Wisdom

Hi,

Here in Northern California we had a cold and rainy Sunday.  Don’t know what the weather will bring today.  On the other side of the world, it rained in Chiang Rai, finally.  There were hail storms north of Chiang Rai. 

 

The ‘Old School Friday’ song was “Money” by Barrett Strong.  This week’s ‘Easy Monday’ tune is from a group I’m sure you’re familiar with.  They’ve been the topic of many a ‘Zany Day’.  “I took my troubles down to Madame Ruth, you know that gypsy with the gold-capped tooth.  She’s got a storefront down at Thirty-Fourth and Vine, selling little bottles of __ __ __ __.”  Hint:  This group is famous for their novelty tunes.  A liquid is involved.

So, Saturday morning we flew to San Jose International Airport, picked up our rental car and drove to San Leandro.   We had our final ‘Cousin’s Lunch’.  Cousin Trudye is moving to Baja Mexico, but will be visiting the L.A. area, so we’ll be relocating the lunch in the future.  I guess we’ll be having a new version soon.  We had a wonderful time with longtime friends Skip and Keith.  

It’s an hour drive from the airport to San Leandro, and about an hour from the lunch site to Palo Alto, our final destination.  By the time we had checked in at our motel, there wasn’t quite time for a nap, so we had to defy Mr. Lag and pretend to doze.  Next thing we knew, it was time to drive to dinner.  We met Lisa’s dad Joe and Karen Jo, Lisa’s step-sister, along with her son-in-law Naeem and Joe’s friend Marie-Louise.  There we were, a table for six in Joe’s favorite Italian restaurant, once again.  Lots of catching up, pet talk, weather talk (so cold), and some health stuff too.  

Trying to stay awake with Brotha Lag hanging around is hopeless.  About 8:15pm he started poking us.  ‘Aren’t you getting sleepy yet?’  By 9:30 we were in bed in the midst of crashing.  Around 11:00 I woke up and the night was a wreck after that.  Sleep was an on again, off again thing.  I’m sure there were moments of rest, just can’t remember.  I just remember tossing and turning and looking at the clock, only to see that 10 minutes had passed.  

Sunday morning we started the day with coffee from our motel’s courtesy kitchen.  They have cereals, bagels, coffee and other breakfast items for the traveler.  The big plus is, the coffee is good.  Part of our routine when we come up north, is to take Joe to breakfast at his favorite morning spot, Stacks.  It’s a pancake house, but has good regular meals.  

At Joe’s house we all took a little morning nap.  It didn’t take much coaxing.  Later we spent some time in his studio, looking at the new work he has produced since our last visit.  There was a lot and in different disciplines as well.  The self-portraits were of special interest, along with some new ink works.  Then we went to the Palo Alto Community Art Center to view an exhibit that focused on humans relationships with animals.  Very interesting work. I’ll show photos tomorrow.

Today’s photo fits into the topic of the gallery show, I suppose.  We see JaiDee and Nitchanan hanging out by the side of the pool.

We spent the entire day with Joe, which meant we had to get food.  Our favorite lunch place near his house is closed on Sundays, so we went to a local deli.  Back at the house, we watched some football and then crashed again.  We woke up just in time for the start of the ‘main event’.  Joe is a big San Francisco 49ers fan so we watched the opening plays and then left him for the evening.  We found a burger place in Palo Alto near Stanford, that was ‘build it yourself’ style.  We built our own turkey burgers from a list, telling them each ingredient we wanted.  It was great, and they had TVs all around the room so we could watch the game while we ate.  This was a big game and fans here are very loyal.  

Tomorrow we’ll pick Joe up for breakfast and then, who knows?

Have a Great Week.       

                       Peace,

                                 Danny

“Each of us finds his unique 

vehicle for sharing with others

his bit of wisdom.”

~Ram Dass