from Sandy Needham

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

San Francisco Dispatch

My friend since age 12, Bob Dow, lives near San Francisco. He actually has two houses, now that he's married to Jo Beth. He offered the uninhabited one in Redwood City to us for our convenience, so we ended up there two nights (with fresh blackberries and peaches from down the road and apricots from his garden for breakfast!). He also invited us to a barbeque at the elegant house in Monte Sereno he shares with the stunning and brilliant Jo Beth (CEO of a tech company), daughter and comedian Monica, and young-Latino-loving mother-in-law Ethel (who has a picture of Che Guevara on her wall!). Well, Bob actually has three houses with the one in Maui. He is a retired very smart guy and a serious windsurfer.













Now we were off to San Francisco. Elise and Jake pitched in financially to upgrade from the small, inexpensive hotel we had booked to accommodate their wishes for a swimming pool (Elise) and a bed of one's own (Jake). We ended up at the Hilton near Union Square, convenient for Newton's trade show at the Moscone Center, convenient for becoming bona fide tourists of the city, well-appointed, but not one of the famous, charming old deco hotels that are typical of San Francisco, and too fancy to offer free internet in the rooms. I did appreciate the spaciousness and the dip Elise, Newton and I took in the hot tub in the cool fog of one early evening.
While Newton tended to his professional duties, I convinced Elise to become one of those tourists riding around on top of an open bus whom she usually disparages as she walks down the street in Manhattan. She and Jake and I hopped on and off around the city, enjoying the sights and the anecdotes thrown in with the info from the guides, appreciating the different styles of commentating that each subsequent bus offered. The million stories in the naked city, in the end, are an arbitrary pursuit. Elise brought her inevitable enthusiasm and her camera, after all.







We hopped off at Chinatown for brief, predictable sun glasses and souvenir shopping. Then we hopped off and walked several blocks to visit the beatnik-renowned City Lights book store. When Elise waitressed during college for Havana Central in Manhattan, the restaurant took over the east coast hangout of the famed Ferlinghetti, Ginsberg, Kerouac and Cassady crowd: the West End bar by Columbia University. Some still object to its transformation into a Cuban restaurant.

















We ended up near the Moscone Center on the only day that Newton's trade show (DAC - Design Automation Conference) allowed visitors such as us. There were tickets to pick up for a big party a company called Denali offers annually one evening of this show, plus Elise was excited to check out the giveaways such as Newton has brought home from industry booths over the years. Alas, the financial crisis rendered the 2009 DAC a mere shadow of its former self. The giveaways were reduced primarily to a selection of ball-point pens. We were grateful for the Heineken draft offered by one of the largest exhibitors there. Afterwards we had a Mexican dinner with the team from Newton's company - CAST - that was delicious and rowdy in a raucous little place.

















I finally indulged my endless craving for Indian food by having a lunch feast with Elise and Jake at a nice Indian restaurant. Not only is this not a favorite of Newton's, there are no Indian restaurants in Natal. Elise and I hit the Haight for an afternoon...the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood which hosted the hippies' '67 Summer of Love gathering. It seems a must for the complete tourist! Good shopping. Figuring out and catching a public bus there felt ever so authentic.


















The Denali DAC party was in a ballroom with open bar, hors d'oeuvres, and pretty decent live music by amateur groups within the computer-aided engineering industry. It was fun in a 90% male, 75% nerd sort of way!




Elise, Jake and I spent our last day at Fisherman's Wharf...de rigueur tourist fare. We took a boat trip in the bay under the Golden Gate, encircling Alcatraz. We had crab cakes and clam chowder in a sourdough bread 'bowl' for lunch. But the highlights were the dozens of lolling, drowsing, and wrestling sea lions by the pier - something one could watch for hours - and the mesmerizing jellyfish display in the Aquarium – gossamer white ones in moon-like light and huge yellow ones looking like surreal live flowers. These will remain a vision in my memory forever (or until next week, depending on the state of my memory). Watch:


We caught a streetcar back to the hotel.

We had celebrated Newton's April birthday together with a sushi dinner in Napa the week before; our last night in San Fran was a birthday dinner for Elise (August), Jake (October) and me (September) at an Italian restaurant. As you can imagine, when one lives so far away from one's children, there is much to cram into these visits!



We had some serious packing to do before parting. We had covered most everything on our Ikea, Trader Joes and Target lists; we were schlepping back an old projector from CAST to watch movies on the living room wall; we had bought my new laptop, Zone bars, shorts, dish towels, knives, a bowl, a can-opener, olive oil spray, scissors, underwear, a desk lamp, queen-size sheets, 11 books shipped to our Napa hotel from Amazon, etc., plus all those small, mysterious techy items with cords that Newton buys to plug into things. There was just one list that we had neglected: our ordinary grocery store list. Elise reminded me that the Walgreen's drug store near the hotel carried some grocery items, so I ran there literally 15 minutes before the car service was picking us up to go to the airport. We needed sponges, (I know, but they don't have the right kind in Brazil), taco seasoning envelopes, Splenda sweetener, Guilden's mustard and garlic salt. Walgreens only had a box of 200 Splenda packets and a bag with 30 sponges. I was fortunately able to open my suitcase on the sidewalk and line up 30 weightless (though slightly damp) sponges inside. The 200 Splenda packets fit in the outside zipper pocket. Everything somehow made it through the baggage and carry-on gauntlet all the way to Natal. That doesn't mean that the new laptop Newton was carrying went undetected at Customs in São Paulo. He had the receipt ready to prove he had not spent more than $500. The old projector spoke for itself. I didn't have to explain the sponges to anyone!

Love,
Sandy

Friday, August 14, 2009

Napa Valley Dispatch

August 14, 2009

Armed with nothing but thirst and hunger, Elise, Jake, Newton and I headed for Domaine Chandon in Napa Valley wine country. In case you doubt that champagne goes well with nicoise salad or french bread and brie, take heart! And the weather seemed particularly good for french bread.
















Then we hit the lovely Silverado winery. Next day was Black Stallion, and afterwards, a picnic from Whole Foods at the sleek and chic William Hill Winery.




Our hotel was in nearby Vallejo, so after a couple of vineyards a day, we could head home from the bucolic expanse of rolling hills lined with grapes for a nap by the pool. Those little pours seem to add up!









Newton and Jake went to investigate a little Texas Hold'em 'casino' that looked like a VFW hall. Turns out, it was full of Texas Hold'em geezer die-hards. Jake brought back $500+, and Newton, $185!

On our last day we had an appointment at Schramsberg Champagne. With exactly 20 minutes to spare before our appointment, we decided to go for three tastings that day. We blew into the BV Winery, split three tastings of three wines amongst the four of us, and arrived just in time for the best yet: Schramsberg. This was an old 19th century Napa winery that fell into the hands of a couple in 1969 who decided to produce champagne as close to the original French method as possible. Starting with Nixon, this became the champagne served at the White House.

This tradition continues with their first Obama order last spring. We had a great tour of the cavernous corridors lined with bottles. Occasionally there is a plugged spot where the tremendous pressure inside a bottle erupted. They have had a couple of revered Mexican-American employees, called "riddlers," for 35 years, who can alter the tilt and turn a rack of 60 bottles 1/8th of a turn in 9 seconds! This is to collect the sediment inside. The sediment is later frozen at the top of the upside-down bottle, then blasts itself out when the bottle is opened, after which the champagne cork is applied. This wonderful frog statue, called 'Riddlers' Night Out' was erected in honor of these employees, who often, while officially enjoying the fruits of their labor, will lift a glass of champagne to the light to check that there is no remaining sediment! The tasting at Schramsberg is a little pricier than some, but one does get to sample their top champagne, J Schram Reserve, which is not easily found in stores, along with four others. We bought a bottle of their more accessible Blanc de Blanc. Such a wonderful visit.
We decided to stop at Mumm Champagne on our way back and have our farewell tasting on a lovely afternoon.














Later in our hotel that evening in our jammies, we enjoyed the Schramsberg bottle. Here's to you! Watch:



Next morning we headed to San Francisco by way of the Golden Gate bridge, stopping briefly en route at the Marin Headlands and Sausalito to look across the bay.


Thanks to Newton's industry trade show in town, Elise, Jake and I would have 4 full days to get to know a new city!


Love,
Sandy

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Sara's Wedding Dispatch

My niece Sara is the most gorgeous and engaging high school German teacher in NJ. Her new husband, Rob, is the equivalent for 'high school history teacher!' They opened their wedding weekend in Colts Neck, NJ with a Friday night informal dinner for all the guests in town for their wedding. It kicked off a welcomed and glorious family reunion for us with our far-flung relatives!





My nephew Brad, whom I last saw in 2005, is a professional percussionist (jazz, rock, classical) in Durango, Colorado. He also runs his father's recreational vehicle business. He arrived with his four kids: Emily - the oldest great-grandchild, who is only three months younger than Jake - the youngest grandchild. She lives in San Diego and manages an association of 'green' vendors. Her sister is Mary, a ballerina, who is about to join not one, but three dance companies in the Los Angeles area. Their brothers are Nick, 13, and Bradley,
12...the two most handsome and athletic guys one can find voluntarily sweeping up the babies in the room and lovingly entertaining them! We missed Tracy, the mother of this wonderful brood.





My nephew Todd, Brad's brother, and his wife Jenny live in Manhattan with sons Sam and Ethan. Todd works as a media specialist and writes children's books (one getting published next summer: How About a Kiss for Me? !) and comic screenplays. Jenny is the admissions director at the Studio School. Sam, 11, and Ethan, 8, are growing their hair long to donate it to children undergoing chemotherapy. My sister Dorothy and husband Bill of Durango and Scottsdale are the parents and grandparents of these beautiful people. They could not make it to the wedding, unfortunately.


























One of the high points of this night-before-the wedding was a group of us dancing in the hotel bar after dinner with Sara (don't know where Rob was). Sara kept the live band on fire dancing away till closing, sometimes with the floor to herself. It is an image I will hold in my memory forever!
















So on that sunny Saturday before the wedding, people went various directions - including to the beach. Newton, Jake and I had to stay put at the hotel for two reasons: one, I had been working for some weeks on a decoupage tray for Sara and Rob that I had to spray outside with acrylic finish; and two, no one could find our car keys (they were later discovered on the second look under the bed's dust ruffle). Last Christmas when I made a decoupage jewelry drawer unit for Elise with some nice Japanese rice paper, gift-wrapping paper ended up stuck all over it on Christmas morning, so I had to redo it. The Modgepodge doesn't actually dry in Natal - it's just too humid here. So I decided to do all the painting and attaching of kimono designs for Sara's tray in Brazil (Sara and I share a love of kimono), but then to carry the tray and the Modgepodge to the US, buy acrylic spray, and finish it up there. I applied five layers of Modgepodge at Elise's apartment in NY. By the Saturday of the wedding, only the acrylic finish was needed, so Newton and I hung the tray from a tree behind the hotel and sprayed several layers all afternoon. When it came time to take the tray down, I noticed that the acrylic spray, which didn't specify any particular finish, had actually turned the fabulous, lacquer-like, smooth finish of the 5 coats of Modgepodge into a dull, rough, lackluster finish. I still had a very small amount of Modgepodge in the room, so started in with the last two coats that I could eek out. I had to wait till the Sunday morning brunch after the wedding to present my gift to Sara and Rob, sans acrylic, but at least dry with a patina and not sticky.
Now it was time to get ready for the 6:00pm wedding Saturday evening. There would be two shuttle busses from the hotel to the wedding in Freehold. We decided to take the 5:25 one, but when we showed up to catch it, the group waiting said it would be a few more minutes. We took some photos of ourselves all dressed up. When we noticed that the group was no longer waiting, we confirmed with the desk clerk that the second shuttle had not yet arrived. Getting worried about the time, we decided to drive to Freehold, Newton insisting that he had the directions in the car. As we pulled out of the hotel, there was a bus turning in, but we didn't have time to check if that was the shuttle. It turns out that the directions were something Newton had downloaded from Google, not the official ones with the name of the place AND the correct address. Once we hit Freehold and it was 5:55, we spent the next twenty minutes trying to find #3 on Main Street, rather than the correct #30. We were running down Main Street, around parking lot strip malls, wondering why there was no #3, no place by the courthouse for a wedding, and what the name of the place might be. I finally asked a man crossing the main intersection of the charming town if he knew of a place around there that held weddings. He said, "Yes, right down there with the red awnings...they have one today!" So we ran another block and a half and arrived for the last 5 minutes of the (short) ceremony, with Larry officiating. Damn. DAMN. And my aching feet in those heels. Luckily, my nephew Todd could give us a minute-by-minute description of the ceremony, including the readings. Of course the reception was magnificent and delicious. We were SO HAPPY we didn't miss that.
My niece Amy of Gaithersburg, MD, Sara's sister, is a statistician at the Energy Department in Washington DC. Her husband Sean works for the Government Printing Office. Their 3-year-old, Allison, is an official pisser, and their one-year-old, Paige, is the embodiment of tranquility. Here they all are in the wedding party with my sister Donna and brother-in-law Larry:

My sister Janet and her husband Rex came to the wedding from Denver. I'm very proud that Janet is carrying on our father's tradition by being a Hospice volunteer. Rex is an all-round cool guy, who keeps the card table buzzing at these family gatherings with participants of all ages. They stopped in Tulsa on the way to accompany my mother, Laurene, 94.


And Mother was the biggest draw of all! Here she is with Jake, looking like a glamour-puss after they did her hair and make-up:

But that didn't really fool us, as we could all still see the cardshark behind the eye liner!





Only my sister Donna and brother-in-law Larry, the epitome of hosts, would have all the relatives to their house in Lawrenceville after the Sunday brunch at the hotel. Another special day continued, with card-playing, pizza, beer, and plenty of lovelies out in the backyard on a summer afternoon throwing footballs, chasing around. This culminated in an egg-toss competition. Needless to say, by the end of three dozen eggs the order had degenerated into a gooey free-for-all among the young-uns. No one was brave enough to have a camera near-by.


We got to stay another two days at Donna's to have some quieter time with Mother. Donna, Larry, Janet and Rex had a day at Atlantic City while Newton, Elise, Jake and I pursued several 5-way Hearts games with Mother. Then we all left Donna and Larry in peace to catch their breaths at last. Janet and Rex delivered Mother back home to Tulsa, and the four of us took off for San Francisco. See next dispatch!
Love,
Sandy

Thursday, August 6, 2009

NY Dispatch '09

August 6, 2009

Newton and I emerged from the Port Authority terminal in Manhattan around 7:00am on a Sunday morning. We had flown all night from São Paulo to Newark and then bussed into town. Encountering many homeless people scattered outside the exit, I fell into our appalling habit from the northeast of Brazil of speaking English to each other and expecting that no one understands us, saying, "Oh, so many desperate bums here!" before realizing my blunder via the look on Newton's face. But even better was his similar blunder soon after in Starbucks, where I opened the unlocked bathroom door on a man who was luckily just washing his hands. When I related this to Newt, he forgot where he was and commented in full voice, "Good thing he wasn't wiping." I buried my face in my hands on that one!

Port Authority and Times Square are no prizes on any Sunday morning, what with all the garbage of Saturday night's revelries strewn everywhere on the streets and in the filthy subway stations. Somehow it all seemed worse, though...the street was in such ill-repair and the down-and-out population so numerous, we could only surmise that after our being absent some time, that third world direction the US has been taking for some decades is showing more and more. The financial crisis doesn't help.

The good part was the express subway ride to 96th and Broadway: 6-1/2 minutes. We pulled our suitcases up to 99th and Amsterdam and buzzed Elise to let us into her new apartment. The neighborhood is tranquil (turned out it was tranquil on weekdays, not just on Sunday morning), and the apartment - which Elise shares with her former NYU roommate, Tammy - is spacious and recently renovated, with green trees out the kitchen window! Tammy decided to stay nearby at her boyfriend's for the week so we could use her extremely cushy queen-size bed. The three of us napped till the afternoon since Elise had also been up all night. Then we headed to Ikea in Newark for Elise's 25th birthday shopping spree for her new place. There were only two hours left before closing and we had our own shopping list of Ikea items to bring back to Brazil, so it was one intense spree! As the week progressed, Newton was able to install a wine glass rack, a wine rack, a mirror, a curtain rod, and a wall-mounted laptop desk - all without a drill. He's going to have to adapt to his new image as handyman! He does work with surgery-caliber precision.

On Monday evening I got to see Elise's very cool office at AMI (14th and 10th Avenue), where her Jonas Brothers' (among others') fan club work continues from the previous job. She had recently videotaped them in Rio and São Paulo. Even though she was swamped with editing, her boss (who greatly appreciates Elise) invited us all for a drink at a chic bar underneath the beautiful new overpass promenade, the Highline.

Tuesday was lunch with the inimitable Nancy Taylor. With gratitude for the wonderful, adventurous marriage she had with such a special husband as Dick, and with unlimited choices of what she may now pursue - confusing as that is - Nancy is adjusting to this new phase of her life with all the grace, intelligence and wherewithal that are her hallmarks. She is always inspiring to me. Two trips to Africa are currently on her agenda.

On my way to the next gig I saw the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit which celebrates the Guggenheim Museum's 50th year. It was fascinating - mostly his drawings and plans of both realized and unrealized projects. I was already moved by just standing inside the Guggenheim, struck by the fact that I love art imitating nature almost as much as I love nature itself.

Tuesday night was dinner and an overnight with my longtime friend, Carolyn McMonegal, and her new cat Kayli (a sweet and gorgeous cat). Jean Eng from my textile days joined us (we met each other years ago suffering 24-hour shifts printing fabric at mills down south). She still works in home textiles, but most of the jobs remaining in the US now are for outdoor furniture prints. We had a great dinner, including red-hot Korean kimchi (not available in Natal). Carolyn and her cozy apartment are touchstones to my previous life in the US!

Wednesday I headed up to Nyack to see my friends Lucia, Claudia and Caty from Blue Rock School - more touchstones. Lucia was recovering from having donated one of her kidneys to a friend. Her always-beautiful garden was the setting for another one of Claudia's legendary gourmet meals. I had caught up on Blue Rock School news by phone with Lucia and Claudia recently, which allowed us all to just gab about life in general. This was particularly a treat with Caty, the Blue Rock director, as we rarely have had this chance for school-free, summer afternoon kickin' back. There is no doubt that these women provided me with one of the richest eras of my life as their fellow-staff member at the school, and in their presence I could appreciate again just how rich. While I spent the night there in order to strike off more shopping items from our list in Rockland County the next day, Newton continued the tradition of meeting our old friends Joe Warren and David Barrow for a drink after work at Grand Central.


By Thursday I couldn't bear seeing Elise so little while being in the same city (country) with her, even though I'd be seeing her for the next two weeks. We convinced her to accompany us to NJ for Newton's reunion dinner with our old friends from his HHB days (his first job).


Jake joined us on Friday from Boston, triumphant in his recent return from the World Series of Poker tournament in Las Vegas, where he came in 72nd out of 6,500 players. We all headed down to Colts Neck, NJ for my niece Sara's wedding festivities. See next dispatch!

Love,
Sandy
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