San Francisco, etc. Dispatch

OK, OK. It’s June now and I have yet to fill in all my dispatch blanks since January. But you must trust me that at this Medicare-approaching age, six months is the new six weeks.

I would be further postponing dispatches for the sake of projects for Jake’s wedding in July, except that there is construction happening on the house again and I need to hole up in the office. The independent company who agreed and was approved to fix the cracking exterior and interior work done by the infamous In Mare construction people - whose pile driver across our road caused the veranda and parts of the house to crumble in the first place - arrived yesterday at 3:00 instead of 9:00am, as stated, and sounded surprised that they had told us the job would take “two days.” Now it’s a week, though I can see how that could easily not be enough. My repaired and painstakingly painted house from one year ago and my slowly regained sanity are getting pummeled with a sledgehammer, literally and figuratively at this self-same moment.

About San Francisco: from Boulder, Colorado I rendezvous-ed with Newton in Santa Clara, where his trade show was located. I needed to renew my USA passport, so I thoroughly enjoyed commuting to San Francisco and back twice on the Caltrain, just like a daily commuter. This included my rush-hour train breaking down, all the passengers standing in the cold on the dark platform while two, three, four trains came and went without us. We finally made it, and I relished the familiar experience all the more because I never have to do that nowadays!

The Passport Agency is merely a footnote here, as it was easily reached by foot from the train station and functioned in a still-first-world way (it’s not too late, America!). What captured my heart, which I almost left in San Francisco, was just traipsing around this Market Street/Union Square area, visiting galleries, sophisticated shops, eating well, and discovering a gorgeous fabric store: Britex Fabrics at 146 Geary Street. I found incredibly beautiful silk for my mother-of-the-groom dress there, and I am praying not to ruin it on my new sewing machine I brought back from this trip. By the way, if you have $500 for a jacket that is a piece of art, and I mean design at its best, visit The Rafael’s at 643 Market Street. The store just blew me away, particularly the Japanese and Scandinavian jackets. The staff was lovely to me in spite of my being more like an enraptured design student than a paying customer. Classy!

I met up with my first cousin’s beautiful daughter, Judy, who grew up in the middle of San Francisco and runs a market research company. Her husband, Eric, and three daughters, Gabby, Isabella and Ava, joined us for Thai food. I don’t know how she stays so cool with so much on her plate, but she DOES. My cousin Mary was not able to join us, unfortunately, due to illness. I only met Judy for the first time at my Mother’s funeral in 2010. She used to go to Oklahoma City to visit relatives as a child and told me how much she cherished the trips to Tulsa to stay with my parents. We share this big fan-ship about them. She has Mary’s flaming red hair and McCracken looks!

Mary’s twin sister, Norma, who stayed in Oklahoma for life, got word of our dinner and called my cell phone while I was on the Caltrain back to Santa Clara. I remember this unexpected call with great affection because she then died in April, just days after her husband passed. She was a pisser, my highest compliment.

Another big city adventure was shopping at a fabric store on Mission Street and meeting up with Mary Barbosa, a San Franciscan I met some years back in Pirangi, the next beach town here. She moved back to California for her son’s high school years. The fabric store was on a slightly rough section of Mission Street, so I was lunch-challenged, shared the sidewalk with many harmless homeless people, and then was coffee-challenged once Mary picked me up. Luckily, we found a lovely Starbucks-type place further down Mission, run by Mexican-Americans. They offered a soup bowl-sized cup of mocha coffee “pimentada” (spicy) that I would kill for right now! Seeing Mary was the treat it always is; she is a remarkable woman. She will be showing up to visit around here in a week!

After just a typical list-clobbering day in a Santa Clara mall, I met up with my cherished friend since 7^th grade, Bob, and his beautiful, brilliant wife, Jo Beth. They divide their time between Redwood City, where Bob is a wind surfing retiree and Jo Beth runs a tech company, and Maui, Hawaii, where Bob is a wind surfing retiree and Jo Beth rests! We had more delicious Thai food (fusion), something I cannot get here so could handily repeat two days in succession. Bob is one of my brainy friends, so we talked about aliens. Jo Beth had been on a safari in Africa with her daughter and showed me some extraordinary photos.

Newton and I and a couple of his associates had a delicious dinner at Birk’s in Santa Clara the last night. I savored my requisite-when-stateside martini at their huge bar – two more things that we don’t get here. We were off to Los Angeles for a weekend with our kids before returning to Brazil.

Jake and Larissa drove up from Mexico and stayed near Elise’s apartment in Hollywood. Newton and I shared the apartment with Elise and her adorable cats, the ever-elegant Fluffer and the irascible Cashew.

A highlight of the weekend was attending the hilarious musical, “Book of Mormon,” at the elaborate Art Deco Pantages Theater. The show was written by the “South Park” television show team and leaves no satirical stone unturned! Really fun.

Elise has a friend who assembled her pink Christmas bike for her after we were previously confounded by cryptic Chinese instructions. She enjoys riding and hiking in the area. She wrote a wonderful piece about hiking all the way up to the famous Hollywood sign and experiencing the surreal while trying to find her way back past wolves and a deserted old campground. I recommend (she can write, too!):

http://eliseabdalla.blogspot.com.br/2014/01/hiking-adventure-story.html

Elise has been free-lancing for many video and graphic design venues, including designing the new wheel for the revived “Let’s Make a Deal” television show! Now she is editing visuals for Radio Disney, among many other jobs. Very busy!

Larissa and Jake stayed in Mexico only through February, after which they came to Brazil with Elise for Carnaval and a visit to Natal. (See next dispatch!) They returned briefly to the house in Las Vegas, then were off to Vancouver till the end of May to continue Jake’s professional online poker, which is still prohibited in the USA. Now they will be in Las Vegas for Jake’s live Texas Hold’em playing in the tournaments surrounding and including the huge annual World Series of Poker. This is Jake’s 8^th year to participate. Larissa and Jake are deep into July wedding plans! Here is one of their lovely engagement photos:

I’ve been reading plenty of books between home and travel. The two books to which I gave five stars lately are a haunting first novel from India from 1997, The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (Booker Man Prize). The prose comes close to poetry and the story is exactly as I said: haunting. The other book I just loved is the new biography of Jim Henson, of Muppet fame, by Brian Jay Jones, 2013. What an affable genius, who just wanted to make the world a better place through puppets for children and adults, alike. His Kermit comes as close as any one personality could towards that end! I loved every page. I am in awe of the work that came out of his varied endeavors and feel so lucky for all of us that it lives on. Of course, I’ve been watching all the old Muppet Shows. Brilliant! (I’d say Rudolf Nureyev is my favorite guest.)

I can only vouch for the first chapter, so far, of my friend Marie Arana’s new award-winning biography, Bolívar, American Liberator. It is one of the most exciting first chapters I can remember reading, and we’re talking history here! I have many chapters to go, but my curiosity about the extraordinary life of Simon Bolívar is thoroughly piqued.

My next dispatch will turn its sights on life in Brazil again, and will bring us up-to-date at last!

Love,

Sandy

Boulder Dispatch

Full disclosure: I have traded in my PC for my first Mac: Newton’s previous laptop. I have to use an entirely new blog-writing program, which is tantamount to learning Greek. Yeah, I know, folks…the post looks different! I’ve no clue; just pretend it’s all cool. Here’s the dispatch:

While Newton flew to California to meet up with his partners before a trade show, I flew to Denver, Colorado to spend the weekend in nearby Boulder with Lenna, my best friend from my whole life!

The bonus was that my sweet sister Janet – who lives in Denver but was traveling the following day – picked me up at the airport for lunch with her and her husband, the adorable Rex. I got to see their house again after many years, complete with Rex’s impressive collections of model cars and license plates and Janet’s wonderful doll collection. Of course, there was plenty more to peruse, like a museum! Their blended families add up to quite a collection of photographs, as well. We had a fun lunch and Janet escorted me to the train to my downtown Denver rendezvous with Lenna. Luckily, it was a mild, sunny January day despite recent snows, so I could wait on the platform in my thin wool coat without my big extra sweater underneath.

Somehow, the scene of my rendezvous with Lenna seems so much like another typical continuation of our years of friendship, mostly because it was funny in a slightly absurd way! While a train to Denver’s Union Station seemed straightforward enough, what Lenna had not realized was that a six-block area around the station was under reconstruction. We reached each other by cell phone five times before success, as there didn’t seem to be a way to gulf the very short divide between us! As I ambled with my rolling suitcase towards a hopeful intersection, my big wool scarf caused my earring to fall out. As I retraced in hopes of finding it, another call set a new intersection as the target. Bingo! I found the earring, and soon after, I found Lenna on the same side of the impenetrable construction!

Lenna emerged from her car and I started across the street. The image of the two of us meeting in the middle of the crosswalk at a downtown traffic light and embracing while we laughed, oblivious to the imminent change of signal, is indelible. Some things never change.

It was thrilling to be back in the home of Lenna and her unflappable, affable husband Jon, after many years. The last time I was there in the ‘90’s was the last time I saw Lenna’s mother, someone very special in my life. Lenna and Jon’s two children are grown up and living on the East Coast, so the house has a more settled Zen-like tranquility. The decoration exquisitely follows the architecture and the Japanese landscaping around it. The whispering light shade of taupe on the walls and the carefully curated collection of objects from around the world (from their travels, their Southwest art collection, and several foreign exchange students’ gifts) offer a setting of repose.

And repose is rarely better earned than by these two powerhouses. Lenna has been the executive director of the non-profit “Via” for 23 years. It was formerly called Special Transit, and provides transport around Boulder to improve the quality of life for seniors, disabled individuals and others disadvantaged with limited mobility. Our visit to the new green, efficient, and beautifully designed Via headquarters was a proud moment for me. Lenna’s head of fund-raising for the eleven million dollar project was none other than the formidable Jon! I could just imagine the clear and calm Lenna applying her significant intelligence and kindness to the delegation of duties and the solving of problems for this enormous operation.

Here is a short interview with Lenna describing her involvement with Via upon her receiving the 2013 Boulder Chamber of Commerce "Women Who Light the Community” Award:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz05lvw3OhM

In her spare time, Lenna serves as the president of the local Rotary club! Here is the elegant couple at a fund-raiser, no doubt.

Jon is a lawyer, a Sunday school teacher, a “Big Brother” to a local disadvantaged boy, a Rotarian, and the head of the United Way charity for the Boulder area. The recent flash floods of September that seriously decimated the area required significant involvement from both Rotary and United Way.

For relaxation, Lenna and Jon tend their abundant vegetable garden, among other hobbies. Lenna has taken up piano again and devotes most of her growing interpretive skills to Chopin. I was moved by her demonstration.

Lenna and Jon traveled plenty in 2013: to Nicaragua via Rotary to build a well for a small local community; to Paris to celebrate their 40th anniversary; and to Ankara, Turkey for the wedding of one of their exchange students. They also have a new first grandchild, Gavin Nicholas, born in Boston less than a month prior to my visit. NOW I’m jealous. His middle name is after Lenna’s Ukrainian father, one of the true characters I knew in my youth! 

               

We had several great meals out together at their favorite restaurants in this sophisticated university town. A real highlight was Colterra in nearby Niwot. Another was Jon preparing chicken on the outdoor grill on a chilly January evening!

Lenna reserved tickets for the two of us at the Denver Art Museum’s “Passport to Paris” exhibit. Considering that we both experienced Paris for the first time together at age 17 - both simply dizzy over the Louvre - and considering the love of art history that ensued, we were the perfect exhibit companions!

                     

  A fascinating experience for me was attending church with Lenna and Jon at their famously progressive First United Methodist Church of Boulder.   

   I gave up church long ago, but that was after an entire childhood at the famously deco, exquisite Boston Avenue Methodist Church of Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Lenna also attended. It has a round sanctuary.

To just stand up in a pew to sing a hymn or to sit and listen to a choir in any church now conjures such memories of my parents at my side as a child that I can barely endure the emotion. I especially appreciated the beautiful words of the comfortably casual Boulder minister about gathering to wish and engage collectively. When he remained unruffled and even comedic after the sound technicians inadvertently conversed on a live mike during his big prayer, the deal was sealed! The church’s welcoming atmosphere emphasizes social justice and inclusion of the LGBT community, unhappily in open defiance of the official Methodist Discipline. A new member of the choir – a voice major at the University of Colorado - treated the congregation to a bass aria from Handel I have known all my life. The acoustics of the sanctuary rendered his basso voice divine, indeed. I love my yoga practice and my personal mode of coming back to myself from all the ways I am taken by the world around me, but I was reminded here of the palpable and lovely feel of wishing communally.

This church has a large room dedicated to the labyrinth modeled after the one in the marble floor at Chartres Cathedral. I had the privilege of tracing by foot this same model in New York, and I revere that physical enactment of traveling to one’s center.

From church we wandered down the Pearl Street pedestrian mall, made crowded and happy by sunny weather hovering around 60° F. This meant that outdoor cafés were full in the middle of January. The kitchen store on the mall called Peppercorn is probably the finest I have seen. I now have two new pillows on my sofa made out of French napkins from this unparalleled collection.

I woke up on Monday to that old cliché of a snowy Colorado morning in January! I was thrilled by the silent snowfall on the back garden out the large window in my bedroom. I bundled up for Lenna’s chauffeuring to the airport in 20° weather, remembering as I exited the house that the dry Colorado cold does not feel as cold as the wet New York cold! Immediately after my dearest friend dropped me at the airport and I wheeled my suitcase inside, what did I notice? My wool scarf had knocked out the same earring, again. I ambled back outside to the sidewalk with the suitcase and there I found it, again!...the other bookend to my Boulder visit.

Thanks, Lenna and Jon, for your inspiration, your affection, and plenty of giggles!

Love,

Sandy

PS Here is my 2009 tribute to Lenna after she and Jon visited us in Brazil:

http://sandy-dispatch.blogspot.com.br/2009/10/lenna-dispatch.html 

Lima, Peru Dispatch

I flew off to Lima to join three college buddies, Monica of Delray Beach, Florida and a charming cabin in Wisconsin; Doyley (Linda) of Westhampton Long Island; and Marisi, of Lima and Washington, D.C., for a second reunion. (See http://sandy-dispatch.blogspot.com.br/2012/08/three-college-friends-dispatch.html) Marisi is half-Peruvian; she guided us expertly through the city, where she spent her childhood as a member of one of Lima’s old families. Her husband, Jon, was our restaurant consultant and daily sunset pisco sour master. Both are literary luminaries. There was the Pacific Ocean again, right out the twelfth floor glass walls! Marisi and Jon live in the beautiful, tranquil neighborhood of Miraflores, next to the oceanside park that features an invisible mall, Larcomar, ingeniously built on the side of a cliff.
  

 

Here is a hotel not far from Maris's apartment that was formerly the home of her grandparents. Many of her Arana relatives still reside in the city.
 
  

 
We were also walking distance from some of the best restaurants in the world! And walk to them, we did. We had lunch out every day for a week in what was an unforgettable culinary orgy. These chefs of Lima create extraordinary dishes using native Peruvian ingredients. I highly recommend all of the following restaurants:
ALFRESCO, where I discovered the orange potato known as ‘causa.’ I sought out various combinations with the causa for the duration of our stay. The typical dessert is ‘Suspiros de Limeña,’ – the sighs of a Lima woman. It is like a cloud.

CALA on the ocean. 

LA TRATTORIA DI MAMBRINO.

Not pictured, but recommended: traditional food at BRUJAS CACHICHE.
SAQRA. Marisi describes the meaning of this restaurant name as “a little demon, not even a devil: A sprite that gets in your head and makes you a little crazy. It's a Quechua word for the bedevilment that lives inside us and can cause good as well as bad. A spark! A duende! An inspiration! A curse! A beginning of a flame that might erupt into anything, para bueno o para mal . . .” (Can you tell she’s a writer?)




Our last lunch was more amazing than ever, at PE(S)CADOS CAPITALES. In this case, “Capital Fish’s” cleverly camouflaged “s” renders the name “Capital Sins!” Even though the food needs no additional prop, the menu and the placemats provide delicious amusement with references to the Seven Deadly’s. Here’s lust:

Our trek to the historic `Centro’ of Lima was rich in both Peruvian history and the history of Marisi herself. The centro has been preserved by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. When we arrived at the beautiful Plaza de Armas, Marisi told the story of how her grandfather was in the city government in charge of such projects as street lamps. Her father, a budding engineer, designed these lamps at age 15 and oversaw their production!

We turned a corner at the very moment the Changing of the Guard commenced at the Presidential Palace. By the time we entered Lima Cathedral, the Palace band was playing Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana." And, as if that weren't scary enough, our hired English-speaking Cathedral guide then introduced himself as Jesus (English pronunciation)! He was a rather dramatic character and rendered the Cathedral and the tomb inside of Pizarro - the Spanish conqueror of Peru (1533) and founder of Lima (1535) - quite an entertaining attraction.
  
A special highlight for us was a tour of the 1535 house of Pizarro`s next-in-command, Pedro de Aliaga. His descendants live there to this day. Some revisions have been made, but there are many original features.
 
The Virgin Mary is depicted in Peruvian art as the native tribes perceived her: as Pachamama, the indigenous Earth Mother. Once they were instructed in painting by the Spanish, the natives imbued the Virgin with this image of the mountain.

 
 
The covered porch on the exterior of the house is a typical sight in the centro, as 16th century Spanish ladies had to hide themselves while cooling off and observing the outside world.

 
 

 


 
Here is the Plaza San Martin:  

The building on the left is the venerable old club of Lima's most important families. Marisi entered as a child with lacy white socks and white gloves! The guard in front still has a well-starched white uniform. Marisi also recalls visits to the Grand Hotel Bolivar with this grand dome (and years later in 2013, she became a biographer of the hotel's namesake!). Marisi examines at length the role of her Spanish ancestors in Peru in her autobiographical American Chica.
 
And now, our shopping sprees. The artisan traditions of the indigenous tribes are very rich, as the colors alone attest! Our favorite shop, Las Pallas, is located  in the arty neighborhood of Barranco in the charming old house of an Englishwoman, anthropologist Mari Solari. She buys from the tribes in the surrounding forests and is a knowledgeable and gracious proprietor.

 

We loved the magnificent designers' cooperative nearby, as well.

We also found plenty of silver treasures, alpaca wool, and colorful baskets among many offerings at the big artisan market in the city.
 

Since Jake's online poker moniker is "Jllama," I could not resist trolling for all sorts of souvenirs for him, being in llama land! It began with a photo of this modern sculpture near the apartment and this photo of silver llamas I could not afford; moved on to this photo of me with a llama too big to pack; continued with a traditional woven llama sash and this wooden model with the Peruvian hat, and culminated in this mobile I made from the woolen llamas I picked up. I think Jake is both amused and thinking, "Enough already, Mom!"
 
 
As if the best chefs of Lima were not sufficient, we were treated to Marisi's cooking in the evenings. I have never seen such delectable meals come out of one chicken…homemade wontons - wow. Among Monica's, Doyley's and my fondest memories of this amazing week are our pajama breakfasts and these warm-lit evenings together in the apartment.
 
 
Sadly, time to pack:

Oh, I must add here that Jon replaced the pisco sour one evening with his Mexican martini…made with fresh jalapeño-infused tequila, giving entirely new meaning to "calienté!" He also showed us something sacred with his jazz selection. Thank you, thank you, Marisi and Jon, for spoiling us so thoroughly.

From Lima, I met up with Newton in São Paulo, from where we returned to the USA for another trade show for him and continued visiting and exploring for me.

Love,

Sandy