esprit de l'escalier

Thoughts on a friend

I don't like to write about people's loss, mine or others, in this space. Words never seem to be adequate. I heard some horrible news this weekend, and I keep thinking of my friend. My heart is with her and her family.

Happy weekend!

I hope you all have a lovely holiday weekend. It looks like we're going to get a break from the monsoon season we've been having - it's supposed to be hot and sunny! I miss being a kid and loving the first day of pool season. This weekend I am looking forward to some barbeques with friends, the farmer's market, and maybe hit the parade.

Here's a photo of one of our tree peony plants. I'm obsessed with these flowers. The blooms only seem to last a week or so, but I love them. If they were people, I think they would get a restraining order on me. I took about a dozen or so photos with my Pentax, the same with my Nikon, and several Polaroids. I haven't uploaded all of them, because I can't choose favorites and am a little embarassed.

Evening purple

My mother bought these Siberian iris plants and planted them this month, thinking they were not going to bloom in their first year. Luckily for us, she was wrong! They bloomed and are gorgeous.

Monday night crafting

Tonight my friend Esther organized a little craft night at her friend Stephanie's shop/work space The Gangway on High. There were only a couple of us, but it was fun hanging out with some ladies, chatting, and doing some crafts. I hope we can do it again soon. I headed out because we heard some thunder and I got to my car just as a barrage of rain came down. I drove home in monsoon-like conditions, but had quite a light show.

The photo has nothing to do with my day, but is a baby fern from April.

Spotted this weekend

Graffiti wall at Agora on Saturday. Irises from my friend's garden today. There is a huge storm brewing right now. The rain held off all weekend and it looks like it's back.

Spring greens

Here are some shots from the yard from a rainy day in April. I couldn't tell you which rainy day, since almost ALL of the days in April were rainy. (Ditto for this month, but we're supposed to get some sun this weekend!) The rain means lush greens in the yard, but delays for farmers. I hope it dries out so the farmers can get in their crops.

Evening photos

I mentioned how I took a red eye back east, right? Before I flew out, Stacey and I walked to Golden Gate Park, talked, and tried to catch some of last light of the day with our cameras. Oh, and that's Ringo down there, Stacey's cat.

More San Francisco photos

My last day in San Francisco, Hasia and I drove up to Sonoma County, and my college friend Stacey joined us. The day was perfect - warm and clear. We went to a couple of wineries, had a lovely lunch, wandered a candy store, and generally had a lovely day.

Have I mentioned I had a good trip?

San Francisco trip

I went to San Francisco last weekend to visit my awesome cousin Hasia and have yet to post about it (or anything this week). I'm going to blame a sinus infection that I came home with. (Note to self: red eye flights are really not your thing. Do not attempt in the future.) And I was waiting for photos to get developed. I'm also not super jazzed about my photos. (I was feeling slightly self-concious with photography the whole weekend. Need to work on that.)

I flew out last Thursday and came home Monday morning. I had the first part of Friday to myself. My plans to meet up with a long-lost high school friend got cancelled last minute (which still makes me sad), so I ended up wandering the Mission solo and didn't end up taking many photos, besides a couple of Polaroids.

Then I headed to Pixar's campus, where Hasia works. They were celebrating their 25th anniversary with a big open house party. There was food and drink everywhere, with talk of a bouncy castle and a cupcake truck. We stayed on the third floor deck in the new building, holding court with a bunch of Hasia's co-workers. It was warm and breezy (I got another sunburn), and we were near the mixed drinks. That place is awesome. It was hard going back to my little cubicle at work after my brief visit.

Then Hasia and I went into the city and had an excellent dinner at The Slanted Door in the Ferry Building. We started with cocktails (I had a negroni), and had the crispy Imperial noodles, the shaking beef, the cellophane noodles with dungess crab meat, and bok choy. GOOD STUFF.

The next day we spent with my cousin Bennett (Hasia's brother) and his family. Bennett and his super stylish wife (see above) have two great kids. I love hanging out with all of them. Again, lots of excellent food. (I told Hasia that was one of the things I wanted to do on my visit: eat well. She totally came through.) I let my 8 year old second cousin play around with my Yashica Mat and took some fun photos of everyone. Our evening ended at this awesome ramen place and then we went for pie. I'm lucky to count these people as family. Tomorrow I'll share what we did last Sunday.

I should be packing

Oh man, I know it's only Tuesday, but this week I feel like I've been sprinting since Monday morning. Tomorrow my friend Amy & I are throwing a joint birthday wine tasting. I dropped by her house after work today to work out some final arrangements. Then I went home and baked a cake (a strawberry riff on Smitten Kitchen's raspberry buttermilk cake). (Actually, it ended up being 2 cakes. I didn't think through the cake til it was in the pan, when I realized it was way too small for my needs. So I made it again and doubled it. Dessert for us!) I also opened up a bottle of Riesling I bought in Chicago. (For some reason I was compelled to cart 2 bottles of wine home with me on the Megabus, but it was good.)

I'm packing for a trip to San Francisco. I leave Thursday from work, but since I've got plans tomorrow, I really need to get a leg up on packing. I usually try and list out what I think I'll bring, if not, my packing tends to the horribly haphazard. I am decidedly worried about what I'll end up wearing out there, but I am super excited to get there. So much to do in the meanwhile. Pack, sleep, work, etc. It will be here quicker than I am ready!

Oh dear, Frank just jumped up on my lap. He was in his first fight of the season the other night and has been limping, cuddly, and generally pathetic, not to mention extremely demanding of attention. I know I sound hard-hearted, but he's both fine and getting plenty of attention.