Reentry

I returned from N.Y. late yesterday night. Saw most of the family and several old friends. Downstate has changed enough since I lived there that I actualy needed a map. To be honest, signs noted the changes, but I neglected to read them. Getting lost on vacation can be fun. Take-aways from my time away.

• Folks in Buffalo know how to make the best roast beef sandwiches and do a fine job on pickled beets too.
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art whopped our local versions before the end of the first room.
• Small town 4th of July parades are way better than the big-time professional ones.
• A hot day in upstate N.Y. is way different than a hot day in S.F.(it was melt the lard off your butt hot around the 6th)
• You can get along without being online. The withdrawl symptoms ease after the 9th day.
• Family is family.

May (picture above) serves me coffee in the morning.(Happy Donuts - next door) I'm not really sentient before the first cup, so I've come to depend on her for acculturating the curmudgeon in the morning. I bought her the hat (and some Amish fudge for the kids) and now we're going to work on the laconic yup (serviceable, albeit a bit chipper) and y'all. In return, she's going to teach me to pronounce her name properly. (it's Sokmay. Where y'all from, N.Y.?) I'll post more pictures as time permits.

Vacation

I returned to San Francisco very early Thursday morning. A quick glance at the local newspapers reminded me how insular the city has become. Apparently, the conversation about the sexual metaphysics of a man reading poetry while sitting naked on a chair, is our latest offering to the art world. The board of Supervisors, along with Brylcreem-boy, are doing their clown-car shtick for the public while cutting deals for the back room. The drunken gimme contingent still wander the streets from the Daily City line to at least North Beach and the city still looks gorgeous seen at sun-up from the sixth street exit's overpass.

The fellow in the picture, Bufo Americanus, excaped the mower by the skin of his posterior, while I was helping my mother with the chores. He/she took this for a go-ahead to start trilling for love. It turns out there are a few potential mates back by the machine shed. Thankfully, there is life outside the city limits.

Vacation

I'm leaving for Springfield, N.Y. today ( north of Cooperstown, on Lake Otsego ) Plans include a family wedding, friends, and catching-up on life outside of S.F. I'll try to post, but after all, it is a vacation.