Memorial Weekend

Kristi and I had a busy memorial weekend this year. On Saturday we went to San Francisco and met up with Kristi's high school friend Mattia. On the way there we were reminded of just how bad the traffic can be in the city, as it took us 30 minutes to get across the Bay Bridge. Once there, however, we had a nice stroll around the Hayes Valley neighborhood and a beer at a local bar.

After spending a couple of hours with Mattia we drove over to Richmond to see Bjork in concert at a really unusual venue. The Craneway Pavillion is an old industrial building right on the waterfront, and we were able to watch as the sun went down before the show started. I've never been an especially big fan of Bjork, but I've always enjoyed at least a few of her songs. What really made me want to go to the show was the fact that it's really rare for Bjork to tour nowadays, sometimes it can be 3-4 years between shows. In fact, on this current tour, she's only playing SF, LA, NY and at a couple of festivals.

The show turned out to be fantastic, a real audio visual experience, and it certainly felt really unique to be just four rows back from the small stage. I'm officially a convert! We left after the first song of the encore in order to beat the traffic, Dougal was spending the day with our friends Maureen and Dan in Davis and we wanted to get back before too late. It's really great to be able to leave him with friends, especially since he gets along so well with their dog Maddie.

On Sunday we drove up to Roseville to a belated joint birthday celebration at Aunt Maureen's house. Kristi's Mom was down from Eugene, and her cousin Jill, Jill's partner Angie, and 'Aunt' Donna. Along with Aunt Maureen's boyfriend John, that made 8 for dinner. It was a really nice relaxing afternoon and evening and we decided to stay the night there, rather than drive back down to Davis.

On Monday morning Kristi went shopping while I stayed at her Aunt's house and washed our car, which was well overdue. Kristi was able to get a couple of gifts for forthcoming new mothers. With a bridal shower coming up in a few weeks, then two summer weddings, it's a time of life events!

Upon arriving back in Davis from Roseville we stopped at the house of our friends Maureen and Dan for a Memorial Day BBQ. It was a really good time and there was probably 17-18 people there, several of whom I hadn't seen in quite a while. The occasion made me grateful to have so many good friends in Davis. Dougal had a great time, too, as he was able to run around with 3 other dogs!

Currently reading: Highway to Hell-Dispatches From a Mercenary in Iraq, by John Geddes.

Currently amazed by: The destruction in Moore Oklahoma, captured in this fascinating map made with GIS...