Jury Duty

Today I had jury duty. That meant two things:

1. I got to check out Minamoto Kitchoan for Mari. She had e-mailed me a Wagashi Alert about a traditional japanese sweets maker near the Montgomery Bart Station, and had commanded me to go, go, go! So after I was dismissed, I went, went, went.

p.s. Mari, I found out that they don't make their treats there–they are all made in Japan. I'll try Japantown next.

2. I got to read for hours uninterrupted and I can't tell you how long it's been since that's happened. I'm reading a beautiful book that my jr. high school pal Gwen told me about:

New Snack Joint

Believe it or not, it has been so windy here that I need a jacket with a hood. At lunch Tom dropped me off at the Sports Basement. No luck; dismal colors.

So I walked along Crissy Field and discovered a new snack joint. Gorgeous tables made of recycled glass! Not to mention Strauss soft serve yogurt. (Ice cream, too.) Peanut butter & jelly sandwiches to go.

Treasures 6/27

Orthopedic Sunglasses

These are my new prescription sunglasses. I call them my orthopedic sunglasses because they remind me of orthopedic shoes.

I fell in love with them the moment I saw them. The fat sides have windows in them. When the sun's low I can walk without having to twist my head to the east.

Barbara, now you have to send me a photo of the new glasses you bought today.




















This just in from Barbara: Jasper is eyeing my glasses.

Red

A Vote for Gina is a Vote for Me

Please click this safe link and vote for Gina's green business. You can vote once a day on any one computer.

If she gets the most votes, she'll win an iPad. If she wins an iPad, she's promised to let me play with it over a large pizza, which she'll spring for out of her own pocket.

Gina and I worked for the same publishing company in Tennessee. I didn't know her at the time. I never went out of my office except for lunch. But recently I met her on Facebook and she quickly became one of my FFF's. Then I found out she lives right down the coast.

She wrote a book called Is It You, Me, or Adult A.D.D. and it's won four book awards.

Her contest entry:

Gina, CHADD of Northern California
We work to help adults with ADHD tackle challenges such as impulse spending and clutter accumulation. Overall, managing one's ADHD means living more consciously, the heart of "going green."

Facebook Update

Beach Finds 6/20

low tide: 12 noon
display case courtesy of Tom Davick


When I woke up the next morning, the display case had disappeared and all that was left was a pile of glass.

Farmers' Market: The Truth Comes Out

This is my favorite booth at the farmers' market: Pepples Organic Donuts. I had the salt caramel one.

And this is what I came home from the farmers' market with: some sprinkles, a jar of agave nectar, a brand new bag, 3 scarves, and 2 lights. It's probably not a good idea for me to go to the farmers' market at the Ferry Building anymore, though the lights didn't come from the farmers' market per se.

The true reason I went to the farmers' market is lighting. My studio is bright during the day but at night, the light comes from a garish ceiling fixture, so I just end up working (and playing) on the computer in the dark.

I've been wondering why I haven't read a book in years. Could it really be that the computer has turned my brain to mush? I've decided it's because we don't have lights to read by in the kitchen, bedroom, living room, or bathroom. So when Tom suggested we hit some lighting places and reminded me that four of them were near the farmers' market, I jumped out of bed. Especially when he suggested Limn–because we all know Primo Patio (lunch) is right next door.

So after hitting Limn, Artemide, City Lights, and Bay Lighting, we continued on to Home Depot where I spent $14.98 on a construction lamp (very bright halogen) instead of a $1,400 lamp from Limn. Isn't it handsome? It floods the room with just enough light at night, and of course I bounce it off a wall so that the light is indirect. To me, halogen is the most beautiful light.

The woman at Artemide let me take the tiny orange desk lamp home to try out on my desk, and is it ever nice. Maybe for a bedside lamp too. It comes in great colors–I would probably go for the sick green.

From: Tom
Date: June 19, 2010 1:07:05 PM PDT
To: Deb
Cc: Eric, Barbara, Larry
Subject: Primo Patio


Can u believe it?? Linda went to the farmers market w/ me. But then I had to take her to Primo Patio for a magnum glass of sangria. AND THAT IS WHERE WE ARE
Sent from my iPhone


••••••••••
From: Tom
Date: June 19, 2010 1:30:12 PM PDT
To: Deb
Cc: Eric, Barbara, Larry
Subject: Primo Patio Part 2

Tomorrow we gonna go on that diet for sure

Sent from my iPhone

Note from Linda to Tom:

This is a diet lunch. It's the vegetable plate.

No Blogging Tonight

We have a lot of catching up to do.

Back On Our Own Beach Today

And Then There Were Three

When we got back from Pt. Reyes, look what was waiting on the front porch. My first bound copy of the Christmas counting book (below), and the f&gs for the Easter counting book.

F&gs: that stands for "folded and gathered." It's basically a big sheet off the press that contains the whole book. It hasn't been bound yet. If you see anything that looks really off, you can change it at this point.

I realized that I should have added a pattern of some sort to the light yellow "spine" on the cover of the Easter book. The xmas book has the candy cane stripe and the Halloween book has the 10 blocks of color. When you see them all together, the Easter book looks plain.




















One thing that I thought was hilarious: I sent 2 different background colors for the end papers. I thought they would choose the color they liked best and use it for both the front and the back of the book. Instead, they used the violet for the front of the book, and the light green for the back of the book. (I think it looks great!)

Pt. Reyes Day 2

This photo (that's wet sand) shows how windy it was on Drakes Beach this morning. Unfortunately the legendary Drakes Beach Café was closed on Tuesdays. So that meant we had to hit the Pine Cone Diner (below), which is actually one of our favorite places to eat in the whole universe.

There's a store in Pt. Reyes called Cabaline where I bought a pair of pants and Tom bought a hat. I could buy all my clothes and shoes for ever more at this one store.

Barbara and Larry introduced us to the inn where we stayed. I loved it. Everything worked. There was a fantastic bar and restaurant right next door run by the same people.

Only one bad thing happened. The people who stayed in our room the night before left the alarm set to 5:00 a.m. After it blasted Tom couldn't go back to sleep. But then he remembered that today was The Day. The day the new books by Alan Furst and Stieg Larsson were downloadable. So he started right in on the new Alan Furst while I slept 2 or 3 more hours.

Pt. Reyes

Outside our window at Point Reyes Seashore Lodge.































After lunch at Osteria Stellina. (A whole pizza to myself, an ice-cold beer.)



The landscape is so different from what we're used to seeing on the Coastal Trail. Walking back in the late afternoon, we saw a bobcat.


Limantour Beach

Italian Street Painting Festival in San Rafael

The Play Experience

I don't understand how she does it, but Mary Ann works 40 hours a week and goes out to a play every other night. So I asked her what play we should see. She said The Tosca Project at the ACT.

I was excited because it had been an age since we had been to a play. So I'm writing more about my experience than about the play itself, which you can read about if you click the link above.

First off, buying the tickets online was kind of fun. I had gotten out my credit card and was ready to plunk down $100 +++, when I saw out of the corner of my eye something that said Thursday night was a 10-up night (whatever that meant). I clicked on it and found out if you sat in the 2nd balcony you could buy tickets for $7.50 apiece. That's less than the cost of seeing a movie! We decided to find out what our seats would be: 101 and 102–right in the middle of the first row. So we pounced on the tickets.

We got there five minutes early and discovered that the theatre had two nice bars, one downstairs and one on the 2nd floor. I asked the usher if he thought we had time for a glass of wine, and he said, "PLENTY," that they now allowed you to take wine to your seats in the theatre. So we each bought a glass of wine (another $7.50 per) and took it up to our front row seat in the top balcony. We were thrilled with our seats; plenty of leg room. Not so for the people in the rows behind us.

The place was packed. The show started and I was entranced–as much from the novelty of being downtown at the ACT than anything else. But about a third of the way through, when it was time for the beat poets and musicians to take over, the play came to life for me. The play is a funny and sweet San Francisco story that revolves around the Tosca Cafe.

It also made me cry. I came to the conclusion quickly that there's something much more emotional about seeing a play than seeing a movie. Parts of the story had an Armistead Maupin feeling, and it's odd because I noticed that Tales of the City is on the ACT's agenda. I'm dying to get season tickets.

There was one point in the play where the 1989 earthquake occurs. It felt so realistic–that was the only time it was not comfortable sitting in the first row of the second balcony!

Afterwards we walked across the street to the parking garage. The line to pay was around the block. So we walked into a cafe and had lots of coffee. Before I knew it I had ordered a giant cheese quesadilla. I believe this is what experienced theater-goers the world over know to do.

We then were able to zoom out of the parking garage. Something my eye didn't catch last night: If you park at the Mason/O'Farrell Garage, which is where we parked, and you show your ticket stub as you're leaving, you can park for $10.00.

These are some things I learned on our great night out. What else should I know if we decide to get season tickets?

Here's a pointer for you if you decide to wear a dress for once in your life. If it's chilly, and you wear leggings, make sure your boots aren't too short. Otherwise you have to keep pulling the bottoms of your leggings down.

Another bit of information: If you sit in the first row of the second balcony, be sure not to set your wine on the ledge in front of you, which looks flat, but is actually tilted toward the audience below.

San Jose Museum of Art

Wayne Thiebaud: Seventy Years of Painting is up through July 4.
The beach ball was my favorite. These kids were absolutely crazy about the one right beside it.

Treasures 6/08

E-mail of the Day

From: Janet
To: Linda
Date: June 6, 2010 5:44:56 PM PDT
Subject: Photos of Barcelona

These are not beach finds. This is a candy display at the local market!
• • • • •
Janet said she took this particular photo especially for me. She even wrote a book about candy called 10 Trick-or-Treaters and I illustrated it. Here are some important excerpts from the book jacket:


Janet Schulman is a resident of New York City . . . her favorite Halloween candy is Good & Plenty. 
Linda Davick lives near the ocean in San Francisco. Her favorite pastimes are expanding her sea-glass collection, and drawing and eating candy at the same time.

Concert

We heard at least six different fog horns this evening on the Coastal Trail. I almost thought about recording them, it was so outrageous. And then look who I ran into:

Coastal Trail