hidden city

I'm all moved in to the new casa and loving my very much shorter commute! I will be happier still when I get all these boxes sorted out. I'm finding that there are a lot of things I must've packed out of sheer exhaustion (or I've had a shift in values), because as I open boxes, I think "Ew, I don't even like this thing - straight into the Goodwill pile with you!"

Apparently, my new little town of Point Richmond is also referred to as "the Hidden City" - when Tom and Laura visited me on Sunday, we strolled downtown and had an EXCELLENT meal at the Hidden City Cafe. As it turns out, the Pixar crowd enjoyed the cafe too (back when they were located in P.R.) and they put it into the movie Monsters, Inc., which I have now pushed to the top of my Netflix queue so I can check that out!

I had a Niman Ranch roast beef hash with horseradish sauce and eggs, Laura was able to select a 'vegan special' (which prompted her to tell the waiter that "Kate is allowed to stay here") and Tom had some great-looking eggs and bacon. The OJ was fresh-squeezed, too.

"Is that France or Mexico?" we asked the waiter, pointing to a large flag on the rear wall.

"France," he said, "Well, actually, that's a wall."



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Today I am grateful that enough crazy drama is settled that I could notice the geese on the bay this morning as I drove to work;
I am grateful for the kind lovely people at my work;
I am grateful that tonight there is a nice little meeting just one block from my new house;
Today I ask God to let me focus on the next right thing.
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Great local raptor photography from Glenn Nevill: http://www.raptor-gallery.com/

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Great foodie-licious blog entry from one of my FAVES, Anthony Bourdain: http://blog.ruhlman.com/2007/02/guest_blogging_.html

rain, fried chicken sandwich, boxes

After much trekking up and down the stairs (5 hours worth), the fabulous Layne and Juan got all my schtuff out of the POD and into my new home in Point Richmond. Toward the end, the skies really opened up and they got soaked. But I tipped well, so hopefully they are happy campers.

I can't believe how many boxes there are. Who bought all this? Why oh why? I think there will be another solid round of tossing stuff. Makes me feel a bit sad and wasteful, but better I send it along to its next owner and feel the pain of my past behavior than store it and be haunted by it hovering over me always.

Anyhow, I unpacked some of the stuff, read a few pages of a Dick Francis mystery and fell sound asleep around 4 pm. Woke up briefly at about 8 pm and enjoyed some breakfast cereal before zonking out shortly thereafter until 7 am this morning. Guess I was a bit wiped. Yeah, just a tiny weeny itsy bitsy bit. I'm sure part of it was the relief of getting the move finally done. It was lovely to discover that my new place warms up nicely with the gas heater and stays that way, thanks to the fab double-paned windows the landlords just put in.

Today, my lovely coworkers included me in on a lunch place secret and now I think I have found my new favorite food. I thought maybe I hadn't heard him correctly when Jim asked if I'd like a "Fried Chicken Sandwich" from Bakesale Betty's. But, lo, it was true. This little bake shop on Telegraph offers a sandwich to die for, stuffed with the aforementioned chicken and also some delicious coleslaw-type stuff. Heaven.

Point Richmond / mental maps and artistic takes on those

Moving on Thursday to Point Richmond, about which I had heard a bit but just got the best vibe about the place when I went in person last week. It feels a bit like a beach town. I guess since there technically is a beach, it is a beach town of sorts. Just one that is sitting on the freeway tucked in behind the oil refineries. But that’s how it’s semi-affordable, I suppose.

This photo is of the two churchs just a block from my new house. The one on the right hosts the Tuesday night meeting and the one on the left hosts the Thursday night meeting. Artists, alcoholics - we're everywhere, like mildew. (As Chester Arnold once said - although he was referring only to artists.)

More on Point Richmond:

good general everything page: http://www.pointrichmond.com/
visitor review from Daily Planet: http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/article.cfm?archiveDate=05-12-06&storyID=24125
arts guild: http://home.comcast.net/~point_arts_guild/

richmond arts center: http://www.therichmondartcenter.org/
smells great: http://www.gracebaking.com/GRACEBAKING/Default.htm
or sometimes not so great: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/01/22/18350759.php

and http://www.cccpointrichmond.com/updates.html

Rosie the Riveter memorial: http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/index.asp?NID\u003d603

local blogger: http://pointofview.bluehighways.com/

East Brother Light Station: http://www.ebls.org

Hiking / walking: http://www.berkeleypaths.org/walkhandouts/walk_Point_Richmond.htm/

Golden State Model Railroad Museum: http://www.gsmrm.org/

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And links about Maps from Memory and Mental Mapping, for some reason quite fascinating to me today:

Maps from memory

London by Ellis Nadler (his blog http://ellisnadler.blogspot.com/)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nad/380055005/

Susan Holderread http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/holderrd/map_from_memory/intro.html

Interesting student projects from Mount Allison University:
http://www.mta.ca/faculty/socsci/anthro/mental_maps/mental_map_page.html


Memory mapping
http://www.expandedfield.com/memorymapping/index.cfm

Article from V&A about Memory Maps
http://www.vam.ac.uk/activ_events/adult_resources/memory_maps/what/index.html

Memory Maps project by Smithsonian
http://www.localprojects.net/lp/featured5detail.html

Illustration Friday Night http://illustrationfridaynight.blogspot.com/