Taster Spoon

Keeping up my end(s)

I know, this isn't the post you were waiting for as I hereby break my month-long silence.  Lotta stuff going on, that's all.  But then - and we've talked about this before - you take a little break for one reason or another and it's so hard to get back in the groove, because why post at all if it's not going to be about something significant, and as time wears on the bar inches higher.  So I'm instead going to abide by one of my life rules that has served me reasonably well: Keep Expectations Low.  (See how I put the "reasonably" in there?  The rule in action!)

So what's new? 

1. We are having a plethora of rainbows today! 

2. Because of the holiday yesterday, today is Donut Day!  There is someone who always gets to the donuts before me, who has been cutting the best donut (raised glazed) in half and leaving half.  The Dieting Donut Dissector!  I have been loving the DDD, because I feel like by taking the remaining half I am doing a public service by preventing staleness but also feel like I am getting a whole serving, but it is only half the usual guilt!

In the beginning of January, though, DDD started cutting only about a third of the donut out...leaving two thirds.  This was awkward, but manageable.  I couldn't very well continue to take my usual half, leaving 1/6 of a donut on the tray - that's like leaving a couple of bites.  Not cool.  So I have to either cut the remainder into halves and take a donut third, leaving a third to turn stale even quicker, or simply take all 2/3 of the donut.  You can imagine what I chose.  What with work and all, I've stopped exercising in any regular way, and, let's just say, you can tell.

Recently, DDD showed even further restraint, and began taking just a quarter donut.   Having increased my own consumption from a half to two thirds, it was natural that I seized upon the 3/4 donut as Mine!  But there's no virtue in taking 3/4 of a donut, so my pleasure is substantially reduced.  It's really a net loss.  

Can you see where this is heading?  Today the DDD literally cut out and removed just a bite of the best donut.  A tray full of variety sprinkles, coconuts, cinnamon sugars, chocolate dipped...and 7/8 of a raised glazed with drying edges. 

Which makes me want to say, Come on, man, we had a deal.  You take half, I take half.  You take a little less than half, I do my best for the cause.  Now you take a bite and I have to be the jerk who leaves 3/8 of a donut on the tray?  What would you do in this situation?

3. Have you heard about my haircut?  There's a topic we can sink our teeth into! 

I cut my hair somewhat less frequently than I go to the dentist, but more frequently than I go to the doctor.  I think it's been about two years.  After Ace begged me to get a Real Haircut from a Real Salon for my birthday in September, I hied me over to Yelp - and spent hours weeding out all the reviews from Asians (different hair needs) and was left with very few data points.  I asked friends with good hair.  I cut pictures out of InStyle.  I signed up to be a Hair Model at Edge and waited by the phone.  I pored over the archives at Hair Thursday. 

At Christmas I finally got around to following up on a recommendation from a co-worker whose hair has been looking pretty great over the last year or so.  Mine was dragging me down.  Long.  Droopy.  Ragged rather than wavy.  Anyway, I went to this salon where the lady freelanced, and she was...fine.  The haircut wasn't bad - she cut long layers into it so the wiggles in my hair look like curls that are meant to be there rather than just a failure to blow-dry out the messiness.  Picture Rachel Geller's before she got The Rachel.  Ace agreed that maybe it didn't look particularly glamorous, but said that at least it looked like a Haircut.

So I have no complaints about the stylist - hairwise.  Here's the thing - she is a recently-immigrated middle aged woman with mediocre English, challenging pronunciation and few shared cultural reference points who went freelance only recently but maybe didn't have the book of business she thought she did and is now clearly trying to rally a loyal following, and she oohed and enthused over my hair! my long, wavy, light brown hair! to a degree that was a little overwhelming.  Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of being fussed over but her fussing just had an air of desperation, making me feel less like she uniquely could see my inner beauty and was determined to bring it out and more like she was just buttering me up.   It was a stressful hour.

This doesn't make me excited to go back.  And maybe the reason I get a haircut so seldom is because I have yet to have a fulfilling relationship with a hairdresser.  It's always strictly a business transaction.  You know, gesture at some pictures, read a magazine, look up, cry, pay, tip sheepishly while apologizing for the crying, go home. 

You know what I want?  I want a hairdresser who says, "OMG!  Look at this MOP on your head!  Sweetheart, your hair needs some CPR.  Look at your eyes!  We need to draw some attention to these eyes!! Why are you hiding these cheekbones, honey?  You know what would look so good with your cheekbones?  You just sit back and let me bring out the gorgeous.  You know what you have, you have Jennifer Aniston hair!  Can you believe Jon Mayer?  Srsly, good riddance to Brad if you ask me.  OMG, are you seriously wearing White Musk right now?"  Someone who will flutter around and make me feel like a million bucks for $80.

Okay, fine, I want a homosexual.  Is that homophobic?  Or homophilic?  Maybe I should clarify that I don't precisely want a hairstylist because he likes dudes, but rather that I am seeking a certain set of personality characteristics.  And of course for him to have hair talent.  There was just such a hairstylist at the salon shared by Madame X.  He was cooing over and gossiping up a storm with his client and I looked at them longingly.  But I can't just go to the salon one day and hope that she is busy and he is not.  The salon is like a freelance workspace where the stylists rent their stations but have all their own clients.  You make appointments via their personal cell phones.

What to do, what to do.  Perhaps I was taking the wrong route by focusing my research on the hair angle.  I thought about asking my neighbors whether they "knew any hair stylists."  But I have a hunch they'd take it the wrong way, besides which, they don't seem like they would know any hair stylists.  I considered asking another friend who, while also not the type in question, seems like he'd be a little more up on the Scene and in the past has been a straight (ha ha) shooter about, you know, at which clubs in the Castro girls are welcomed/tolerated/discouraged, that sort of thing, and would probably not get his nose out of joint from my wishful stereotyping.   But he's moved away.

So I am adrift.  On a sea of wavy hair.

4.  I'm about to start traveling for almost three solid weeks.  I'm pretty excited that I am so deeply involved with work at the mo, what with the economy and all, but I'm also looking forward to checking in on some of my favorite ladies, one of whom I haven't seen in, gosh, three years?  She's a trapeze artist/salsa dancer/world traveler who keeps her independence as a freelance software developer.  She cannot be contained.  When you ask her where she is from, she says "Manhattan."  Actually, she says, "Manha-N." She is the New Yorkiest person I know, and she is going to go country and hike around the Appalachian Trail with me this weekend!   I wonder if she owns boots.  We have one of those relationships where, as long as I've known her (college, freshman year), I've done all the pursuing, and I don't mind a bit.

Winter Wonderland

  Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

 

  The road to the lodge.

 

     Cougar Crest Lodge

  

   

     

Outside my room.

  

 

Driving to the resort downtown.

Snuggling up in front of the CdA Resort fireplace.

Stacking wood at the Cougar Crest Lodge.

   

The dining room deck at the lodge.

The gang on Christmas: Dad, Mom, Mr. and Mrs. Manning, my brother Beaker, me, and Ace

I hope everyone is having great holidays - see you all next year!

 

Thanksgiving Round-Up

Over the past couple of weeks, it's been starting to feel increasingly holidayish, what with the summer weather that held on so long going away and the dark, rainy days arriving for their annual five-month visit. 

A little bit has been going on since last we checked in:

Rad's birthday happened while he was away competing at Clearwater, so for the first Run Club after his return, Ace made a cake!  Angel food!  I was surprised that we had an angel food cake pan.  I was also surprised when he asked whether we had any sprinkles.  We did, but usually he avoids sprinkles (on his Cold Stone hot fudge sundae, for instance) because they are just "empty calories." 

Cafe Sophia, that Afghan place on Middlefield, is fantastic.  The food is unbelievably flavorful and there is a fine vegetarian selection.  The "Chef's Choice" mixed plates are good.

We've hosted and attended a couple of Game Nights, or nights where games were played.  I'm still learning how to match games with crowds.  You can't just play anything with anyone.  For instance, Celebrity is no good with more than about a dozen people, and it works best with a crowd of at least overlapping interests.  The Werewolves of Miller's Hollow requires attentiveness by all, but is enjoyable, if quiet.  It's reminiscent of that "7 up" game we used to play when we had a substitute teacher. 

Apples to Apples tends to be popular, but I find it mostly random and therefore not satisfying.  It's a good ice-breaker, however, because it takes zero skill, and helps to knock the competitiveness out of the evening.  I still haven't formed a complete opinion of Cranium, though my initial impression is that it's too easy to be all that fun.  At least, it's better with more than two teams.  And the Zombies! game, we haven't even played it because the instruction booklet is about thirty pages.  Puerto Rico gets rave Customer Reviews, but it's not a game you can play casually or while drinking.  Why Did the Chicken must especially be played while drinking.  Taboo remains a classic.

Hey!  Did you even see my Halloween costume? 

 

I've kind of bailed on my holiday crafting.  This will doubtless come as a surprise to Ace, given all the supplies in the closet.  Stuff just wasn't turning out very nice.  But I'm learning a couple of new crafty skills, which I'll show you in a little while, i.e. as soon as I make something not ugly.

My brother returned from Iraq!  Say it with me: "Phew."

For Thanksgiving Ace and I both went to Chicago, where half of his family lives and where my parents just moved after calling it quits on seventeen years in Singapore.  We both went to both of our families' Thanksgivings and it worked out actually a lot more smoothly than I expected. 

It was a chemically-fueled weekend, tea and coffee in the morning and always, always cocktails, wine and port in the evenings.  Instead of my usual attempts to keep the system clean, I gave in and went with what was on offer, and have learned that there is some wisdom in these habits.  They go a long way towards keeping everyone's attitude (including my own) manageable. 

On Sunday I rolled my stimulants and sedatives into one by having two Irish Coffees at Butch McGuire's, after which Ace and I avoided the sleet by hiding out at the Art Institute. 

I think Ace wishes he had spotted the architectural drawings sooner, and I wished I had discovered the "touch museum" sooner. 

 

I also got to see one of my dearest friends and her kid who is a laugh riot.  (And I am not one to fawn over people's kids.)  She probably won me over when, speaking to her mother, she called me "that girl."   Sure beats "that old lady." 

Another lesson from the weekend: direct flights are totally worth it.

Ace and I have been frugalizing by refusing to turn on the heat, so our house has been at a steady 61 degrees for the last month.  I thought he was merely humoring my cheapness, but he revealed that he was kind of making a personal character exercise out of not turning on the heat until at least Thanksgiving.  We got up at 2:30 a.m. California time to fly back yesterday and go straight in to work, so in the evening when he finally made it home, I made sure there was hot vegetable soup (to counteract nearly a week of midwestern meat, cheese and white flour) and a roaring fire.  And when he climbed in to bed, a hot water bottle.  That went over big. 

Our savings on heat will probably be balanced by our electricity bill: SOMEONE left the freezer door ajar for the five days we were away.  

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

Hey!  I've been doing everything but blogging this past month, and that's just fine by me.  Now for a little catch-up. 

I've had a real hankering to see changing leaves, and so, to mark the end of summer, Ace proposed we spend Labor Day in Yosemite.  I was hoping for a little Fall color at higher elevations, but it was thoroughly hot, hot, hot. 

We were surprised by how uncrowded it was over the holiday weekend.  We hiked around then overnighted near Hetch Hetchy, and spent the following day taking the high road to Tuolomne Meadows, which I must have attempted to pronounce in my head and out loud about 300 times.  Gorgeous, gorgeous.  Even if blowsy yellow grasses (0.1 m hike)

and peaceful mountain lakes (2.5 mile hike) don't get you going, there are still granite domes to climb on (0.4 m hike), just like the valley, 

and breathtaking vistas (0.2 mile hike) with views of Half Dome, just like the valley.    

The next weekend was full.  After a lazy Saturday morning, Ace and I played tennis and jumped in the hot tub, which felt decadent in the middle of the afternoon.  He started my birthday off a day early by giving me a camera to replace the one that drowned in Montana.  It's blue!

(Can you tell it was wrapped in Christmas paper?)

We were very late getting to two local weddings. 

First was our neighbors, who have been together for seventeen years (they met in college) but only this summer were allowed to make it legal (in this state, anyway) - their attitude alternated between making like it was no big deal because really, their relationship wasn't changing in any meaningful way, and excitedly sharing the series of thrills that included getting their license, picking out rings (apparently required by City Hall) and so forth.  I was utterly charmed.  We spent way too little time at their reception, which was deliciously catered by Iberia, one of my favorite winter date places (because their tapas/wine bar area features a great big fireplace and cozy hooded benches).  Someone had made an enormous (8 inch) cake topper out of fondant or marzipan featuring the groom and groom, perfectly personalized.  I was sorry to miss its big presentation.

Then we sped to the wedding of one of Ace's high school friends at UC Berkeley.  The bride was beautiful wearing a sky blue dress!  I thought it was so daring, and she looked sensational.  She's naturally a fair blonde, and after the fact I couldn't help but think of Cinderella. 

Ace truly has the nicest friends.  They grow good people in our small towns.

The next day Ace and I woke up very late, and very hung over, and we decided we had to eat.   Mindful that we were planning on an all-you-can-eat sushi dinner, we struggled with wanting to consume as little as possible while wrestling with the after-effects of a most convivial time.

Ace took me to Skates, a special-occasion type brunchy place on the Berkeley Pier.  It hangs out over the water right where the OCSC sailboats exit and enter the marina.  The wind was brisk, and it was an invigorating way to begin a birthday.  I had every intention of eating sparingly, but the chicken club sandwich was crazy delicious and it was all I could do to box up half of it.  Ace got the Spanish omelette and barely touched it.  He is a man of great commitment and resolve.

As long as we were in Berkeley, Ace took me to see the tree sitters, who have been living in (and protesting from) an oak tree near the soon-to-be-demolished old football stadium for some twenty months.  Our timing was fortunate, because on September 7 they were down to the last tree.  Four people lived in a very scraggly specimen, and when we were there, the Berkeley chief of police was up in a cherry picker attempting to persuade them to come down.  Ace was impressed that they had a solar panel up there.

Two days later, I learned that it was all over.  Their case had plodded through the courts like an ent, but unlike with the ents, the Berkeley trees had lost.  The last tree was chopped down on September 8. 

To break up the long drive home, we stopped off for a ten mile run at Sawyer Camp, which was gorgeous, and felt a little fallsy.  I walked much of it, just to enjoy the view, and saw several deer.

My birthday dinner was wonderful - there was no one there who I don't honestly love, through and through.  After a long while of feeling like I've had a lot of Social Acquaintances here in California, it made me genuinely happy to realize I was surrounded by Real Friends.

And the all-you-can-eat sushi was good, too.

 

The next week I went to Erie, my mother's home town, where my parents were planning a mom-side family reunion on their anniversary.  I liked Erie a lot - the waterfront is very attractive, I only wish there were more there besides one hotel, a convention center and a restaurant.  I wish there were a longer, "Lake Shore Drive" type access to the wonderful lakeshore with recreational opportunities for average citizens.  I tried going for a run, but it consisted almost entirely of running through the parking lots for the aforesaid structures.

We first detoured to my uncle's hunting cabin in Tidioute, in the Alleghenies. 

 

Beautiful country. 

Apparently Route 6, one of the roads that took us there from Erie, is rated one of the ten most beautiful roads in America by National Geographic. 

 

Do you see those things popping up through the wildflowers?  They're cars.  It's the most pastoral junkyard I've ever seen.

Tidioute is a sweet little town, where people are friendly and genuine and tend to drive trucks really fast on roads with no shoulder, and the menu at the Tippy Canoe Inn restaurant is heavily influenced by Rachel Ray (according to our waitress). 

I believe everyone had a legal beverage.

I was fearful that my uncle's cabin would have a taxidermied deer head; instead he had mounted the tail that he had shot off a deer who ultimately got away.  Mixed emotions.  I did my best to understand the hunter mentality.  Clearly they include men who love nature - my uncle enthused about the quality and beauty of local hiking and canoeing up and down the river; he was busting with pride as we admired the view from the outlook; and he was delighted, genuinely delighted, when we woke up one misty morning to see fifteen enormous turkeys in his front yard.  

  I attempted to take a picture of the turkeys through the kitchen window. 

No picture, and the turkeys moseyed away from the idiot with the flash.  My uncle was disappointed that they left, and I was too embarrassed to admit that it was my fault.

Uncle Bob makes a commemorative shirt each year.  We tried to take a picture of the whole family in our matching Tidioute shirts, but never really got it together...there was always someone not in uniform.

This is Uncle Bob and me, trying to capture the cabin from the same angle as the picture of the cabin on the shirt.  Meta!

 

Still no Fall leaves. 

The reunion was great - I hadn't been to Erie in fifteen years, but everyone looked the same as I remembered them. 

I participated in my first political discussion in a swing state, which reinforced my impression that good people exist on both sides of the aisle, but that we haven't figured out a way to identify our shared values such that any politician can satisfy us both...though I think that some politicians are trying. 

At least, that's the message I got from Obama's convention speech.  I get the impression that Republicans see the issues as either/or questions, zero-sum games, rather than problems that could possibly have win-win solutions. 

Seriously people, what's the BATNA?

The party was held at the Sunset Inn - a place with a gorgeous westerly view onto Lake Erie and miserable customer service.  It had sentimental significance - my parents held their rehearsal dinner there 43 years ago.

   

At the end of dinner, a cousin shocked me by dinging on her glass to make my parents smooch.  Then my parents shocked me by obliging.  I was so shocked, I didn't think to take a picture until after the fact. 

So, by popular acclaim, they repeated it...in fast forward.

Missed it again!

We spent a day traveling around Erie, going out to the lighthouse where my mother spent childhood summers.  

The smokestacks on the left are the now-defunct Hammermill Paper Company, where my grandfather spent his career.

If you go to the peninsula, I highly recommend the food at Sara's - it was good eats.  Plus there's a plate of chocolate chip cookies for munching while you wait for your burgers.  And save room for a cone - get the orange sherbet and vanilla swirl!

Then the rain swept into Pennsylvania and deluged Chicago.  

I said goodbye to the folks at Midway. 

Pop quiz.  Notice anything different about my dad?

Beaker is back to Iraq and the folks to Singapore.  And me, back to the sunny dry skies and fresh fruits and vegetables of home!  Ace and I spent the remainder of the weekend running and farmers marketing, catching up with a friend visiting from Santa Barbara and discovering that for $20 you can sail on teeny boats on teeny Shoreline Lake and I will still spaz out and practically run us aground.

Hannah Montana

I've been wanting to go backcountry camping for YEARS (honestly, I just want to play Clan of the Cave Bear - Jondalarrrrrr!) and Ace wants to see a glacier before they all melt. 

So this weekend, Ace and I head to Glacier National Park. 

For me, anticipation is about 80% of the pleasure of any activity.  So, I've been shopping and researching survivalist websites and imagining what I'll do if I meet a bear.  I prepared emergency kits; I broke in my boots (oh - I wore them for a five-mile "run" at Rancho San Antonio Wednesday and worked up some sweet blisters - those turn into callouses, right?).   

The most engrossing part of the preparations for me has been planning our meals.  Although we don't have campgrounds reserved for the entire 6 nights (just 4, I think), I wanted to be entirely self sufficient for the duration.  I'm assuming the main, car-accessible areas of the park sell overpriced nachos and BLTs, but there's always the chance we'll have so much fun in the backcountry that we'll wander over to the area where there aren't even designated campgrounds for the balance of our time.  'Be Prepared' is the Boy Scout Motto, what's the Girl Scout one?

So I used recommendations from nutritionists re how many calories (2000 for me, 3000 for him) and grams of protein (40/day for me, 55/day for him) we should allot for each day as a starting point, and filled in full meals from there, keeping an eye on vitamins, fiber (21 g/day), Calcium, Iron and even Sodium (with abandon!).

I ended up with five breakfasts, four complete lunches, four complete dinners and an extensive assortment of snacks and desserts that will ensure that we hit our targets each day - all without relying on beef jerky, which apparently attracts bears.  (There's plenty of food for a fifth lunch and dinner, plus I'm assuming the first day and last day we'll be buying sandwiches on the road.)

Would you like to see our menu?

A Passage to India (dinner): Bengal Eggplant, Saag Paneer, brown rice, white rice, orange lassi (740 cals, 22 g protein, 5g fiber, 22g fat, 126% C, 62% Iron)

Diner Delight (dinner): Roast beef in brown gravy, mashed potatoes 'loaded' with cheese and bacon, Peach Melba (560 cals, 27 g protein, 6g fiber, 8g fat, 22% C, 36% Iron)

The Inscrutable East (dinner): Miso soup with shiitake mushrooms, agedashi tofu with seaweed, marinated soybeans in whole wheat couscous (560 cals, 32g protein, 10g fiber, 8g fat, 19% C, 16% Iron)

Thanksgiving Groaner (dinner): Chicken breast, garlic mashed potatoes with gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce (800 cals, 29 g protein, 2g fiber, 10g fat, 60% C, 24% Iron)

Fruit & Cheese basket (lunch): Oranges, apple sauce, swiss cheese wedges, herb crackers, V-8 (410 cals, 13 g protein, 3g fiber, 16g fat, 130% C, 2% Iron)

Nut'n Honey! (lunch): Honey peanut butter, honey wheat pretzel fingers, roasted chestnuts, Tang (550 cals, 13 g protein, 6g fiber, 18g fat, 108% C, 16 Iron)

Lesbian Lunch (lunch): bagel chips, hummus, trout fillets, tapioca pudding, V-8 (520 cals, 17 g protein, 6g fiber, 19g fat, 110% C, 4% Iron)

Euro Picnic (lunch): baked Yukon gold and blue potatoes, garlic and herb cheese wedges, Chianti salami, Tang (500 cals, 23 g protein, 6g fiber, 16g fat, 100% C, 4% Iron)

Breakfast # 1: Maple and brown sugar oatmeal with wheat germ and milk, Tang, hot chocolate (400 cals, 14 g protein, 6 g fiber, 4 g fat, 100% C, 60% calcium, 4% Iron)

Breakfast # 2: Cheese omelettes with crackers and jam, Tang, Constant Comment tea (400 cals, 10 g protein, 1 g fiber, 10g fat, 100% C, 4% Iron)

Breakfast #3: Strawberry oatmeal with dehydrated strawberries, wheat germ and milk, Tang, hot chocolate (400 cals, 14 g protein, 8 g fiber, 4 g fat, 130% C, 60% calcium, 4% Iron)

Breakfast #4: Salami omelettes with crackers and jam, Tang, Earl Grey tea (450 cals, 20 g protein, 1g fiber, 20g fat, 100% C, 8% Iron)

Evening treats include s'mores, Nutella, cookies and hot chocolate. 

Snacks are loads of assorted dried fruits and nuts: dragon fruit, peaches, sugared walnuts, raw almonds, you name it.

I divided the 10,000+ calories into individual packets for each meal, with preparation instructions (i.e. "boil 2/3 cup water; add packet # 3; stir"), and piled them onto the dining room table, very pleased with myself.

Then Ace went to REI and came home with freeze dried beef stew and about fifteen Luna and Clif Bars. 

...

It goes without saying that I won't be blogging live next week, but I'll try to springload a couple of random items just for giggles.

The Adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Spoon in the Magical Land of Oz: the Conclusion

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

I just received this clever map in the mail.

It is well-circled and annotated.

Dear [Tasterspoon], Here's a brief look at our trip!  Love, Mom

Darwin: The crocs did not disappoint...both fresh and salt water. 

Kakadu National Park: Aboriginal paintings on the rocks at Kakadu Nat'l Park...climbed out on a cliff to watch an amazing sunset (one of many)!  The lookout was called Nawurlandja.

Katherine: Aboriginal children gave me some flowers at Mass on Mother's Day in Katherine.  The priest said a special blessing.

Kununurra: Saw emus

Kimberly: "Small" plane ride over the Kimberly Range.

Halls Creek (circled)

Fitzroy Crossing (circled)

Broome: fun town

Port Hedland: Iron Ore Loading Longest train in the world...30 min.

Exmouth: (circled whale shark) Stopped at Exmouth - site of NASA tracking station - first heard Neil Armstrong's words from the moon.  Dad snorkeled with whale sharks.  Saw a blue whale from the boat.

Ningaloo: (circled dolphin) Dolphins came into the beach to feed at 7 a.m.  Theyve been doing this for 50 years.

Coral Bay (circled)

Carnarvon (circled)

Monkey Mia (circled)

Fremantle: Back to Freemantle - site of 1987's win by Dennis Connor.  Very developed, very busy!

Perth: Site of Memorial Day Celebration in Perth's Botanical Gardens.  Talked to Consul General and thanked everyone for their recognition of all who are serving NOW!

Saved a box for Dad - he's declined comment - sending you photos instead!

Rather.  His summary was thus:

Safely back. Great trip. Ol' Mom and Dad at Pinnacles Natl Park. Thousands of pics of crocodiles.

The Adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Spoon in the Magical Land of Oz, Part IV

I'm really bummed that I think I've "lost" (i.e. I think I left it on my desk over night) my camera, so I can't show you the beautiful post card I received.  But though they are out of sight, the Spoons have been very much in mind.

[edit: Found my camera - oops!; I've added pictures.]

May 19th

Monday

(Day 14)

Dear [Tasterspoon],

Dad's micromanaging of a lot of details for this trip has paid off...we are actually two days ahead of his master plan!

Today Dad snorkeled off a boat (20 pax) and came face to face with a whale shark - it was a day long trip for us.  On the return to shore we saw a very large blue whale surface (part way).  The boat had radio contact with a small plane flying overhead to spot the big fish.

Best to [Ace]!

Love,

Mom

The post card actually arrived inside of an envelope, along with a big cardboard certificate that stated:

This is to certify that [Pater Spoon] swam with the world's largest fish, the whale shark, 19th May 2008.

It has a big color photo of a whale shark on it.

By e-mail, I received this:

Good accommodations (ex Navy Lodge at Exmouth Western Australia USN VLF submarine communications base circa 1960-2000 or thereabouts), good dinner, 10-12 baby kangaroos waiting on the roadside to cross until we had passed, 4 snorkels (scuba diving not allowed) with whale sharks, cruised alongside a blue whale and a humpback, and one sea snake (the warmup act came at the end). Another good dinner. Having a good time.

I don't know whether he was under the impression he was composing a telegram, or if he was computing onto a hand-crank internet.  All the same, the last four words said it all.

The Adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Spoon in the Magical Land of Oz, Part III

I had a brilliant weekend in Los Angeles with these folks (among many exciting others).  Even on the drive home from the airport I was still laughing at some things that people had said and thinking with some seriousness about relocating. 

Still, I got in late and haven't taken a good look through my pictures yet.  I need to get some work under way so I'm in the clear for Thursday's "Whole Lotta Love" concert - send me an email if you want to join me for the Led Zeppelin cover band in Mountain View from 5 till 8 pm.  I'll give you the deets.  I hear (from their promoter, anyway) that they're really, really good.

So I'll postpone the weekend recap and, in the mean time, let's continue to peep in on my parents.  

On Wednesday, I received another post card. 

May 12th

Monday

Hi [Tasterspoonie]!

      We've already covered 1185 Km from Darwin ~3 river cruises plus a flt over Kakada Nat'l Park.  Dad took Alligator Air over the Kimberly Range - - an even smaller plane - which I passed on!  [This from a woman who has both taken off from and landed on an aircraft carrier.]

      Only this afternoon did we resort to "Great Expectations" our book on tape.  Best to [Ace]!

Love,

Mom + Dad

Three river cruises.  That tells me my dad really has been crocodile hunting.  Yeaow, wot a beaut!

Or else he's been hunting for Linda Kozlowski.

They've sure come a long way.  Then again, they've only done about a fifth of the distance they need to travel and they're a third of the way into the trip. 

At least it looks like they haven't run out of gas or water.  I wonder how long Great Expectations will hold out.

The Adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Spoon in the Magical Land of Oz, Part II

On Monday, I received a post card.

It said,

Hi [Tasterspoon]!

Hi [Ace]!

MAY 8th

DAY 2

The crocs did not disappoint as we took a "small" boat ride along the Adelaide River. 

DAY 3

Today (May 9th) we are flying over Kakadu Nat'l Park.  We are staying in the Park at a Lodge for two days - doing a flight in a small plane in about an hour!

Love, Mom + Dad

I don't know how the crocs refused to disappoint...presumably they showed up?  Wandered the streets wearing holsters weighed down by a pair of six shooters?  Did they tic toc? 

After that picture that was on Yahoo for weeks of the crocodile with the guy's arm hanging out of his mouth, I don't think I'd want to get particularly close, if you know what I mean.  That would be disappointing. 

And what is a "small" boat ride?  My mother is not given to irony, and definitely not "air quotes."

I cannot read the postmark, but I have learned that the Adelaide River edges a town called Humpty Doo (!), which is just 25 or so miles outside of Darwin, so it must be early on. 

The Crocodile Hotel appears to be in Kakadu; perhaps that's the lodge at which they're staying.  I must say, the Wikipedi entry on the Kakadu National Park is extensive.  I learned, for instance, that the aborigines there count six seasons!

Something about this adventure just tickles me.  So much of it seems so...improbable, so...random.  Yet there they are. 

As for my own adventuring, I'm off to the City of Angels this holiday weekend!  See you on Tuesday!

The Adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Spoon in the Magical Land of Oz

I have been getting the most entertaining updates from my parents - cryptic e-mails from my father, post cards full of exclamation points from my mother.  They're out of reach of telephone and internet, so I can't clear this with them in advance, but I wanted you to share in their adventure, through a keyhole of limited communications, in real time, like I am.  If they object upon their return, I'll take these posts down.

Let me take a step back. 

My father, for his birthday this year, decided on an adventure.  He - well, let me put it in his own words:

Cheap ticket ad, combined with considerable red wine, seemed like a good idea 2 or 3 months ago in front of the computer. Air destination from Singapore is Darwin, something I wanted to see since 8th grade geography book. But in 1952-3, Darwin had not yet recovered from being destroyed by Japanese bombing, it seriously flooded (still does) between Nov-Mar, and had crocodiles swimming on the flooded roads - that's the geography book picture that got me.

Allow me to translate (aided, I assure you, by a phone call): When my dad was a youth, back in the 1840s - oops, the early 50's - a school geography book containing lurid illustrations of far off lands set his imagination alight.  Pygmies, narwhals, mermaids and cannibals, no doubt.  Anyway, burned in his brain was an image of Darwin, Australia, where crocodiles swam the flooded streets and the adventure of the untamed frontier still reigned.  Fifty-odd years later, he no longer really believes the northern tip of Australia can possibly still be a place of wonder and enchantment...but it remains an itch he's never gotten around to scratching.

When he came across a newspaper ad shortly before his birthday offering flights to Australia for TWO DOLLARS, he rallied his inner Indiana Jones and started planning. Here is the result.

Itinerary:

Darwin - Kakadu NP - Katherine (Gorge)- and then the outback of The Kimberly (small aboriginal towns and gorges galore with a lot of dust and desert in between - but also the second largest known meteor crater on earth - interesting how it struck in the middle of nowhere) to Broome (pearling station) (1500 km to this point) - then down the west coast road (iron ore export ports, long beaches, dolphins, sharks, colonial towns, lots of outback in between here too) through Perth to Margaret River (vineyards) (5000 km, and 65 hrs driving time to this point) - then to Perth, fly to Darwin, back to Singapore. May 6-27.

Perhaps he hopes to find his mysterious pygmies in these "small aboriginal towns."  I know what you're thinking - friggin CAR TRIP!  A three week car trip, to be exact, covering the distance of the span of the continental U.S.  Dolphins and sharks and meteors, sure.  But how will they manage in the Outback?  Haven't they seen Crocodile Dundee?  Also - 65 hours in the car?  Won't they get...bored?

We will carry gas and water cans (not essential but just in case), and have Great Expectations on CD.

Will they be reachable?  Should I worry?

My Singapore cell phone works in Australia, but The Kimberly stretch may be a problem with reception/transmission. If you don't hear from us by May 28, I suggest you call Mad Max to deal with the psycho killers of the outback, the dingoes, or the road trains (tractor trailers with about 6 wagons of stuff, which are allowed only in the outback, and seriously exceed the speed limit).

"Road trains"?

We won't get a 4wd so we will be a little bit limited as far as upriver/upgorge travel goes, but 5000 km in a 4wd might be less enjoyable than a sedan for the benefit of a couple hundred miles of rougher driving, and we can take a 4wd tour if we really do want to go up.

So - basically they're going radio silent and don't want me checking up on them.

I can't give you the contacts of any accommodations because we will take our chances - the good ol' days [Spoon] Family Trip.

Ah yes, the seat of the pants method of flight.  (Which drives Ace crazy, I might add.)  I offered to get my dad one of these for his birthday - their (awesome) slogan is "Live to Tell About It."  He declined.

I have perhaps overstated my concern with psychos, dingoes, and road trains. There is only one sealed road between Darwin and Broome, and if we are silly enough to get off it other than to take well travelled side roads to attractions, you may have the book and movie rights.

I have since received two post cards and one e-mail.  Aren't you dying to follow the adventure with me?