Redding

 Monday, January 20, 2025

Whenever I hear the classic Otis Redding hit, (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay, I conjure up images of San Francisco and the Bay Area.

Today, when Ken and I were sitting on our balcony, enjoying the sunshine, alongside the dock in the Bay, that song started playing in my head, like a meditation on relaxation.

Otis Redding was a rising star in the world of soul music when he wrote this song. The Dock of the Bay was recorded on November 22, 1967, and re-recorded with overdubbing* on Dec December 7, 1967. Redding perished in a plane crash in Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin, three days later. He was only 26 years old.

(Footnote: The overdubbing included the sounds of waves and seagulls. There is a debate about whether the whistling was Redding himself, or whether another band member’s whistling was overdubbed.)

The Dock of the Bay was released one month after Redding’s death. It became the first posthumous number one song on both Billboard and R&B charts.

Thank you, Wikipedia, for the information about Otis Redding.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Six hours earlier:

So, the window is a little bit dirty, but it is clear enough for us to see that yesterday’s Ruby Princess has been replaced by “our” Coral Princess. Ahoy! 

Three hours earlier:

We checked out of our hotel and took a Lyft* to Pier 27, where the lovely Coral Princess awaited our arrival. Boarding was a breeze.

(Footnote: There are a lot of vehicles like this here.

They are Waymo cars. They are like Lyft or Uber, but they are Jaguars, and, more importantly, they are driverless. We are not brave enough to try one. Furthermore, we noticed that they lack a trunk, and people had to lift their own luggage into the back seat.)

We found our stateroom easily, and we gratefully noted the relaxing color palette and comfy vibe.

  

Five minutes earlier:

While we were unpacking, our room steward, Richard, brought us sparkling wine and fancy canapés, and we decided to go out on our balcony to sit and enjoy.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Eventually, it was time for Coral Princess to begin her voyage. We were treated to some breathtaking views of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. In fact, we sailed right under the bridge, with Captain Cuculic blowing the horn.

After we finished unpacking (boy, did I bring too much!), we went out for cocktails, and eventually made an appearance at Sabatini’s, where we enjoyed a delightful Italian meal.

Pasta with braised beef

Tiramisu

We were still a little bit jet-lagged, so we went back to our stateroom and called it a night.

Today’s fabric is San Francisco California Tourist, Navy, by charlottewinter for Spoonflower.

Red-eyed

Sunday, January 19, 2024

We left on a red-eye last night. Landed in Seattle at 4:30 am. Navigated to another terminal. After a layover of about 2 hours we boarded our flight to San Francisco, arriving around 8:30 am. 

Watching the sun rise from the air is always awe-inspiring. This morning I was struck by the way the bands of color in the sky widened and shifted towards red as dawn arrived.

It was much easier getting to the baggage claim area and from there to the ride share area than it was in LA. That’s a good thing because we had a lot of luggage and we were really hammered by lack of sleep. Our trips usually begin like this. It comes with the territory when you live in a place that is far away from everything.

When we arrived at the Hilton Financial District we were very pleased to find that they had a room ready for us. We really liked our view.

This gorgeous image hangs in the hallway near our room. I think it is a photograph that has been made to look like a painting.

Our view:  Coit Tower and the harbor, with a Princess ship previewing tomorrow’s adventure

I took a little nap and then Ken and I set out to find some dim sum for lunch. We were on the edge of Chinatown, so it wasn’t much of a challenge to find it. We went to City View Restaurant. It was popular and crowded, but we only had to wait 30 minutes.

We ordered some old favorites, and also tried some new delicacies. Yummm. 

Shrimp dumplings

The remains of an order of steamed buns, and an order of shrimp dim sum

Green onion pancakes and taro fluffs

Sesame chicken

Chinese New Year is January 29, 2025. It will be the Year of the Snake. Many decorations are up already.

The small park between the restaurant and our hotel had some musicians playing Chinese-style music, and groups of people playing a card game or just hanging out. It was a vibrant community space.

In a red-eyed dim sum coma we staggered back to the hotel and I took another little nap.

This was not our restaurant

After a while I Zoomed in to my book club for an interesting discussion, looked out the marvelous window as the sun began to set, and thought about this blog.

As I have said before, this is not a political blog. It is a travel blog. I am not unaware of the political events that happen from day to day. Enough said.

Today’s fabric is something with a little nap - velveteen. “Nap” is the raised, fuzzy surface of certain fabrics. It is also called “pile.” 

Velvet is a soft, smooth fabric with a luxurious look and feel.             Velveteen has a shorter pile, giving it more durability, but less sheen. Both of these fabrics have a nap, which means they are directional, and must be pieced into a garment or other project with care. Velveteen is often used in upholstery and children’s clothing.

Velveteen

Wait and Balance

October 9, 2024

It was nice to be able to sleep in just a little this morning. We woke up and had breakfast in our hotel, the Hampton Inn LAX/El Segundo, without having to rush to be somewhere. We took care of the arrival paperwork for our next stop, online, and did some other busywork. Then we headed to Target to buy some toiletries and sundries. We had a 50-pound-per-bag weight limit coming to LAX, but on our next flight we will have a 70-pound-per-bag limit. So we left some of the heavier items out until we got to LA.

It was either the misty marine layer or some kind of air pollution that reduced the visibility here today. I am content to let the day pass leisurely as we wait for our flight late tonight. It’s going to be challenging, so we might as well take it easy after we have removed all of the packaging from all of those toiletries and repacked our bags. 

The sky cleared up by late afternoon, so we ventured out to look for some California icons (and eat something).

A yucca plant

IN-N-OUT. We did not eat here, but we wanted to.

I am going to jump ahead to the evening and say that LAX is not my favorite airport. It’s just too big.

There was a huge traffic jam at what seemed like all of the terminals. We got dropped off at the International Terminal and it was a zoo. There was nobody to even ask where we should go or what we should do. We saw some kiosks so we stopped there and printed out our baggage tags. But then we didn’t know if there was a bag drop ir if we had to go to our airline. There were people everywhere, but nobody to ask. Eventually I found out that we would have to go over to a different section of the enormous terminal. Then there were several different lines for our airline and it was unclear which one we should be in since we already had our tags. We finally got that sorted and they pointed us to where we needed to go to pass through security, only it turned out to be the wrong place because we had TSA Pre-Check. We finally got there and got through TSA and then we had to ask where the Star Alliance Lounge was. By the time we got settled in the lounge, we were pretty frazzled.

My point in all of this is that LAX is chaotic, crowded, and confusing.

We had an hour to wait for boarding, after basically waiting all day. I’m not sure what the balance part is. I think it might be the inner peace that comes with getting to the airport early and having some time to sit quietly and chill.

Ken is chill now that we are in the lounge.

I promise this is going to get more interesting very soon, so stay with me!

Today’s fabric is corduroy - for all the lines we waited in. The distinctive raised “cords” or “wales” make corduroy instantly recognizable. Corduroy’s durability makes it a good choice for trousers and jackets. It has existed in Europe since at least the 18th century, but corduroy nmay have originated in Fustat, Egypt in 200 C.E.

Raise your hand if you are now thinking about this guy:

Weight and Balance

October 8, 2024

This is the trip that almost didn’t happen. 

About five and a half weeks ago, Ken fell off the roof. He was doing his annual inspection of roof, shingles, snow guards, gutters, chimney, etc. He suffered a concussion, eight broken ribs, and a shoulder injury. The first week or two after the fall were very difficult. It was very painful and we didn’t know what the trajectory of his recovery would look like. 

Fortunately, he has improved steadily. We are grateful for the wonderful physical therapist who has been working with him for the past few weeks. About a week ago we decided that we would be able to undertake this trip. So here we are in LA.

We got up before the crack of dawn this morning, and left home at 5:00 am. Our flight from Anchorage to Seattle was uneventful. It was your typical Anchorage flight - completely full, and with a lot of coughing happening.

I noticed a woman in the gate area leaning against a column and coughing something fierce. She coughed with her mouth wide open and didn’t try to cover her cough one bit. After we boarded I realized, with a sinking feeling, that she would be sitting directly in front of me. (Would it be rude to offer her some cough drops? I always carry some in my purse when I travel. She clearly didn’t have any of her own.) 

Ken and I had masks, and we knew how to use them. Three and a half hours later we arrived in Seattle and were able to unmask in the Alaska (Airlines) Lounge. We enjoyed watching the planes come and go.

Planes line up to wait their turn to take off

Alaska Airlines teamed up with Pixar for this whimsical plane. We also saw a Disney-themed plane.

The flight from Seattle to LA was “interesting.” For the first time in well over 10 years we flew on an Alaska Airlines flight that was not completely full. In fact, it was so incompletely full that the airline was concerned about “weight and balance” and we were told this would be a “weight and balance flight.” Hey, those are two of my biggest concerns, also!

So they moved a lot of passengers from the middle to the back of the plane and told us repeatedly that we must sit in our assigned seats because - weight and balance.

Note: I have experienced something like this in a Cessna, but never before in a 737.

Some questions: Did they actually LOOK at some of these passengers before deciding how to distribute our weight? Did anybody get moved from an aisle seat to a middle seat? How did that go?

The other interesting thing was that our boarding was delayed, on an overcast, 60-degree day in Seattle, due to the cabin being “too hot.” Their solution was 1) delay boarding, and 2) reverse the order of boarding so that those in the rear boarded first and first class boarded last.

We had to keep the window shades closed to keep the plane cool and then I forgot to open them and take pictures until later in the flight. I really enjoyed the clouds because they may be gray when you are on the ground, but they are white and fluffy from above. You feel like you are floating on cotton and you don’t have to think about your own weight or balance.

And there was beer - cheeky beer - from Chico, CA.

Upon arrival in LA, we walked forever to get to the ride share lot, but it was pretty well organized when we got there. There was a shuttle that we could have taken to get there, but it didn’t seem worth it to have to manhandle our giant suitcases onto the shuttle in order to avoid a walk - but I would probably take that shuttle next time.

We had a lovely dinner with friends Nancy and Bob zt a place called Charcoal, and that was the end of our rather long day doing basically nothing.

Please know that upcoming blogs are expected to have much more interesting content, so don’t give up. We are just getting started.

Today’s fabric is quilt batting. Batting is the layer of material between the quilt top and the backing that gives the quilt weight and warmth. I almost said “weight and balance” but that doesn’t even make sense. Most quilt batting is made from cotton, wool, polyester, bamboo, or some combination thereof.

October 7 - Good Things Happen in the Mountains

 We left Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport at 1:35 a.m., or maybe closer to 2:00 a.m. On the way to the Alaska Lounge, I stopped to say hello to “Uncle Ted.”

Our non-stop flight landed at LAX around 7:40 a.m. 

Statistics:

Number of minutes past scheduled departure time that we                   actually left: Approximately 60

    Time zone changes: 1

    Length of flight: 5 hours and 3 minutes

    Hours of sleep: around 1

    Miles flown: 2342

    Bags checked: 3

    Bags received: 3

Arriving at our hotel this morning, we found that our room was not ready. (Didn’t really expect it to be.) No worries. We needed some supplies for our trip. It’s easier to buy them after we fly. We won’t be limited in what we can carry on tomorrow, and we will be able to use up a lot of it before the end of our trip - mostly mundane toiletries such as sunscreen (reef safe), toothpaste, and Lysol Disinfecting Wipes.

We met our friends Brock and Janice at the grocery store where we stocked up, and we headed to a nearby coffee shop to get caught up. 

After a few hours of pumpkin-spice-latte-drinking, we were ready for lunch. At this point it was determined that we must go to In-N-Out Burger because Ken and I had never been to one. It was very crowded at 2:00 pm on a Saturday afternoon, but not impossibly so. We managed to snag a table that had just been vacated and we didn’t have to wait forever for or order, but it certainly wasn’t ready in a jiffy. I was surprised to learn that have only three choices on the menu: burgers, cheeseburgers, or double burgers. Fries are the only side. It was a good burger. The fries were a little mushy. The conversation was ejoyable and interesting.

And THIS appeared on Facebook today:

The wedding/elopement happened very recently, and the happy couple went public today. We knew about it before today, but were requested to keep it under wraps until the announcement had been made by the couple. Yes, it is our son and his lovely bride. We are thrilled!💍🎂

I wasn’t going to continue with my”Today’s Color” feature, but it turns out that it was popular, so I’ll keep it for now, but with a twist. The colors will be represented by swatches of fabric.

Today’s fabric is Spotted Metallic White, by Moda. White and gold represent, to me, the beauty and richness of a long and happy marriage.