The trail to Oregon

This was the beginning of our trip to Bandon, Oregon. Mt. Shasta in April. I didn't realize it is over 14,000 feet. Beautiful. We drove up Hwy 5, then cut over to the coast to Bandon, haven of golfers. It was a magical week for me, Kevin, and Kevin. They played Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes, Bandon Trails, Bandon Crossings, and Sandpines in Florence Oregon, and I walked all but one of them, just for the sheer beauty of the courses, several along the ocean.

Winter Wonderland

I went to NYC last month for a conference and ended up snowbound. When the storm hit, the flights were cancelled, and I jumped a train to Mt. Kisco to be rescued by Mark Mayhew and to stay with him and Karen in Armonk. The train rolled past lots of places with many memories...Fordham where my brother went to college...Woodlawn where my father would catch the train to NYC when we lived in the Bronx...Bronxville where I was born (Bronxville Hospital) and the bar scene that always involved the Christophers...Crestwood, residences of many a Tooth and home of the Nugents for many years...Hartsdale, home of Maria Regina, my alma mater...White Plains, home of St. Bernards, Stepinac mixers, and 19 Herbert Avenue (family home from 1955 to 1989)... Valhalla, site of the dam and times of debauchery. In retrospect, I realize how lucky I was to grow up with parents who had no more than a high school education, but still managed to succeed and build a life for their family. The years of St. Bernard's, Maria Regina, and vacations from college in NY were golden years, and it is always magical to revisit them. This time was no exception. Mark and Karen bought 20+ acres in Armonk 20 years ago when hardly anything was there, atop one of the high points, and it is beautiful in any season, but the snow, for me, living in 70 and sunny LA, provided a safe coccon to escape into a winter wonderland.  We lost power for three days, which made it all the more fun (for me)--no heat, no power, no running water.  Just snow, up to my knees.  The trees, which are everywhere, where just saturated with snow, and it was a world of whiteness.  I trucked through the forest with Sadie, a redbone coonhound, trying to shake the snow off the trees because there was so much that branches were breaking everywhere.  I was remembering times in White Plains on Herbert Avenue when I was in grammar school and the adventures of playing in the snow, sleighriding at the Highlands school--I had not seen so much snow since those days.  We stayed warm enough with a fire and down comforters.  I was reminded that the best of times are often those that are unplanned, with no expectations--they just unfold before you.  The magic ingredient is always good friends, and old friends who knew you when are always the best of friends.  While Mother Nature wrecked havoc in some regards for many, for me, I was simply grateful.  It was a great start to my year of turning 60.

It's Heeere...

2010.  I remember when I couldn't imagine what the world would be like when 1984 rolled around--Would Orwell's vision come true?  In 1984 I was living in San Francisco in the Marina, right where the 1989 earthquake brought down many of the buildings around me.  I walked to work 8 blocks away on Lombard--often hung over, but my noon, I would get out and jog around the Marina Green.  My office was in an old Victorian in the kitchen.  I had an Apple II and used Visicalc as a spreadsheet.  Now I have a Blackberry and am connected 24/7.  In the 1980s, many old NY friends lived in San Francisco at one time or another.  Kate Riley, a variety of McGoverns (Kevin and Patty, Phil and Lori, Annie, Tommy, Seamus, Joanie) and several Prospect Park renegades that would pass in and out of Patty and Kevin's place out by the Cliff House, just about all the Benzigers, Zach Cartozian and Janet Whalen, Jimmy McLaughlin, Dennis Reardon, Mike Doyle, and probably another dozen that I am forgetting.  Joanie McGovern, Zack and Janet, Dennis Reardon, and the Benziger wine empire are all that's left in SF.  I moved to So. California in 1993, and have now lived in California longer than I lived in New York--31 years!  I still feel my home is New York. 2010...the walk through memory lane begins...

Celebrations

Today is my 27th wedding anniversary.  It arrived with no fanfare, overshadowed by Christmas.  Cards were exchanged, a movie, and now home watching USC trounce BC (sorry JB).  We got married the day after Christmas in NY as that was the best way to get the most friends and family to attend who might be in NY visiting family.  And I am very pleased that all the friends that I invited and attended are still dear friends today.  Now that is something to celebrate.  So I hope this coming year is a year of celebration.  We've lost loved ones, suffered disappointments, survived setbacks.  But friendship perseveres.  Let's celebrate the lives of those we've lost and the support we have given each other over the years, and revel in the simple joy of being with each other.

"Tis the season--wrapping up 2009

I came to Washington D.C. earlier this week for work, and ended up getting snowed in, flights cancelled, airport closed, so I'm figuring out what to do without being able to go anywhere.  Even the stores were closed down, as was the Metro and the museums.  I have a flight out on Monday, but killing more time, and remembering that I have a blog and should think about a Christmas message. 

While I can't be home to decorate the tree with my family, I am reminded that I am not stuck in Afghanistan like so many others, and I have so much to be grateful for--cup half full (actually, much more than that) instead of half empty.  I have a job and consider myself among the lucky, even though times are tough at work and everyone is looking to cut costs.  K1 has a three-month teaching sub job at a Catholic school while the 5th grade teacher is on maternity leave, and he is wrapping up a class which, hopefully, will then allow him to be completely credentialed and more marketable for a job next year.   K2 just completed a necessary internship at Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce in government affairs, and if he can pass geology (3rd times the charm?), he'll have a degree in political science.  Hallelujah!  I think it is more for me than for him, given I paid for it and I think pulling him through each semester was more painful for me than it was for him.  He wants to give golf a try as a profession, and since college grads can't find work these days, why not.  He has a friend with a house with a spare room in Las Vegas (bought for a song given the dire real estate market), and is thinking of going there to practice, get his game up, and maybe even make a few pennies.  The facilities there are much cheaper and much better than Los Angeles where everything is so expensive.  We shall see.  He spent a week there, playing in a tournament, and found out that LV has cold weather too, as he teed off each day in 30 degree weather. 

Twelve more days, and we begin the year of turning 60.  So, folks, what should we do?  Many of us are tight with funds, but a few days on a beach somewhere sounds good to me, or fall on a lake where the leaves are all changing (as are we).  But no matter what, I remain grateful for the the family that I still have (older ones passing, but new children being born, and a new brother-in-law and his Irish Catholic clan of McGreevys).  My heart is filled with the many wonderful memories and the times I've shared with friends I've had for decades and still visit with now and then.  I love that time and distance easily melts away when we reconnect, and I know that bond we developed so long ago will always fill a room with warmth and laughter. 

So log in, vote for a place, add one that isn't here, and let's find a way to gather and celebrate. I'll bring Julia's cookbook and we'll let the good times roll one more time...

OMG--A Reader--And Responder!

I got so discouraged with no response to my blog that I stopped looking.  Today, I looked while watching Stanford cream USC, and there was KC actually encouraging me, and voting!  Thanks, buddy, it's good to have a friend, sorry I lost faith.  I did make an awesome apple pie from scratch, the best I ever had, but it also took a pound of butter and I could envision my arteries contracting with every bite.  I made a rack of lamb from Julia, and the Kevins choked at first bite, "what did you do to the lamb?!"  And then I realized, mom had it right, keep it simple.  And she (and I) make a better rack of lamb then Julia.  Maybe because I preferred vodka to gin.

So, we now have two votes.  I had it wrong, it isn't Bald Island, it is Bald Head Island, off the coast of NC.  No cars are allowed on the island, you use golf carts to get around, and take a ferry to get there.  The MacKinnons used to rave about it and I've always fantasized about going.  Check it out:

http://www.baldheadisland.com/

So, we have two votes for the ocean in NC--no wonder Kevin and I get along, a lot in common. 

I just came back from my annual trip to Sea Ranch, CA with my brother Terry.  We've been renting a house every week in the fall for over 20 years, and it is a wonderful time to just chill and connect with each other. It is 110 miles north of San Francisco on the rugged CA shoreline.   This article in the NY Times shows what it looks like:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/travel/14SeaRanch.html

We rent a house close to the miles of trails and the rec center with a heated olympic-sized swimming pool.  Up at sunrise, long morning walks, breakfast and the NY Times, starring at the ocean from the deck chairs on the porch, a little swimming, cooking every night. Terry learned how to cook during the year he took care of my parents before they passed away, and he is great with fish and pasta.  We kept it simple and ate well.  Given the reality of California Kevin being unemployed, he's been doing all the cooking, but he starts a 3-month temp gig teaching 5th grade (poor kids!) on Monday, so back to the kitchen soon. 

Anyone else want to take a bite at blogging and keep this old friend engaged?

DON't Give Up

The lives of great writers are often lonely. It may take years before one's works are appreciated.
Some authors have resorted to one sentence a day. Don't give up and lets see where Julia and the new cooking utensils take you. Much drama can take place in the kitchen, even with out alcohol.
Alcohol does help however, when it comes to drama. Julia Child was once asked " What is your favorite meal." She replied, " red meat and gin." KC, the third Kevin

Blogging into the stratosphere

I've learned that blogging is a lonely pastime.  Blogspot sent out messages to those of you that I thought would be interested in what I had to say -- old friends who know me well, turning 60 and wondering, what next?  Alias, only Elf signed in.  So I guess I'll just do a little more navel gazing and see if anyone else comes along and engages (Kate, that means you...).

My Julia Child cookbooks arrived (Mastering the Art of French Cooking), and it is true -- she really does like butter.  She was 6'2" and I've now shrunk to 5'3", so I don't have quite the frame she had to hide all that fat.  I'm torn between my endless fight to lose the weight I've gained over the years of being a workalcoholic, and just giving in and enjoying being fat and hope to die of a massive heart attack -- sudden, but I had fun getting there.

So yesterday, I spent an obscene amount of money at a Macy's kitchen sale, Sur la Table, and Whole Foods shopping to begin my foray into something beyond my mother's simple-is-good style of cooking.  I think Mom had it right.  It was almost 9 p.m. before we sat down and ate a roast chicken, and I cheated anyhow because Julia likes to use a lot of booze, and booze doesn't like me.  And I didn't get to make my apple something dessert either.  Today is supposed to be leg of lamb and that apple thing I've got to figure out.  The Kevins are keeping their mouths shut and humoring me (smart men), but probably also wondering why I'm spending the money to do this at one of the worst possible times in our economic life.  Well, we all need to be passionate about something and humor our silly obsessions from time to time.

I also saw "Finding Forrester" yesterday (before I spent all that money), and one statement that Connery made that keeps rambling around in my head is that first you write from your heart, and then the next draft uses your head.  I guess a blog is supposed to be from your heart, so I'll just plunk down what I am thinking and maybe at some point in time, when I'm done being a controlling workalcoholic, I'll write the story of our insane lives and wonder why we are all (well, most of us) still standing.

I have a blackberry now, and I am intrigued that I can now also allow it to record my random thoughts.  At this point, I think I'll stick to them rambling around in my head--recording would require that I actually then have to do even more to archive or share it.  At least I had the guts to get back and write another passage in this blog--and I did consider just dumping it.  I have to admit to being self-conscious with the thought that by writing it, I'm somehow making a statement that I'm worthy of doing so, and you should all care.  I'm getting comfortable with the idea that you may not care (and worthiness has nothing to do with it), but I'm a little more comfortable to doing what Sean said--just write from the heart and the hell with what anyone else thinks.  I'm still going to turn 60, and so are most of you, and I will do something to acknowledge the milestone.  Hope to see you around the blog sometime soon.

Blogging?

I saw Julie & Julia today and was taken by Julie's foray into blogging--the wishful-thinking author that never quite made it--and thought, why not me too?  Julie, about to turn 30, didn't know what to do with her life, so I thought, what's next for me in my 60s?  Sounds like it is reunion time for all you New Yorkers out there that have journeyed with me sometime over the past 5 decades.  So, where to?  Meryl Streep was awesome as Julia Child, so I decided to order Mastering the Art of French Cooking--maybe I can cook (and eat) my way into my 60s.  But the best part of cooking is eating with good friends and enjoying the laughs and the good company.  So, where do we go?  Paris looked lovely, but not in my budget.  I've never been to the Caribbean, or even to Mexico, just down the street from me.  A cruise?  Cooking school?  Jersey shore house with great utensils for cooking for a lobster feast?  I thought if I started a blog, we could keep track of ideas for moving on to the next adventure.