Miscellani

Dead 30' whale in shallow water (below the tide line) in front of unit 270

If it doesn't wash out to sea, the smell off the beach will be sharp 

(pic supplied by the HOA maintenance staff, more down below, the whale was gone before THB could get his own pic)   

 Annals of Medicine

THB's right knee is still sore a month after returning from Turkey. The docs say it is a sore tendon, recommending an arthritis cream applied 4 times a day (didn't help), and an X-ray. Still sore, so next up will be injections...

Yep, first injection of a synthetic corticosteroid on May 20. Will it help? Will it help for a long-ish time (e.g., 6 years) or mean THB will be getting an injection every 2 to 3 months?  

More pain, the pain never went away and then became more prominent, just days after the injection 

Back to the injection doc, 9 days after the injection. On day 8, the knee actually started to feel better, more like the slight discomfort in Turkey. OOPS, false alarm. THB rejects PT and now awaits a call from Stanford Health MRI department. OOOPS! Doc submitted MRI request to wrong MRI department, one 45 minutes from the loft. Who does THB call to keep from doing all these things twice? Six times?

 Instant Karma 

Instant karma's gonna get you
Going to look you right in the face
You better get yourself together
Come and join the human race

THB and DB  are right in the midst of rejoining real life when they notice spots are showing up on their recently installed floating floor. Maybe Sandy left a mark? Nope...a pipe burst at the back of our neighbor's fridge while he was off working in LA and his unit is flooding. Now our unit is flooding!!  Now the neighbor on the other side is seeing moisture climb up her walls. It's an E-ville tsunami.

This won't be a short story. We've started with notifying our insurance company (THB can't read the claim number, there are zeroes and ohs in the code), contacted the company that installed the floor a few years ago, started drying out the moisture with remediation (see pic below), and in general spinning our wheels for what may turn out to be a long process....hopefully not. 

garbage bins under the sink: used to be automatic when pulling open the door, then a plastic piece broke and now it is a manual process. THB is adjusting and accommodating 

three of four now  open 

no idea: pic of THB's right eye? x-ray of his right knee?

After 25 years of ownership, the Beach House is being upgraded to mint condition: this fire grate has ceased to be

new grate: ordered over internet from a store in Wyoming for under $100, included free shipping

spring has come to the Dunes

the twins are back at the beach, watching the Giro d'Italia with THB (note twins have their water bottles handy, good to stay hydrated). Just aa coincidence? Soon thereafter this pic was taken the twins were the recipients of new bikes, and now are tooling around local parks.

something is missing? Hey, our view of the ocean opened wide! Yep, after 25 years of reporting a dying Monterey Cypress,  the HOA staff had the tree blocking our ocean view cut down. HOT DAMN!!! 

how many pairs of binoculars are needed to see something after it is gone?

What do the 7 year old fashionistas need for a day at the pool?

yep, a boogie board and a kick board

more whale pics: first, very short video 

a slide from a presentation on possible ways to help improve your hearing;  unfortunately, THB couldn't read the slide so took a pic and blew it up...you have to go to the office of the auditory specialist giving the presentation to find out more about these...she was really selling her services  

it's Spring and the roses are blooming along Pixar's fence

A great retrospective of John Wehrle's work at the Richmond Art Center. He has also made a number of murals around the Bay Area and LB knew his work (some of which are on display)

There's a story here: a few years ago THB was trying to teach the twins to read and we kept passing this sign that said a bump was coming. THB would spell out B-U-M-P and the twins would say (loudly) BUMP!! One time THB spelled out S-T-O-P and the twins said loudly...BUMP

THB took these pics of pictures painted by Wehrle and showed them to the twins. Cecily looked at them,  then looked at THB like he was a huge ignormanus  and then started laughing (she got the joke, since she can now read and has a very good memory) and passed the phone to Jasmine who also started laughing (same-same, they do sometimes act like identical twins)

Doug-Digger and Sandy are chillin' at the beach house

they know how to share a comfy chair

Book Reviews

THB listened to these two longgggggg books pretty much back  to back. Combined, they are highly recommended when listened to, as together they pack a mighty punch, especially timely given the current political situation.

Team Of Rivals, The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, Doris Kearns Goodwin (pub'd 2005, read by Richard Thomas): A biography of Lincoln and 4 or 5 of those closest to him during the Civil War. Ends with the assassination of Lincoln. So many things ended with his killing. Recommended 

Reconstruction, America's Unfinished Revolution, 1867 - 1873, Eric Foner (pub'd 1988, read by Norman Dietz): Did 600,000 Americans have to die in the bloodiest USA war ever to have things end up  right back where they were before the war? Booth's bullet pretty much decided the issue. It is incomprehensible to THB to see how inclusion can still be a major issue all these many years later. Inherent to human nature? All those lives lost, to be replaced by immense corruption, very little progress in civil rights, and an ever-lasting hatred of integration.  Highly Recommended

Heartwood, Amity Gaige (novel): a 42 year old woman goes missing in Maine while doing a long-range walk of the Appalachia Trail. One sub-plot THB thought particularly personal: a 76 year-old woman (just THB's age) living in a senior residence facility (THB and DB have been looking at these in the East Bay) provides the clue that leads to the Hollywood ending. Two other novels by Gaige on THB's highly recommended lists: Sea Wife (pub'd 2020) and  Schroder (pub'd 2013) 

In the Something Else Category

The Pitt (season 1, streaming on Max): 15 gut wrenching episodes of one day in a hospital’s emergency room. The star, Noah Wyle, was in the cast of ER oh those many years ago (starting in 1994; he holds the record for number of TV episodes playing a doctor)

The Barkley Marathons, a Race That Eats Its Young: Documentary of the 2012 annual event where 40 contestants try and finish 100 miles of non-stop loops in the Tennessee hills. Pretty much nobody finishes, and the race organizer is an eccentric, chain smoking, blue eyed assassin.

Turkey and Greece Observations

DA, SA, DB, THB at Bodrum cooking Class

 Observations of Turkey and Greece

THB has decided that listing a lot of categories and make deeply insightful comments about the two major parts of the trip would not be all that beneficial to you faithful followers, so here is a quick summary:

Corinth Canal 

Dinner in front of Ephesus library 

Taking a land trip of Turkey is the way to go and a small group (2-8) is far better than a larger group in terms of access to the history and highlights of so large a country. Staying in the heart of the old part of Istanbul is a tradeoff of ease of access to the big historical highlights and the crowds and lack of really decent hotels. Local guides are essential and two of our three were very good. Don't miss Cappadocia, spend 5-7 days in Istanbul, and at least 1 full day touring Ephesus and 1 or 2 other historical sites. Exceeded expectations. If you are serious about going, have THB and DB over for a quiet and extensive discussion (we will provide our own transportation no matter how far from E-ville you live)

The cruise of Greece was a nice way to get over jet lag. Athens was nothing special, being upgraded to the Owner's Cabin was very nice, and most of the stops were basically  shopping excursions. The Corinth Canal was worth a detour as were Delos and Delphi tours. Because we were doing Ephesus and Bodrum on the land tour, we did not  take the excursions offered by the cruise line; you would benefit from doing those, though they won't be on offer as a small group. 

Book Review: The Dutch House, Anne Patchett (novel, read by Tom Hanks, pub'd 2019): THB made it about halfway and gave up due to lack of interest in the story and (surprisingly) Hanks poor performance. Only one character, Maeve, the older sister of the protagonist, was more than one dimensional, and she barely. Maybe there were too many characters?  Not recommended

Bibliography: all reco'd (except Museum of Innocence). THB's trip was greatly enhanced by reading up ahead of time (or on the trip). 

• Birds Without Wings, Louis de Bermiees (novel, read by John Lee, pub'd 2004,): The story of a small village in Anatolia (southwest Turkey) and in parallel the life of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of the nation of Turkey. Much of the historical part is compressed and quite good, the fictional part needed editing and yet gave the rendering of the tearing of  Muslim and Christian communities apart is very insightful (and repeated many times for m any religions throughout history). 
• Gates of Athens, Conn Iggulden (novel, read by George Blagden, pub'd 2005) 
• Istanbul, a Tale of Three Cities, Bethany Hughes (read by the author, pub'd 2017)
• Istanbul, Memories and the City, Orhan Panuk (read by John Lee, pub'd 2005)
• The Museum of Innocence, Orhan Panuk (read by John Lee, pub'd 2008): only worthwhile if you want to visit the Museum, and at that it is had to take
• Book Review: A Time Of Gifts, On Foot to Constantinople, from the Hook of Holland to the Middle Danube,  Patrick Leigh Fermor (read by Crispin Redman, pub'd 1977): Book 1
• Between The Woods And The Water, On Foot from the Hook of Holland: The Middle Danube  to the Iron Gates, Patrick Leigh Fermor (read by Crispin Redman, pub'd 1986): Book 2 

Mocha with and odd spoon. Istanbul 

Chiharu Shiota show

art work left in Cisterns after Istanbul Biennale 

trendy couple at Topkapi 

the story of Turkey: fake, genuine fake, genuine? 

Everything can be fixed, and a good portion of the infrastructure is undergoing repetitive maintenance

we saw this guide aboard ship on the way from Athens to Istanbul, and now we catch her guiding a tour on the return from Istanbul to Athens....is this a small world or what?

our group of 6 - MM, SA, DA, DB, LS and THB - in the best preserved and most under-visited ruins site on the entire trip and probably of any archeology site around the world

THB broke many a rule  on this trip (most inadvertently) in taking this pic

why is the co-pilot signaling a left turn when we are still on the ground?

our group of 6 performing a balancing act

one of several excellent courses at Yemi, DB and THB's best meal on the trip on our last night before flying out of Istanbul just after the earthquakes 

THB took this pic before the earthquakes....now he understands why these braces are used