"You fail at blogging"

That is what my son Brendan says... and considering the more than a month that has passed since my last posting, I'd have to agree! OK, so here we try again. Quick summary of the last five weeks:
-- Went to my men's book group meeting at a house in Kensington and discussed "Stumbling on Happiness," by Daniel Gilbert. Our next book is the Pulitzer Prize-wining novel "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao," by Junot Diaz. For extra credit some of us will be reading another Pulitzer Prize-winning novel for 1981, "A Confederacy of Dunces," by John Kennedy Toole. The book was published eleven years after the author committed suicide at age 31. Both novels are considered "picaresque."
-- Flew to Savannah to impersonate the founder of the Special Libraries Association (SLA), John Cotton Dana.
-- Drove down to Palm Springs to play in the annual "Palm Springs Invitational" golf tournament. Retired UC librarian Terry Dean organizes this event each year. The golf is not taken too seriously, but the cooking and wine is!
http://www.campbelldewolf.net/PalmSprings_2009/
-- Went on several more hikes in the East Bay parks, one near Moraga in Redwood Park and others around Lake Chabot. Two of them with retired librarians.
-- Sang several duets with Gayle Marie for an Alta Mira Club luncheon at the historic Peralta Home in San Leandro. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peralta_Home
-- Spent two separate days in San Francisco, which included a lunch with an old friend Eric Nielson and another with Jeff Banchero at the French Club. Visited the Museum of Craft and Folk Art. Met with Bill Van Niekerken at the Chronicle. Turned in some paperwork with the Newspaper Guild. Had a couple meetings of the Friends of the San Francisco Maritime Museum Library -- I'm president for the next two years.
-- During a surprisingly warm weekend, helped Carl Nolte bring his Pearson 28 from Hidden Harbor in the Delta to Sausalito, about 60 miles. We spent the night at Benicia, which is about halfway.
-- Attended an SLA dinner meeting and took Susan and her assistant Anne. The evening's presentation was on the Google book digitization lawsuit and settlement.
-- Last weekend Susan & I spent two nights aboard our cabin cruiser in the Delta, despite wind, rain and cold. We towed our gunning dory, "Draco," up there too, so we could participate in the TSCA scheduled row on Saturday, Valentine's Day. Between storm fronts, the group managed a row of about six miles from Korth's Pirate's Lair Marina to Potato Slough and back. The wind was mighty cold, and was a little much for some of the boats.

A Morning Hike

Yesterday morning I went on a winter walk in the park next to our house. It was 41 degrees. Sun was out, but much of the walk was in the shade.

A striking note in the beginning -- the call of a flicker. Then a little farther on, a group of geese honking away as they circled the valley where Lake Chabot is enscounced. As I arrived at the lake I saw more geese, eight white pelicans, cormorants, various ducks and one seagull. I also think I saw an osprey.

Then there were a group of robins polishing off the remains of the season's toyon berries (heteromeles arbutifolia.) We use the berries every year in Christmas decorations. Lots of other attractive vegetation -- at least two types of ferns, some new redwoods in the dell, stands of willows covered with yellow leaves, big mushrooms.

I collected some fresh bay leaves for I know not what.

Along the lake, mostly women walking, mostly Asian. Saw three dogs. Several groups fishing. The only jogger was a very old man, moving very slowly.

Temperature at my house when I returned -- 44 degrees.

End of the "Fall" leaves

Monday I got my Gmail under control. Today I cleared out my Comcast account. Definitely a good thing. Next I need to organize my home office paperwork. It is bordering on chaos, but not quite, thankfully.

Did a load of family laundry -- all on my own! Raked up the remains of the red leaves from our front yard "liquid amber" tree. In the Bay Area, we are still in Fall, as usual in January...

Tomorrow I will start a "Coq au vin" for a Thursday or Friday night dinner. Never done it with the long marinade. Bon appetit!

Home alone

This is my first day home "not working."

I left the San Francisco Chronicle after two stints, totaling 28 years. With the newspaper business in financial free fall, the offer of a buyout, combined with my age, was enough to tip the scale. The fact that I was able to get on my wife's health insurance policy was another factor. I'm not 65 yet!

So what have I done so far? I got the Christmas lights down before the rain. (Cold for the SF Bay Area -- 46 degrees...) Made some green tea. Noticed that the only sound I heard was the refrigerator. Ate some dried fruit and thought about how I was going to lose weight. Being inside the house is not the best for that I've heard ;-) I weighed in at 198 today -- not good! Will be working on that.

Since I'm just back from a vacation in Southern California, my email is a mess, so I need to clear that up. And, apply for unemployment!