(no subject)

[mamculuna]

Not hard to find ways to have a pleasant time here. And the weather for the last few days has been blessedly warm--I know it seems hot to the people who're here all the time, but to me hot doesn't start until 95F.

There's a wonderful yoga studio near my son's house (Yoga Kula, if you know the area or Anusara) where Sianna Sherman teaches. I couldn't go to her class this week, but did go to a very fine class taught by a young man, Kenny. He brought a harmonium for the opening and closing chants--it was delightful.

A friend of my son T's has a knit shop, so I also indulged there--just for starters, a lace mohair scarf (very open--tiny yarn and size 10 needles). The pattern isn't hard but the yarn is very slippery. I may yet rip out what I've done--too many mistakes. My plan is to do a big and better shawl-type thing, but haven't yet found a pattern, or yarn I can afford for a project that big (love the bamboo yarn, but it's a little heavy for that and costs $26 for 50g!). I also went with T's partner, D, to a knit night, a gathering of some very nice very interesting excellent knitters, the people who teach the classes. It was fun to work with them, but also a joy to see what they were making.

We also went over to Angel Island, off Marin, to a sort of combined camping trip-birthday celebration--a friend of D's was camping all weekend and we went over for the afternoon, bringing lunch. Weirdly, they were having a Civil War re-enactment, involving cannons and passing ships (no real gunfire or cannon balls of course), but the battle had never really taken place. The island is beautiful, and I always love ferry rides, even though that day was a bit cool.

I am getting a little writing done, but still lots, lots more to do.

Also many walks, much good eating, including a sample of some lychee mousse that another friend who's a professional caterer had made. Oh yum.

Comments

[zoe-1418.livejournal.com]

What's the knit shop? I might be trying to find one tomorrow. My sources have told me about a place called (?) Article Pract, on Telegraph in Oakland, that's open Sundays... Is there another one?

BTW, I'm going to Berkeley this eve. with some people to eat at some vegan place.

The weather is indeed lovely, although it (or maybe the hotel air?) seems drier than I'm used to. Got dehydrated yesterday walking to Lake Merritt and back...

J.

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Article Pract is it! It's on Telegraph near 51st St. and I think it's open till 6, but you might call to be sure.

Actually, if you turn out to have any free time around 3:30, maybe we could meet briefly, at least, after all. I will be at a library event near Lake Merritt that starts at 2, and probably need to try to be back in Berkeley around 5. But I think your hotel is not too far from a BART. My phone, again, is 803-467-7759.

And it is extremely dry here! I seem to have different hair and skin out here.

Oh well...!

[zoe-1418.livejournal.com]

Hey, it was nice to "meet" you by phone, but it's looking like the connecting-up thing won't work. Did you get further snagged in traffic? I came back from lunch to find that the supposedly high-speed Internet connection I just paid for (from the hotel) isn't working right, so I spent some time on the phone with their tech folks... Now it's 4:00 p.m. and I'm going to head out and see if I can get to the knitting store and then hang out around there or downtown Berkeley for awhile.

If my technology problems get solved, I'll be in and around LJ tonight, so may "see" you here... In any case -- thanks for your efforts to get together!

Re: Oh well...!

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

So sorry! I got out of the movie around 3:30 (it was a documentary about a family I know from Sri Lanka, and I've been trying to see it for a long time.) Wish now so much I'd called you earlier--if I'd realized you had free time in the afternoon, maybe we could have done that together. At any rate, I hadn't written down your last name and recalled it as Layman. Of course the hotel wouldn't search through all the Joann L's for me, and I couldn't reach you. Frustrating!! And dumb of me. However, I had so little time at that point, maybe it was simpler not to try.

Anyway, hope you got to Article Pract and found some wonderful yarn. It's a great store. And so glad you had beautiful days out here, even if a little warm.

Re: Oh well...!

[zoe-1418.livejournal.com]

Oh well, indeed! Sorry about the frustrating efforts to reach me. The film sounds wonderful.

But yes, I did get to Article Pract (and wrote about it in my LJ!) and then went to Berkeley and ate at India Palace, then came back and swam in the hotel pool. I'm getting to be a seasoned BART traveller!

In fact, I'm going to take BART to the airport in another hour or so (I'm just using every possible minute of my paid hotel Internet connection now that it's working! ;-)

At least I now have a voice to go with your name! Maybe sometime we can meet up in Chicago (I get there more often than CA or SC.)

Cheers.

J