August 2006 – RectorSite

WHS50 II

Part 2: Columbus and the Reunion

This is the second installment of my odyssey surrounding the Columbus West High School Class of January 1956 Reunion.

Since I made the long trip to Ohio for a weekend, I extended the trip on each end for some adventures in Cincinnati, and passed through Carol’s homestead in Lancaster in each direction, as well. This epistle is divided into three parts; The Heartland, Columbus and the Reunion, and finally Lancaster Redux and Cincinnati.

If you want to know more about the food, I”m concurrently posting a food centric edition on my eats site.

Ohio_Capitol.JPG.jpg

Friday, August 18, 2006 (continued)
Just as I got in the car, it started to rain, not hard, but rain. I drove out of it within a mile. I kept taking “downtown” cues on what ever US-33 turned into and got off where it said Broad Street. This is now familiar territory, the streets I roamed before the freeways were built. I passed the State Capitol and thought I should have a digital picture of that. After circling a few blocks I parked on 3rd Street and pumped the meter with all the change I had for 22 minutes. Enough. In the course of walking around the capitol block, I took an oblique and a straight on picture, found a little but nice farmers market tucked into an alley off Broad Street, followed this young woman with a great ass, soaked in the scene and got back with 3 minutes to spare.

Friday_Farmers_Market.JPG.jpg

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Crank Up The Curiosity

If you are at all curious — it’s not a popular character trait right now, but I think it’s essential for happiness — you can find the most wonderful things, and the most wonderful ideas, and there are many most wonderful things and ideas, and that’s why getting up in the morning is a pleasure. With caffeine: even better.

–Jon Carroll, SF Chronicle 8/29/06

Happy Birthday Carol!

You’re A Peach!

Love, Eric and Alison

PS: You may retrieve your present in Alameda.

PPS: This is a picture of our first peach harvest! Four years after we planted two “Reliant” peach trees (one of them didn’t make it), we saw lots of blossoms this spring, and now it’s loaded with the fuzzy little orbs, which are turning the sweet color of your blushing cheeks.

Snakes on a Plane!

http://www.snakesonablog.com/

Musings about Medinah

Its 2:31pm EDT and I am sitting at my business partner’s desk using his twin-screen computer. One of the 24″ widescreen LCD’s shows my desktop; the other is connected to PGA.com where TNT has a LIVE FEED of the PGA Championship from Medinah Country Club near Chicago. Even with a 24″, the little window with the “high-def” feed is not the preferred way to watch golf. However, at the office while doing some menial work-related tasks, it’s really cool. Life is pretty good today.

I had the opportunity (twice!) to play Medinah back in the early 80’s with my boss’s boss, Joe (something). They required caddies at that time (and perhaps still do).
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WHS50

The Glorious (we hope) Reunion of

West High School Class of January 1956

Part I: The Heartland

Now that I”m back, I”ve jazzed up this post with some pictures and a little editing, and decided to divide the trip into three parts; The Heartland, Columbus and the Reunion, and finally Lancaster Redux and Cincinnati.

If you want to know more about the food, I”m concurrently posting a food centric edition on my eats site.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Our swell United airplane makes a smooth landing at Dulles International (the co-pilot is a woman) 40 minutes ahead of schedule. Doesn”t mean I”ll get home any earlier, what it means is I”ll have some time to kill. I know the concept of Dulles, very European; big transporters go to a plane and load people off, take them to the terminal which is a big room with a few “gates” where the transporters hook up. This is not the octopus type of airport where spiny legs stick out from the main termanel, and people walk, often a long way. Since it was designed by Eero Saarinan and built in 1982, things have changed. The Octopus” legs have been built but they”re not connected to the body. The big transporters go to the detached legs and get people who have assembled at a central gate and take them to another detatched leg or to the main terminal (body). So here I am on leg A, having come from leg D, and never having seen the magnificant terminal. Now that I”m writing this, I”m thinking that I should have gone to see it, I had time. But no… I had to have a Sam Adams Draft at the Cosi bar on the A leg.
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Dinner with P&J

Paula and John Bungen visited Windswept Farm last weekend for a dinner and a walk-around on their way back to Boston and then on to San Francisco. We gave them a tour of the garden (peas are done; onions leeks and shallots coming along; edamame; limas; busting out in haricort vert; beets and chard; rutabagas; celery, parsley, and ancho peppers planted together; brussels sprouts and red cabbage; cucumbers; tomatoes on tee-pees; and potatoes all across the top) while we picked a few things for dinner. They enjoyed a drink on our screened-in porch while I rolled out pasta using the ancient recipe of “one etto flour, one good egg” illuminated by Bill Buford in his new book, “Heat” and further explored by Marc on Eats.

Dinner was hand-rolled and hand-cut tagliatelle with a zucchini sauce; homemade Italian sausage simmered with swiss chard; steamed button carrots with Portuguese olive oil; and green beans. The food matched well with a Bonny Doon Pacific Rim Reisling.
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Blowing Winds

hey yall. Sorry I’ve been mute. My plan was to go to Paris this summer, meet some critic friends and see the Godard exhibition. I pulled the necessary bootstraps up and quit my job but capriciously decided to stay home and try to make a film with my bootstraps. Brian (et al.) was kind enough to offer all sorts of help and advice and now I feel bad for not making it there. At the moment I am trying to make it here (!), my idea of making it being a film (on dv) about talking dogs.
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Hey, Dave Cappelle knows her

Erykah Badu. You may not have heard of her, but if you have, you”ll understand why Kelly and I didn’t question attending her afterparty on Saturday nite at a downtown ATL club. (For those who DON”T know, she is a very jazzy hip-hop artist, blending scat and jazz into the hip-hop genre.)

The invitation said 9pm, and being the white suburbanites we are, we arrived at the club at 9:05pm. It was still closed. A few well-dressed folks were milling around, so we hung out and waited, chatting up the other early birds. (I was NOT one of the well-dressed ones…I had on jeans and a black Miles Davis t-shirt…mor on that later.) At 9:55 the GIANT security guys opened the doors, and began checking ID. My sparkling smile let me thru w/o a check (it must have been that!) and Kelly and I went upstairs to the club. We were early enough to get stools at the bar, so we settled in. A DJ set up and began playing a really hot mix of old-school, hip-hop, trip-hop and euro rap. Very nice. We sipped our drinks and absorbed the surroundings. I had been to the club before to see other shows, but punk bands bring out a very different crowd than Erykah obviously does.
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Masha in the City

Hot damn! Summer in the City
Masha’s here and she’s lookin’ pretty
Walk around lookin’ for a ditty
Chinatown and every corner of the City

All around people doin” hip hop
Checked out Yerba Buena from the rooftop

Went ‘n’ found Titanic there
Spelling Bee was th’ next affair
C’mon c’mon there’s quilts in sight
That’s just for another night

And hey, doncha know it’s too witty
The days are good as the nights
In the summer, in the city
Masha’s in the city

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Month: August 2006