Brunchy Breakfast at B

B - a new-to-me Bakery in San Francisco on California at Divisadero within walking distance of our urban abode at Casa D'Ovidio. This must be the Parisienne way to eat Persimmon Pudding. And NOT the way to loose weight. But much cheaper and tastier than schlepping to Europe. The staff couldn't possibly be any friendlier!

Holidays on Valencia Street

You have to sit on his lap. Good luck!

Nuts in the City during the Holidays.

Thanks to galant Charles, this Rat King in our lightwell missed the Nutcracker auditions. He'd been using the downspout for direct access to the breakfast crumbs. Peanut butter got him. Quick kill.
I'm looking into where The Meshuganutcracker is playing (predictive spelling has gone mad with that one). Any ideas?

100 Apple pies

For the last 23 years on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, our sculptor friend, Don Rich, has gathered a few folk and 600 apples at his foundry in Oakland. He fires up the ovens in the morning and we peel, core, mix, bake and laugh. The pies are given to neighbors, friends, firemen, policemen - and if you bring the glass Pyrex pan back, you're on the list for next year.
Here's his secret: cut the apples with a fork (makes little "flavor ridges)." His philosophy "Never move a pie when it's still hot." Good advice not only for pies.

Healthy Thanksgiving

In honor of the kids' schedules, art talents and everyone's dietary preferences, we did a non-traditional-no-turkey-Saturday dinner. No birds harmed only vegetables farmed. A Whole Foods Produce Production (the meal starred perfectly poached salmon with salad, potato boats, persimmon pudding and rustic apple tart in supporting roles).
Yum ! And we are so looking forward to NOT driving, cleaning, sweeping, polishing, shopping, washing, stacking, chopping, mixing, stirring, tossing, mashing, carving and, above all BASTING. Put on the latest hit "It's all about the Bass" and make your own parody if you need to get into pre-dinner cooking aerobics.

Brother-Sister Iceland Expedition

It's been quite a journey. We can't wait to hear details from the duo about their adventures in Iceland. Here they were quite gussied up 10 years ago and another 8 years (or so) before that. How time doth fly!!!

Finland's Bunny Slippers

Some high-end Finnish Fashionistas have
created a line of of either Playboy Bunny High Heels or very sensible bunny slippers. Can't tell. The sister style was bright blue with a HUGE pink puff. You can imagine - not so good outside the bedroom.

Fear the Beard

By now Clarke should be terrifying Iceland's reindeer, moose, trolls and other creatures.
Evidently the volcano took note, but Lisa knows his true self.

Heading home

Chuck and I are awaiting our 13 hour flight - hoping to catch the Northern Lights (NOT the volcano in Iceland). Clarke and Lauren are off to hike in together and separately in Iceland/Norway/Denmark and Sweden, Lisa to start her residency in Finland.
"Moi. Moi!" is "Goodbye" in Finnish. So we are now "finished" with ALL language puns, ridiculous accents and the urge to break into the complete soundtrack and lyrics from "Frozen."

Practical Finnish details

TRIPLE pane windows seem to be everywhere (oh, so cold those winters). However, in order to find laundry, we had to take a ferry to a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Go figure.
We were told "the Fins are a peculiar people." They certainly do not air their laundry in public.

Moi...moi

Moi is hello-moi, moi is goodbye in Finnish. We've just said farewell to Helsinki and wished everyone grand adventures until we meet back in the States. The Instagram photos are astonishing, but this sketch captures our travelin' quintet (plus our new favorite Moomin) pretty well.

Hey (or maybe Hai) Helsinki!!!

Hello Helsinki!
After an all night journey across the Baltic Sea, we were greeted in the morning by our charming hostess Jasmine. She showed us her delightful apartment and escorted us to the most delicious breakfast at Cafe Tin Tin Tango. Afterwards we shopped the market for seasonal berries and mushrooms, wandered the design district, found earrings and flip books at Napa (means "belly button" in Finnish), checked out a typical hardware store, explored the Design Museum, made a pilgrimage to marimekko, and FINALLY saw some laundry (spotting it is challenging in Scandinavia). Finished up the evening at the Helsinki Festival with an extraordinary performance of punk-intersects-ballet-and-high-fash (fash is a word) "Animal Vegetable Mineral" choreography by the Michael Clark Company.

Clarke has navigated the streets, Lauren the internet and Lisa our attitudes. We couldn't ask for three more perfect Muskateers!

Legs of Leningrad

Where do they get those legs???
The Americans cover them with boots and leggings - Russian ladies stop traffic.

Unexpected colors

St.Petersburg is a glorious string of canals, candy cane churches and pastel colored buildings held together by souvenir shops and intermittent technology. If we could have one ruble for every nesting doll, we'd have as many paintings as there are in The Hermitage (they say if you spend one minute looking at each painting, it would take you 8 years to see them all).
Do the math.

It's all about aging

The alphabet is sometimes discernible -most times making us feel like we've had a stroke. Reading is an extraordinary effort and national pastime. We can see why.

Sorry no blog posts

Between being on a boat, under a bridge, next to an onion dome or in a garden, internet service has been spotty at best. We haven't tried the phone since dialing seems mysterious and quaint.

Proof of evolution

We found the missing link.
Long ago, someone's ancestors climbed up onto land to get things started.

Eats - not so cheap

This California-looking fresh, tasty salad is composed of arugula, parmesan cheese, lemon vinaigrette and smoked whale meat. Quite yummy.
It costs a pretty kroner, but well worth it!

Sea and Skum

The air is astonishingly clear and everything is either brilliant blue, green or one of Norway's five approved colors: brick red, mustard yellow, white, pale blue or dark green (there we go with the blues and greens again. I wonder how politicians worked these restrictions out centuries ago.

Hurtigruten

Rearrange the letters and and translate you get "geriatric floating city." This NOT the mailboat we'd imagined. Crystal chandeliers? This concept could revive the US Postal System.
Chuck is a fabulously good sport but Lauren has made me promise "no more cruises."
The landscape is astonishingly like the Pacific Northwest and not a Norwegian sweater to be seen outside the gift shop.
Clarke and Lisa join us Tuesday in Helsinki and we head off to St. Petersburg - on a boat, again. Uff, da!

Norge National Sports

Passing through Lillehammer - the site of the Winter Olympics just outside of Oslo - we were reminded how athletic everyone is here at any age - actively walking, hiking, biking, climbing all over the city. In the winter everyone must cross country ski since it is a "national right."
And there is this wonderful attitude toward public art and performance. Here's a staircase built out of 2x4s by students. And while his electric car is charging, this fellow practices, ties his "slack rope" up to the railing and teaches Lauren a step or two. Meanwhile, Chuck works on perfecting his "under bridge trolling" and daily tripping exercises. They have these 2" curbs EVERYWHERE and in the most unexpected places...