just a time from now

And just a little late I am :)


Tuesday July 1, 2014_June media_a Tennessee Williams bio which was fascinating and just a little depressing; an entire book about the pivotal year of 1959; The Americans, the photography of Robert Frank; Moonwalking With Einstein, about a journalist's personal journey in the world of memory competition that I loved, and The Hotel on Place Vendome, the true story of Paris's Hotel Ritz during its WWII occupation, my bookclub recommendation which everyone enjoyed!!!

Wednesday July 2, 2014_My bookclub in my courtyard, the ladies, the table, we had such fun :)


Friday July 4, 2014_I couldn't get the fireworks themselves, but I did get the silhouette-like photo of people getting ready for the show.


Sunday July 6, 2014_Lauren and I went to see How to Train Your Dragon II, a terrific movie BTW, and since they no longer had a poster, I instead took a photo of the elevators up to the theaters.


Saturday July 19, 2014_David, Lauren, and I went downtown to dinner and after, decided to wonder aimlessly about, passing by the Adobe Headquarters with its wind turbines whirling!!


Tuesday July 29, 2014_From last month, Jimmy's garden as a reminder because NOW he has the jewel-toned corn all picked and nicely placed in a wicker basket with, for whatever reason, sheet music.


Wednesday July 30, 2014_Lauren and I have been doing a little art class Wednesday evenings, this evening a still life.

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Yet another month has gone by...man!

Saturday May 1, 2014_April media
Books_The Great Gatsby is a reread because there is so much I can learn from the writing and Salt Sugar Fat was the bookclub recommendation and is about the wicked ways of the US food industry.
DVDs_Your Deceptive Mind is about just that, how fallible our minds are and how, knowing that, we cam compensate.


Wednesday May 14, 2014_The bookclub meets in Janelle's backyard. The first photo is obviously the 'before' shot while the second is just something I though looked kind of cool, an indoror lamp of Janelle's brought outdoors and under illuminating her orange tree.



Saturday May 17, 2014_Campbell Art & Wine Festival_Lauren contemplating the scene before her & tie-dye galore!
Plus, we ate at this pizza place which has terrific pizza, but lousy indoor acquistics so, we prefer to eat outdoors.


Friday May 30, 2014_Cindy remains dedicated to finding two pieces of furniture, one for her bath, she actually found what she wanted in this store but, alas, it was the ONE cabinet in the whole place that wasn't for sale, and one for her hallway, and because she has very exacting requirements, the hunt continues...and continues, but, seriously, who am I to complain? There are far worse things to be doing on a Friday afternoon than antiquing especially after having spent a lovely morning coffeeing with friends.

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Saturday March 1, 2014_February reading plus_I read the first book of the Earthsea Six, A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursala Le Guin and enjoyed it quite enough to continue on.
I read Open Veins of Latin America for my bookclub, it was rec-ed by Jimmy, Lauren's friend and Cindy's son, and it was brutal. Bru...tal!! if you want to know more about the exploitation of this part of the world from the 1400s Portuguese to the 1970s Americans, give this book a go.
I also rewatched My Favorite Universe done for the Great Courses people by Neil deGrasse Tyson because I love it so.
Modotti, a biography of the photographer, was an interesting read. She was a consort of Edward Weston who became a well-established photographer in her own right.


Thursday March 13, 2014_before I was all agog over getting little tiny still-green red peppers inside my big red peppers, while now it's double yolks in my organic eggs. The ever changing panoply of food.


Saturday March 15, 2014_I completed a task that had been bugging me for sometime wherein I had been putting stuff I didn't otherwise know where to put in the background white box. All is now put where it should be!! Of course, a couple of new projects came to light after going through all this which is really kind of cool :)


Friday March 21, 2014_Cindy and I went over the hill to get Lauren and Jimmy and while on the way back, as she drove, I took pictures of Goldie, and the kids, in the backseat. This is my favorite because it is me she's give a kiss to :)


Saturday March 22, 2014_We had our bookclub at our usual restaurant at 9am and when we were leaving I noticed this long branch pretty much just hovering above the ground and thought it lovely so, there you have it.


Friday March 28, 2014_Niles California_So David says, 'let's go antiquing' so I say, 'How about Niles!?!' so he says, "Cool' so we do. Niles is part of Fremont, the city where Lauren was born, we left it when she was 2. While there, she and I hung out in Niles a lot, many of our antiques come from this little district, but she hadn't been back since so, this was a trip down memory lane for me and a reminder for her. This, an establishment shot, shows the hills and the Niles train station. We drove.


I kept walking into the stores suddenly remembering them so well and even what I'd bought in them so many years ago. Lauren bought action figures of Jean-Luc Picard and Beverly Crusher here :)


A lovely window display with the palms, blue sky, and hills reflected, I really like how the dress becomes a part of the clouds.


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At the beginning of each month, I start a folder with that month's nane on it, as in January Printing, in order to collect up my photography from that month, whether for these monthly 365-ish posts or for the 3 to 4 times a month 100_snapshots posts, for printing.

And at the beginning of each month I wonder whether or not I'll have anything in it, anything to post, anything to print when the month ends. Amazingly enough, so far, I have. Life has given me something to take pictures about each and every month!

At the moment, February's remains empty.
Happily, for me anyway, January is not :)

Thursday January 2, 2014_Decbember reading and vidding. Two books and one video series about writing and one book about what it was like to be a rocket ridding, shuttle crew member, Riding Rockets was my rec for my bookclub this last time. Enjoyable each and every one, The Art of Character was especially in-depth with exercises I didn't, but will have to go back to do. Fantasy and Science Fiction has almost every blank page scribbled in with my Notes to Self. both of these are definitely going to be rereads :)


Saturday January 4, 2014_We joined the Hadley's at our favorite little Italian place to celebrate mine and Cindy's combined birthdays, hers being on Christmas day and mine being on New Years Eve. This has become a six or seven year tradition which, as traditions go for us, is very nearly forever.


Thursday January 16_2014_Downtown_I find it very weird but people here in San Jose can live their lives in the suburbs and never come downtown where there is much to do. My friend, Cindy, is one of those people so, I took her, via lightrail, to Third Thurdsays, at our museum. First though, after learning she had never even been in the cathedral, I took her there. At the museum, several vendors, mostly of jewelry, which Cindy loves and don't really care very much about, were showing their wares in the entryway.

After Cindy checked out everything, we walked through the museum which was having a exhibit called Hidden Heros: The Genius of Everyday Things, two galleries full of lovely displays, two displays from which are below, Bar Codes and Umbrellas :)


Friday January 17_2014_For the first time, I got the flue shot because, at least around here, the flue is especially affecting young people and since I, and most everyone I know, have one of those, it seemed best to be cautious. I got mine in the kid's room at the Action Urgent Care walk-in place, which just opened a few months ago across the street in our little mall.


Tuesday January 28_2014_I was beginning to think the sky had forgotten how to rain so, when it sprinkled on nearly the last day of California's normally 'wettest month' of January, I was pleased, we were pleased. It has rained a tiny bit more and really, this amount won't help us one bit, but still, it's good to know the sky hasn't completely forgotten how to do one of its important functions.

We've had something like 2 inches each in San Francisco, Oakland and here in San Jose since last July 1st. The news shows the Central Valley farmers with their dry dry earth, with nothing growing. The Sierra snowpack, where most of our water comes from, is negligible, no skiing, and more importantly, no snow melting into the reservoirs which are exceeding low. So, expect pics of wetness, should we get more rain because without water, the farmers can not grow the food that helps feed this nation and that's not good for any of us.


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Friday November 1, 2013_October reading & vidding
I, for whatever reason, had the Neil Simon memoir just laying around so, I decided to read it and was impressed enough with his story to buy the second half which was written much later.
I very much enjoyed the part how-to-write/ part memoir of Stephen King. He tells a good story and the practical sections had useful information.
The Girls Who Went Away was my bookclub book which deals with a period in time, the 1940s through the early 70s, when young pregnant girls were given very little or, more likely, no choice about keeping their baby and the almost universally devastating impact of that very personal decision on the many women interviewed for the book. It was recommended by a woman in our group who was adopted, but who has since come to know her birth mother.
Both the vids were short, 6-30 minutes eppies, one on healthy cooking and one on possible alternative reads to the classics that we know we should read but somehow never get around to like War & Peace.


Tuesday November 7, 2013_Drop-off voting at our local library_I handed in mine, Lauren's and David's ballots since we find it absolutely impossible to get them mailed in on time.


Saturday November 16, 2013_Cindy and I went to the Santa Cruz Fairgrounds, which is beautifully tucked up against the hills in Watsonville, for the Goat Hill Antique Show. Oh YAY!! First, the masses :) then a pretty display. Actually, each and every one of the different venders did a very nice job with their showcases. Everywhere you looked, it was beautiful.

And another pretty display. I loved the golden frames against the industrial-esque walls.

This gentleman, the owner along with his wife, does all the display work. He's wrapping my purchase :)


Sunday November, 17, 2013_This is Lauren's photograph of the Del Mar Theater, the Mar does light up just one letter at a time, where she and Jimmy having been spending their Sundays for the last month viewing filmed versions of plays ,both old and new, that have been put on by The National Theater in London. This particular Sunday they saw Habit of Art, the next they saw Macbeth. The presentations are complete for this year, but will, happily, begin again in 2014.
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Monday November 18, 2013_Back to Acqui's for lunch with Barbara. I though I'd include a photo of it's outdoor dining area which is generally filled, but since it had rained, the seating was damp so, everyone was dinning indoors.


Saturday November 23, 2013_Cindy decided to shop for a new Christmas tree since Jimmy, along with Lauren, was home to advise her. Their family, like ours, uses a fake tree because, like me, Cindy is very allergic to natural trees. After years of suffering through a month of headaches trying to keep the real-tree tradition alive, I gave it up over a decade ago while they did about 5 years ago. These are a couple of photos of the inside of one store we visited, upstairs and down.



Sunday November 24, 2013_The day after the Christmas Tree stores, we took the kids back to Santa Cruz so they wouldn't miss their Macbeth.
AND
Thursday November 29, 2013_Dinner at the Hadley's once again, it's like a real tradition!! Jimmy and Lauren made pie, Jimmy made rolls, David and Lauren made the stuffing, Lauren and I made apple latkes (because of the holiday cross-over of Hanukkah & Thanksgiving) and Cindy made pretty much everything else except the gravy which I think we all had a hand in making. Lovely, lovely time :)

Thanks for stopping by

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