Extra Pictures: Sandi and I at La Palace, Etc.

Footman! (He didn't open the door for me.) The Lobby. Sandi at the fancy Buddhist restaurant. Fancy soup.

We had a really nice young guy waiter who tried not to laugh at my freaked out responses to all the weird stuff on the menu. Just call me Ma Kettle. (I'm reading The Egg and I, actually, thanks to Steve--brother--who gave it to me for Christmas.) Everyone who lives in Port Townsend and surrounding areas should read it, just for the history!

Big Day in the Big City (i.e. not Berkeley)

Sarah and her cat, Lynn and Karen (fiddlers), Eric in the hall of Raphael House, Bob Harrison, Sophia, the receptionist for Raphael House

Friday was my amazing adventures on BART and in the city. When I lived here in 1973-4, they were just digging up Market Street to start on BART. I worked downtown as a clerk or something for a while then, except that I kept falling asleep because I was pregnant.

Sarah’s

Here, I took the Ashby BART train to the Mission District for my first stop—to see Sarah Wilson, once a Seattleite and fiddling buddy. Sarah had to coax me more than once on the phone on directions. I think I was just overwhelmed by all the Spanish bustle of the Mission District, and the rain had started coming down in earnest. I nipped in a work clothes store and bought an umbrella, and then all was well. Sarah met me and we went into her charming apartment, especially congenial with its piles of books and CDs, two chairs drawn up for playing tunes (did I say that I was carrying my banjo?) and, of course, the ever present cat, who, like all cats, adored me. They all know I’m allergic to them, so they hunt me down, except for Sprocket, who, I have to say, has been pretty good after our initial meeting. (No, I didn’t punt him.)

Sarah had baked cookies and everything, so of course I had to have a few. But before playing we went over to see if the owls that are nesting near her in a park were there. They weren’t. Then we went over to see Lynn and Karen’s house. I would have felt weird taking pictures, but I should have at least taken a picture of the view off their deck, which is incredible. Skylights, cool art, wow colors—it all felt more like a nest than a house, high up on a hill perched in the sky. Lynn and Karen were just finishing up a fiddle session since Lynn had to leave for work.

Sarah and I headed back to her house and got into some wonderful D tunes in D tuning on the fiddle, including Tommy Jarrell’s “Cumberland Gap,” which seems to be following me around on this trip since I had just played it at Sammy’s (Foghorn Sammy for those of you who know what the heck I’m even talking about).

Raphael House

Raphael House is a shelter for families, women, and children run by the Orthodox Church of America (OCA). Since some friends from church were there and it's so cool, I wanted to see it! (For more on Raphael House, see http://www.raphaelhouse.org/)

The time kind of slipped by until Eric called wondering (in a politely annoyed way) just when I was going to make it over to Raphael House since he was leaving at 5-no-matter-what to see his fiancé, who lives across town. Not only that, he warned, but it was the last Friday of the month, when about 20,000 cyclists assemble for a big ride, and the streets were going to be, basically, hell.

So I packed up and began what, little did I know, would be a careening, tumbling, stop-and-start rollicking tour down Mission Street at about 5 mph, with occasional stops in which the driver got out to fix things. At least we never saw the cyclists. By the time I got to Sutter and Van Ness, I was ready to run, and it was about 4:45 p.m. I dashed down Van Ness, looking for the number of Raphael House, the Orthodox women and children’s shelter where Eric as well as Bob and Connie Harrison, who used to live up in Port Townsend and go to the Orthodox church there. (Connie was in the choir and has a wonderful soprano. She doesn’t always believe this, but she does.)

Well, I wasn’t finding Raphael House, so I called them, and the charming receptionist, Sophia, clued me in that duh, the house was on Sutter, not Van Ness. So I had to walk back UP HILL and then over a few blocks to Raphael House. Sophia calmed me down, but I was about to give up on Eric and leave a message when lo! He appearethed! (Sorry, couldn’t resist.) All 6 feet plus of him, he gave the weird old lady with the banjo a whirlwind tour of his room, the lobby, and a few other places. It’s kind of all mixed for me because after he left, lo, Bob Harrison appeareth as well and gave me a longer whirlwind tour that was really quite amazing, through huge kitchens and craft rooms, and I even got to see the door to His Grace Bishop Benjamin’s room! (I didn’t know he lived there!) (Did I do this right as an honorific?)

Anyway, it all used to be a Catholic hospital and has cool skylights, a chapel (in process of fixup), and a zillion nooks and crannies.

But I had to dash to meet my dear friend and fellow English instructor from my full-time Pierce College days, Sandi Sonnenfeld.

Puttin’ on the Ritz

With all these headings, I’m beginning to feel as if I’m writing for National Geographic, but without pay.

So, I called The Palace, the hotel where Sandi was staying, and they kind of helped me figure out what bus to take down there. Sarah Wilson, blessed be she, had given me bus change which I hadn’t had a chance to get, if you can call $1.50 change. So down to Market I went and after a little tearing around found Sandi’s hotel. Whoooeee, footmen, potted palms, lotsa glass in the roof, the whole schmear! (See above.)

Sandi and I had planned this. She flew in from New York City the day before for work—she’s head of PR for a huge lawyer firm. We got all shrieky and talked nonstop for about the next four hours, comparing notes and agreeing that I had the better deal living out of my van and hacking around. She had made reservations for us at a really interesting vegan restaurant, Buddhist and fancy, with all these weird vegetables and things I’d never heard of. I got some shitakes that looked like a lace tower, then this potato and some other things soup and some grilled veggies that we shared.

Sandi is a wonderful writer who has published a memoir I highly recommend: This Is How I Speak: The Diary of a Young Woman. However, currently, she’s in the bind of working too much and wondering how to get her next novel published. She’s loving being back in her home turf but struggling like most of us. We talked about all this and more and then went back to the hotel for a little dark chocolate. Instead, we wound up with a room service piece of chocolate cake that was about 9 layers and the size of a small condo. We went for it but even I, folks, could not finish it, let alone Sandi, who is slender and small and much more polite.

We hugged goodbye and wondered, where and when shall we see each other next?

BART FROM HELL!!!

Well, BART had been fine on the way over, so I didn’t think my return trip would be a problem. I just didn’t want to get home too late.

Wrong.

First off, just out of the hotel, across the street, down into the BART station, something ominous began to go on with my tummy. So, I dashed over to the guy in the booth and asked where the bathrooms were. I was stunned by his reply.

“BART doesn’t have bathrooms,” he said. “Not since 911.”

Let me tell you some other things BART doesn’t have. Decent signs in places where you need them, or maps, or very understandable conductors.

I didn’t dare sit, so I stood there, waiting, waiting, waiting, clutching my banjo and my gut. To interrupt my agony, two young girls with rasta locks and iPods smiled at me and the banjo and started talking to me about playing guitar and banjo and stuff. They were great, with big grins and lots of goofiness.

Our train finally came and I stood. The train roared and screamed along. Then it stopped. Then the conductor blurted out something about changing trains somewhere other than where Susan had told me to change and later he told us another place. Somehow, my stomach pounding, I made it, but I didn’t dare sit down.

At the next stop after the change, my rasta girls came on again. “Hey, Banjo Mama!” they cried and sat down by me. One told me she was listening to something from 1971, “before I was born,” she said.

“Way to make me feel old, “ I said.

“Oh, I was born in 1972,” she grinned. I was flabbergasted—they looked about 17 years old. Go figure. California of the Eternal Youths.

Finally made it back to Berkeley, where the magnificent Susan was waiting for me and drove me post haste to home and a blessed bathroom. Tummy was sore most of the night, but I still managed to get some pretty good zzzzz’s.

Catching Up with Berkeley

Pictures from left to right, top to bottom: Susan's House, Sprocket (her cat), Lamp Art, Susan and Sprocket, Susan and Abby on banjo, Susan, Abby, Bob, Ingrid

You may have noticed that nothing has appeared in this blog for the past few days. (Then again, you may not have noticed.) Jeanie is just recovering from her wild week in the big city and only now has time to fill you in. (I also had a really weak neighbor’s signal where I was staying, so I could only get online sporadically.)

Getting There

On Wednesday, I snuck out of Benbow Resort early—they probably wouldn’t really have appreciated a van in their park, as I’m discovering about RV spots. However, I had a gorgeous if a little bit icy drive through the rest of the redwoods down into Sonoma and then Marin County, where the rolling hills and strange green fields reminded me of my past life in a Christian commune, over 30 years ago, when my first husband and I used to come out to Marin to get a break from San Francisco. Although much of it is still rural, once you hit Santa Rosa, it’s all nasty malls and such, at least along 101.

I whooped as I drove over the gorgeous San Rafael bridge and over to Berkeley, where, amazingly, I found my friend Susan’s house without incident except some panic as I drove into some air that wasn’t so good.

You can see some pictures of Susan Sawyer’s house above. The glass thing is lamp bodies on a piece of rebar, just some of the amazing art that Susan does when she’s not interpreting for the deaf. (And she used to be a civil engineer. Yeesh.) It’s a sweet little place, and her cat is named Sprocket. Her roommate (with glasses) is Lindsey and a friend, Sue Moon, (red and brown hair) was visiting from Arcata for a mad weekend of dancing and marching against the war (YAY SUE!!!)

I called Susan and then sat on the porch, waiting and playing banjo and talking to Scott on the phone. When she got home from work, she dragged me off to the local hot tub, a sort of secret place run by some hippie philanthropist that is free to those in the know.

I said, “Great, I’ve got a swim suit!”

“Oh no you don’t!” Susan replied. “Naked only.”

Luckily, my old hippie days stood me in good stead. “No problem,” I said. It just sounded too good. (Don't worry--no pictures.)

All around us a zillion flowers were blooming, the lemon trees were gleaming with yellow fruit, and I kept asking, “What’s this? What’s that?” as we walked over. Susan didn’t know. We stepped into the hot tub yard and were surrounded by giant redwoods. Wood platforms lay around the yard for people to lie on in between soaks—it’s a very hot hot tub, about 113 degrees. We showered and slowly lowered ourselves in. There was only one other person there and only one other came the whole time. I lay in a convenient hammock between soaks and on a platform. It was fabulous, and very little chlorine either!

Home I got set up and was fed scrumptious curry. Susan, meanwhile, had made a few calls, so we had some great tunes with another Susan Philips and her husband, Tony.

However, bedtime was challenging. We didn’t really figure out electricity, so it was a little cold, and the street was so tilted that I could hardly stay on my cot. I had some definite ideas about improvements, but one of the saving graces I am taking away from here is the hot water bottle (or “hottie” as Sue Moon calls it with her inimitable Brit accent). Lasts all night if you use boiling water and wrap it in flannel pillowcases!

Working in the Hood

Thursday was a boring work day. I drove over to a pizza and basically café type place and worked on myth. When I returned, of course, there was no parking. I circled, sighed, and then found a space across the street. This time, I was smarter—I drove the van up on the curb a bit, leveling it out. This made for MUCH better sleeping!

That night Susan made more calls and we had great tunes with Abby on banjo, Bill on autoharps, and Ingrid on guitar. Bill and Ingrid and I recognized each other from Centralia, especially once they identified me as “T-Lou’s Mom.”!!! They camp in the desert a lot, so we got excited about meeting up next year at Joshua Tree. (Yes, I’m already thinking about NEXT YEAR’S BIG VAN TRIP!) They are amazing botanists and actually the caretakers for a rare species that no one could find many of. They found ‘em. (Sorry B & I, I forget what.)

Cruising Down Northern California

Here's some pictures of me and Bob-o's dog, Cuzco, out hiking around. Also, the inside of the van, which I realized I had never pictured and maybe never should have.

Heading South

Today I headed out for halfway to San Francisco through some amazing and beautiful country I hope to explore more on the way back. At Crescent City I saw a Curves, so I dashed in and worked out before moving on. It's weird to go to the same place wherever I go, a common thing these days.

I finally wanted to camp and made the mistake of trying Myers Flat, a scary town with no restaurant, no cell, and an RV park where folks were nice, but dogs barked at me and the electricity didn't work. I didn't even tell them--I just left and thought, "Get the heck outta here NOW!" Et voila, 16 miles later, the very civilized town of Garberville. I found a place with wifi and started frantically working, which, of course, was when Bob Carlin called me about the banjo workshop in May. I have to get a picture (ugh) and write a bio (ugh). So we talked about that and about what kind of workshops to do. Any ideas, you guys?

Then, looking online, I realized that this ritzy RV place down the road had wifi and that it was getting dark. So now I can get caught up with school and the blog.

The Van

This being my first night really living in my van, not just sleeping in it, I thought I'd describe the setup. Maybe it will inspire some of you.

First off, I got a nice rug at Target and actually cut part of it in half so that I can put in one seat in the back and just double up the rug on that side. Mistake: I bought a rug that was cute but is made of little bittie things that now are coming loose all over the place. Note to self: bind the edges of the rug when you get back. For Lent.

I worried way too much about cots. You just get the cheap narrow one and put foam on top of it. I hope to get some nice memory foam at Costco (pretty good deal!) to pile on top, but for now it's a really old piece plus an extra quilt doubled up. The really cool thing about the cot is all the boxs you can store under it. And it's quite comfortable to sit on, either regularly or cross-legged!

Heat: The little heater I got is working just great. Light: I really need to get one of those cool windup lanterns, but they were all out in Port Townsend since everyone was paranoid about losing power. So instead, I've just used the van's lights and, tonight, since I have electicity and am hanging in here, old Christmas lights strung in a net. I know it's a little weird, but it's what we had. A power strip for all this is good, since I also have a computer, a kettle, and a cell phone charger, not all in at once. Hope the pictures give you some idea.

It's warm and cozy with the heater coming on and going off, the Christmas lights fading when the heater goes on and brightening when it goes off, and Morgan Sexton playing on my computer. I hope to read some more of The Egg and I, which my brother Steve gave me for Christmas. It's a lot of fun, though a bit disturbing with the comments about Indians and the breezy sort of toughness.

Tomorrow, San Francisco! Ack!

Actually, I'll be staying in Berkeley with a music buddy, Susan. More soon.

Scott Has Been Busy!

While I'm away, Scott has gotten closer to his second wife...the boat. He's finally got his tent shop up, and I hear more news about stabilizing procedures every day!

Spring in January

Kathleen, Sarah, Petra, Pascal, dinner, Ron and Jennifer, Ron and Jennifer's guest house.

Hello from Port Orford, a tiny town on the southern Oregon coast where my old friend Bob-o lives. It’s sunny and in the mid-sixties, and I’m loving it!

Bob-o is from my Floating Point days, when I worked with him in a high tech company in Beaverton, OR in the eighties. We would hang out constantly playing various guitars (including his awesome Fender Stratocaster) and then would go to every concert John Fahey did, plus a bunch of Emmy Lou (who we both love) and even a Bruce Cockburn event. Bob-o is still a guitar maniac, and he’s been playing Roy Orbison, Bruce Springsteen, Beatles, and other great songs at me when I’m not practicing fiddle tunes or teaching his friend Lois banjo.

More importantly, Bob-o is a world famous scrimshander who does some of the most beautiful micro scrimshaw you’ll ever see. (Go to his site http://www.scrimshander.com/ to see some samples.) Those of you who have been to our house may have seen his wonderful piece he did for my mom years ago of our old New England house. It was a birthday present from me, and I am happy that she really loved it. We also have many of his prints around the house, including the picture of a mandolin being played that is all one line. He’s brilliant.

Bob-o lives in a great house full of crazy stuff and tools and heaps of things with his sweetheart Siberian husky Cuzco. It’s nice to have a dog around again since I am missing T-Lou.

Today we took a walk up on the Port Orford Heads (pictures), which is just beyond beyond. The endless blue and rolling hills, the row of rocks sticking out in the water like the backbone of some immense old creature, and Bob-o’s stories about his volunteer ambulance adventures, some of the stories pretty sobering, like a woman and her sons who went down to the beach to throw her husband’s ashes out to the sea. A freak wave came in and snatched her and one son, and they drowned. Very scary and mythic to me.

The sun beamed down today, though, and I did laundry and caught up with things, including school. We went out for an early supper along with Lois to The Crazy Norwegian, which has wifi. Bob-o couldn’t get his laptop to work and was frustrated, but I could and just went right to work checking in on folks and email. Home to a movie and some more work on the class. Sigh.

Leaving Portland
On Friday, I packed up and went over to Curves to work out. Then I decided to take a route out from Multnomah Blvd., past where my first husband and his wife lived (I didn’t drive past their house, just the area), then past the house where my Steve and I broke up, past the dismal apartments where we had to live when booted out of the house, past the route I used to bike to Floating Point (about 5 miles), past the old Beaverton landmarks. It was an emotional journey through a painful landscape.

I was heading over to KMK’s house, alias, Kathleen, who also worked with us at Floating Point. She called me on the phone just as I was getting there with a braces crisis her daughter Sarah was having, so our visit ended up being a drive into Hillsboro and back with the sweet and lovely Sarah in the nasty traffic of a Friday evening. It was crazy and wonderful!

Scary and Elegant
But I needed to get to my friends’ Ron and Jennifer Rich’s house for dinner and the night. They own two beautiful paper stores in Portland called Oblation. (http://www.oblationpapers.com/) I hustled out from KMK’s and still ended up trying to find their place off Skyline in the dark, which was just crazy and out in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly, there it was in the dark and mist—a wonderful house with a pony and glowing windows and dormers.

Ron and Jennifer are probably the most elegant yet sweet people I know—really amazing. They are building a beautiful house and have just moved in, but already, it’s gorgeous, lots of cool modern green and wide floorboards and windows and simple lines of beauty. Their daughters are Petra and Pascal (don’t ask me where they got these names), and they all did try to get me to stay in this igloo. (See above.) No not really. Pretty cool, huh? Jennifer and Pascal ride horses, and the pony was very talkative in the morning when I woke hearing coyotes.

We had an elegant dinner with scallops and a big pile of rice in each dish with cut up peas and herbs strewn around them in a circle. Woweee—these guys can do anything. They fed me wine and “chartreuse,” which, I found out, is not just a color but a liqueur. It does have that color, but monks make it, so I guess it’s fine! I liked it.

And breakfast! Oooo la la. Gruyére cheese, goat cheese, fancy slices of French bread, cream cheese, salami (where else but an Orthodox household—we have to get that meat in while we still can before Lent), boiled eggs, and oranges that I brought, those cool Satsumas (which, alas, actually weren’t that good, drat).

It was icy out but the sun was breaking through the fogs way up on the hills there. I had a little trouble backing out their steep driveway, but when I got on the road, things rapidly went downhill. My brakes were doing this shuddering little thing and making a horrible squirmy noise. But not consistently. I was terrified. I had only a little gas left. And then I got lost.

The Gospel of Departure
I could not find my way back. I drove and drove and drove. I turned around and drove back part way, but now I couldn’t even get back to Ron and Jennifer’s. I tried to call them. No signal. I turned around again, and decided to follow the sign I’d seen to Hwy. 30. At least I knew that and could orient myself. I ended up coasting down a road through national forest that went on and on and on. At least I was coasting. The brakes weren’t acting up anymore. I had a faint remembrance that maybe it had been ice making them act funny. And then I came to 30. I actually took out the Oregon map, headed back for Portland, found the road I’d originally wanted, cut over, and after quite a drive, found civilization and a gas station. As I filled up, Car Talk (htttp://www.cartalk.com/) came on the radio. I had been wondering if I should stop somewhere and get the brakes checked out.

I already felt pretty wonderful about having survived my scary mini adventure so far. But then, as I was driving west on Hwy 26, a guy called into Car Talk about his Saab’s brakes making a squirmy little sound (he made it and it sounded just like mine had) and how they felt funny. And Click and Clack told him—that’s what ABS brakes do on ice. I knew God had spoken just for me, just like He does through various weird things. Other people get visions; I get Click and Clack. And then, when they were over, just as I was out to Banks, I got KBOO’s program I remember so well on Saturday mornings, a great bluegrass show called Music from the True Vine. (http://www.kboo.fm/node/73) And it was a special gospel show. Some of my favorite ever Jim and Jesse cuts were playing as I turned off towards Tillamook, following the rushing Wilson River through the sparkling woods, mists, sudden sun breaks and squalls. Everywhere along the river people were fishing, and I felt wonderful.

A Plethora of Parks
Before I left, being in a fairly paranoid state of mind, not sure if I could reach Port Orford in one day from Portland, I compiled an absurd list of places to stay in every town along the Oregon Coast. I have to tell you—don’t bother. There are so many state parks alone, many with electricity, by the way, that those alone would meet my needs, let alone all the RV parks (admittedly, some of these scary) and other cabin and motel options.

The sun finally established itself and I had to turn off the heat in the van and open the window. Tillamook spread rich and green below me and then around me, and after a short while, I was out by the roaring, slapping blues, greens, and brilliant white foam of the crashing waves. I decided that rather than hang out at a park, I wanted to hang with Bob-o, so I drove and drove, about 300 miles, which is a little too much for this girl’s butt and hands. (Butt still can’t quite handle long times of sitting after landing in the dirt off a horse’s back this summer. Hands are slightly arthritic.)

But then, I was there, and before it got dark! And now, Bob-o is helping me and giving me cool CDs (copies) and he even promises to help with my Velcro project—Lois says he really likes Velcro—and we’ll figure out how to really stick those window things on.

Bye Bye, Portland!

Well, today, I'm wrapping it up, catching it up, and moving it out. The snow is finally receding, and it's warm and rainy. Back to normal.

Dinner with Phoebe

On Wednesday, with the snow still everywhere and no school, Janet and I took a nice long walk through the beautiful Irvington neighborhood of comfortably big old houses (timber money) and large, tree-lined streets. I worked, and we played music together some more. Then Phoebe came cruising over to take me out to dinner!

She called my cell. I looked outside. No sign of her. After calling back and forth, I finally found her down the street, waved frantically, and then bundled up to go out. She took me down to Eagle Thai on Broadway, which was very good, although something was in the food that gave me some slight allergic reactions later. We had a great time catching up and comparing notes, and Phoebe tried to teach me (briefly) how to pose for a camera. You can see above that it didn't quite work. She had on some cute new Nike boots to keep her dry and warm and told me about working out with Lance Armstrong's coach and her spinning class at Nike, where she works as a librarian.

Catching Up

Thursday was my day to catch up. For one thing, it's the beginning of my academic week, when I try to turn in a bunch of grades and move everyone into the next week's readings. In Myth then journey from place to place, and having left Egypt and Babylon, are now in Greece and then Rome for the next two weeks.

I actually found a Curves (yeah, I joined, at least for this trip) and did my little workout thing. Someone with ADD or something like it had to have dreamed this up. It doesn't give me enough aerobic work, but that's when walking comes in! Right next to Curves was a bank, so I could finally cash some checks from a banjo student (sorry to take so long, Carol!) and then a Supercuts! So I splurged and finally got my hair trimmed after about 6 months. I had a young single mom and we traded stories.

Last night, Phoebe came by and we all went out for dinner at a pub that used to be a funeral home. I didn't smell any formeldahyde and didn't feel any wrathful spirits, but after a large porter, who knows? It was a manic, lively conversation as always with my two and their sweeties: Philip 'n Kim, and Phoebe and Michael.

Today I'll visit my old and good friend KMK (Kathleen, but that's how she used to log in at Floating Point, where we worked together editing techie stuff--they still all call me "Jeano" from my old login). Then I'll head over to Ron and Jennifer Rich's pasture--they've bought a place way the heck to the west of PDX, which is just perfect for getting me started out to the coast and down to my next mooching spot.

I just finished reading Dreaming in Cuban, which is quite wonderful, a sort of Cuban version of Louise Erdrich's books, in which many family members, mostly women, tell the stories of their lives so that the main protagonist is not an isolated person but a family. A really nifty conceit, showing the relations between folks and the various versions of a story.

I am also slowly moving through Volume IV of the Philokalia, a collection of writings famous in Eastern Orthodoxy, but probably unfamiliar to others, mostly written for monks and rather difficult, so I just read a page a day. But right now, I'm reading about the Kingdom of Heaven being in the human heart, how each of us is a universe. If we could only keep this awareness for even five seconds, how differently we might treat our fellows. And last night, driving home with Phoebe, I told her what a different world they live in, how my world is receding so quickly and becoming so unfathomable, often even to me! Of course, all the real traveling takes place within, a commonplace to take with me on this little adventure!