The Ragged End Of Nowhere: The Best Laid Plans...

I'm back in NYC after a week in California. I was supposed to stay longer but I've always been one for changing plans. I landed in SF and spent the first couple nights in the city. As usual when in SF, great meals were on the books, the first being dinner & sake at Tsunami w/Val & LM. The next day I had lunch with Marjorie at the Slanted Door. This is one of those overly popular, overly hyped spots that I'm usually skeptical of, but we had an amazing meal and everything the people around us ordered looked equally great. It's in a gorgeous spot in the Ferry Building with views of the Bay Bridge. The next day I started at my old favorite neighborhood breakfast spot, Crepes On Cole, where they make the greatest god-damned french toast in the known universe. Mmmmm....

After a couple days I set off in Jimmy's camper van to Hendy Woods, a campground & redwood grove in the Anderson Valley area of Mendocino County. This is one of my favorite places and Chad & Erin came up for the weekend. I stayed another night after they went home and had a very relaxing bit of solitude in the big trees. I was going to keep heading north for a few more days but the trusty vanagon's clutch dissolved and I instead had to limp it back to Fairfax w/very limited shifting abilities. Luckily Lucas was in town with some time off and he came and got me and I ended up staying with him and Lexi for a few days. We had some good times, heading to Limantour beach and eating & drinking various goodies. I spent a day hungover from Sake on their couch watching baseball (Go Sawks!) and just generally taking up space. I didn't intend to encroach on them for 3 days, but hey, that's what friends are for right? Oh, aye. I had planned on staying in Oakland at Marjorie's for the weekend and seeing some music in the park, but home beckoned and the promise of some short-notice work with Queens of the Stonge Age made me decide to go home early, and so I was off. It's like summer in NY. Highs in the upper 80s and humid. Global warming indeed.

I saw this woman brushing her teeth on Market St...