Berkeley.
Friday, October 18
This is a photo of Shikha taken just a couple of weeks ago, on her birthday. This seems like a nice photo to post given Indrina’s news about Shikha.
Today, Shikha will be returning home to Indrina and Eric, and starting in-home hospice.
Again, I did little today. Kaye needed me to get out, so I headed out the door and first connected with Steve, who could not get together with me today. He feels harried, I think, as he’s preparing for he and Gail’s 3 week trip to Madison, where they’ll be doing election work, and Gail’s away this week. Instead, we talked by phone for a while, which was good, and you never know, I might see him and Gail in Madison, when I get there. Cynthia wasn’t able to get together either, which was too bad as we won’t see each again this trip.
So, instead I headed for Tilden Park in the Berkeley Hills, and took a four-mile walk in this lovely wooded park. The weather was warm, and I was really overdressed; this was definitely shorts and tank top weather. From Inspiration Point, from where I started my walk, the park looks out on the hills below and in the distance, and the San Gabriel reservoir.
Walking west, the view shifted to Berkeley below and the San Francisco Bay, with the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance.
I stayed a while, probably a couple of hours, and would liked to have visited the university botanical gardens, which are right there, but I didn’t, although I don’t know why as I had the time. I guess I just wanted to spend more time with Kaye, so that’s where I headed, and really enjoyed the drive coming down from the park and winding through through the Berkeley Hills, which reminds me a little of Laurel Canyon, although here the houses, which are generally large, are nestled into the mountains where they can be more clearly seen than in Laurel Canyon, and here the roads are steeper, but also wider and more expansive. Nice.
I stopped in La Loma Park to take a few more shots of the city and bay below, which also seemed a like a nice park, although perhaps more trails than open parkland.
We ate in, and Sam came over around 7, which was very nice. We actually wound up watching the Godfather, which I don’t think I’ve actually seen since it came out. Sam is a great guy! My BIGF regret. I woke up realizing I didn’t take a photo of Sam and Kaye. Blast and damnation!
I also made some clear decisions about returning home, after earlier talking to Alan, and later talking the return trip over with Ken, and I pretty much have it mapped out now. I will go to Denver, getting there Wednesday morning, to visit with Shikha, in whatever shape she may be. That’s important, although I think I’ll probably just stay one day. I’ll head north from there into South Dakota, and continue the trip home through the north, including northern Michigan, and then maybe into Canada, before coming back down into the U.S.
I will take the New Orleans trip at the beginning of next year, which allows me to not have to think about going the northern route and also somehow going to New Orleans, and maybe Austin as well. It also gives me a something to look forward to in early 2025, and a bit of a framework to build on.
Just before I end the blog for the day, I saw this great sign for the now closed California movie theater in Berkeley. Too bad it wasn’t lit up.
