What a glorious day it has been today – sun shining, warm weather appearing for the first time this year! Now can go out without coat in nicest part of the day. So today I spent about 4 hours walking the dog and popping to visit neighbours for a chat – lovely:)
Wed, Mar 23, 2011, 9amCloudy; showers predicted aft & eve.50° F feels like 50° FChance of precipitation: 30%Humidity: 89%Wind: 10 mph from SSE(doings:) 2nite 6:30pm weekly adult ed class on current events: Tsunami wreckage in Japan, Gaddaffi in Libya. \This month’s Fri nite film this Fri. eve: – after rejecting RYAN’S DAUGHTER (3rs, too long for elderly audience) & THE COMMITMENTS (too randy for elderly audience), we finally settled on: THE VERDICT (1982) starring Paul Newman as a divorced, alcoholic exRC Boston MA lawyer vs archdiocese of Boston in a medical malpractice trial, with Charlotte Rampling, James Mason, Jack Warden. Filmscript by David Mamet from the novel by Barry Reed (Boston College [Jesuit] Law School grad.). Film chosen by David B.Ogle (Stanford ’60 grad); introduced by me (B.C. ’63 grad, exRC) wondering if any loyal R.C.s here nr S.F. Bay will vociferously object to the film as ‘anti-Catholic’ before, during & after we show it. They did back in Boston in ’82..~
Bill Costley
Today, cold and wet. However today is a day of note in that when Ruth was due to be born, this was the day on which they anticipated she would arrive – though in actual fact she arrived over a week later – so that is my un-weather related story of the day:)
Tuesday, March 15, 1am;(Weather:)Cloudy becoming showery, then rainy from noon until 2morrow;57° F feels like 57° F; peak temp 65oFPrecipitation: 10%? (see above)Humidity: 83%;Wind from SSW @ 4 mph.
My daughter Maya (back East in Putney VT bordering NH)
has left me a phone-message probably imagining I’m on
the tsunami-battered Pacific coast; but I’m 20 mi. inland,
protected from the tsunami by the Santa Cruz mtns.
20 mi. S, in coastal Santa Cruz, 15 boats were bashed & sunk
in its harbor; but in Santa Clara, I’m 6 mi. inland from the S tip
of S.F. Bay @ Alviso where a newly-built cement small-boat
& kayak dock on a newly-cleared marsh-channel access the bay.
(Most small boats here are stored on boat-trailers in driveways,
there’s no harbor or tsunami; just gradually intermittent rain.
Bill Costley
Wed, March 9, 9 am;(Weather:);Cloudy; mtns. invisible; sun predicted by early aft;.53° feels like 53oF; 69oF predicted by early aft.Chance of precipitation: 10%;Humidily: 80%;Wind: from NNE @ 4 mph;(Doings:) – Ginny & I both have barking coughs due to seasonal colds & are taking overnight meds for it; recovery’s slow. [6:30pm] After 2 wks away from it, we’ll go back to the current affairs discussion course given here Wed eves. by Ethiopian emigrant Dr. Worku Negash, local Mission [2yr-]College VP. Continuing topic: U.S. Immigration history & laws.~
Bill Costley
Mon. 07 MAR 11, 11 am;(Weather:)Cloudy/Windy55° F feels like 55° FPrecipitation: 10%Humidity: 59%Wind: From WNW 25 mphGinny & I have just come hurriedly back in (in hooded, lined coats) from a bright, windy a.m. walk behind furry Reggie (on his long nylon rope), to find out from The Weather Channel that the wind in 95050 is currently 25mph, about 5X usual. The sunny sky’s bright-blue layered w/white clouds; mtns.blurry-green. I’m slowly sipping Swiss Miss milk chocolate hot cocoa, Ginny warmed water, while Reggie naps on the carpet in front of her.At 10a.m. at the little USPS station here at Valley Village I mailed off a ppbk of Audrey Niffinger’s THE TIME TRAVELER”S WIFE (1993 novel, set in Chicago IL usa, 1990 Hollywood film starring Australian Eric Bana) to my ex-1st-wife Joan Budyk in Harvard Sq., Cambridge MA usa who grew up on Chicago’s South Side; also a hardcopy of VENUS, INC, (Pohn & Kornbluth’s THE SPACE MERCHANTS combined w/ Pohl’s solo sequel THE MERCHANTS’ WAR) to Dr. John Brennan PhD (UCDavis), in Ft. Wayne IN usa who I went to Boston [MA] College with (1959-63); who’s taught Medieval English lit. & Science Fiction lit. @ IU. Pohl wrote him about a scholarly article John wrote on THE SPACE MERCHANTS, but John’s never had any idea of Pohl’s sequel, so eagerly awaits VENUS, INC. (Doings:) Nothing’s planned4 2nite.~
Bill Costley
Cold again here. Spring MUsT be just around the corner surely!
Thursday, March 3 10 am(Weather:)Puffily cloudy, but brightly sunny; mtns hazy.56° F feels like 56° F; peals @ 61oF~ 1-3pmChance of precip: 10%;Humidity: 83%;Wind from SSE @ 3 mph(Doings:) Last nite, nearby Cupertino poet Karl Kadie drove us 25 mi. N (halfway to S.F.) up to Redwood City center where he was the featured poet for the The Not Yet Dead Poets Society mtg (1st Wed. each mo.) in The Main Gallery http://www.themaingallery.org/ He read soulful poems on burning from his new (2nd) book THE BURNING HOUSE, inspired by a parable of the Buddha, & finished with a dense poem about an actual vast mass of plastic trash accumulating out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. (2nite) the San Jose Peace Chorale rehearses again as usual.~
Bill Costley
Typical birthday weather today – cold and rainy! Perhaps I should have chosen a birthday in the summer months.
Monday, February 28 9 am(Weather:) Sunny, cloudlessly blue sky, mtns. light green & lightly hazy43° F feels like 43° FChance of precipitation: 10%Humidity: 79%Wind: from SSE @ 3 mph
(Doings:) Choir-to-choir e-mails about Sat.’s 5-choir benefit concert for Next Door Solutions (San Jose) suggest we do this annually, having enjoyed watching each other’s very different styles & programs. During this Recession it appears that people will pay USD$20/ticket (2X the usual price) to support a non-profit org. running a battered women’s shelter, etc. that has lost 70% of its state funding. [2nite:7:30-9:30] St. Mark’s Poetry Project March mtg. Ginny & I will read our newest poems (see my blog: http://www.costleybill7.blogspot.com)~
Bill Costley
Sat 26 FEB 20118 am(Weather:)Partly Cloudy but brightly Sunny nonetheless35° F feels like 31° F (1 degree below freezing)Chance of precipitation: 10%Humidity: 85%Wind:from SSE 5 mph (Doings:) I finally got the large aux.speaker working after last nite’s DVD-projection of “To Kill A Mockingbird” (1962, starring [Eldred] Gregory Peck) in the Valley Village Social Hall, surprisingly well-attended (22=half-full) despite the cold, & predicted snow – that never did fall down here in the valley, but up in the surrounding Santa Cruz mtns. for over a wk. [2nite:] the San Jose Peace Chorale’s in a 5-choir benefit @ the big Methodist church in nearby Campbell for the women’s shelter “A Place Next Door.” At the end of Wed.nite’s tech rehearsal, I stumbled & hit the aud.floor [because] my music-reading glasses gave me a false sense of depth as I descended the stage-steps; so 2nite I’ll take off my glasses @ the end of the final piece, a multi-speed SATB-setting of the Quaker Hymn “How Can I Keep from Singing?” Then this wk of singing & film will B over.~
Bill Costley
Today has been warm! Well, warm compared to most of year so far, not as warm as yesterday though (warmest day of year so far yesterday!!)
Only another month and the clocks will go forward and I can look forward to light nights.
Was going to look for the space shuttle orbiting the earth tonight on its way to dock with the Space Station, however heavy cloud made this impossible. Pity as I think it would have been an interesting site.
Was it visible in USA I wonder???
Tuesday, February 22, 9 am(Weather:)Sunny, mtns. brightly hazy43° F feels like 43° F; predicted high: 57oF @ 4pmChance of precip.: 10%Humidity: 76%Wind: from NNW @ 3 mph (Doings:) [? a.m] Ginny will drive David B.Ogle to our vet’s nearby so he can buy a month’s supply of urinary-tract formula canned cat-food for his cat Lucky/Puss. [noonish] We’ll take Reggie out for his daily dry-weather walk. [2-4 p.m.[ Ginny will drive us 50mi up to S.F. for a special SFSO donors’ presentation on creating a music-festival. No mtgs this eve.~
Bill
Wet wet wet here. Cold too – colder than it has been in a while, snow in some parts of the country even!
News here on DOUBLE Daylight SAVING time –
“The government’s tourist strategy could mean clocks go forward an hour in the winter, and a further hour in the summer, resulting in lighter evenings but darker mornings.
Enthusiasts suggest the change could add millions to Britain’s tourism trade, while saving thousands of tones of greenhouse gas emissions as people turn their lights on later.
‘The tourism industry has been crying out for extra daylight saving for years,’ says Conservative MP Rebecca Harris. ‘It could extend the tourist season and boost the economy by up to £3.5billion a year. And we would have longer, lighter evenings.’
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents claims that an extra hour of daylight in the evenings would prevent 80 deaths and 200 serious injuries every year.
Tom Mullarkey, chief of RoSPA insists: ‘Changing the clocks would offer a unique opportunity to save lives, improve wellbeing and boost the economy.’
But opponents claim the dark mornings would make life more difficult for early risers such as farmers, and more dangerous for children traveling to school.”
Monday. 21 FEB 2011, 8am; Presidents’ Day national-holiday(Weather:)Cloudy, but becoming sunny, too40° F feels like 37° F, high: 53oF (5pm)Chance of precipitation: 15%Humidity: 86%Wind: From SE @ 4 mph (Doings:) My latest political-agitpoem “We Won’t Melt!” (for the Wisconsin workers) appears on The New Verse News http://www.newversenews.blogspot.com today. We’ll walk w/Reggie outdoors once it’s ~50oF (noonish)
Bill Costley
Well, today was weather that I didn’t notice! i.e. thinking back on the day I know I didn’t get rained on and I wasn’t freezing cold so the weather must have been alright!
Thursday, February 17, 8 am{Weather:)Scattered Thunderstorms, increasing around noon. Mts semi-visible.44° F feels like 37° F (=windchill due to brisk & steady 16mph wind)Chance of precipitation: 40% (steading sprinkling)Humidity: 86%Wind: From SSE @ 16 mph.(Doings:) Reggie won’t be going out today because he hates getting rained on. San Jose Peace Chorale weekly practice 2nite 7:30-9:30 pm ~ Bill
Thursday, February 17, 8 am{Weather:)Scattered Thunderstorms, increasing around noon. Mts semi-visible.44° F feels like 37° F (=windchill due to brisk & steady 16mph wind)Chance of precipitation: 40% (steading sprinkling)Humidity: 86%Wind: From SSE @ 16 mph.(Doings:) Reggie won’t be going out today because he hates getting rained on. San Jose Peace Chorale weekly practice 2nite 7:30-9:30 pm ~ Bill
(Doings, catch-up:) [Sun.] was actually Ginny’s sister Alice’s b’day we celebrated at Mimi’s, a faux-French bistro in West San Jose known for its massive portions; my ‘small’ plain house salad (preceded by a large muffin) was quite enuf. [Mon./Valentine’s Day] , Parking behind the new Oriental Sushi Buffet just into West San Jose; Ginny & in the next strip-mall, we accidentally found Isabellas, a South American (Peruvian) restaurant; Ginny got the lunchtime special – beef strips w/black beans & rice; (USD$6.95) & a large mango drink, my vegetarian Peruvian house salad (USD$7.95) was bigger than expected. Ginny brought home a large chunk of the beans & rice (called moros y cristianos in the Caribbean.)
Bill
(doings: update: my weight) I now weigh 294.4 lbs., down from 306 last Thurs. so my doc’s taken me off furosemine (diuretic) again, saying I should now continue to manage my weight-loss with walking 30min./day & a no-salt low-carb diet – like the South Beach Diet my cardiologist reccomends; I have all 3 of the SDB books. Salt included in, not shaken on what I ate (e.g., S.F. fishermen’s cioppino stew) caused me to gain those 8 lbs 2 wks.ago. I won’t see my doc. for 2 mos., but If I do gain again, he’ll he’ll put me back on that diuretic.~
Bill
(doings, update:) Change: I’ve just taken Reggie out 2X in the wind & slight sprinkle, [the 2nd time on my walker like a chariot] to the V V main bldg 1 to deliver the flyer for the monthly film on Fri. the 25th (TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD) to “The Village Voice” [V V’s] weekly newsletter editor who cites it under: Friday Night Entertainment.~
Bill
Monday, February 14 9 am Valentine’s Day(Weather:)Showers/Wind50° F feels like 50° FPrecipitation: 35%Humidity: 83%Wind: From SSE @ 20 mph (Doings:) It’s too windy & sprinkly today to take Reggie out for his walk this a.m. I have an 11:20am apt. w/my HMO doc about my recent weight gain of 8 lbs. After that, Ginny & I will decide what we’ll do for Valentine’s Day.~
Bill
Sunday, February 13 8 am(Weather:)Foggy, visibility 1/4 mi, mtns invisible47° F feels like 47° FPrecipitation: 10%Humidity: 80%Wind: From WSW 2 mph(Doings:) Ginny’s niece April celebrates her 20th b’day 2day; born in Feb.& named April? because her mother Alice liked the name. She’s a med.tech (phlebotomist, draws blood samples.) After her party in nearby west San Jose, we’ll go to Ginny’s church service (5pm) in bordering Sunnyvale, (as usual) This a.m. @ 9am~, brave little Reggie will walk us around Valley Village, (as usual…)~ Bill
Thurs, Feb 10 9 am(weather:)43° F feels like 43° F;Predicted: 65oF by 2pmPrecipitation: 10%Humidity: 60%Wind: from NNW 1 mph(doings:) Reggie’s just been shouting “out!” at the apt.door, so we’ll take him out for his walk around Valley Village ~ 10 am; no administrative action on “pet fur” (so far.) San Jose Peace Chorale weekly bd mtg & choir practice 2nite.~
Bill
On behalf of Reggie I am appalled, totally.
A few cat hairs – so what! Even if the person was allergic (I am seriously allergic to cat hair) it is NOT the cat’s fault. So deal with it!!!
95050 to HU17 - across the Atlantic by blog 