Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Here are the little dudes doing their favorite thing: watching television. I'm pretty sure if we left food and water, we could leave the kids for, like, a week. Sonnet an I have a date last night at the movies - "Pineapple Express" (adolescent, violent - great). Two teen-agers baby-sit and I remark the divide - they are clearly not impressed by my orange cowboy hat and white flit-flops, though we make back some ground with our SUV as one remarks slyly: "sweet ride." Yes, to them, we are adults and I suppose we are too. Today we head to the Ridgeway Craft Fair where Aunt Robin sells her big and beautiful Southwest Jewelry. Sonnet now stresses to get us out of the hotel ("can't you do something to help us get out of here?" she pleads just now, angrily). And so I go, brother. We are outta here.

True Grit

Goudy: "How many men have you shot since you became a marshal, Mr. Cogburn?"
Rooster Cogburn: I never shot nobody I didn't have to.
Goudy: That was not the question. How many?
Rooster: Uh... shot or killed?
Goudy: Oh, let's restrict it to "killed" so we may have a manageable figure.

LaBoeuf: I wouldn't count too much on bein' able to shade somebody I didn't know, fella.
Rooster: I ain't never seen nobody from Texas I couldn't shade.

Rooster: Baby sister, I was born game and I intend to go out that way.

Ridgeway

We explore Ridgeway National Park which is about 7,000 feet and in Ourrey County not far from Ralph Lauren's ranch. The nearby San Juan Mountain Range has 14 of the 53 fourteeners (Fourteeners, Dear Mother, are mountains over 14,000 feet.) Among them, 14,150 foot (4,310 m) Mt Sneffel which is most prominent from our hike. The geography also notable for its layers - ridges - which back up against the blue sky offering various shades of color or darkness. The area is famous for the filming of John Wayne's "True Grit." There is a reservoir lake where we spend the mid-day and picnic then to the Stanfills for Stan's plum cake. Yum.

We take a vote the swimming pool and Madeleine exclaims "four to two - we win!" When I tell her perhaps she has her maths wrong she informs me that her two "buddies" (stuffed animals) cast the deciding votes.

I read V.S. Naipaul's "Among The Believers" which records his travels in the East shortly after the Iranian revolution. Naipaul is generally disdainful of Islam and worse, the fundamentalist who wish to return the region to its faith and yet are dependent on the West for technology, medicines and remittances. Our Pakistan fairs poorly and described as a country founded on hate: of foreigners and Hindus. Politics and progress sacrificed to faith and hence the perpetual ongoing military rule despite attempts at Democracy. The poet Mohammad Iqbal whose vision of an independent state for the Muslims of British India inspired the nation - yet he is criticised for denying the peaceful co-existence of Hindus and Muslim. Not all Pakistanies subscribe to Iqbal of course and when we were there in '97 many were openly afraid of the Sunni Islamists in Afghanistan (the Taliban) who had taken power in '96. Now they are in Pakistan's mountains.

Stars And Stripes

"My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators."
Dick Chaney, March 16, 2003

"We do not torture."
George Bush, November 13, 2005

Gunnison River

We visit Black Canyon, where a sign post tells us:

"Over a billion years ago, molten rock was squeezed into fissures forming the light-colored bands which form Black Canyon's otherwise dark walls. You are standing on one of these bands. As the hot fluid slowly cooled and hardened, minerals formed into crystals. Look closely; you may recognise flecks of mica, feldspar, quartz, and perhaps even garnet.

"These bands of lighter colored igneous rock - called pagmatite dikes - are more resistant to erosion than the dark gneissis (sounds like 'nice-es') into which they introdude. Consequently the pegmatite weathers more slowly then the gneiss. The vertical position of the dikes here, combined with their resistance to weathering, has produced the fin-like appearance of parts of the canyon's walls. You will see pegmatite at almost every overlook.

"The pegmatite dike you see across the canyon nearly half a mile away is the same one you are standing on! Imagine the cutting power of the Gunnison River."

Spectacle(s)

Madeleine and I spend the afternoon together. More correctly, I beg her to join me at the Coffee Trader and she agrees only after being promised a treat (Sonnet stays with Eitan who watches a ManU video). At CT I suggest we go to buy sun glasses for me and she immediately pipes in "great! I need new glasses too." We argue a bit and I hold up three fingers -she replies "four!" and so it goes. At the optometrists, Madeleine picks out a green, octagonal pair - no indecisiveness here (the lens BTW are non-refracting). After the spectacles we go to Silver's hair salon and again she has a vision: short on the side with a fringe - which BTW I learn was verboten by Sonnet sometime earlier. The whole thing looks, well, a little Harry Potter-ish which seems reasonable as the kids have been listening to Harry every night since, like, forever.

Madeleine announces she is the Number One student in her class. Eitan, from back seat and side of mouth: "yeah, right."

Hotel

Here is the boy in front of the Red Arrow in Montrose. We have a "suite" which gives us plenty of room to spread out. Mountain views comprehensive. It is family style fer sur and we are groovy. Sonnet will run tomorrow morning and gets out her kit. We plan on Telluride for the day tomorrow.

Any Day

Here are the kids in the dying light - I promise one last swim before bedtime. This shot taken moments before Madeleine pushes Eitan in - water quite cold - and he scrapes his bottom on the pool side. He screams and Madeleine does the natural thing - runs to her room and peeks out the window corner. I pull Eitan out and take him indoors and under the sheets. His pride hurt, that's all. My day begins trying to get my US Robotics USB phone to work with Skype. It doesn't. My day ends plugging in a VCR to watch the Soprano's. After much agitation, it does. In the middle we goof around, buy some books and crapola, go to the Montrose pool where Silver swims every morning, crack of the dawn. In short - just like any family holiday: we spend a lot of dough, get irritated with each other, have some fun, see the grand-parents and then hotel together for Harry Potter and late bedtime. I plan to stay up most of the night watching the final season of my favorite mobsters. Long over-due, Dear Reader, long over. Due.

PS: Eitan has a water-gun which he now points at me for this photo.

Montrose

We pull into Montrose following a six hour drive over the mountains ("Are we there yet dad? Are we there yet dad? Are we there yet dad? Are we there yet dad?.. . . "). We cross Monarch Pass, or the highest point, in a mountain rain-storm and have sympathy for cyclists, poor souls. We stop off at the Coyote Cafe, where we have been before at Highway 24 & 285. Our waiter Jennifer tells me she is from Minnesota and her husband New Jersey. After 9/11 they drove to Colorado and have never considered leaving. The idea of London is fascinating to her, as is the kid's accents. In similar vain, I speak to a check-out gal at Targets who is in her granny years - she is going to London with a tour group this month "but we won't stay there too long 'cuz it is so expensive." Instead her group will head to Stoke-On-Trent to see the pottery (I was not aware it is a centre) and I recommend the V&A and Courdault Art Institute. I buy the kid a stack of comics at the gas-station thinking it will be a distraction and yes, you guessed it, they fight bloody hell for certain issues - Spider Man and Fantastic Four seem to be the favorites. So yes, a distraction.

I nap at the pool yesterday and Eitan places a cheetoh under my nose to see if I will wake. "Dad it was there for like 20 seconds" he giggles. And apparently a large crowd amused too.

Eitan jonses for a football so we go to Walmart at 9PM after visiting Stan and Silver for dinner. He practices his ball-control skills in the isle. He has been on-edge for his Manchester United DVDs which arrived chez Stanfill earlier.

Thea

Here is Thea in front of her house in Dinner. She belongs to Whitney and Frank and has grown considerably since we saw her last. While the boys are at Coors stadium, the girls go for the mall and pizza and ice cream. Madeleine loads up and is satiated and content - I find her sprawled on the bed watching Harry Potter. It is 10PM, Dear Reader, or two hours past bed-time. We are on the summer program for sure. Sonnet packs madly as we prepare to drive over the Rockies, cresting at 12,000 feet. It is a scenic drive which we have done before - the reward is a natural s spring pool which I believe at 125 meters is the longest pool in the United States and grandparents. Eitan is way-excited for some Manchester United videos he knows await him in Montrose. The moving circus moves along.

Madeleine asks me to write our nanny Natasha: "When you come to our house (to check on things) could you please look after Astra because I did not manage to take her in my back-pack. She was too big. Love Madeleine" (Astra is a stuffed animal)

First Baseball

We are in Denver following a 6AM flight requiring a 3AM wake-up. Oh boy. We visit Beecher and daughter Whitney, who is Sonnet's cousin. She has two children who are super cute - ages 4 and 2 - and we spend the afternoon at the pool where the kids splash for five hours. Nothing new here. The evening highlight for the boys is baseball: Rockies v. The Senators at Coors Field. Eitan has never seen the game before and is excited - his eyes big when he sees the field for the first time on a perfect evening. Bill treats us and Whitney's husband Frank and we sit around shooting the bull and eating hot-dogs. Eitan, for the record, polishes off a slushie, hot-dog and fires, strawberry cone and candy floss (cotton candy). His face is covered in it and he is one happy boy. He keeps his concentration for most of the game but by the 7th it is all over. Besides, our side is losing and it is past bed-time. Including Eitan.

Eitan introduces a new game: fighting with hands-behind-back. Madeleine jumps in and the idea is to kick and trip-up the opponent, ie, dad. This lasts for about a minute or until the pain of a direct hit sinks in and I find myself scrambling. Away. In. Fear.

Madeleine: "I just kicked your bo-uls" (balls)

My Wife

Here is everything I could ever want in a woman (in front of "8" at Indian Spa Resort). I learn London BTW is wet, like pouring. Last year's August was the rainiest on record so this would seem to be a good month to be gone from the UK. Moe is preparing his spaghetti tonight and the kids complaining about their bath - the first, I might add, in several days. I tell Eitan if he doesn't argue it, I will buy him all sorts of crap at tomorrow's baseball game: "I scratch your back dude, and you scratch mine." He replies calmly: "YOU planned the baseball game so actually it does not count." I then cut to the quick: "if YOU don't do the bath now I will get your grandfather involved" which seems to do the trick.

Mary and Amado

The kids arrive yesterday in a stretch-limo, thank you very much. We are excited to see them but I must say: I did not miss them. I recall a Simpons episode where Homer and Marge have the weekend to themselves and Homer loses his beer-belly, grows hair and becomes his former lothario. Of course it all reverts instantly when Bart et al return. Not that I feel like this, Dear Sister, but I have enjoyed time with our friends and beautiful Sonnet sans kids. The rest of our weekend is poolside or at Taylor's Refreshers which is the Gold-Star in hamburgers and '50s comfort food.

Driving to Berkeley after sad good-byes, the kids holler at the top of their lungs. I allow them to do so until I don't. Now they race around the backyard with Gracie who blasts them with the lawn-hose. They are momentarily fascinated by ants. Tomorrow head for Denver on a 6AM flight: bru-tal. Grace suggests we send the kids to bed dressed. Not a bad a idea.

Wine

Here she is at the Silverado winery. Sloan co-founded Sextant Partners, a successful executive placement firm which services the private equity and high finance communities. Today she contemplates her next business opportunity, which targets a similar theme, and we are all happy to provide our two-cents. She does have some expert advisors if I may say so myself: four MBAs including Mary who is Partner at strategy consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (a fun moment occurred at the Shramsburg Vineyards whilst tasting "sparkling wine" - in our group was a young fellow who had finished his PhD in molecular biology. Mary notes her firm hires PhDs "all the time" and encourages him to send her a resume. Cool.) Sloan contemplates her start-up against other commitments like school and family, but I think she is prepared to launch and I/we are all excited to see where it goes. Husband Rob founded successful a trade finance business. Bravo.

Napa

Friday morning we drop off the kids with Sloan and Rob's nanny and, sans kids, drive to Napa for a day of wine tasting and adult time. We meet Mary and Amado at the Indian Springs Resort, which exists since the 1920s and has both a family and movie star feel - there is a 33 meter pool with natural spring water and shaded lounge areas for the bathers. Cooled spring water, spiked with cucumbers and lemons, is found about everywhere and Sonnet and I indulge in afternoon messages. This after a day in the vineyards, mind you, so we are pretty er relaxed. Sloan organised this weekend to celebrate various 40th birthdays and we dine at Martini, a famous local where we drink more champagne.

Napa is an obvious pleasure source for those living in or around the Bay Area. Strangely, I did not explore here often growing up - perhaps due to the Bear Valley house or state drinking age - by the time I was legal, I was gone. The obvious striking thing here is the weather, which is hot and dry (it is POURING rain in London BTW). Evenings cool down so the climate year-round temperate and ideal in summer. Then there are the grapes, which fill every nook and cranny of everywhere. Spotting the valley are the wine houses, second or third homes and restaurants like Tra Vigne and Auberge du Soleil. Not surprisingly outside St Helena is the Culinary Cooking Institute of America and we present a collective bow as we drive by. I spent two years in Sonoma at Help The World See and while Sonoma has excellent wine and its own valley flava, it does not match Napa for le chique and style.

Pizza and The A's

We visit Guy and Jeanine, Wookie and Moxie in Piedmont. We are treated with a wonderful dinner including perhaps the best pizza I have ever had. It turns out that the chef - Roger, and married to Umi and Guy/Jeanine's adopted daughter - cooks otherwise for Pizzaiolo. Pizzaiolo was started by ex-Chez Penise and is one of the hot new East Bay restaurants where Christian and I went last week before the Fiest concert. Beforehand, Roger flips the dough for the kids who love it. The adults talk about various stuff - Guy owns a big chunk of the Oakland A's so I am keen to know when the baseball team will move to Fremont (or San Jose). He is also advising the Democratic Party on security and other issues and the stories always fascinating. Before dinner we drink Chardonnay while the kids splash about in the pool and play with the pups. Madeleine tells Jeanine she too will have a dog "when I am a teenager", which is about right I think.

Sonnet and I have a free hour to walk around Berkeley and do some chores &c. We go to Andronico's which has the most amazing produce - the fruit & veg section explodes colour and there are 15 varieties of tomatoes. This rivals even France I think (Andronico's used to be the Berkeley Co-op BTW which was an experiment in communal purchasing and community). From there we go to stand-by's Black Oak Books, pass Chez Penise and end up at the original Pete's Coffee on Walnut Square (Eitan hovers over me as I write - he wants to watch Cristiano Ronaldo Top Ten Goals on Youtube. He also corrects my spelling of "Critiano Ronaldo). A real Berkeley stroll complete with mid-day coffee drinkers, a few hippie/derelects, elderly Berkley-ites and everybody enjoying the sunshine. A good vibe day.

Family Cabin

Here is the cabin I blog about now and before. 

It was built on one of the first lots in Bear Valley and modern. I talk to a telephone contractor who surveys the electrical wires, which Dear Brother, are all above ground. I ask why not under? and he tells me this is what they do now for new roads: cablie it beneath. The guy BTW surveying tree-growth as wires must be separated from foliage by four feet. This causes grumbling with property owners and a never-ending job for the telecoms. Despite this, the fellow I meet is pretty relaxed about things, wearing his khaki outfit and well-worn hiking boots. When I tell him he has the best job of anybody I know, he informs me his company hiring: "jobs online, dude!" he says. Tempting. Very tempting.

We leave this morning driving from the mountains to the sierra foothills then San Joaquin valley and finally East Bay. On the way we stop at Chevy's for lunch - honk! Mistake! Food blah and setting worse. Sonnet reminds me that Chevy's and places like Chevy's are meant for the post-work drinking hour and sure enough there is a separate menu just for margarita's. I am certain, once upon a time, there was a Chevy's in Baha California visited by California holiday makers who fell in love with the place. 

It was probably the only time many of them saw Mexicans. All these chains have some similar weird origin: Applebees, Steak & Ale, Hooter's... anything once good is totally lost in the franchise. Stan's favorite is the Olive Garden - as he says, "It is just awful." And there, my friend, you have it.

On Deck

Ah yes, here I am - a man in his prime. Still a few years from totally embarrassing my children. The day spent doing more-or-less the same: swimming - break - swimming - swimming - break - lunch - swimming and more swimming. And so it goes. Eitan and Madeleine never get enough. In the car, both hum the theme tune of Star Wars (Bum-bum-bum-bum-ba-dum-bum-ba-dum) until I turn around and yell: enough! Just like old days. I remember a fight between me and Katie in our teen years so vicious that Grace had to pull off the highway in Richmond near the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Grandma was in the driver's seat and quite shocked, I am sure (Remember that one, Katie?) On occasion I have considered taping a divisional line across the back-seat but usually the Shakespeares mind their Ps and Qs when I holler.

The fires around Yosemite are 40% contained, which is good news for the campers and evacuees. Evidently it was started by gun fire practice. I am reading a book on energy conservation and how we Americans can make a huge difference by doing little things: no running water while brushing teeth, turn off electronics after hours and do the compost thing. Moe has been doing this for at least 40 years BTW. Good lessons for us and the kids - most of my generation has no idea of their crapola and the planet. We gas, we shop, we eat - what is the source of this stuff that makes up our lives? and our connection to it? More immediately, what ever was in the red hot dog and ketchup the kids devoured at yesterday's Giant Burger? I am hard pressed to name even one item.

Giant Burger

The day ends at Giant Burgers in Arnold. GB has been around since at least '84 when we began coming up here. There used to be a Giant Burger chain and I recall one at Northside in Berkeley which is now long gone. In fact, I cannot recall having seen GB anywhere in the past 15 years. Sonnet comments that the cheese-burger with everything is American gastronomy. When we arrived in the UK hamburgers (called "beef burgers") were still a novelty and diners used fork and knife. Sacre bleu! The kids go with hot-dogs and ketchup+fries+shakes. Classic grease and good for them and us occassionally. Truth be told, I have not eaten fast-food in years but am not adverse to it - a Big Mac, afterall, is candy for adults.

New York - San Francisco - London

All of us together, again. This photo on the stump of the largest Sequoia in the world, which took over 90 days to chop BTW in 1885. We walk by the largest living Sequoia - General Sherman - which stands at 276 feet, has a 104 foot girth and a volume of 52,508 square feet. For the record: Sequoiadendron giganteum (Giant Sequoia, Sierra Redwood, or Wellingtonia) is the sole species in the genus Sequoiadendron, and one of three species of coniferous trees known as redwoods, classified in the family Cupressaceae in the subfamily Suquoioideae, together with Sequoia semperirens (Coast Redwood) and Metasequoia glyptostroboides (Dawn Redwood). The common names "sequoia" and "redwood" generally refer to Sequoiadendron and the coast redwood, respectively.

I get noticed at the pool BTW: "are you the guy with the orange cowboy hat?" a group of ladies asks. We discuss fashion - is the hat metro-sexual or homo? - either way, it is a complement. Poor Sonnet must adjust to my new style and, as I like to point out, "middle-age is all about not being boring."