Labor Day Weekend

Arches

One of the things we did when Laney was here was to drive over to Manchester for the day - light shopping, lunch at the Spiral Press Cafe (in the Northshire Bookstore), and then home by way of Dorset and Pawlet. We stopped at JK Adams along the way where I discovered that they sell wood scraps as "kindling". I suppose you could start fires with this wood, but it's high quality maple, with a few sticks of oak thrown in, and some of it is pretty sizable. In fact, it's great turning stock! I've found that I can make a nice celtic knot pattern in maple turnings using thin walnut inlays. Now I just need to find a reasonable source of walnut and other interesting woods. Curtis is well stocked but pricey.

Our trip to California was fabulous. We had no significant flight problems - the flight out of Midway was delayed due to a boarding problem, but everything else was right on time. Had a great time with Dave - we were in Saratoga in Saturday, first at a winery, and then at Hakone Gardens. Stopped at Barefoot Coffee before heading back to his apartment. On Sunday, Linda and I started the day at the Mountain View Farmers' Market, and then picked up Dave for an afternoon at Stanford University's Cantor Gallery and a walkthrough at Keeble & Schuchat. On Monday we drove to Napa for the Wine Train - it was great four years ago, but this time the meal was even more fabulous. We toured wineries on Tuesday - starting with Hop Kiln at the northern end of Sonoma County, and ending at Gundlach Bundschu. We had a light lunch at Guy Fierri's Johnny Garlics, and then dinner at The Fig in Glen Ellen. On Wednesday, we drove to Tiburon to catch the ferry to Angel Island. We had taken along our hiking sticks, but found that the 'short' walk from the ferry slip at Ayala Cove to the Immigration Station was really strenuous - and opted to take the jitney back. We then stopped in Sausalito to walk around and watch people before heading back to our hotel in Santa Clara. Thursday was in downtown San Francisco - we went to Alcatraz in the morning, and after lunch we drove through the Mission District before meeting Dave for dinner.

We also had a quick day trip to NYC for a checkup with Dr. Schiff. I have a tentative date for followup surgery in late October - to remove the silicone oil.

The big even this week was lunch on Thursday with Jim and Cynthia Ponder. Jim and I were roommates at Georgia Tech many years ago. The last time I saw him was about 20 years ago. We need to get together more often.

Linda's frantically getting ready to go back to school.

The picture this time is from our visit to Fort Point in July of last year.