October - in more familiar climes

Having earned my music festival stripes in Austin the prior weekend, I ventured up to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on the first Saturday of October for the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, a free music fest underwritten by Warren Hellman. The weather forecast indicated that it might rain that day, and I believe that this contributed to a lower turnout than the festival had in 2007. I arrived in the 11 AM hour, and I set up my blanket, picnic/beer cooler, and beach chair at the Banjo Stage, ready for an early set by Jimmie Dale Gilmore.

I ended up spending nearly all of the day at the Banjo Stage, making a brief side trip to see/hear a few songs by Richard Thompson.

I always enjoy Jimmie Dale, and this performance was no exception. The Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band and Hot Rize

were also fun; Three Girls & Their Buddy (Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin & Buddy Miller)

was a performance of the “songwriters’ circle” style, with each lady taking lead on a song in series, and they frankly never developed any synergy in their performance, which was a little disappointing for all the talent on the stage. Odetta was a revelation – I knew nothing of her prior to her performance, which was charismatic and scintillating; that day, and especially after her recent passing, I felt very fortunate to have seen and heard her perform.

Steve Earle & the Bluegrass Dukes closed the day, and they were very, very good. As I was leaving the park, I heard a few snippets of Robert Earl Keen’s concurrent performance on another stage, which I probably would have ventured over to see had I not seen him perform a stellar show in Austin exactly one week earlier.

The next big event on my calendar in October was my college reunion (25 years!) at Stanford. Festivities began on Thursday afternoon, with a round of golf at the Stanford Golf Course with Phil Moeller. Both of us had our moments of glory [he more than I], and Phil emerged as the winner of the Rinconada Cup. After a little 19^th-hole action, Phil and I connected with Jim B. for a great dinner, conversation, and reminiscing at the Village Pub in Woodside. I spent Friday on the Farm, and enjoyed time catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. A highlight of this reunion (as with prior reunions) was the mid-afternoon class panel, a roundtable discussion among Class of ‘83ers about our perspectives of our experiences in the 25-29 years since our intense, shared time on Farm. Best of all was subsequently convening for a couple of hours with a dozen classmates and friends outside the café at the Alumni Center and shooting the breeze over a few frosty beverages. Our class party was Friday night at the Alumni Center. On Saturday, we set up our usual pre-game tailgate in Parking Lot 2 before I headed over to the Class of ’83 tailgate party, where I had a great time connecting with several more friends and classmates that I had missed on Friday.

The Cardinal gridders then knocked off the Arizona Wildcats, in cardiac comeback fashion. A couple hours of post-game tailgating in Parking Lot 2, then a walk across campus to our class “mini-reunion” party tent. It was especially fun to catch up with my frosh dorm-mates from Alondra

and the other Flo Mo houses, and, again, to begin new friendships with classmates I met for the first time that evening. By 10 PM, I headed back to my car in Parking Lot 2, and that’s when the exhaustion hit me. I made it home safely (including a moment of prescience regarding a deer walking west on Hwy 92 in my lane at the bottom of the hill), and then spent a couple of days resting my bones and my vocal cords.

Before next hitting the road, I met up with fellow Woodside Fund alum Angelos (betrothed 2 days earlier) for some catching up over beers and appetizers on the sunny deck at the Half Moon Bay Brewery. It was so nice to get out on my bicycle along the Coast, which I have not been doing enough during the times that I have been at home.

On the 15^th, I hit the road, driving down to Lake Havasu City, AZ, to celebrate my mother’s 91^st birthday with her and my sisters Toni and Miki. We enjoyed a long weekend together, and the four of us went out for a round of golf in Parker – it was Toni’s first round of golf, and her spirit and positive attitude were great. The beers we enjoyed upon our return home after the round were especially quenching. During this trip to Arizona, I learned that I do not have a future career in plumbing – Miki and I spent 9 or 10 hours, and three trips to the hardware store, replacing Mom’s kitchen faucet (which is now working like a champ). [For those keeping score at home, so far I have eliminated the following potential career paths post-sabbatical, based on my experiences of the past 6 months: panning for gold; plumbing.] I had a safe drive home on Monday, and then on Thursday the 23^rd, I flew to the Big Island for a long weekend at my favorite resort, the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel. Per my regular habit: arrive about 11:30 AM, pick up the car, lunch at the Kona Brewing Company, Safeway run, Snorkel Bob’s (snorkeling gear rental), drive up the Kohala Coast to Hapuna Beach, check-in, head down to the beach, retreat to the poolside bar for Mai Tai #1. I was early to bed on Thursday night, looking forward to a 6:45 AM tee time on Friday. I got out early for my round of golf, and I made it around the course in less than 2.5 hours – and that was the highlight of the golf aspect of the round. So at this point, I had played a round of golf in each of three consecutive weeks, in three different states, and my play worsened. Remove another profession from the list of potential careers post-sabbatical: PGA Tour professional golfer [I’ll get back to you in a few years re: the Senior Tour]. That afternoon, after spending most of the day on the beach or poolside, I went to the Seafood Bar for a happy hour meal of sashimi, tempura California roll, and mai tais. On Saturday morning, I went for an early snorkel at Hapuna Beach. It was pretty good, but the water wasn’t especially clear even at that early hour. About an hour after returning my snorkeling gear to my room, I returned to the pool. The town attendant informed me that swimming at the beach was now “red flagged” because of a tiger shark sighting. That news pretty much turned me off from snorkeling for the rest of the weekend…

Just as well. I did a little bit of exploring/touring in the North Kohala area during this trip to Hawai’i, but I ended up spending the bulk of my time at the resort, either on the beach, at poolside, or on my lanai, resting and relaxing (and monitoring the Phillies’ World Series exploits), and it felt great to be unencumbered by any to-do lists or schedules.

Before departing, I made my regular stop at the Kona Coffee Roasting Company, to replenish my personal inventory and to begin some Christmas shopping. I very much enjoy Kona coffee!

October was a very good month.