A new decade

Well, that was a pretty eventful 10 years.  Too many things to mention.  Karen and I got married, we sent Sarah and Sam to college, we watched Abby in many plays, we started and ended a number of different jobs, we added Milo and Snow and Daisy to our family.  We said goodbye to both of our fathers.

We did a lot of interesting things and traveled to many places around the world.  Let's hope the new decade brings much more enjoyment and happiness and good health, for us and all of our family and friends.

Happy New Year.

A sense of relief

We got H1N1 flu shots yesterday, courtesy of our local county government.  No charge, and not a very long wait.  I have often scoffed at all the media hype about a swine flu pandemic, but I have to admit that I felt a real sense of relief at having received this vaccination.  Weird.

Holding to the Ground

I listen a lot to the On Broadway channel on XM radio.  One of the nice features is that I sometimes hear a song I have never heard before, from a show I have never heard of.  They recently played the song "Holding to the Ground," from the off-Broadway show Falsolettoland.  I don't know this 1991 show, but I really liked this song (sung by Faith Prince, from the original cast album):

Holding to the Ground - Soundt...

Listen to the lyrics - very meaningful.

A Russian bakery in SF

All four of my grandparents came to this country from Russia.  So it was a bit nostalgic for my mother last week when, driving through SF out toward the ocean, we passed an old-fashioned Russian bakery:

She saw it and said she'd love to go there sometime to see if they had real pumpernickel bread.  Being the good son I am, I turned around and headed back, dropping her and the rest of our party by the front door (since it was raining):

It was late on a Sunday afternoon, but the bakery was packed.  Sure enough, they did have fresh pumpernickel bread, along with lots of other traditional Russian choices:

I especially liked "any kind of Piroski" and the spelling of "blinses."

There must be a strong Russian  community in that part of SF.  They certainly have a good place to go for their bread and pastries.

A balanced life

Along the waterfront in Sausalito there is a man who spends his days balancing rocks, one on top of another.  They are simply balanced; he has a sign that says "No Glue."  He works very diligently at it:

I am not sure what value he gains from this pursuit.  He certainly is not collecting money.  I guess he does it for the peacefulness - it is a beautiful setting.  


Here is one final result:

Intriguing.

Building the Eiffel Tower (full-scale version)

So it's just past Christmas, and you are looking for something to do.  How about building your own Eiffel Tower?  You'll need a lot of steel and big construction crew, but a number of the original blueprints are available to the public.  Here's a full-on view:

It's almost like a Lego set, only bigger.

A song for Christmas

One of my favorite performers is Kristin Chenoweth.  Here is her recording of "Sleep Well Little Children/What a Wonderful World," from her album "A Lovely Way to Spend Christmas" - https://open.spotify.com/track/3PWTFRoN7xNvLefvkirgaB.

Enjoy this beautiful song, and Merry Christmas to all.