Cycle of Life

Dearest Family and Friends

57 Cumberland Street, San Francisco CA 94110
Phone Number: +1 415 738 2112
Nadine 415 595 0023
Colman 415 871 9920

We are very well and starting to get excited about the arrival of Baby (we aren’t finding out the sex, it will be a Surprise) in just a few short months time. Both of us are doing our research, keeping very well, and enjoying this time together.

Highlights

Grannie

Pat and Niamh

Big Sur

Grannie
Very very sadly my feisty, incomparable and inspirational Grannie died on the 16th May. She was 93 and had suffered a sudden stroke on the 17th April from which she never recovered.

I flew to England the following week for the funeral. My parents collected me at Heathrow (managed 2 hours doze on the plane - better than last time) and drove up north to Cumbria. Grannie had been visiting my Aunt, Judith, who lives outside Carlisle, when she had fallen ill out of the blue, having been in remarkable health for so long. So along with my sister, Louise, Peter and their two kids, Lizzie and Thomas, plus my cousin Jessica and her partner Alex and son Archie we stayed at Snittlegarth Farm in the North Lakes where my cousin, Ros, and her husband, Roddy, live. (granddaughters L-R me, Ros, Jessica, Lucy, Louise) A riotous bout of trampolining in the garden involving dogs stealing shoes included me until I saw a little symbol of a figure with baby figure inside and a cross through... Oops. We all had a very jolly dinner in the Sun Inn in Bassenthwaite – mammoth portions and much discussion of childbirth as wonderfully, both Jessica and I are pregnant and due 3 days apart. That night I slept well in the Coach House, after shooing away the swallows in my bedroom.

The funeral the next day was attended by family only: the party from Snittlegarth being joined by Judith and Michael and their daughter, Lucy, my other aunt Gillian, and Anne, Peter and Toni – our Irish cousins. Hugely moving to see the coffin; lovely music including Crimond’s The Lord’s My Shepherd, Mozart’s Requiem Lacrimosa, and Stanford’s Nunc Dimittis. Readings from Gillian and Judith; my mother, Carol, gave the eulogy on behalf of the three daughters (L-R Judith, Gillian, Carol); Jessica on behalf of the five granddaughters and six great-grandchildren with reference to the two on the way. We finished with the Irish blessing in homage to the country she made her home for 45 years.

I didn’t know before the service that Grannie had played bridge for Ireland, nor that she had hoped Jessica and I would both have girls (better for older parents), nor just how much I am going to miss her. Both my mother and Jessica emphasised Grannie’s enormous zest for life, her energy (social engagements were reduced to one a day once she reached 90), her generosity to her family (while ensuring not a penny was wasted on taxi drivers or groceries), her plain-speaking (we were often taken to task with brutal honesty), her strength of character (that enabled her to totally reinvent her life at 67), her interest in the world around, her humour, prodigious memory and stoicism. Truly her spirit lives on in us all and there is no greater tribute to her than our vivid awareness of her influence and presence within our wonderful family. She said at her 90th: ‘To quote Clark Gable, “I’ve been lucky, and I know it.”’ And that is how we shall remember her.

The memory of lunch afterwards at Judith and Michael’s lovely house I’ve holidayed at all my life is a treasure – children romping around in the garden (L-R Lizzie, Thomas, Jemima, Archie, Wyndham, Tara). My family is hugely important to me and we have real friendships with our relations. It was really special that I was able to go to the funeral as it is unlikely that all the family will be together again for some time: my sister is moving to Pakistan for 2 years for Peter’s work with the Department of Overseas Aid; Jessica is moving to Manchester at the end of July; we are here in San Francisco. It will always be a matter of regret that Grannie didn’t meet my child or Jessica’s, but some comfort that she knew we were both expecting and how happy we are.

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Pregnancy Update
Pregnancy is a full time occupation it seems – weekly Pilates, twice/thrice weekly yoga, massage, careful diet (careful to eat lots that is), reading books, booking up courses, making lists of things to buy, meeting fellow mothers to be at yoga, and still pronouncing myself to be just fine in all yoga classes. We were encouraged to share what our legacy from our mothers, family and friends is about their experience of childbirth at one class a week or so ago. This took up half an hour of the 90 minutes of which my contribution was as brief as possible… The bump is, sadly from my POV (literally as I can’t see my toes when standing upright now), overtaking the boobs – definitely a case of bump not plump now.

Visitors of the Month
Colman’s parents, Pat and Niamh, came to visit us for three weeks, which was a great success. Adept and resourceful in visiting sights of San Francisco we had yet to discover, they seemed to enjoyed the city hugely and were extremely generous to us.

One of the highlights was attending the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas with a superb programme of Copeland’s Short Symphony, Mahler Songs and Also Sprach Zarathustra by Strauss. We also went to saw Kathleen Turner in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf; visited Golden Gate Park to see the bison, the lake, and the paragliders and sand yachts; and saw a charming documentary at the Film Festival called The Monastery about an eccentric Dane who gave his mini-stately home to a group of Russian Orthodox nuns.

We took Pat sailing with Rob and Jenn, venturing around Angel Island on another glorious sunny day. Spinnakers out in force on the racing yachts. Flights of cormorants purposefully venturing out to sea. Terns fishing overhead. Breezy, we keeled over to manageable levels only, and anchored for a long lunch. A delightful way to see San Francisco from another angle.

Patrick, brother No1, came over from Pittsburgh while Pat and Niamh were here, and we all had a grand day out in Marin County over the Bridge. We stopped to admire the wonderful quintessential view over the city, drove around Marin Heads with its fossilised army fortifications and splendid horizons, spotting cliff swallows and pigeon guillemots for the first time.

We strolled along Muir Beach, discovering starfish and mussels, while grebes and loons bobbed in flocks offshore, and all loved a longer walk in revered Muir Woods where you walk through giant trees, the light shafting down through the redwood canopy. Despite many visitors, the quiet majesty of the trees soaring above us was supreme. None can visit this magical spot on the planet without feeling awestruck and peaceful.

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Expedition of the Month
With Pat and Niamh to famed beautiful Big Sur, 2 hours south of San Francisco: coastline of the rolling breakers, extensive marine park, cliffs and stacks, arches and landslides, car-ad famous corniche-style contour hugging road, and pristine wilderness. Blessed with glorious weather, the whole weekend was warm, sunny and near cloudless. One glorious moment was stopping to admire the view in one of the many turn outs, when I spotted a pair of sea otters below us, lying on their backs contentedly nibbling at the forests of kelp that appear as dark streaks in the pristine seas.

Our first stop was the gateway to Big Sur: Point Lobos State Reserve, a spur of land just south of Carmel, which has dramatic rugged cliffs and offshore rocky islands contrasting with white waved turquoise seas. It was very windy but nothing daunted we ambled around the northernmost promontory of South Point and Pinnacle Cove, which features a grove of relict Tolkienesque cypress trees, left over from pre-Ice Age times, bent over and gnarled, covered in bushy lichen and orange algae. A friendly white-crowned sparrow and I had a singing competition. Sea lions rolled, played and howled in the breakers. Pat and Niamh mastered our binoculars.

Heading south along Highway One, as the land rises steeply from the ocean, buildings are few and spectacular feats of bridge building engineering appear around every corner. Eloquently and uniquely described by Jack Kerouac in his opus Big Sur, which I happened to be reading at the time (thanks John), the landscape is indeed truly awesome inspiring both delight and terror at its raw visceral primeval quality. Switchbacks around headlands revealed a new vista at every turn, lighthouses and stacks; the sea shimmered and danced beneath us, in hues of cobalt, inky blue, celadon and azure, while shifting light shimmered silver and gold across the water.

Our first night demonstrated that it is possible to get lost on a single road with no turn-offs, with badly illuminated signage and no village/town centre to speak of. I was desperate for food by the time we finally found a restaurant to take us – Niamh and I had a delicious duck concoction which kept the wolf from the door. This was also the venue where for the first time a stranger patted my stomach saying how cute – not the words I’d have chosen but endearing nonetheless.

The next day we split, doing separate walks from the Big Sur Lodge where we were staying – taking in waterfalls, the astonishing quiet one finds in dense woods, busy undergrowth, carpets of spring flowers, mossy banks, and in our case, increasingly barren slopes as we ventured climbed, hot and high, above the tree line, to be rewarded with glimpses of the sea over the ridge to the north and not a soul on the path.

That afternoon we visited McWay Falls, California’s only coastal waterfall, which drops 80 ft onto a white powder beach in this impossibly perfect horseshoe cove. Probably the most beautiful beach I’ve ever seen, all the more so as humans are not able to climb down to it and must remain content with walking around the top for outstanding views, waves roll rhythmically in, seals cavorting in the surf offshore, gulls drinking from the fresh water stream. McWay Falls also has aromatic eucalyptus trees, a hidden campsite at the southern end, and bold Stellar’s Jays. And feels like Paradise Cove in an unspoiled Eden.

Grandiose Folly of the Month
Our Big Sur Grand Finale was Hearst Castle, a Moorish Spanish meets Greco-Romanesque villa-cum-fairy castle, built by William Randolph Hearst of Citizen Kane fame, from the 1920s pretty much until his death. A fabulously wealthy newspaper tycoon, Hearst indulged his passions for collecting European treasures, some of which are centuries old, running a ranch like no other (in its heyday it had a zoo in the grounds), and partying as only a man rich as Croesus can, in fine style. 165 rooms in four houses including a lavish private chapel, blood red silk walled private cinema, medieval refectory, Baroque living room and 41 fireplaces.

After your bus ride up from the visitor centre, you first come across the Neptune Pool, which features Roman antiquities carved up to fit into the portico. Ascend to the Italianate formal gardens replete with fountains, statues and sarcophagi. Beloved of Hollywood excess in the 1930s, the formal rooms, bed chambers (featuring antique beds, tapestries, medieval painted ceilings, antique treasures beyond compare) and wonderful views to the ocean, are well worth being shunted through in organised tour groups with friendly guides whose eye is ever on the clock. All tours end at the indoor swimming pool with gold leaf mosaic floors. Amazing.

Seasonal Event of the Month
We set off for Big Sur on the 5th May – Cinco de Mayo – which commemorates a Mexican victory over the French in 1862, and although not that big a deal across Mexico itself, has now become an excuse to celebrate the culture of those of Mexican ancestry in the US in areas of large populations of Latinos – such as California and particularly the Mission District of SF. So Mission Dolores Park was setting up for a big fiesta day as we drove south, us remarking it was a shame to miss the celebrations.

But in Salinas, where we stopped for lunch and visited the informative and well-presented John Steinbeck Museum, (Steinbeck grew up in Salinas) we came across a school display at the museum entrance. An excellent mariachi band (violins, trumpets, guitars, fine-voiced mournful serenading singer) dressed in traditional silver studded outfits with big hats, played as a troupe of children (the girls lacquered to within an inch of their lives) performed traditional folklórico dances with great timing and flourishes, to wild applause from the assembled museum visitors and proud parents.

Restaurant of the Month
On our last night in Big Sur we dined at Cielo, which has a fabulous patio overlooking the coastline and as the sun went down, the light subtly shifted, bringing richness to the colours of the hillside and water. Presentation and service were top-notch. The pea soup exquisite in flavour; the champagne and watermelon amuse bouche delicately fresh. Mains of flavourful chicken, intense duck and artistically arranged sunfish were just lovely, washed down with an Oregon pinot noir.

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Sporting Moment of the Month
To Rob and Jecca’s for a sumptuous Sunday BBQ with Bettina and Martin whose daughter, Ella, is mad on double dutch skipping (skipping with two ropes). All the adults had a go – Colman and Jecca trying out the Double Dutch version as well – and it is startling to see how much energy is required to jump up and down for even half a minute. I held onto my breasts and managed 20 jumps only before needing a rest cure; Martin succeeded in doing double dutch for an unfeasibly long time so gets the laurels.

Walk of the Month
After the funeral, Mum and Dad and I stayed overnight in Ambleside at the top of Lake Windermere. On our last day in the Lake District, my parents and I went for a 5 mile walk on a perfect sunny-with-clouds day starting from Elterwater. Instead of climbing steeply to conquer mountains, we did a balcony walk, climbing up to low fells, with a view of the Langdale Pikes and Scafell Pike itself in the distance, doing a loop that brought us to Skelwith Bridge. We passed a large tarn, sheep and lambs, spring flowers in full bloom, hedgerows bursting with life, followed the river, crossed an ancient packhorse bridge, saw lush meadows, lichen bewigged ancient forest, tiny hamlets and old farms, carpets of bluebells. A charming and wonderful walk – California is stunning but England can do beauty too. I thoroughly deserved those Cumberland sausages for lunch afterwards… Our final act: to take the car ferry across Lake Windermere before heading for the motorway and London.



San Francisco Moment of the Month
Before setting off to Big Sur proper, we took Pat and Niamh to Twin Peaks to view the city all before us in its glorious grid and hilly array. A stunning day, with not a cloud in the sky, we were treated to a territorial display from a Red-tailed Hawk and a Raven, who flew past us so close you could see their eyes. The view stretches from the Pacific Ocean to Golden Gate Bridge and Marin, all through the city, with the East Bay – Berkeley and Oakland – and South Bay (Silicon Valley) in the distance.

Wine Tasting of the Month by Mission Boy
Five drinkers, six pinot noirs. Each disguised. Patrick, our neighbour and some of his mates came around to see which wines we liked when we couldn’t see the label.

Yes the French examples were clearly different to the American. (Though I confidently stated that one was not Pinot at all, only to be proved wrong).

Bird of the Month
Big Sur provided some memorable birding moments. Colman and I were entranced by the gleaming hot rufous and emerald green Allen’s hummingbird, newly arrived from a winter down south, as we walked back from McWay Falls. But the most spectacular encounter was at Point Lobos State Reserve, which features the promisingly named Bird Island – a shelf of land that had fallen from the mainland some time hence, although separated only by a narrow chasm. So we were able to stand beside it, marvelling at the thousands of Brandt Cormorant Phalacrocorax pencillatus which had flown in 2 weeks prior to breed. Beakfuls of kelp and white feathery head plumes along with a vivid blue display throat all assist in the courtship ritual; the colony of cormorants were all fascinatingly active as they flew in and out, presenting kelp, quarrelling with neighbours, building up nests, croaking in disharmony.

Also atop the rock we witnessed the ubiquitous Western Gulls divebombing a family of Canada geese – the father taking on the gulls while the mother tried to shepherd the four fluffy goslings to safety. And below the cacophony, on a little rocky ledge, nested a pair of Black-crowned Night Heron, seemingly oblivious to the hubbub around them.

Bumper Sticker of the Month
Barack Obama 08 campaign sticker – and also sighted was a lapel button for him sported by a frail old biddy in the legendary Rainbow Grocery supermarket. Yes it’s all underway and although we’re shielded from it to some extent, by not ever turning on the TV, it will definitely be bigger than Ben Hur and all consuming. Discussions about the election, most usually centred around who the Democrat candidate will be, are now commonplace at parties; our downstairs neighbour last week was sporting a T-shirt with 01-20-09 on it – the date of the next presidential inauguration. There is a palpable sense of desperation for regime change – certainly amongst the San Franciscans.

Stencil of the Month








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Come and visit!

Love and hugs Nadine and Colman xxx