Experiments in Bicoastal Living

This has been a busy summer so far!

This summer started out with the end of the school year. To which Nye says "yeah!!" and a week of furlough for me. We went to Big Sur (last posting). As luck would have it Arch was offered more work in NYC which just happened to sync with our niece Julie's graduation party. Again yeah!! So it was off on a quick trip to NYC and CT for me and to two week trip to CT and NYC for Arch and Nye. Logistically challenging, but deeply rewarding. I can't speak to the adventures my guys are having, so this will be a bit one sided posting!

First of all, it was a blast being back in NYC. I had a great time seeing Inna (missed Tamazi since he had to go to work, but we did get to catch up later!) and then I promptly fell in for a long nap. Arch got me up in time for to shake off my stupor in time for the performance of Love & Daring by the LAVA performance troupe. That was fantastic and it was great to see some of our teachers again. Wandering around the lower east side was like slipping on an old worn (stinky) glove. The city is at once familiar and ever changing.

We headed out of the city on Saturday morning to Mom's house (aka Nana's). I was so happy to be there just catching up. Phone calls are a pale substitute for a real sense of how things are in the world of your loved ones! Nye has his favorite things about visiting with Nana, hunting for toads, doing puzzles and games, breakfast sausage, the list goes on. I seem to recall a similar list when visiting Memorial Drive.

Sunday we were off to Julie's celebration. What a great party!!

It was fun to catch up with many people but somehow time didn't quite allow us to catch up with everyone. Ever in motion, I missed spending more than cursory time with folks. This is especially poignant to since I feel like I get to see all of nearly often enough to have a good sense of how life is treating you!

Arch had to head into NYC but Nye and I got a chance to stay with Nana for a bit and to catch up with Becks, Henry, and Jillian. It was wonderful! The cousins miss each other a lot and they really seem to click when they get to be together. Henry and Jillian have grown so much! And, of course I'm glad Becks, that we got a bit of time to hang out while watching them play. Thanks Mom for taking us to such cool spots to hang out in! We even got a chance to go to the ice cream barn where Julie works, yum! Nye stayed on for the rest of the week while I sprinted back to the city.

The trip to NYC/CT was so short that there are many, many friends that I didn't even get a chance to consider seeing. I'm hoping that luck will favor me and I'll get a chance to catch up in person soon.

Back in San Jose, I'm getting my first chance to spend some real time alone in the house and yes, at first this is a little strange. The neighborhood is actually very quiet except when there is any reason to celebrate, and then it can get a noisy! Mostly, I've been trying to take care of small projects around the house. Strangely, I am delighting in doing laundry. But to put that crazy statement in context this is my first ever washer and dryer. (Hmmm, I wonder how long the honeymoon will last?) I'm also trying desperately to keep the plants alive 'till I can get a few yards of soil delivered and an drip irrigation system in place. Still there is bounty . . . first tomatoes of the season, mint - lovely, and the apples are starting to ripen up. The mystery fruit is still teasing me by not ripening yet. I have dreams of fruit - but my luck it will all ripen the same week!

Left Coast Live

I'm not usually the first to jump up and down and say "lets go to the music festival" but here in San Jose many events have the comfortable scale of street fairs or block parties. So I was delighted when a number of lady friends were game for going to Left Coast Live, San Jose's big annual Music Fest. Headliners this year included OK Go and Yo La Tengo. OK Go put on a great performance as did many other local bands. And since it was a small venue they came right out into the crowd for a tune or so. Very democratic!

Loads of local and regional bands were playing and the "life sized mouse trap" game was installed off First Street. (For those who are wondering what I'm talking about - think the game "Mouse Trap" from our childhood, but produced in full scale. Yep, that is right, all the parts there including a big metal bath tub suspended in air, a full size safe, and instead of marbles . . . you guessed, it a bowling ball. Can't get the movie I made to work on the blog, sorry!)

There were various ingenious venues on the street and in clubs. One of my favorite featured both bands and the local roller derby. (Haven't seen roller derby since I was a kid.) All and all the festival was a blast in large part because it was of a scale that meant you could really take it in and really enjoy. Having friends to share it with was also quite wonderful!

Looking forward to the 4th in San Francisco and to Arch and Nye returning soon!!

xo,

Sara
the "S" in SNAPress