santa barbara august 2012

    Friday afternoon we met Amy at her office in Oxnard.  We have been friends since junior high and it always feels like no time has passed when I see her.  My dad went on his way to spend the weekend swimming at his favorite pool on UCSB campus and meeting with writers.  Amy and I went our way. I was so ready to enjoy the ocean again.  

I haven't spent any time really by the beach in Ventura, so it was fun to walk at the harbor there. Amy took me to one of her favorite parks where there is a beautiful view of the ocean and then we ate at a delicious Thai restaurant called White Sands in downtown Ventura. I don't think I have had Pad Thai since Beijing.

I think I am a boring guest. When I visit Amy I always want to do the same things, visit my old favorite places in Santa Barbara. As we drove in to town Amy suggested the Farmer's Market, which I had never been to in Santa Barbara. 

We walked down State Street to Cabrillo Boulevard.  I wanted to pay respects to Sonny's Pizza, which I have mentioned before, was the best pizza in the world, but is no longer there because another restaurant, which was also sadly not in operation, took it's place.  But there is the little spot where it used to be.

Sonny's was right under the ivy. I worked there for two summers in high school. When work was slow  I would stand in the door way and watch the ocean.  That job was like a dream.

View form Stern's Wharf.The candy shop on Stern's Wharf where Sister Haws, our beloved early morning seminary teacher, would go to buy us candy on our birthdays. I bought the candied grapefruit slices that I used to request. They tasted just like my sixteenth birthday. That was just one of the many ways that Sister Haws made us feel loved.  Amy bought some chocolate, which was nice enough to share.

We decided not to eat on the Wharf and instead we walked back up State Street to the India House eight dollar lunch buffet.

The food is not the absolute best in the world but the atmosphere makes up for it.  I love any restaurant that makes me feel like I have taken a little vacation to another time or place. 

I want to buy one of those elephant pieces next time.

After lunch I couldn't resist investigating The Little Rainbow Foot Spa that I noticed as we passed State and Haley.  I am always drawn to any reflexology spa where the practitioners only speak Chinese. I treated Amy and myself to a forty-five minute session of traditional Chinese foot massage. It was incredibly relaxing and  almost as wonderful as my most favorite place, Le Spa at the clubhouse in River Gardens in Beijing. Brought back happy memories...made new ones, my favorite combination.

Next we decided to drive up around the mission and up to Alameda Padre Sierra the narrow and scenic road that winds along "the Riviera" on the East side of Santa Barbara. Amy showed me a park that I had never been to before. 

Franceschi park is about 15 acres of plant and animal life, appropriately named after an Italian horticulturalist Francesco Franceschi.  There are gorgeous views, intriguing old statues and this fascinating old home that was given to the city of Santa Barbara in 1931.

 In the evening we drove to Hendry's Beach...though never the same without my dog Cody,  it is always beautiful in any season and at anytime of day.

 The place I imagine when I am trying to think of nothing at all.

We drove passed our Junior High on our way back to Ventura.

 All the park exploring and beach walking,  were not just for meditation. We also needed to work up an appetite for dinner at another favorite place,  Padaro Beach Grill in Carpenteria. That salad was so amazing it needed a close up.

 Sunday morning I met up with Granddad again. We said good bye to Amy and the beautiful California ocean air, and palm trees, and jasmine, and we drove home to Utah. 

 Sunday evening about nine o'clock we pulled back in to Granddad's driveway, and I walked around the corner to where Rob was staying with the kids.  It was a wonderful weekend, and I think the best part was running through the sprinklers to my home, past the kids' favorite apple tree,  passing familiar toys and shoes in the yard, anticipating William's "Mamma!", wondering how Sophie had changed in 72 hours, and returning to everyone's hugs and hellos. 

sausage, mushroom, monterrey

It's the weekend. Time for me to blog about pizza. Pizza so round...symbolic of wholeness, unity, celebration, inclusion, life.  Pizza- a relaxing, reuniting, togetherness ritual

Thanks to Pizza Pie Cafe Express for the text special.  I got two, two or three topping pizzas for five dollars each. Also picked up a cheese for Bethany and a pepperoni for Grant.

Here's the Canadian bacon and pineapple....that's for Mary.

 Friday evening I dropped Ben off at a friend's house down by the university, then drove over to PPC express.

I ordered, then sat down on the bench to wait...self-toasting by the big silver ovens, relaxing to the vibrations of the slow moving conveyor belts, breathing in the cheesy warmth.. the wonder of the so savorable pepperoni and the sugary-tang surprise of PPC's speciality, raspberry desert pizza..  The guy handed me my four hot boxes. I could smell the layers...the salty and sweet of one, the  milkiness of another...and on top, I was sure, was my favorite: the sausage, mushroom, and red onion.

Smells, so closely linked to memories, and sausage pizza, in particular, remind me of my high school summers at Sonny's Pizza.  I thought about pizza all the time then.  I thought about people in terms of pizza...tried to size them up by way of veggies or no, thick or thin, medium or large, whole or by the slice.

  I loved browsing in the paper goods closet. I guess I'm easily fascinated, because I'd find myself daydreaming about the large boxes of straws, napkins, Styrofoam cups. Loving the abundance, the preparedness, the suppliedness of it, I had a vision of myself running my own pizza place with my future family, in some other small coastal town, driving an old green pick-up...maybe like an '82.

Some place like Monterrey.  My senior year Mr. Biggle, one of my best teachers, took the physics and chemistry upperclassmen up to the physics museum in San Fransisco and the Monterrey Bay aquarium.  I'm grateful for that memory...though sometimes I forget to think about it.  So in Monterrey, there was a little pizza place, never knew the name, maybe that's the prototype of that particular fantasy.

Here's the sausage...spicey, mushrooms...earthy, generous in presence, and red onions...colorful and caramelized... pizza.

Last week was one of the quickest I can remember. Update on the exercise goal: followed up well with Sam, but had to give myself an okay to do some homemade yoga moves right before bed clause, because I just couldn't take the time to go out. I really wanted to make some progress in a few other areas of my life.

Like getting the house in order for one.  The kid consensus was: Monday was maybe the worst holiday on record.  All we did was clean.  I'm not really sure we had much to show for it at the end of the day, nothing picture worthy.

We ended MLK day with a small celebration, at least.  Ben talked me in to letting them use up our two gingerbread house kits .It wasn't like I'd been saving them for Valentine's...so I agreed... also hoping to gain back some bit of popularity.

This house wouldn't stand on it's own so we had to do a little engineering.  We're not perfectionists, as you can see.  It's all about snitching for most of us.

Ben is our artist.

Here's a midweek sunset that Sam photographed.

So Friday night, with Ben and Kyle off with friends, and Sam at a student leadership activity all night, and Bethany at a Irish Dance performance with Granddad and Judith, there was a new dynamic. Olivia grinned from ear to ear to learn that she was the oldest kid at scripture time.  Grandma Martha was over to share in our pizza night and catch up on some laundry. She introduced me to her favorite soap opera from Mexico, as no one had clout enough to stop the adults from choosing the programming, for a change. I happened upon the very episode where the priest learns he has an eighteen year old daughter.  Good thing it was in Spanish.

Saturday morning I was back to another unapologetic day of only cleaning.  First day of feeling like I'd made a difference.  Remember the pantry?  Looks better now.

I love the zen of empty shelves.

The laundry room is stabilizing. It almost makes me feel functional.

Made the kids help me till the little flower bed in front of the house, since the temperature was above freezing. Maybe I'll get the bulbs in the ground this week.  The basement is still a disaster.

Sarra per un altra volta.

pain,pumpkins,progress

Friday morning driving to Caitlin's preschool I read a bumper sticker that said, "Love is pain. Pain is love."

At first I thought, how negative.

Then I thought, how true,  acknowledging the existential unavoidable inevitable discomfort of giving to, caring for, living with and sometimes without others, as well as the very liberating idea that that willingness to feel the pain is the gift itself and therefore the very source of the joy of living.  So much food for thought on the back of a white pick-up truck.

So here's what was going on at preschool.

Pajama day and passing out treats.  I picked up Caitlin a bit early so we could get to the elementary school on time for the costume parade.

I'm often being handed something.

Friday afternoons the kids come home early from school.  One of the many things I love about Utah is that the snow falls, then melts.  I was grateful to have autumn back.

Here's what's left of my flower bed.  Mums gone by go nicely with the Styrofoam headstones.

I had been thinking about Pier 49 San Fransisco Sourdough pizza all week long. I ordered the Alcatraz, their supreme, that reminded me an awful lot of Sonny's deluxe.  By the way, in heaven, Sonny's Pizza will be restored to it's rightful place on Cabrillo Boulevard in Santa Barbara.  Until then the Alcatraz will do fine.

Here is the Lombard Street.  The barbecued chicken is tender, sweet, and tangy.  I love the caramelized red onions.  Both pizzas came with free pepperoni pizzas in honor of National Pizza month. So sad that October must come to an end.

After dinner the kids carved pumpkins.

Thank you for all the supportive comments I received about my laundry after I posted web cam. Some of you may have been wondering if I actually have a laundry room where I might better contain the pile. In fact I do. Last week I set a goal for myself to only wash as much laundry as I could fold. I love taking the clothing out of the dryer, smelling the sweet clean detergenty smell and feeling the warmth. Folding the clothing while it is warm gives me a feeling of being in control of at least one aspect of my life. So it's been a good week for me in that area... Now to work on a pile of something else.