The Stars at Lake Shasta

At the end of September a big group of friends took a trip to Lake Shasta, a massive reservoir up north, to have a weekend of houseboating and good times.

This was my first time on what has been a long-running annual trip for them.

There was a lot of this


a lot of this




Hip E


and a little of this.


And a lot more which I can't show.

By the second day it was all a bit overwhelming, with too many people on a boat at once and I started to feel sick, which is somewhat inevitable for me. The last night was a blow out with everyone going nuts dancing and partying, and I partook for a while before feeling too sick and hiding out.

Eventually everyone settled down to bed and Reid and I were sleeping on the roof of the boat with a few other people. Someone put on Stars of the Lid and I drifted in and out of consciousness looking at the massive amount of clear bright stars in the moonless sky.

When very ill our senses are somewhat more heightened for sensation as we search our bodies for causes and needs. I lay in the dark and felt the breeze and my eyes would open as the music swelled and I glimpsed the stars of the universe and my eyes closed on their own again as the music died. There was a cold breeze that ran across the top of the boat as we lay warm in our sleeping bags side by side.

It's hard to describe without actually hearing the music, and I have no pictures of the night sky at Shasta, so I have an activity for you.

Click the Youtube video below to play, but ignore the visuals and only pay attention to the audio, and then click this link. Open and close your eyes as the music swells and dies, and imagine lying on the roof of a boat in the middle of a quiet lake as a chilled breeze blows across your cheeks, and you will feel much better, too.

Dissasembly

Remember the supersonic rocket ship facility? Well, here's what we were doing there . This was shot over 4 days in 113 degree heat in Downey, California. Big nod to the guys in the red jumpsuits. They're working even harder than it looks like.

A Busy Summer

What a crazy summer it's been, with mainly work making my life hectic, but managing to squeeze in fun here and there.  

I went to Chautauqua, New York, to visit with Reid's parents over the 4th of July.  It's an incredible literary, cultural, and art community, and I had a great time with them.

Reid and I went camping in Gold Country at the Yuba River.
"Come! take chances!"
Old gold claim



Visited Emily's new apartment
Went back to LA, stressed out, watched other people eat things with eyeballs.

Went white water rafting with the Jo-tel, the Fell-tel, and the Haigh-tel.

Went to Ghent, Belgium for work
Ate some Belgian food.
Met a Belgian in cowboy boots who flies to Texas to cook Italian food for a wealthy family.
Saw some very old buildings

Was lucky to travel with a very nice colleague

When we were both very tired and hangry we still managed to get along, Jose Luis putting up with some very corny jokes from me about cupcakes.
Saw some more amazing sights in Ghent while walking around.


Some wonderful old friends came to see me from Cambridge while I was there -- Haylie and Jim.
Drank some good beer here -- De Koningk and La Chouffe.

A clever way to get hold of the right person in a full house. (click to see)
Worked with some wonderful people, Tamara and Pascal.

Took a train for a day trip to see more friends in Amsterdam.


Ubiquitous snack stand in Amsterdam.  
My wonderful friend Jordi.
I rode a bike around Amsterdam with a very happy and adorable couple, Jordi and Jolly.
Went back to Ghent to finish up, celebrated a successful working relationship and our departure with beer in a garden.

The next morning we got up at 5 to catch a train to a train to Paris to catch a flight, as the Brussels airport was on strike (of course).

When we got back and launched, we toasted the team at Trattoria Contadina in North Beach.

Took a break over a weekend for another camping trip with Reid, and some early morning rope-swinging into Bass Lake.
And I'm turning 29 in a week.  Hard to believe.  

With all this crazy work stuff I did have to cancel two trips this summer, which makes me really sad.  One to visit my friends in England (two of whom instead came to visit me while I was in Europe) and one to go to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with my mom.  I had such a wonderful time on my solo trip last year, just passing through. The other trips I've taken this summer only were for weekends. 

I have a bunch of vacation time and am trying to figure out what to do with it, all alone as no one else has time. Any ideas? 

Supersonic Rocket Ship... Facility

I've been in LA the last couple of days working on a shoot. No photos of the shoot to be posted here because that would be a big no no but I can tell you that we're working in a ginormous warehouse in a not so great neighborhood, and it's where they built at least one Apollo rocket. There's even an observation room in one of the walls where presidents and other government leaders would come to take a look at the enormous spaceships.

I'm lucky to be here with some really great people: the art director and his wife and baby. It's tough work times but at least we get a break for dinners.

Jose with little Santiago


Me, a different night, in Venice

Another great art director I've worked with, Slav, also on production

My old friend Andy who came to meet up. We like to take dramatic but blurry photos in LA restaurants.

A Tomales Bay Birthday Oystravaganza

When your loving lover has a birthday you want to make it as nice and fun and different and special as possible. When the camping trip we'd been trying to get together didn't work out, we went to Plan B, going to the farm at the Hog Island Oyster Company. We'd been thinking about also getting a bouncy castle or bouncy Twister game (inflated and everything) for the occasion, but ended up deciding that "bouncy" and "oysters" shouldn't go in the same sentence, much less in the same day.

A group of dear friends made the trek up to the Tomales Bay Oyster Company in Marshall. Although we weren't able to get a table there it was a blessing in disguise. Instead, we purchased 112 oysters and 20 clams, put them in bags full of ice, and took our party down the road to a secluded picnic table and grill overlooking a beach, which turned out to be much nicer.

Those friends initially timid of oysters came to embrace the pleasure of shucking and eating the fresh seafood, both raw and on the grill, much as I did on my first experience eating oysters straight from the sea farm.

The picnickers: Thrill, Rosie, Reid, me, Ross, Lindsay, Shannon and Johnny D.

Rosie brought an awesome Polaroid camera which captured the event in sweet style. You can see one of the photos here, at the Cabinet Shop blog.

Reid momentarily disappears in order to get the fire going.

Rosie eats a sausage.

Shannon and Johnny D.

This is your grill...

This is your grill a couple hours later, drunkity drunk drunk.

We ate all the oysters and most of the food we brought, and what we didn't get to the ravens took care of while we were away drunkenly frolicking on the beach.

The birthday boy. This photo is a visual metaphor for the events that next transpired, but ironically the beer was the only thing that the ravens didn't get to.

Johnny D.

Ross teasing Lindsay.

Lindsay's a happy girl in the sunshine.

Rosie and Shannon hanging out on the beach.

Brothers, Reid and Ross, wondering what happens next.

This was my second oyster picnic, (the first was our anniversary last year) and I think I'm starting to get a hang of what to bring to go with the oysters and make it a successful picnic.

List of what to bring:

• Crisp white wine
• Beer
• Lemons and Limes
• Hot Sauces (Tabasco and Tapatillo are my favorites)
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Red Wine Vinegar
• Chopped Shallots
• Salt and Pepper
• Brown bread
• Daddy Mack's Butter (see below)
• Pie
• Potato and Onion grill packets (if it's cold, it gives you something warm to eat. Chestnuts to roast were also good for that last time).
• Charcoal
• A Kitchen Towel and Shucking Knife

Both times I've made Daddy Mack's Oysters, a recipe from Allrecipes.com, which involves making a roll of seasoned butter in advance and putting a little slice of it on the oysters as they grill. It's been a big hit both times, for the oysters and for spreading on slices of bread. The birds seemed to really like it, too. It was all gone when we came back to the picnic table from the beach.

Mignonettes good for raw oysters:

• Minced shallots and red wine vinegar
• Lemon juice and Tabasco
• Lime juice and Tapatillo sauce
• Lime juice and black pepper

Toppings good for grilling oysters (don't shuck them first, grill til they open, then shuck and add seasonings):

• Daddy Mack's Butter
• Lemon juice, Worcestershire, Tabasco, salt
• Lime juice and black pepper.
  

But there are endless possibilities!

The day was a lot of fun and when it started to get later and drunker, we took our satiated and happy selves home.