Things Every California Visitor to Should Do - part 1
1. Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge.
2. Take a slow walk in Capitol Park and then visit the State Capitol building.
3. Pan for gold in the So. Fork American River.
4. Spend a day at the Santa Monica boardwalk and beach. Experience the camera obscura.
5. Walk and think in the redwoods.
6. Get a picture taken with your favorite character at Disneyland.
7. Snorkel at Catalina Island.
8. Take a dip in Lake Tahoe.
9. Drink local wine in every region you visit.
10. Eat California grown foods.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Friday, July 31, 2009
Gut Wrenchng Abundance
The wedding gift opening took place in the garage. Crate & Barrel boxes stacked warehouse-style lent to the ambiance of the old shit collection. New shit inside. The washing machine slugged a load around without enthusiasm. Jeff posted up with a laptop to enter gift data on a spreadsheet. Deb assumed packaging management and take/leave sorting. Laura wielded the exacto knife and ripped in. Triple digit heat sucked the life force from us and still we continued.
People don't wrap wedding gifts anymore. They go online to purchase from the couple's registry and ship directly to the given address. The guest never touches the gift he/she gives. Selected items arrive inside store packaging which is inside a shipping box. A packing slip with return label is included so that the bride and groom may discretely and painlessly return that which is unsatisfactory.
These gifts, selected for my daughter and her husband, will populate their kitchen(s) for, perhaps, the next thirty years or more. If they are tenacious in their relationship. If they continue to live an American life. She is thoughtful about resources. He really only wanted the espresso maker and coffee bean grinder. I know this about them. Their friends and family adore them, have buried them in gifts.
People don't wrap wedding gifts anymore. They go online to purchase from the couple's registry and ship directly to the given address. The guest never touches the gift he/she gives. Selected items arrive inside store packaging which is inside a shipping box. A packing slip with return label is included so that the bride and groom may discretely and painlessly return that which is unsatisfactory.
These gifts, selected for my daughter and her husband, will populate their kitchen(s) for, perhaps, the next thirty years or more. If they are tenacious in their relationship. If they continue to live an American life. She is thoughtful about resources. He really only wanted the espresso maker and coffee bean grinder. I know this about them. Their friends and family adore them, have buried them in gifts.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
California List #1 - If You Live in CA
Things Every Californian Should Do - part one
1. Swim in the So. Fork Yuba River in July.
2. Spend time in a high elevation Sierra Nevada Wilderness Area.
3. Drink tap water.
4. Buy produce at a local Farmers' Market or at a produce stand.
5. Explore the Delta by fishing boat.
6. Walk the Lost Coast.
7. Visit the East LA Audubon Center.
8. Stand under redwoods in heavy fog.
9. Watch a sunset from Mt. Orizaba on Catalina Island.
10. Rip out the lawn. Plant native plants.
1. Swim in the So. Fork Yuba River in July.
2. Spend time in a high elevation Sierra Nevada Wilderness Area.
3. Drink tap water.
4. Buy produce at a local Farmers' Market or at a produce stand.
5. Explore the Delta by fishing boat.
6. Walk the Lost Coast.
7. Visit the East LA Audubon Center.
8. Stand under redwoods in heavy fog.
9. Watch a sunset from Mt. Orizaba on Catalina Island.
10. Rip out the lawn. Plant native plants.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Bakerfield CA, Unlikely Nirvana
We lived in Bakerfield for five years. After South Dakota - and North Dakota and Iowa before that - it seemed like the Promised Land. Close enough to the ocean for a weekend trip, two hours to Disneyland, and hot as hell in the summer.
Lots of neighbors had Doughboy pools and we knew where they were. We ranged the neighborhood taking advantage of every invitation and when the potato chips ran out, we'd move on. The summer between sixth and seventh grades, before the transition to exceptional adolescent female grooming, I managed to go three weeks without a shower or hairwash. Chlorine cleansed.
Mom must have really needed a respite by August, because unbelievably, she'd drop us off for the whole day at the Union Avenue Plunge, a gigantic pool with three diving boards and a 24' high platform. Teenagers and preteens scarfed slippery french fries and flirted between cool-off cannonballs. Pretty Woman crackled into Do Ahh Diddy Diddy. It was the place where I fell in love with The Beatles, the Beach Boys, Martha and the Vandellas, and Jimmy Farler. He was in the 8th grade and he had a silver front tooth.
Lots of neighbors had Doughboy pools and we knew where they were. We ranged the neighborhood taking advantage of every invitation and when the potato chips ran out, we'd move on. The summer between sixth and seventh grades, before the transition to exceptional adolescent female grooming, I managed to go three weeks without a shower or hairwash. Chlorine cleansed.
Mom must have really needed a respite by August, because unbelievably, she'd drop us off for the whole day at the Union Avenue Plunge, a gigantic pool with three diving boards and a 24' high platform. Teenagers and preteens scarfed slippery french fries and flirted between cool-off cannonballs. Pretty Woman crackled into Do Ahh Diddy Diddy. It was the place where I fell in love with The Beatles, the Beach Boys, Martha and the Vandellas, and Jimmy Farler. He was in the 8th grade and he had a silver front tooth.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Like Being Born-Again
"This is horseshit. We are moving to California." Thus spake my blunt Midwestern father. The winter was brutal. As a fourth grader studying South Dakota history, I had been tracking temperatures since fall. In January it ranged from -9 F. to -2 F. Snow drifts covered the windows. I guess Dad got tired of shoveling out of the house daily with frozen tools.
So, he quit his job at Montgomery Ward in Mitchell, and headed West. As spring rolled around, Mom sold extraneous household and personal items, found a new home for our dog, Misty, who was deemed unable to make the trip due to motion sickness, packed the few remaining belongings into a small uhaul trailer, loaded the rest into the Plymouth, and with my brother and me in tow, said good bye to the Corn Palace and left for California. That was the good news. The other news is that Dad had been hired by Montgomery Ward in Bakersfield.
So, he quit his job at Montgomery Ward in Mitchell, and headed West. As spring rolled around, Mom sold extraneous household and personal items, found a new home for our dog, Misty, who was deemed unable to make the trip due to motion sickness, packed the few remaining belongings into a small uhaul trailer, loaded the rest into the Plymouth, and with my brother and me in tow, said good bye to the Corn Palace and left for California. That was the good news. The other news is that Dad had been hired by Montgomery Ward in Bakersfield.
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