Halloween

No time this year, too busy.

The most halloweeny thing I've done was to visit the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival and a nearby pumpkin patch.





Oh, and we watched Donnie Darko, like we do every year.

Tonight, I have rehearsal, so no trick-or-treating for me. I had such a great costume in mind, too. Oh, well. Next year. (Isn't that what I say every year?)

Autumn in Wine Country

To mark his crossing into his thirties, the husband and I spent the weekend in Russian River Valley.

Over the course of two days, we visited 10 wineries and had two exquisite dinners (fennel pollen dusted scallops, coffee encrusted filet mignon!).

We stayed in a cabin with a fireplace and a hot tub. It was a quiet weekend, simple, yet lavish.

I didn't expect to see such a vivid autumn, only 70 miles north of the city. The colors were brilliant, and the air quite cold. Just like New England, but with more wine.

We're in the News

The husband has a google alert set up for the band. Whenever someone posts anything about us on the internets, he gets a notice about it. This morning, he received a notice for this article. Apparently, we're causing a surge of "scantily clad men" in London.

This interested me: "Studies have found that sleepwalking can be brought on by . . . eating cheese." Who knew?

The Better Ahab

A week of rehearsal and immersion in maritime themes.

Watched: Two versions of Moby Dick (one and two).

I'm partial to the latter version despite it's poor production quality, because I have a special affinity for Patrick Stewart. There is no better Ahab. I like Gregory Peck alright, but his Ahab lacks real human emotion. He signifies the character's monomania with one solid, unchanging scowl and calculated, horizontally-directed glares. Stewart injected his Ahab with the full-spectrum of human emotion from glee to dejection, love to hatred. The movie may be silly, but his performance more than makes up for it.

I once saw Patrick Stewart as Prospero in The Tempest at Shakespeare in the Park. I can't imagine anyone could play him better, either.

Lunchtime Environs

Since living in San Francisco, the husband and I have considered the Presidio as special place for us, even though we had no reason why. There was no glistening memory or significant event that took place between us there. I think it must simply be the beauty of it - the striking views of the Golden Gate Bridge, of Land's End, of Marin and the Bay, the eucalyptus and palm trees, the rolling fog, that drew us to it. For whatever reason, the husband and I decided to get married in the Presidio, and make it a significant place for us. Five months later, I am working in the Presidio, and spending every day there. Today I spent my lunch break wandering along Chrissy Field.

With the bridge stretching out before me, Sausalito off to my right, and Alcatraz behind me, I thought about all the places I have spent my lunch breaks. When I worked downtown, I liked to walk the narrow alleys near the Transbay Terminal, and down to the Embarcadero. Before that, I would spend my breaks at the Dahlia Dell behind the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. Before that, I used to eat lunch on top of a stone wall on Lexington Avenue at 53rd street, watching the criss-crossings of pedestrians at the intersection below. Other daily lunchtime environments include Bryant Park, Battery Park, Washington Square Park, Central Park, and Red Square, Moscow.