Friday...

As predicted, it was raining when we all converged on the airport to greet the minstrels. Then they got treated to the double-your-fun combination of heavy rain and heavy traffic as we crawled towards the center of San Francisco in our family mini-vans. We made up for this dubious beginning by taking them out to dinner at a nice Mediterranean restaurant. What fine food! Then we dropped most of the minstrels back at the hotel so they could try to regain the nine hours they lost by flying so far to the west. We took the one remaining minstrel to Berkeley and G.'s apartment. M. and I struggled to muffle our cries of amazement at the state of the apartment. It was... clean! Even the stains on the carpet were gone.

Saturday...

We went to Aquarius Records to show everybody M.'s art, which still graces the walls of the store. Everybody ooohed and aaaahed. Then we ate at a mexican restaurant. At least one of our visitors had never had a burrito before. Then, after paying the homeless parking attendant, we stuffed ourselves into the mini-van and drove up to Haight street. In a record store there, an employee recognized a minstrel or two and almost filled his shorts with glee. He was overheard to say that in his eight years of employ at this particular shop that this was his greatest day. Even greater, apparently, than the day that Michael Jackson stopped by and wiped his sweaty hands on some tissues that were still carefully archived somewhere in the shop. We left as soon as we could, and spent some more time meandering about. One of the minstrels sang beautifully as we walked along.
It's really interesting to see a familiar city through a first-time visitor's eyes. It makes everything fresh again.
Later, we drove back to Berkeley again with a couple of the minstrels so that we could see Two Foot Yard perform at 21 Grand in Oakland. While waiting for them to go on, we wandered through a nearby asian market and gawked at the dried squid and live sea cucumbers. We bought some stuff that sure tasted strange. The rice punch drink I purchased was okay until I got to the solid bits, which texturally resembled sodden newspaper. The toasted melon seeds, however, were quite good. Back at the performance space, Two Foot Yard did very satisfying things to their cello and violin. Come to think of it, we once surprised Carla, the violinist, in London while she was playing with a different band (we nonchalantly approached her between sets and complimented her on the show, as if we weren't half a world away from home) while in the company of a man who also occasionally plays live with the same band as the people we were currently with. Is that confusing enough? Everybody liked the show. Then and now.

Sunday...

I stayed home with Jen and the horde. Sometime during the morning hours the older members of the horde discovered our sugar supply and gorged themselves upon it, making them hyper and cranky. This, in turn, made us cranky. We all stomped around being cranky together. During this time, we made some gingerbread cookies. Somewhat later, The Dickens discovered the food coloring that had been used to color the gingerbread frosting. She artfully decorated herself, the kids' table, the floor, and a doll. Then everybody had a bath.
The boys and I almost watched the newest Gamera movie, but just as we started, The Dickens announced that she was, "scawed of the RAAAgghh" (translation: I'm scared of the giant turtle because I'm too young to realize that it's just a guy in a rubber suit). We ended up watching Little Bear instead.

cds I listened to while wondering where the hell the weekend went: Roy Harper "Garden of Uranium/Descendants of Smith", The Naysayer "Deathwhisker", Tribes of Neurot "Silver Blood Transmission", Monster Records promotional sampler, The Sonora Pine "s/t", and Tiamat "Wildhoney"

now: Maja Elliott "Truth"