4 - Pieces

On February 11th I read 4 of my competitions at the Kol Ami Koffee House. Here's the video.

Let me know what you think.

Ruth Frank

Judy's Mom passed on October 29, 2011.

The funeral was in Jerusalem on November 2, 2011

This is the Memorial Service held here on November 2, 2011.

Still on Vacation...

Well not really, but these entries were made while on vacation...

August 15, 2010

Heading to San Francisco by train from Salt Lake city. The train was supposed to leave Salt Lake at about 11:30PM. It was delayed in the mid-west by downed trees across the tracks. They had to send out for a crew with chainsaws. Then there was the derailed train coming up from Provo. We ultimately pulled out of Sale Lake at 3:00AM.

Where we've been.

Judy and I settled in while Rachel sat across the aisle with a young woman that was already on the train. Cheyenne is going Modesto to live with her father and go to school. "To start a new life" as she put it. She didn't say if she was going to high school, but probably.

The seats are roomy and recline more than airline chairs. However, they still don't recline quite enough. I fell asleep fairly quickly while Rachel chatted with Cheyenne, Judy realized that she had left her meds in her checked suitcase. The Conductor was able to retrieve her bag from the baggage car and Judy was able to get some sleep.

Rachel and Cheyanne

The dawn gave the dessert a cool red hue that came too soon. After that I dozed and shifted in my seat as the wallet and keys in my pockets kept telling me that it was time to get up.

Observation Car

Maybe I'm just tired but Riding the train conjures old Rail Road stories. Buster Keaton in "The General", lots of old Westerns and "Murder on the Orient Express". Don't trust the other passengers!

Truckee River

Wednesday Night...

...we saw

What an amazing performance. I wondered what could be done with these characters that we thought we already knew everything about . Well, I found the characters and story has depth and are well developed. The music was the thread that bound it all together. What a wonderful night. We all loved it, especially Rachel.

Tuesday San Francisco Tours

Tuesday was a day of bus tours. We started downtown took a scenic route through China Town and North Beach to Ghirardelli Square. We then hopped on the next tour to the Marina District and Golden Gate Bridge. The tour buses are all open air and it was an unusually cloudless day. I need a new hat and therefore picked up a bit of color. I got some great images and will post them soon.

Rachel was beat by the afternoon. We then made our way to Japantown for dinner. The Muni (SF Municipal Railway) passes we got are the only way to go. As always, the sushi was exquisite and revitalize us all, especially Rachel. I then found a video store that had all kinds of anime and manga stuff. Videos, posters, plush toys and book bags. Everything from Miyazaki to Full Metal Alchemist. Rachel was a kid in a candy store. An 8 year old boy came into the shop and Rachel being in her element took him under her wing to educate him about all the different things in the shop.

Time for breakfast. More later...

San Francisco August 16, 2010

We arrived in San Francisco Sunday night. It was very late. At least it was very late for us as our train in from Utah was 3 hours late. It was delayed in Iowa by trees across the tracks and there was also a derailment ahead of it as it left Provo for Salt Lake City. So instead of arriving at the Ferry Building in San Francisco at about 5:00PM we just barely got to the Emeryville Station by 7:30PM.

Judy's friend Kristine came to our rescue. She lives in Piedmont not far from the Amtrak Station. We were going to meet her in North Beach a Monday night for dinner, but she came out to the Emeryville Station not only to meet us but to give us a lift to our B & B in San Francisco so we wouldn't have to deal with public transportation while we were so tired.

We did have dinner with her at the Fior d'Italia. It is a very fine Italian Restaurant and Judy and Kris got started catching up after so long.

We spent Monday morning having breakfast and getting to know a bit about our hosts and the Italian family that was overlapping our stay. They were spending the one more week in the US traveling around the West. Their 3 children are 22, 18 and 13 years old. They were heading to Lake Tahoe after breakfast and we headed downtown to get familiar with Muni.

We waited an hour to ride the Cable Car from Market Street up Powell to Washington. We then made our way on foot to China Town. We took a 2 hour walking tour of China Town starting in Portsmouth Square on the corner of Kearny and Washington Street. Quite a lot of information about the history and current state of this part of the City.

When we were done we grabbed a quick bite and with Coit Tower watching over us, we walked up to North Beach.

Rachel and Sugar Ray

Does this butt make my cat look big?