Category Archives: Around home

Precious Mae and the Rabbit

Around home

The mythology at our home is that – because  of Precious Mae – we no longer have a rabbit problem. Precious Mae spends hours hunkered down on the bridge over our creek – really a sort of drainage ditch to cut-off water coming down the hill – guarding our home from rabbits and other varmints. This afternoon, when -without my glasses – I saw a rabbit in the garden ( I knew I was right because of the backlight coming through his, her’s, or its ears, but I wasn’t positive).

After a very short search, I found my glasses and then the camera – Shoot! no compact flash memory card in the camera – then a memory card, and then went out to take a shot. As soon as I walked out on the deck, Precious Mae, who had sort of been lounging around in the house, made a a beeline to the bridge. With my glasses, all I saw were quail for about three or four minutes, then I caught the rabbit hopping towards the path. Precious Mae was off. A killing machine at full efficiency.

There is going after the rabbit – any prey for that matter – and getting the rabbit. They are very different things. Once Precious Mae confronted the rabbit, everything sort of  fell apart. The rabbit may have only been one third of her size, but there was no question the rabbit had been trained in anti-cat tactics and locked Precious Mae in a Death-stare that she just managed to escape, leaving the rabbit – for the time being, only – in charge of the path.

 

 

 

 

A nice walk on a spectacular day

Around home, California, Travel

After hanging around Michele’s family cabin all morning, soaking up the sunshine and what I always think of as Eastern Sierra air – a distinct dry earth and pine smell; strong, warm, sun, cool air in the shade – we went out for a burger in Truckee.

Aside by Michele: BurgerMe is a wonderful find, with very tasty grass-fed burgers. End aside.

Then, while driving to Lake Tahoe the long way around, we got waylaid at Martis Creek where we took an  afternoon walk.

Eastern Sierra meadows – maybe any high altitude meadows – are among my favorite places to walk. Especially in the late afternoon. With their familiar smells and sounds, they are one of my spiritual homes. Warm, somehow-how-soft feeling, it brings back distant memories of the end of the day after a hard hike or climb. Today, the hard hike was getting a burger in Truckee but the meadow is still glorious.

Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance

Around home, Cars, Photography

From Corvette Expert Jim Gessner, memory by Steve Stern

One of my first car memories and my first racing memory was watching a Mercedes Benz and Corvette race for the Del Monte Trophy on the winding, very narrow, town roads of Pebble Beach. (We were kids and, as the Corvette with the bigger engine lead the MB 300 SL, we said such pithy things as Nothing beats cubic inches, then when the much more expensive MB passed the Vet, we said Except cubic money.)  In those days, before actual racetracks, we all got to stand very close to the action. The Pebble Beach race has moved to the Laguna Seca racetrack and the attached car show has become the  Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, probably the best carshow in the world, with an admission of $250 which does keep the hoi polloi pretty far from the action (the VIP tickets cost $600 and do include lunch [which proves, once again, that there is no such thing as a free lunch]).

To make the cars more accessible, the organizers have started the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance. The cars that are entered into Sunday’s show are encouraged to take a tour around the area on Thursday. While they don’t have to tour, if two cars are tied in points, the car that has been on the tour wins. On Thursday, Michele and I went down to the Monterrey Peninsula to check it out. Once again, we are able to stand very close to the action.

1924 Rolls-Royce 20 HP Barker Tourer 

1955 Mercedes Benz 300 SL

1954 Ferrari 500 Mondail Pinin Farina Spyder

At the end, when all the cars are parked, unbelievably close.

1925 Rolls Royce Phantom 1 Baker Sports Torpedo Tourer

But out on the road, listening to the cars go by, for a car nut like me, is thrilling. Getting close and seeing the details just adds to the thrillingness.

1939 Delage D8-120 S Saoutchick Cabriolet

 

1937  Talbot Lago T150C Figoni Falaschi Cabriolet 

 To be continued….

 

 

 

 

Henry Hill died

Around home, Film, Psychological Musings

Henry Hill was a low level Mafioso in the Lucchese crime family. He became famous because, when he ratted out his buddies to the FBI, he ended up having two movies tell his story. Both Goodfellas and My Blue Heaven were roughly based on his life (My Blue Heaven more roughly). Goodfellas was Michele and my first date.

I once heard Pauline Kael  say that she would never date anybody who didn’t like the same movies that she did. At the time, it seemed like a good idea, and it still does. Our second movie was La Femme Nikita. 

A year or so later, still together and still enjoying the same movies, we went to see a revival of  The Wild Bunch at the Castro in San Francisco. Standing in line, we noticed two acquaintances we had met in Temenos workshops, Peter Kuhlman and Ophelia Ramirez, and we knew we would become friends.