"Baseball is democracy in action: In it all men are "free and equal," regardless of race, nationality or creed. Every man is given the rightful opportunity to rise to the top on his own merits... It is the fullest expression of freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly in our national life."

~Francis Trevelyan Miller

Back to reality...

Reality being laundry, mostly, and work again on Monday...

But we had an amazing time, and accumulated many, many happy memories, including:

• many wonderful animals at the San Francisco Zoo, including baby tigers playing together;
• going to a Giants/Cubs game at San Fran's beautiful new ball park;
• Alcatraz, which was very powerful to see up close, and hear an award winning audio tour of the cell block, narrated by former prisoners and guards;
• Pier 39 with it's many beautiful and unique shops and restaurants, where we saw celebrations of July 4th;
  
• City Lights Bookstore, where I bought a copy of "Howl"
  
• The San Francisco Farmer's Market in the Ferry Terminal - a most amazing gathering of wonderful food and drink;
• The Golden Gate Bridge, which we wouldn't have seen except for one beautiful clear afternoon;
• Our rental convertible, which we drove to Sonoma for our trek, and then back to San Francisco via the coastal highway;
• Incredible trekking through Sonoma valley - this really is the best way to see the California countryside;
• tasting, talking and learning considerably more about wine than we did before, and meeting many humble and kind people who were eager to share their gift for wine-making;
• Twelve beautiful bottles of California wine brought back across the border to be the start of our wine cellar.

Two Interesting Incidents

WH and I had to go in to the police station this afternoon to get a security check for him for a new position he's starting next year. Ahead of us in line at the station was an elderly couple who had come in to report an email-related fraud. It was an interesting conversation between the police officer and the gentleman, who was certain that there might be a reason for him to answer junk emails that promised him money. And the cop wouldn't let him leave without a stern lecture about answering this kind of mail. "Sir, there is no reason for these people to email you unless they think they can get money out of you. Nobody has ever emailed anybody promising free money and it not been a fraud. Please, please, PLEASE, stop answering these emails. Just stop. Because I don't want to have to write up the report when you've lost your life savings and your house. Just stop."

And the gentleman said, "Funny how you know something that I don't..."

Even when the conversation was over, you could tell that the old man didn't perfectly believe the officer, and that in all likelihood, more money would be lost before the lesson was learned.
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Later this afternoon, we headed off to the local Science Centre to view the controversial Body Works exhibit, featuring plasticized real human cadavers and body parts. The exhibit was a fascinating combination of science and art, and was very moving. If the exhibit comes to your town or city, I recommend taking it in!

And tomorrow, we're off to California, so I'm on a bloggy break now! See you all in a couple of weeks!

A Summer Reading Friday Five

This week, then, a Summer Reading Friday Five from Songbird at the Revgals.

1) Do you think of summer as a particularly good season for reading? Why or why not?

Yes! Not having rehearsals in the evenings and the long hours of sunlight make it especially a good time to read. Finding enough time to read is always a struggle for me, but it seems easier in the summer!

2) Have you ever fallen asleep reading on the beach?

You know, I don't think I have! But I sure would like to!

3) Can you recall a favorite childhood book read in the summertime?

There is a wonderful Canadian author of children's chapter books named Bernice Thurman Hunter. I could read her books over and over and over again.

4) Do you have a favorite genre for light or relaxing reading?

A favourite genre, and a favourite author! When I'm looking for something quick and silly, I read detective novels by Robert Parker.

5) What is the next book on your reading list?

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

LolCat

I thought this was, at the very least, an amazing piece of photography.

Three days of work to go!

I continue to face conflict between how much work I know I need to get done before we leave for California, and my strong desire not to do any of it, and just think about California.

We are keeping an eye on the wildfires in Northern California... so far we're ok, I think, though I read today that there is some smoke in the San Francisco Bay area. No active fires in Sonoma though, which is a relief. I will email the folks from our trekking company tonight just to confirm that there's no risk that we won't be able to go on our trek.

I did the pre-trip major house clean last night, at least half of it. We still have some work to do in the basement, but we want to come home to a nice clean house, so that's the goal. I have discovered that it takes me one Handel's Messiah to get the upstairs totally clean. I know that by the time Worthy is the Lamb starts, I should be putting the mop and broom away. If I'm not, I know that it's been too long since we last cleaned, or I got distracted somewhere along the way.

I talked to the Paternal Unit on the phone last night. Please have good thoughts for his wife, L, who received some worrisome test results this week and will be going in for a follow-up biopsy. And while you might be thinking thoughts of good health, perhaps one further good thought for the Eldest Brother's friend I, who is facing scary surgery too.

I hope that you're all having a good and fulfilling day.

We're into Countdown Mode Folks!

Today is the first of five days of work I have remaining before I'm officially on holidays.

This is approximately how I feel about it:
The itinerary for our trip to California is starting to come together in a little bit more detail, and will include things like a trip to the San Francisco Zoo, a baseball game between the Giants and the Cubs, a tour of Alcatraz, a visit to the City Lights Bookstore, cruising the Farmer's Market in the old ferry terminal, watching the July 4th fireworks from Fisherman's Wharf, eating fantastic food and drinking lovely wine. On the 6th, we drive to Sonoma Valley and start our Trekking and Tasting tour of the valley. We trek on the 6th, 7th and 8th, and drive back to San Fran for one more evening before flying home on the 10th.

I DON'T WANNA DO ANY WORK TODAY. TOMORROW'S NOT LOOKING GOOD EITHER.