At Staceys in the next month or so:

Friday, October 3rd @ 12:30
Jonathan Lethem
THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE

From National Book Critics Circle Award-winner Jonathan Lethem, comes a daring, riotous, sweeping novel that spins the tale of two friends from a Brooklyn neighborhood, a black boy and a white boy, and their adventures in late 20th-century America. THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE is the story of what would happen if two teenaged boys obsessed with comic book heroes actually had superpowers.

Wednesday, November 5th @ 12:30
Gregory Maguire
MIRROR MIRROR

A Stacey's favorite, and bestselling author of WICKED: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST, Gregory Maguire, brings us a reimagining of the story of Snow White. MIRROR MIRROR is set in Renaissance Italy where a farm girl named Bianca de Nevada catches the interest of the ruthless Borgia family. In the tradition of his earlier novels, Gregory Maguire brings fresh eyes to a beloved classic tale.

(OK, so this next one is pricey)
Monday, October 20th @ Noon
COMMONWEALTH CLUB
Food Lit
Jamie Oliver
JAMIE'S KITCHEN

England's "Naked Chef," Jamie Oliver, didn't earn his sobriquet baring the family jewels. He became England's food sensation by slicing recipes down to size, insisting, "Strip it bare, then make it work." Star of his own wildly popular Food Network show, Oliver teaches us that good cooking can be quick, tasty, and unpretentious. Please note: This event will take place at One Market, 1 Market Street @ Steuart. Admission is $45 for members, $60 for non-members. Registration begins at 11:30 am. For reservations and more information, please call 415-597-6705.

Ever-so-different than the last entry, but still involving my mom, and our hands...

This weekend my parents visited, to see the house, and help with a first run at home improvements. They left this afternoon - the score tonight, as i go to bed:

--Garage door opener installed. (This was the big one.) Unfortunately, it doesn't work. We'll spend some time on the phone with the nice people from Genie, and hopefully they'll come and replace the logic board.
--Guest bathroom now has a towel rack, robe hook, and hand towel rack.
--On drawers: The bathroom and kitchen drawers now actually sit on rails, as intended. They slide, and don't fall out or anything. I need to pick up some of those little teflon bits to put on the wood so they slide a little easier, but they're a world better.
--Several windows which didn't have cat-safe screens now do. Including the kitchen window and our bedroom window - important ones. And i have the tools and screen to rescreen the ones with chewed-up screen, too.
--The printer has aquired a lovely black metal stand, in the form of two artist's paper cabinets. Helps immensely with the computer/rec room storage.
--There is now a coat rack mounted downstairs.
--Cambridge Soundworks speakers mounted and wired in the kitchen. Add iPod, whisk briskly, and voila! Music in the kitchen.
--I picked up the art i took in a few weeks ago for framing - it looks fantastic. I hung one piece in the kitchen; the other three are waiting on the highly-anticipated couches.
--I installed the candle stands in the fireplace. They fit!
--Locking mailbox, installed.
--Grill repaired. (Ok. So this took roughly 15 seconds to do. But it took me a year to remember to buy the parts, and then a week and a half to take them down to the grill.)
--Wiring of phone line to the desired placement of the DSL modem and other home network folderol is approximately 1/3 done.
--My parents, they even washed some of the windows. They're the best.
--AND everything is clean, the guest room is put back together, i made dinner for tonight & soup for my lunches this week, and Russell cleaned up the kitchen. (The roomba helped.)

Now? Now it is bedtime. With the window cracked open to let in a bit of air, and the sound of the birch trees.

On my birthday, i had a lovely flat of peaches (thank you, Naomi!!), gorgeously ripe and destined to be puréed and served in bellinis at my birthday party.

I was peeling and slicing, my hands drenched and dripping in the sweet peach nectar, watching my fingers do their job quickly and safely. And i was suddenly overwhelmed with a sense memory of my mom and grandma peeling and slicing ripe peaches (from Brentwood, also) for jams, jellies, pies. Crates of them at a time, rather than flats, but i saw so clearly that i have their hands. And their sensibilities about fruit, and food. And it was lovely and wonderful.

What a great 30th birthday gift...

I'm sorry - had i planned a big bbq for my birthday, it would have been cooler in the city this weekend. Downright rainy, actually. Oops!

This entry is for Carol! 8)

Goblin is back to being queen - this morning she cut me off while i was walking up the stairs (she enters on the second or third step, with a dainty little leap), and in general, has figured out that this is Her House. Sure, she'll be cranky Saturday night at being shut up during the party - but she'll be CRANKY with me, not utterly freaked.

This is definitely good. One week of being here, this afternoon!

We seem to be settling in nicely; our routines are starting to feel more normal. Goblin is sleeping on me most of the night again, rather than prowling and hiding and hiding and prowling; i'm waking up a bit less in the middle of the night. The floors downstairs are done, and we've traded keys for a check to prove it. I picked up a mop, some bath mats, and a few other bits and bobs today that are making rooms seem a little more put together. Goblin followed me upstairs this morning, and actually sat with me while i did my morning work - this is definitely a good sign. Beca came over for a drink and a chat last night, and we sent her home with a stack of books to read. We've ordered a washer and a dryer, and a bit more furniture - things are really starting to feel like home around here!

And the praxis goblincat came up the stairs twice this morning, thus far. She's even resumed her old habit of surveying the big living room from the safety of the top step.

I just watched Goblin go down the stairs for the first time. She sat at the bottom and cried to come back up when she was done.

Something's definitely up this morning - she's talking a lot, but i can't figure out what she wants. Maybe she just wants to go home. :(

Today we'll take the last of the donations away from 16 Hill street, leaving only regency and the DSL modem chugging away for the next few days. Some of the things i'll miss about that house:

-- The lovely tall ceilings.
-- The way the catacombs never, ever got above 65 or 70.
-- My herbs. Not the fanciest of herb gardens, but my first gardening since i was a kid, really.
-- Lost Weekend Video, and our proximity thereo. I'm sure we'll see those cats around and about in the future. We're always running into them, it seems.
-- Last Supper Club, and our fabulous bartenders there.
-- The pub. (aka the Liberties. Many a pint were consumed there, and the fries are terrific. I'm comforted by knowing that i can always get a "Hey, how ya doin'?" from Eugene, no matter how infrequently i go.
-- Also on that corner: Que Tal. La Focaccia. Tao Cafe. The giant rubber-band ball.
-- The folks who run my corner store. Even if they do want to know when we're having kids.
-- David and Andy.
-- Being but a block from Lucca Ravioli. There's nothing easier to making a smashing cocktail party or dinner party on almost no notice when Lucca's open. That reminds me, i need another case of prosecco.
-- The produce market at 24th and Valencia, and its proprieters. Amazingly good cheap produce.
-- El Farolito's al pastor burritos, with avocado & cheese, but no salsa. Best al pastor in the Misison, and big chunks of avocado.
-- Molly scaring people from the guest bathroom.
-- For some reason, the bench in my backyard whose slats were perpetually breaking.
-- Knowing that the ladies on the wall and the dial on the ceiling were originals, from 1878.
-- Random visits from Forrest, on his way home from Aquarius.
-- Tartine. Bi-rite. Walking past Leather Tongue video on the way, and seeing what's in the window.
-- Timos. Limon. Ti Couz. Alma.
-- Colleen and her ruby & sapphire, a block from my house. Sometimes with good movies playing just outside.
-- Proximity to the Leckmans. An easy 5 block walk makes for easy quick visits, shared walks, and good fun all around. Our house was the first house Ely got to know after he learned where his new home was.
-- The walk down Valencia to 16th. That's my drag, man.
-- Three great bookstores in one block. Modern Times. Dog Eared Books. Borderlands.
-- Near there, Currents - the cute little Japanese bath & whatnots shop that i didn't go into for far too long, but now adore.
-- All the memories of three years with James locked up in those walls.
-- Random Indian ice cream on long walks home from the Farmer's Market.
-- Being walking distance from Zuni Cafe.
-- 4 blocks from the 24th and Mission BART stop.
-- The Mission-Bartlett garage, and the folks who run it.

We're Home!!

Miss Goblin is slinking (well, now she's huddling behind some piles of things) about, i have a glass of wine, and we're hooking up some A/V gear. (Music needed. Dumb DVD needed. Borogoves tired. Beer foamy.) We'll shower and check out the local sushi joint in an hour or so. We are surviving dial-up. (All hail the Airport team.) Tomorrow: the kitchen & the computer desks.

(And damn. Handy Andy is the man. Our floors downstairs are GORGEOUS. And large props to Dan and his crew from Emerald movers. You were stellar.)

The house is in complete disarray, we're almost as packed as we wanted it to be, and two hunky irish guys and one hunky latino are carrying my stuff to the car. The cat is hiding under the sink in the cabinets in her bathroom prison, eschewing her favorite blankie altogether and GLARING when i come in to check on her. It's going to be some time before she forgives me for this...