Thursday, May 03, 2007

Rain

Got this beautiful picture of Jessica from Nancy the other day called "Watching the Rain."

Wow, did it ever take me back to days when my little boys and I would watch with wonder at the rain coming down...and that smell...that fresh smell in the air when it rains.

I wrote this poem about one of those days back in 2000...

Spring Blessing

It’s funny
The thunder booming
In May
As if it were August
As if this weren’t New England
But the Midwest
Where the storms
Move like freight trains
Along the unbroken highways
I yearn for this kind of freak of nature
To break me out of my self
Plant me on Earth
My boys are always on the planet
and together we jumped at it
Huddled under my Grandmother’s afghan
We turned off the lights
the crackling fire flickered
against the walls
we opened the northeast window
the smell was intoxicating, fresh
water poured down
the road was a river
whooshing wind-driven rain
like a new sheet thrown over your head
the feel of it wafted down
smelling clean
we giggled and squirmed
thankful
for our warm house
for Drew’s little
toes curled under my leg
for Dylan indulgently
throwing his arms around
our shoulders
as we sat cheek to cheek to cheek
being blessed
by Spring



Happy Spring everyone.

T-Shirt

Molly: "So did anyone say anything about your new tshirt?"

Dylan: "No people didn’t say much about it, but I like it because it demonstrates the duality of mankind…War/peace, enlightenment/ignorance."

Happy Birthday to you

We celebrated Dorothy's birthday at Legal Seafoods. I'm pretty sure we ordered every form of fish in the food chain. And then of course we had to do the big embarrassing birthday cake and candles thing.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Travelog

Random favorites from trip to San Francisco in April...

Hotel Monaco - Kimpton does it best

Bambudda Lounge - funky, kind of LA

Amoeba Records - in the Haight, classic vinyl, live shows, a rare breed

Cole Valley - fav neighborhood

Fillmore - walk it end to end

EOS - best meal by far and that's saying something

The DeYoung

Vivianne Westwood, even




Best beer




Most appreciated glass of wine


Bar at the St. Regis



Always showing up at the Top of the Mark when it's closed


This one is for Caitlin

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Getaway

Here we are at the end of a pier at Fort Mason looking out over San Francisco Bay on a brisk morning with the fog rolling out and the sun stealing through. From that particular spot you have an incredible view of the Golden Gate strandling the headlands of Marin and the Peninsula.

I could look at that sight for the rest of my life and never get tired of it.

Bob and I spent four days together in San Francisco without the kids April 11-14. We went wherever we wanted and did whatever we wanted to do. Imagine that!

The trip was something I schemed up when I realized I had to go to San Francisco on business April 14-18. One of Bob's offices is in San Francisco and he had to go out there to work April 9-11. It created a nice little window for our getaway.

Dorothy stayed at the house with the kids and made it all possible. Thanks Ducie! It was nice that she and the boys had some time together without us, which made it even better - knowing that everyone was doing what they wanted to do.

So, as I was saying, there we were at Fort Mason. Which is no surprise, since I head over there whenever I come to San Francisco. First there's the view. And above the Fort there's a wide open field of green grass, and a walkway among giant cypress trees that skirts the bay. And it's home to one of the best vegetarian restaurants on earth, Greens.

Greens will convince even die-hard meat-eaters that exquisite meals can be had with nothing but veggies. Everything is organic and they feature the sublime produce of Green Gulch, a farm and Zen Center in Marin which would have been a short hike from the house we nearly rented in Mill Valley last year.

Back in the dot.com heyday I spoke at a web conference at Fort Mason. That night there was one of the most over-the-top excessively extravagant parties I've ever been to. The inside of one of the warehouses on the pier was made over to look like an oasis in the Arabian desert. There were full size tents all over the place and potted full size palm trees. Tables overflowed with food and smaller tents housed tarot card readers and henna tattoo artists. There were wandering musicians, snake charmers and people with elaborate tattoos. Dennis Rodman rode up on his big chopper. I just found this article about it. That party is one of the things that come to mind when I think back to the bad old/good old days of the first Dot-com bubble.

Here's a gorgeous pic I found of Fort Mason at dusk.


More travelog to come...but I'll post this now because people are emailing me saying "we miss your posts!"

Easter basket

Dylan's Easter basket was hidden outside in the basket ball hoop, just like it was once when Bob was a kid. Funny thing is, Dylan guessed where it was right away.
It seems the Easter bunny put it there last year.

That Easter bunny is getting pretty forgetful.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

News Update

It's been kind of a busy April. Lots to catch up on the blog! Can't do it all tonight but here are a few news items we should cover.

First let me direct you to Geni. Which started out as a little family tree I started a 5 or so weeks ago. Thanks to all of you, we now have hundreds of names on our family tree. It's inspiring.

Sanjaya is down but not out.

The Catholic church decided there's no limbo after all. If pressed, they'll admit there's no original sin either. However, against all odds, Mary is still a virgin. How about we just leave it at the golden rule? Treat others as you'd like to be treated. 'Nuf said.

At the request of Virginia Tech students that use WeeWorld, we launched a Virginia Tech t-shirt and sign on WeeWorld on Friday in honor of the students that were lost in that horrific tragedy. Over the weekend, 58% of all people that logged onto WeeWorld put them on.

If you ever need directions from New York to London, just consult Google Maps directions. Click here and then read #24. (Thanks Dylan!)

Only 558 days, 2 hours and 36 minutes left until George Bush is no longer president.

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Rooster


Dylan played Rooster Hannigan in the 7&8th grade production of Annie last week. That's him in the orange shirt and the hat.

He had a lot of fun playing a sleazy grifter. And we all had a ball at Salvation Army helping him pick out the sleaziest suit, shirt and tie we could find. We even snagged some great two-tone shoes from eBay. He did a great job, sang a trio and did some soft-shoe. It's amazing how comfortable he is on stage. The kid's got some serious comic timing, too.

Just like last year, the kids in the play pulled together and put on a great show. It's really something to see them put the whole thing on. There are no adults doing the staging, queueing and scene changing. It's all run by the kids. It's just amazing to watch them rise to the occasion.

Annie was played by Ari Conte. She was absolutely incredible. We all agreed that she didn't need American Idol. She can go right for the big time.

But the best part of the whole thing was that Mema and Papa left Florida early, drove three days straight and joined us for the occasion. It meant the world to Dylan.


Dorothy also flew up to go to the big performance and Dan and Alicia came up too. It was fantastic to be all together and to share in Dylan's big day.

Bob, Dorothy and I got teary-eyed when we saw Dylan on stage. He looked so old! He had a 5 o'clock shadow due to makeup and his voice is so low. And he looked JUST LIKE BOB!! Bob was completely taken aback. He turned to me during Dylan's big scene and whispered, "This is so weird. It's like watching myself."

Here's Dylan with his fans. Yep. Girls have arrived on the scene in droves.

Take a bow, everyone. Well done!

Dylan, we're all really proud of the young man you're becoming.

Monday, April 02, 2007

Go Tyra

Like father, like son

Like father...
Like son...

It's that time of year again when Charlie starts gearing up for the LIVESTRONG Challenge, a 100-mile trek that raises huge amounts of money to fight cancer. Last year Charlie alone raised over $5,000.

Have you given your donation yet?