Art Show in Napa

Drove up to Napa early this morning to watch Julia and her fellow students present their final projects at the Oxbow School of the Arts. She gave a compelling explanation of the research and thought that went into her healing quilt, and was very articulate and composed. In heals (above) she is eye to eye with me.

Such a strong, lovely, talented young woman and has spent the fall among so many other impressive people from all over the world at her school. I talked with many of her friends and fellow students, all of whom also made impressive presentations about their projects.

One young woman from China told how she built two interlocking three-legged chairs to illustrate the relationship of siblings. As a person born during China's one-child policy, she has no siblings.

Others explored depression and mental illness among artists, body image issues, surveillance and AI, and many other substantive issues.

What a day!

Afterwards we went with friends to one of the Napa area's many great restaurants. A great day!

All Okay Here

A nice long talk with Aidan in Missoula today about an essay he is writing about a recent Margaret Atwood novel about the dystopian future for our species. I love the way he thinks about fiction. He is a very good writer.

I also appreciate the intellectual development that happens for our kids during a college education at a quality state institution. I can tell he is in good hands. He is growing and changing.

It is cloudy and a bit rainy here today. We keep hearing that a record El Nino is on the way, which would change the dynamics here during this historic dry period. I love the rain -- hell, all Californians love the rain at this point.

I'm just doing the laundry and about to cook myself an omelette. A very quiet Sunday here in S.F.

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Christmas Lights

So there is this house across the street and a couple paces to the south with white lights strung over their door and down their stairs. From here is loots like a prefect replica of the state of California.

Of course that is only from this angle...

Thanksgiving 2.0

At Aquatic Park in Berkeley we all saw the big Monarch butterfly migration in a tree there...

Thanksgiving 2015

Chinese Restaurant

Here is Julia with her friend from boarding school Lila tonight at dinner with me at Alice's in Noe Valley. They were noticing that they were both sitting the same way. Lila is from a small town in Vermont and is a vegetarian and a performance artist.

It's a cold night in SF but we had a warm dinner.

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Holiday Time

Julia is home from boarding school for Thanksgiving break and I took her out for lunch today. She chose one of our favorite local haunts -- Whiz Burger -- that's been around since drive-in diners were the scene in the 50s.

She told me her final project at school is making a 4 x 4 quilt out of recycled materials. She showed me a photo of it and it looks absolutely beautiful.

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