Some of you may know that I like to Cross-Stitch. In fact, I just finished Shabbos-Lady, and I’m including a photo of it, before blocking and mounting, here.
I went into the needlework store, and the lady showed me some needlepoint stitches, and I decided to give it a try. Since I wanted to learn the “basketweave” pattern, I decided to stitch larger blocks of color, and started stitching an American flag.
I realized that on 13 count canvas, it’s going to be hard to do the stars. I could embroider them, and I might, but then I got the idea of using start shaped buttons.
I found a product called a Q241 1/2 inch white star, but they come only on retail packaged cards, and they are $.90 per card.That’s going to be about twenty-five dollars worth of buttons. I think I pass.
Suggestions are welcome. The start-field must be 42 stitches high, but can be as man 50 or even 55 stitches wide.
Movin’ In
By going through our worldly goods, we find things. Among the things that didn’t go to the dump were these needlepoint windows that were made by my grandmother Natalie (Nana) Greenberg, way back when.
We had these in the house for the past 20 years, in a dark corner of the living room. I’m glad to have them out where they can be seen.
Greenbergs have left the building!
Well, that’s it. We turned in the keys today. We are now officially homeless (?)
The dump got over 6,000 pounds (three TONS) ofjunk. Hats off to Cheap Hauling, for hauling the stuff away.
We’ll be here in Santa Clara Elks for the weekend, then back to Morgan Hill TTN for a few weeks.
Down to the Wire
Just about everything is out of the apartment.
Freecyclers have come and taken much furniture, many appliances, and some things too nice to throw away but not fitting into our life or lifestyle. It’s nice to know that things will be used.The garbologists came on Monday and took away two tons of stuff. They will be back today (Friday, 2/29) for another truckload.
We had to change the insurance - we need insurance to replace the renters policy, covering our “worldly goods” and personal liability. The major companies don’t deal with that, so we needed a specialist. Fortunately, Escapees club has several of them as commercial members, so we knew where to go for assistance. We chose to use Miller Insurance in Lake Oswego, OR. Let’s hope we never find out how good the coverage really is 
I remembered to turn off the utilities! We haven’t had traditional phone service for the past few years, but we had to turn off such things as water delivery, Tivo, cable TV/Internet, and of course, power. It’s fun to tell the service reps that we won’t need them at a “new location” at all. This is a good time to remember the old adage that, “whatever plugs in, plugs out.”
By the end of the day, we just have to drop the keys and gate remotes off with the on-site manager, and we are out. What a relief.
Kugel!
Tonight for dinner, I wanted to do something different. I did breaded and fried Tilapia, and made a sweet noodle kugel. Extreme yum all around.
Moron (more-on) Going Full Time
One or the other of the titles of this page is correct. I hope it’s the one in parentheses.
We’ve been parked here at the Santa Clara Elks Lodge for two weeks, and I’ve been back and forth to the apartment almost daily. So far, I’ve concentrated on books, since they were sitting on every other surface that need to be cleaned, removed or otherwise handled. They are (or were) everywhere. I did not take photographs. I should have.
On Thursday, we were able to get Freecycle members to pick up the:
- King size bed
- Microwave
- Freezer
- TV (29 inch CRT type)
- Air conditioner
As a bonus, I also found a good home for my AR turntable. The fellow who took the turntable asked after my KLH-6 speakers, but I’m still looking to get them into the trailer.
Getting rid of books
As you know, Roseann and I took a big step to move out of our home and into our RV Trailler. We are going full time traveling. We’re very excited. Today, freecyclers came and took away furniture, appliances and electronic gear. I found good homes for lots of stuff. I experienced noseparation anxiety.
I’ve also packed and donated about ten boxes of books, mostly to the Masonic Home Library, some to specialized libraries (as for the railroad books) and some to the book sale at the public library.
Now I come to the fiction. Today I packed up the shelf containing the oldest and dearest of my paperback Sci-Fi. Heinlein, Asimov, Robinson, Bradley and a host of others went into boxes, and I’ve not even come to McCaffrey, Kurtz, Lackey and the like. Nor any hardbacks. We won’t even talk about Miller and Lee… those are coming with me.
I feel like I’m saying goodbye to old friends. I don’t know where to donate these books. Some are in poor condition from having been read, and re-read, which only enhances their emotional value to me.
I know it’s only fiction. I know it’s only entertainment. I know it’s only transitory. But it doesn’t matter. We science fiction readers are given the same magical ability that our favorite characters have…. To travel to new and different worlds. To leave our mundane lives behind for a short time, and indulge in something miraculous, even if only in our imagination. And who is to say that the world of our imagination is any less real or important to each of us, as the physical world in which we travel
I will send these SciFi books off to the Masonic Home, where generations of retired Masons and their wives can encounter them in the library and sitting rooms; and who knows, someday I may wind up there, and run into my own books, again.
I could use some conciliatory comments on this. It’s traumatic. Thanks for listening.
Morgan Hill, CA
Since leaving Monterey, we’ve been in Morgan Hill. We’re clearing out our apartment, preparatory to going full time in the trailer. So far, I’ve packed and donated eight boxes of books and moved a bunch of stuff to the trailer.
I have two restaurant recommendations to post:
- Cafe San Jose, 1583 Meridian Avenue, San Jose, CA 95125. Cross Street Hamilton Avenue. Open 7 AM to 3 PM seven days a week. 408-265-3020. Really excellent breakfast. Care taken with food prep, service and presentation. I had steak and eggs. I was impressed with the cut of meat, with the spices and veggies in the country potatoes, and with the proper preparation of the eggs. The toast was buttered while warm, the lack of which is a pet peeve of mine.
- A Slice of New York (Pizzaria), 3443 Stevens Creek Blvd, San Jose, CA 95117, 408-24-SLICE. Real New York pizza, calzone, cannoli, garlic knots, etc. Manhattan Specials. Drakes Cakes! Superb.
We’ll be in San Jose Elks lodge next week. We’re no longer sleeping in the apartment, since doing so makes it impossible to pack.
R V having fun yet?
Sorry to have missed a week of travel. I thought I had posted from our previous stop, but I see I did not. I have a few mailing lists that receive postings as we travel, and sometimes I forget what we post where.
The weekend in Santa Barbara was very good, if soggy. We celebrated Shabbos, and I went to services at Chabad of S. Barbara. As usual, I enjoy Rabbi Loschak’s services. Also enjoyed meeting Rabbi Mendel Loschak, who operates the Chabad at UCSB, as well as Rabbi Zalman, who runs the preschool.
Santa Barbara is always a nice town to explore, and we got out a little on Saturday night and Sunday.
On Monday, we traveled north, with minimal planning, and wound up in Lompoc. We stayed at the Elks Lodge, as usual. Lompoc is a very nice small town. Nicer than I expected. Small business - including a nice used bookstore, independent coffee shop, some enjoyable restaurants, etc. This is also a Mural town. Like 29 Palms and others, the towns is decorated by murals on the walls of both public and private businesses. We stayed for three nights. I worked. We tried to go to the Lompoc Museum, but it was closed for two weeks due to roof repairs.
On Thursday, we traveled north to Monterey, where we are encamped in the Monterey Elks Lodge. I attended services at Cong. B’Nai Torah, a conservative affiliated shul. The shul is lay-led. No rabbi. There are a bunch of well-skilled people who can lead services, read the Torah, etc. I was made very welcome, and I highly recommend a visit, for those who are comfortable in a conservative movemen, egalitarian, setting. One thing to note: Their website says 9:15. They actually start at 10.
A few good restaurant recommendations:
- American Host Restaurant, 113 N I St # D, Lompoc, CA 93436, (805) 735-5188. We had an excellent breakfast at this hole-in-the-wall, a block off the main drag.
- There is a really good mexican place in the Safeway shopping center on Canal Street in King City. I really wish I remembered the name. It’s located right at the entrance, near the pizza place, the Rite-Aid and the coffee shop.
- La Giostra (Tuscan Italian Restaurant), 1244 Munras Ave, Monterey, CA 93940, (831) 917-2661. A fine dinner. Minestrone was done so well. The broth was thick, and almost creamy, not watery at all. The vegetables were all fresh and crisp. Roseann had Penne Pasta with Mozzarella. It was not a melted cheese dish, but rather a pasta in sauce dish with small nuggets of fresh whole milk mozzarella cheese. I had a dish with shells, chicken, roasted garlic, sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms in a white wine cream sauce. Very, very, tasty. We skipped desert, reluctantly.
Soon we’ll be back in San Jose. Thanks for riding along.
We are still above water!
On Thursday night, after Encounters, we went back to our trailer at the Westchester Elks Lodge, expecting it to start raining. We were surprised when it didn’t.
Encounters is an interesting experience. It is supposed to feel like you are dining in a flying saucer, floating above LAX. In fact, the food and service were quite good, and the kitchy atmosphere (lava lamps, blobs of color, curved walls, etc) make the experience a treat. The garlic fries are excellent.
On Friday morning, it still wasn’t raining, and I was considering that the whole thing might have been overblown, but decided to continue to take it seriously. After a quick fast-food breakfast, we hooked up and headed north on “the” 405 to “the” 101. (Southern California parlance is to refer to numbered highways as “the” whatever. We don’t do that in Northern California, leading one to take “the 5″ north, but when one gets there, one gets off “I-5.”) At about Calabazas we went over the first big hill and found the beginning of rain. The rain got heavier as we went west and it was coming down pretty good by the time we reached Oxnard.
We had identified that the coast was a better choice than the inland route - mainly because of wind warnings - and we had considered spending Shabbos at Oxnard or Santa Barbara. Both have Elks lodges with hookups, and both have access to a Chabad House for services. Since we were at Oxnard at about 10:30 AM, we kept going for Santa Barbara.
The rain got heavier, and we had to set up the trailer surrounded by some puddles, but we got safely set up, level, stable, hooked up and otherwise hunkered down for the big rain — and rain it did. All afternoon and all night. At one time, the news said we were getting an inch per hour.
This morning, it looks pretty wet out, but most of the puddles seem to have absorbed and we are expecting a 40 percent chance of showers. Meanwhile, in San Jose, they are expecting thunderstorms.
We’ll sojourn here, and consider moving on tomorrow. More as things develop.
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