Lucky Bob and Lucky Tom

It has been a whirlwind week. Lots of business, activity and driving. Leslie went to Dallas to visit her brother and her flight back Thursday was delayed. Didn't get home until near midnight. 

I had dinner with Steve at a neighborhood place in Kensington and then drove to Coronado. 

I hung out at Chip's and listened to music while I waited for the plane to land. 

Bitches Brew by Miles Davis was a near religious experience on his amazing sound system.

Thank you Steve, Chip and Celia!

Next day I drove to Oakland, had dinner and a great visit with Melissa and Gary.  

She made the best lasagna I have ever tasted.

The next morning I got up at six, drove into the city and stopped by Big Dave's to have a quick scone-off. Saw Amy and Cassidy.

I brought my two day old cranberry blueberry with dried nectarines and walnuts, he countered with a very tasty lemon poppy. 

Tie I think.

Drove over to a client's place in the Outer Sunset district afterwards, bought some incredible material. 

Very happy.

Afterwards I drove to Burlingame to see Warmboe and Ann, then drove to Loughlins for a nice chat. Stopped by and saw Kerry too.

Left the city and drove to Sonoma. Bought more great stuff from Petteford and stayed with he and his wife Anne that night in Sebastopol after a terrific Peruvian meal together in Santa Rosa. 

I took my leave Sunday morning, drove to Berkeley to see my friend Richard. He took me out to the Berkeley Country Club. 

Talk about an outrageous view! What a wonderful golf course. We had lunch at his club and watched the Masters. Really nice. His wife Wanda Westberg is a great painter and I had never met her before. Like to sell a few of her pieces.

I left Berkeley and GPS took me past Tilden Park. So beautiful. How did I never know about this park before? Been going to Berkeley for 50 years. Incredible.

I headed over to Fresno to see my stepmother, Shela. 

We had a nice Chinese dinner and caught up on family stuff. She looks good and is really taking care of herself. Has a nice garden.

She gave me a beautiful painting of my fathers that I have always loved, 17th or 18th century Flemish. Might be egg tempera?

I left early yesterday and drove down after a stop in Bakersfield to see my pottery restorers. I bought a blue Natzler bowl that had a small rim chip and needed a touch of restoration. They have retired and are now only working for old clients. Wouldn't know what we would do without them.

Drove home, no traffic but a lot of miles. My right leg throbbed from all the accelerator pushing and frenetic schedule. I can't believe how many people I saw and deals I made in three days. But it all worked out perfectly. Crammed a lot of activity into a very limited amount of time. Left nothing on the table. Put it on my headstone.

And now I am back home. Yea!

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Last week was tough for me. I was pissing blood, usually a sign for me that the cancer was back. I have a cystoscope scheduled for Friday. But I drove down to the hospital and got a test and was relieved this week that there were no malignant cells detected so I feel a heck of a lot better. I was really getting down and dark.

Now I think I will be alright. One day at a time.

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Jeff's buddy sent him this shot from Fairbanks.

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Tom's little dog got away in Rainbow yesterday. 

Actually it is his wife's dog. Ran away and disappeared. 

Would not come back. 

Tom, quite rightly, caught holy hell. 

Today he went back to that property and the dog jumped in the car. 

Very lucky, lots of critters out there to take out a little Bichon frise on a cold and lonely night. 

Saved Tom a major ass kicking too.