Boston/Ogunquit

Just got back from the East Coast. Delays in both directions but safe home now with just a bit of jet lag remaining. Will post photos later.
Boston is smaller than the Bay Area, less transient, just as expensive, less hip.I like the South End, which has a huge swathe (the largest in US) of Victorian houses.It is like "the city" as I imagined it as a boy and which I first experienced in NYC. Walking down canyon-like streets bordered with roiling brick sidewalks, thinking of Henry James, Edith Wharton, E.A. Poe. I also loved the wharfs off the North End and thought of Elizabeth Bishop, who lived her last days, I think, on Lewis Wharf.
First time in Maine in 25 years. It has been raining and all of New England is an unadulterated green green green. Ogunquit quiet and charming, the beach, dunes and river, Marginal Way all ready for the summer season which starts late and ends early.
There is a Greek confectioner/chocolateer family there. Did you know there is a tradition of that in the Eastern US? My father's uncles were chocolateers in the late 1930's in Pennsylvania and their business is still there, although with new owners.

Summer Planning

This photo is from Cape Cod, last year.

I have been hearing through the grapevine that people DO read my blog to keep up with me, although many are shy to comment. Well, thanks for caring, and look for more fun stuff here since summer is on.

Summer is bliss and stress. The bliss is obvious. The stress is wanting to pack so many things into it that you know you'll fail. But if you do fail, fail with a sense of style, with aplomb. Sing at the top of your lungs as the ship of summer sinks into the foam!

Where to go this summer, in straightened circumstances? I just found out I will probably have an additional pay cut on top of the 10% I already have. Luckily I am a saver. My dream summer trip, which will probably be edited, is as follows:

• Oakland to Boston. Hang out in Boston and take day trips to Maine and Provincetown.
• Boston to Paris. Have never been to Paris.
• Paris to Athens. I could write a book on Athens. My beloved despoiled Athina. I love to walk in your streets and find ancient faces.
• Athens to Santorini, Mykonos, etc.on the boats.
• Boat to Chania, Crete. Stay in Chania for 4-5 days.
• Drive to Paleochora. Stay 1 week.
• Boat from Chania to Athens.
• Athens to London.
• Back home.

Well, hopefully some of that will happen.

Ciao, babies.

My mother was (and still is) a cutie

My nephew sent this image along. He is working on an archive of family photographs.

My mother and father and their friends were typical of their 1940's peers. They loved madcap photos! Both of my parents were blessed with good looks and they loved hamming it up for the camera, although I think they really were modest people. By the time we kids got around to looking at all these black and whites they seemed to be tokens of another existence. Mom was always patient with us and she encouraged our curiosity about how she had grown up "in town" in Wheeling, WV. (I grew up in the country and will always be grateful for that. It was beautiful.)

In this photo I think I recognize the wall behind her. I think it is the Wheeling Park pool.

I had a wonderful birthday. We went to Kokkari Estiatorio in the City. The grilled octopus was perfect. Mom had sent me a check in her perfect handwriting as my big 50 gift. Thank you, Mom. You are always an inspiration.

Monterey and Monarchs

We went to Monterey to celebrate my birthday a little early this year.

Of course being addicted to coffee shops, I found this very posh one attached to a hotel in the Cannery area. Good cappuchinos and decent chairs to sit on. I will be back!

The beach photo is at Carmel. Did you notice the monarch butterfly in the upper left of the photo? This is the migration season and the area is famous as a stop-over. There were thousands of butterflies in some areas, none in others. Actually, it is not really a stop-over. I have read that more than one generation is born and dies in each direction of the semi-annual migration. There is some kind of lesson in there, don't you think?

Thanks for sticking with my blog. I've been occupied with other things this whole winter but now hope to be a regular contributor to the blogosphere again.

Happy happy spring. Don't forget to stop and enjoy the miracles of the season.

My new cool/hot in/out boxes

This is a recession/depression special. I got these day-glo in/out boxes at the Bay Area Center for Creative Reuse, in Oakland. No website but they can be found on the website for the Ecology Center. These boxes remind me of the mercurochrome we slathered over cuts as kids. Now that is gone because it contained mercury.

I am in a happy mood. I was walking in Lake Merritt Park at lunch, passing by the community gardens, admiring a family's garden. They insisted I take two heads of lettuce, which they promptly dug up and handed to me! I have one to keep and one to share.

A Mysterious House

Sorry for the lapse. You know how life can sometimes take you and swing you by the tail? I'm OK, although January wasn't the best month I've had in a while.

The guv has ordered a furlough, and the courts have upheld it. I am going to tighten my belt and continue working on my new blog.

For a few years I have wanted to do a Greek food blog. Meanwhile, I have been scooped by several wonderful bloggers. I am so glad to have discovered their blogs and my jealousy has abated. I am going to do a special post on my favorite three very early in my blog, which is going to be called..."Kouzina: my East Bay Kitchen.".And that is just what it is going to be. Whatever is going on in my kitchen and the immediate world beyond. I'm very sure that there are folks who would like to hear about what is happening just this side of San Francisco in the food realm. With a Greek twist, of course. Look for a special post on Morphi's Simple Syrup and other yummies from my family and friends. I'll let you know when I launch it.

***

This mysterious house never fails to draw my attention as I walk down MLK in Berkeley on Saturday mornings, before or after the farmers' market. In December, the lady living there has dozens of Christmas cacti on the porch. By now, they're almost gone.

The once beautiful house has been left to the elements. It looks like there has been no real maintenance for over 40 years. Still, people are living there and seemingly making do in their own, I presume, Grey Gardens kind of way.

inVESTing

Mirmy and I both wore black vests to the office on Thursday. The photo is too cute...has to go up.

This was our quiet happy moment after the anxiety of Wednesday night. Oakland had a night of rioting after a fatal shooting by a BART police officer on New Years Morning. Sounds a little like Athens a month ago. The details are on SF Gate.