Bring Ruby Your Best Book!

Since Ruby is stuck in high school and not living a remote third-world country, helping children, she decided to take on the building up of a library at Franson Christian School in Swaziland.

It's funny how it came about. After the last day of school before Christmas, Ruby twirled around, sighed and declared, "Ah! No homework! I just want to relax and drink hot chocolate and sit by a fire and make gingerbread and wrap presents!"

An hour later, she had teamed up with the African Library Project, created a website and started collecting books. So much for that fireside relaxation.  Now our house is full of books. Even Santa got in on the action, delivering a big stack of suitable titles that turned out to be Ruby's favorite gift of the season.

She would like to gather one thousand of the best books for a wonderful library. The organization also requires that she raise $500 in shipping costs. She would love it if every person we know could donate two books and one dollar, keeping in mind the eager, bright children who are depending on Ruby for their new library.

I remember the pure joy of finding a new book at the library when I was a kid. Many of those musty paperbacks, I remember like old friends. It will be so fun to collect and curate a collection to give with love, and we thank you for being part of the fun.

The children are preschool to 4th grade, studying English. They need educational paperbacks in particular, and early readers. Check Ruby's website for all the info:  https://www.gofundme.com/libraryinswaziland

Winter Light

One of my favorite things is having people over, especially when I get to set a nice table.  My Shelter friends are always good candidates to set a table for, and I was in a San Francisco frame of mind when we had lunch the day after I got back.  The watercolor on the table is something I found at my grandparents' house, so it really belongs to my dad and Tricia, but it was the perfect centerpiece for how I was feeling.  I don't even remember what we ate, but I had fun pulling out some of my Chinese things to give the table a bit of the Asian flair that San Francisco has always had.

Like I said, we came home to snow, and lots of it.  I love a white winter, and from the looks of it, so do the kids.  Regretfully, I was heading out to do some necessary thing instead of playing in the snow with these bunnies.  As I left, their faces were absolutely bathed in gold, accentuating the joy that was emanating from within their frosty little selves.  Tziporah and Rolayne are as delightful as a woolen hat in winter and as pure as a fresh snow on Christmas morning.

Still, four years later, I marvel that Tziporah came to our family.  There were signs that she was coming.  I'm sure I've mentioned them.  When we set out on the journey to have a 6th child, I secretly believed it would be twins.  Twice, I had felt the presence of two children.  When I had the ultrasound that indicated one baby with Ptolemy, my immediate thought was, "I'm going to have to do this again in two years."  Not that I thought it would be possible.  I was 38 and it had taken some doing to get Ptolemy!

Ruby reminded us last night that right around the time I had Ptolemy, she had a dream where there were two babies in two cribs.  She thought, "Oh no, Dad doesn't know there are two!  She took the girl and hid her.  Isn't that funny?  Seeing these two together is always a reminder that heavenly plans are swirling around us all the time, even if we are as unaware of it as we are of the December snow that falls softly while we sleep.  There's no doubt that these two winter babies are right where they belong.

Golda's Nutcracker

 When we left Oakland, it was a sunny California day, but in Utah, there was a raging blizzard.  We were wondering if our flight would land in Provo, but if our flight crew was the least bit concerned, they never showed it, and we landed just fine in a snowstorm.

After some debate, Coco, Bill and Araceli opted to go home on Frontrunner while Ruby and I stayed for Golda's Nutcracker performance with Utah Regional Ballet.  It was perfect timing that her performance was the night we flew in to Provo.  Scott was going to come too, but he couldn't make it through the snow, so I had 4 extra tickets.  I called my cousin Laura and Golda called Ashley, and voila, we had all six tickets taken.  It was so much fun to sit by Laura and catch up a little bit, and see Adaline and Bridie.  I have the best cousins.  Thanks for braving the snow, Laura!

Before the show, Ruby and I totally relaxed at Golda's apartment.  One of the things I admire about Golda is that her room is always immaculate. It was decorated for Christmas and we snuggled in until it was time to go.  We took the poor, starving students, Golda and Sierra, to Cubby's.

I should have taken pictures with Laura and her girls, but I didn't think of it.  It was fun to see Ashley again, Golda's lifelong ballet buddy.  We had a great time sitting in the audience and comparing this ballet to "ours."  Both are fantastic.  Golda was beautiful as an Arabian.  The drive home was icy but not too bad, since we had my mom's big Jeep.  A highly enjoyable night and perfect start to the holiday season after coming home from our travels.  Life is good.

Golden Gate Spendor

Sunday in San Francisco rained as if celestial fire fighters were hosing down the city. We rented a car a block away from the hotel, and just that brief dash had our umbrellas turned inside out and our bodies drenched from head to toe. My dad's desire to rent a car turned out very fortuitously.

Japanese Tea Garden in the rain. Dad told us that the name was changed to the Chinese Tea Garden during WWII. As if you could just substitute one culture for another. At least the "freedom fries" of a decade ago weren't dubbed Swiss fries. Humans are interesting.

Dad tried heroically to get out and admire the roiling ocean in all its fury.

All the museums in SFO are, in my opinion, expensive. We accidentally found a loophole at the Legion of Honor when we went in to check out the gift shop. Dad and I got stickers on our coats to go in, then took the elevator from the gift shop to the wrong place, which put us right in the galleries. I was guilt-ridden, so I only stopped to mock this one painting. Why is the bow tangled in the bridge of the violin? That painter is going to be in so much trouble when he returns the props to the musician.

We drove through Golden Gate Park and the Presidio, braving the sporadic rain, praising each patch of blue sky that appreared.

Finally, the bay showed us its full splendor. We had walked to a spot with military ruins and walking trails, to admire the bridge, and we hit it at the exact perfect time. The rainbow emerged and was gone in the space of five minutes. We felt privileged to witness such majesty.

The other side of the bridge, the weather was warm! Ok, it was December, so we didn't strip down to shorts or anything, but the sun came out and it was beautiful. We had lunch at an Italian place in Sausalito where the water was from Venice. Another carbonara under my belt. 😊

Mom and Araceli didn't have much interest in Muir Woods, citing it as "you pay money and then look at tall trees." But we were right there, and my love affair with national parks won out. Thanks, Mom and Araceli! They waited in the dry car while Ruby, Dad and I paid money ($10 for all three of us with Dad's senior lifetime National Parks pass) and walked among the redwoods. It really is a spiritual place, where you can feel the primordial life force of the forest.

Sunday evening found us sipping hot chocolate at a little French bistro. Can you believe these bowls?

We had some fun with Photo Wonder, an app that makes you more beautiful. I'm sometimes taken aback at how homely I am in pictures. So we edited out the bags under my eyes. Then I just looked like an alien. I'm trying to come to terms with my aging because I do realize one thing: the human race is regal. This was brought to my attention in Chinatown. As I looked into people's faces, I saw exquisite beauty, time after time, in the wrinkles and crooked teeth and weathered brows. I began looking for the beauty, actually, and I found it every single time. More than once, I had this irrational desire to say to a person, "You are incredibly beautiful. You are perfect."

These two definitely are perfect. Time hasn't diminished their beauty at all, only enhanced it.  After returning the car, everyone was ready for a rest except Araceli, our intrepid shopper. She ventured out to Union Square on her own for an hour or so before we all met up at the Union Square Christmas tree. I love that she has the guts to take on the city herself. She loves the freedom, in fact.

Sunday night, our last night in the city, Ruby and I wanted sushi. We convinced Coco and Bill to take Araceli back to the diner she loves, so they wouldn't have to choke down any sashimi. :) The food was heavenly. Ruby and I savored every morsel and we're tempted to order more, but resisted.

I got a text from Dad saying to meet them at their restaurant. I didn't pay attention to the directions, choosing to rely on my tried and true method of finding things, which is trial and error. Scott's method is to study a map and become completely oriented to a place, so that he is confident of where he is and where he is going at all times. My dad's method is to squint into the distance, sniff the air, and instinctively know just where to go. He's uncanny. My MO is born of impatience and that debilitating optimism that everything will work out. It's "let's go this way and see if it's right." And that's how Ruby and I walked 8 blocks to get to a restaurant that was right around the corner from where we started. I texted Dad, "We're only 4 blocks away! We were 2, but we went the wrong way."
He replied, "Keep trying. You started out one block away." Made me laugh so hard! But see, everything was fine, and we met a very nice homeless man who gave us directions.

Chinatown

Good morning, San Francisco!  The weather forecast was rain, but Saturday broke sunny and mild.  We were so lucky!  Our fire escape was the perfect setting for some pretty photos.  I love the brick wall!

I went out super early, as I am wont to do, and wandered.  I seem to crave alone time.  I brought juice and bagels back for everyone, then the girls and I left Coco and Bill at the hotel and walked to Chinatown.  We planned to spend a lot of time there.

I love this place.  We walked all over as the sleepy neighborhood came to life, with tai chi in the park, shops putting wares outside and grandparents walking tiny tots to school.

When we happened upon Yee's Restaurant and saw the duck in the window, I knew I had to stop.  Even though I didn't speak Cantonese, I managed to order just what I craved; duck with Chinese cabbage and rice.  Ruby and Araceli went out shopping while I thoroughly enjoyed my duck.  I was the only"gwai lo" (Cantonese for White person) in the whole place.  Behind me, three ancient Chinese men were dumping something from a flask into their tea.  In the back kitchen, there were tanks of murky water teeming with sea life.  In the front, three Cantonese-speaking butchers were chopping and shouting and taking orders.  Oddly enough, I felt a sense of belonging, although to everyone else, I'm sure I stood out terribly.  Maybe it's Xanthe's Chinese ancestors hovering, or maybe it's all the time I spent in violin making school with Chinese friends, maybe it's my deep fascination with immigrant communities, but I love this environment.  I drove to San Francisco once with my frineds Yanfu and Yaqing and their 10-year-old twin boys.  Yanfu and I were attending a violin making convention, and we saw friends there during the day, but at night, we went to Chinatown.  Mandarin and Cantonese were exchanged with enough understanding that we never looked at a menu.  We just ate boatloads of food, family style.  That's how I wish I could do Chinatown with my girls, but as gwai los, we never could.  Nevertheless, I was more or less accepted at Yee's and was able to soak in a culture I'll never see fully from the inside.

Across the street, a place to buy live poultry.  I love Chinese/English translations!  "Old brown chickens."  Sounds tempting!

A funeral rolled by with much fanfare and many limos.  Coco and Bill joined us right on this corner at this moment and we were honored to watch the procession.

Next stop, Little Italy.  Beach Blanket Babylon Boulevard sounds like a street Tziporah's imaginary frined, Heart Sweet Double Dipper, would live on.

Angela Fife recommended a place called Italian Home Made.  She feels a connection to Italian culture the way I feel to Chinese, so we knew she would have all the best spots staked out here.  The tiramisu was the freshest and most delicious I have ever had.  We sampled a few that day!

My dad's left ankle bone is essentially disintegrating.  It cause a lot of pain.  The "good" ankle was bad too, on this trip.  We later found out he had torn some ligaments right before the trip.  But hey, that's not going to stop my dad from walking 10 or 12 miles a day without complaining!  After walking 22,000 steps Saturday, he asked me,"Does our hotel have a gym?"  This guy is die-hard!  He's cut from an entirely different cloth than I am.  I tore some ligaments in my foot a couple of years ago, on our front porch.  I didn't even make it the ten steps into the house. My kids have nightmare flashbacks about me writhing on the ground in pain, screaming, "Get me some pillows for my leg!  And my phone!  AAAAGGGHGHGGHGHGH!"

Not my dad.  He did agree to get a foot massage when we saw this sign.  I hope it helped.

Yes, we went to super-touristy Fisherman's Wharf.  I wanted to see the sea lions.  There were so many bad street musicians!

This erhu player was good, though.  It's so fun to hear this instrument.  My friend in Violin Making School, Eli Potash, played the erhu frequently.  Then he became a meth addict and his beautiful soul was annihilated.  But that's not a good story.  Whenever I see an erhu player, I take a brief moment to remember Eli before his addiction.

We basked in the sun, just like the sea lions!

Then the ankle therapy

It just happened to be SantaCon.  The city was teeming with Santas.  The main objective of the participants is to party.  It's a bar crawl, after all.  By the end of the night, many Santas were not having as much fun as they appeared to be having earlier in the day.  :)  They made the city so festive and fun.  We loved it every time a group of them walked by.

Ruby and her Blackberry Cabernet gelato.  Oops.  Crash course in wine terminology.

Bar next to our hotel

Chinatown at night.  We retraced our steps all the way back trough Little Italy and Chinatown, back to the Mark Twain.  It was a good day in San Francisco.  The best.  It was sunny and warm and we had noplace to be.  Our only job was to take in the vibe of the city, and we did that, truly.