Visiting SF Bay Area

I took Amtrak to the Bay Area a few days ago. The train ride was interesting. My car was full of older Spanish speaking women from Puerto Rico, Mexico and Guatamala. They were very chatty for the entire five and a half hour ride. I just listened for the most part even though my Spanish is passable if I focus. The oldest woman was from an Indigenous area of southern Mexico which just happened to be where two sisters mother also came from. The two sisters knew some songs in her old native Indian language and sang them for the older woman. It made her cry to hear the same language that she remembered from her mother who had recently died. I also showed them pictures on my computer that I took during my travels through Mexico and South America which they seemed to enjoy.

When I got to Richmond I rode my bike over to my daughter's house to visit her and her five month old son. He is almost at a very fun interactive age for babies. I had a lot of fun playing with him. I did the usual rough house type of macho play and he loved it. He was laughing out loud and almost went into that uncontrolled laugh that babies tend to do at around six months old. They are moving to Germany in a couple of weeks so I won't see them for a long time.


For the next couple of days I visited with my old friends and spent more time with the Grandson and my children. For a couple of hours I wandered around the University of California Berkeley campus. I wanted to go to a bake sale they were having there to protest affirmative action. They were charging different prices depending on the race of the person buying the baked goods. It caused a lot of uproar which is exactly what they wanted to do. I then went back to the house and made some sourdough bread which turned out pretty tasty. I did a 30 hour double rise with it so it was extra sour which is how I like it. I toast it up and smother it in butter just to make sure my heart is still ticking. Then I went out to have a beer with my youngest son after which we had some Thai food.

I feel pretty good right now healthwise except for some balance problems for some reason. My pain was a bit elevated after the long train ride but after a couple of days rest it got better. I head back to Bakersfield on Saturday. I have enjoyed the cooler weather here but it will be nice to get back to bake in the Valley again in a couple of days.