December 2008
193 posts
tucson: your downtown with its living history & your ring of mountains, i like. your dowdy urban decay & corporate sprawl, don’t like.
adriana’s father has a habit of taking us for endless drives in his car, never telling us where we are going. he just talks & talks.
a hint of mr. magoo in adriana’s father’s demeanor as we accompany him on his morning rounds in the city, checking in on colleagues.
inside a nearly 400 year old mission in a puebla south of tucson are letters to the dead, milagros, photos of soldiers killed in iraq.
in tucson, as guests of adriana’s father. arrived after we watched the slivered moon pull jupiter & venus beneath the desert horizon.
u.s. border gestapo out in full force. we’ve been stopped twice at armed checkpoints, emergency lights flashing, aggressive posturing.
we find ourselves in the wide open expanse of america, 72 miles due east of yuma, arizona.
leonard is giving us a tour of salvation mountain, his sagrada familia located just outside of slab city.
returning to civilisation on foot through a patch of ocotillos and a dry riverbed after trekking in the eastern anza borrego.
passing the magnimonious san jacinto mountain on our way to the salton sea.
three police helicopters circle overhead, searchlights ablaze. how many squad cars en route? how many “perpetrators” on the loose? : (
oakland jane is here. yay! there’s wine. it’s nice. time passes… jane was here but now she left. sad. adriana & i feeling wistful.
packing lightly for tomorrow’s desert excursion. 3.5 days of desert hiking, abandoned resorts and wilderness await.
after seeing a holiday film with reese witherspoon & vince vaughn, adriana’s mother says “you know, white people are just not funny.”
at yesterday’s dinner benediction at the estradas, adriana used corporate speak during her moment of grace. she said “learnings.”
the burrata caprese omelette at cora’s coffee shoppe might just be the BEST omelette on the west side. minus points for the kenny g.
finally, the annual holiday megaforcefeeding of the humans is complete & we are free to leave pico rivera. merry christmas, gawdamnit.
beneath a clearing sky with stars emerging, we take a twilight walk amongst the xmas lit homes to examine the aftermath of the storm.
the boys of the NYPD choir were singing ‘Galway Bay’ | and the bells were ringing out for Christmas day.
a drive on the east side, on whittier boulevard, through east los angeles, montebello, and pico rivera for christmas with the estradas.
the malibu lobsters that we enjoyed were caught by our friend ray, who dove after them just 500 meters from where they were served.
in malibu on a hill overlooking the raging sea that fronts the approaching storm. a christmas tree, lobsters & wine provide diversions.
preparing a brandade before we embark upon a christmas eve hike, then a visit to malibu for a friends’ open house.
talking with my family in norway. they are dancing around the christmas tree.
christmas eve and the lady surfs at county line while the gentleman prepares a brandade.
adriana’s aunt visiting from mexico. we are making homemade tamales de elote. the real thing. mmmmmn. up to our elbows in masa de mais.
blackhawk helicopters circling over the beach in venice. great, the invasion has begun.
driving to the east side and the south side.
happy lille jule aften in scandihoovia. oh, how it would be nice to be there (and here) and there…
proud winner of the bronze medal, apples to apples eiseman invitational tournament 2008 (DOUBLE-A E.I.T. 2008). in your face! YES!!!
there was a very dark period this afternoon, when i nodded off at the table. but then i discovered ESPRESSO and i feel so NEW and IMPROVED!
in the darkened hours, a walk on market st. unveils this soundtrack: a tv in a kitchen, a conversation on a hidden porch, a sprinkler.
for the first time in a while, adriana & i get to experience a bit of matrimonial normalcy: we’re both home in the same city on a weekday.
re: credit card / debit card fraud, apparently there have been inside jobs at macy’s, whole foods, and a slew of gas stations. fuckers.
sunday night at the other room where it is mellow. mbv, velvet underground & yo la tengo on the sound system.
a winter morning in venice on the beach is nothing short of sublime. speckless sky, sightlines to infinity.
we now know that we can have 23 adults, 1 toddler, 1 dalmatian hound & 1 chicken pants all at once in our tiny apartment. thnx every1.
why is twitter useful beyond ordinary musings? how about someone who tweets about his plane crash? http://twitter.com/2drinksbehind?page=2
shit! adriana’s credit card accounts have been hacked, thousands of dollars of unauthorized purchases. i’m checking my accounts now.
gløgg & æbleskivers ready… even had time to shower. this was supposed to be mellow (and it will be) but there’s always last minute bustle.
discussions with SdB & NS re: blurry murray @ wine bar on 6th & rose, as @objetsmart, theresa, bod & janet all happen to be there.
just got home. apartment smells of mulling spices (they’ve been slow-cooking all night). semi-drunken late night cleaning up & giftwrapping.
oh hai! awake now. really shouldn’t be, but i’m miserably behind on cleaning & packing, while the estrada boards a plane in SF. tick tock.
for some reason, i thought there’d be lots of taxis on abbott kinney tonight, so that i could simply hail one to go to santa mon. fail.
you can speak french at the french market cafe, unless you are near @invictus becaure she might motion to have you deported. allons-y!
a link between tiny dogs & oversized egos? thinking of certain ppl in my past while noticing local celebs (RD) & their dog accessories.
