.  Maybe we should bring extra supplies, but not garlic fries because they’ll already have those.

[ADDENDUM: The people behind us did ask us to push our cowboy hats down on our heads as low as they could go so as to impede their view as little as possible. 🙂 ]

I’m now about five weeks through my six-week sabbatical. I wish the sabbatical were longer. We have had lots of fun: Ireland, Paris, plus lots of local adventures: Sonoma, Napa, Healdsburg, Point Reyes, hiking, drinking, eating. Living life fully doing something fun every day. Random things that I have learned during my sabbatical:

• • It’s OK to take time off from work. Everyone does it.
  • My wife is fun to hang with (I already knew this).
  • Irish food is surprisingly good.
  • It’s possible to make champaign from honey.
  • Judging by headcount, Americans are keeping the European tourist industry (and perhaps the whole European economy) afloat.
  • Sometimes, it takes an effort to walk a minimum number of steps each day when one is on vacation.
  • 35 degrees Celsius is pretty hot.
  • It’s ten times easier to travel without children.
  • There are breweries (multiple), portworks, and distilleries right here in my home town.
  • Paris is probably the most beautiful city I have ever seen.
  • I prefer Murphy’s stout to Guinness.
  • It’s challenging to keep a determined dog out of a vegetable garden.
  • Don’t walk ten miles in new shoes.
  • Euro bills and coins are way more intuitive than US equivalents.
  • It is possible to do something fun every day — even if it’s just for a few hours.
  • Paris is, in fact, not filled with mimes.
  • My wife is quite competent at driving on the left side of the road.
  • We can walk with the dog from our house to Lagunitas brewery and back.
  • I prefer barbecued oysters to raw.
  • The Louvre is overwhelming. I’m glad I visited it. I hope I never go back.
  • I live in a great part of the country/state/bay. There is a lot of great stuff to do that is quite close — since we are within easy striking distance of wine country, San Francisco, and the coast.
  • When you and your wife share a bottle of alcohol, whatever she didn’t drink, you did.
  • US western/cowboy music stems from UK folk music.
  • The hiking trails in Muir Woods are poorly marked, and it is possible to get (temporarily) lost.
  • The Lagunitas brewery tour is a blast. Highly recommended.

I have a little espresso maker downstairs that I use on days when I don’t have an early commute into San Francisco — so I normally use it four days a week, but I’m using it every day now during my sabbatical. It’s a complicated routine since I make cappuccinos, so I have to measure and froth the milk, plus measure and make the espresso shots, then clean up. I’ve gotten pretty good at it, but the last two days I screwed up — both times by not adding water to the reservoir first. Plus today I over-measured everything so I had an overflow on final assembly.

It’s a lot to ask a sleepy coffee drinker to make a complicated drink, so I’m not too worried, but I thought I had the routine down pat. I hope it’s not a trend toward senility 😉 . I’m reminded of the story Flowers for Algernon — which was a short story, novel, and movie (Charlie) — where they gave a mind-enhancing drug to a retarded man who got smart and then got dumb again (and died). Maybe the coffee is my mind-enhancing drug.

Had fun at the river and in downtown Healdsburg yesterday. The weather was perfect. Ann knows a beach in Forestville that has a lot of shallow water which makes it both safe and warm. Since it was during the week, it wasn’t crowded. We ate at a brewpub in Healdsburg, and went to a dessert store for pie! (not ice cream).

Will got some stuff done yesterday, but not everything we agreed. He then hung out with Lauren at the end of the day. He had promised me that he would have a handful of days without her since she would be busy with relatives. Today will be interesting because I want him to make good on what he promised, and he will want to hang with Lauren.

[ADDENDUM: See a related poem Starlight here: http://tomswritings.lewczyk.net/?p=267]

For those of you who read these posts, make sure you also visit my writing blog (http://tomswritings.lewczyk.net). I have tons of good stuff there, both newly-written and typed-up stuff from decades ago. Some of the old stuff cracks me up. You can comment there on what you find.