Life

Hi,

I’m back from a weekend in Northern California.  The daytime weather was warm.  The evenings were verging on cool.  We usually aren’t in the States this late in the summer, so I can’t make comparisons.  I do know that Sunday evening in the San Jose area was getting chilly.

The ‘Old School Friday’ tune was “Dedicated to the One I Love” by The Shirelles.  Here’s a little something to make it an ‘Easy Monday’: “Meet me in the playground at a quarter to four, wait ’til everybody’s long gone.  There must be so many things that we can explore, maybe I can walk you home.  If it starts to rain, we can take some shelter, I’d like to hold your little hand.  My heart is spinning like a helter-skelter.  We’ll get to know each other if we can…”
Hint:  The title is three words describing early romance.

Friday we went back to school, so to speak.  On the campus of the ever-changing U.S.C. we went to the credit union to see our friend Irene.  Some of you may recall that Irene stayed with us years ago, on a return trip from China.  We had lunch at the faculty club.  I haven’t had waffles and chicken in a long time and it was better than I remembered.  The campus was buzzing with activity as the school year is about to begin. 

Today’s photos were taken on Friday.  Can you tell me where we were?  Extra Cool Points if you can tell me the name of the horse.

Saturday morning we flew to San Jose to begin the northern portion of our U.S. visit.  We got a car similar to the one we’re driving here in L.A. (Hyundai Elantra in L.A., Sonata in the north).  Thanks to the woman inside Google Maps, we motored around the area without any problems.  On the way to San Leandro for the Cousin’s Lunch, she changed our course to save us time.  The lunch was a lot of fun.  We shared photos of life during the last 6 months, laughed a lot, and heard family stories we never knew. 

Saturday dinner was with Joe, Lisa’s Dad, at The Trellis Italian Restaurant.  It’s Joe’s favorite place and we ate on the roof, with grape vines all around.  Meals with Joe are always fun and informative.  At almost 93, he has a sharp wit.  Listening to Lisa and Joe discuss art concepts and methods is always fascinating.  The owner is a friend of Joe’s and he came and sat with us for a bit.  He calls me ‘Potato Man’ from the days when I found that eating chicken and a dry, baked potato was my safest way through dinner.  He was pleased to see me eating a real meal this time (555). 

Sunday we went to breakfast with Joe and marveled at the size of the meals we’d been served.  After our meal we returned to Joe’s studio for a tour of recent works.  He has an exhibit opening in October and we got to see the framed cast acrylic prints that will be shown.  Around noon Cat arrived.  She was spending the weekend in Santa Cruz with a board member of The Freedom Project.  She and Joe have met on Skype, but this was their first face-to-face.  It was sweet how she referred to him as her Grandfather.  We had lunch at a Greek restaurant that turned out to be a real ’teachable moment’ for all of us.  When I asked the owner to explain ‘humus’ she looked at me and said, “You don’t know what humus is?”  She was a little impatient with us, but the mass quantity of food was good.  Joe went home with a huge salad, and Cat had a huge half of a chicken wrap.  Needless to say, it was good to see her and hear about her first week in America.  One thing she said she was grateful about was that cars stopped for pedestrians. 

We had dinner with our friend Bill at a French Restaurant in San Jose.  There is a special district called Santana street.  It’s comprised of high end stores and restaurants and is the perfect ’Sunday Stroll’.  Good food and great conversation.  Then it got cold.  We were only a few minutes from the airport and our flight back to L.A.

Have a Great Week.

                  Peace,
                            Danny

“We must let go of the life
we have planned, so as to
accept the one that is waiting
for us.”
~Joseph Campbell