Tuesday, December 30, 2003

Bought a car today...

We teamed up to buy a used car this week - yesterday, during the storm and downpour, I surfed the net and found out what cars were available in our price range and the makes that we were considering. Barb did the phone calling and negotiated a good price by setting a couple of dealers into a price war with each other. We ended up seeing and driving the car (a little red Toyota Echo) today, and did the financing deal right there, and will pick it up tomorrow. We could have waited til it was cleaned and driven it home tonight, but the dog was waiting in the backyard. A successful transaction!

We have been seeing a number of the films out this season. So far:
Return of the King (4 stars) - high production value, love the scenary, love Viggo
Peter Pan (5 stars) - unexpected pleasure. Darkly beautiful with updated yet classic storyline
Gloomy Sunday (5 stars) - art film from Germany. One of my favorite films of the year!
Calendar Girls (4 stars) - fun, heartwarming story about real women's lives
Pirates of the Caribbean (rental) (1 star - I fell asleep, which is the true sign of a bad movie)
Cold Mountain (3 stars) - if I hadn't read the book, I might have enjoyed the movie more. The characters were not full enough. Jude Law is a hottie, Nicole left me cold.)
Big Fish (3.5 stars) - I really wanted to like it. Some very interesting moments. Kid in the seat behind me talked too much.)




Leah Brooks at 5:58 PM

Sunday, December 28, 2003

Images

Here are some snapshots of our festive frolicking:












Leah Brooks at 8:27 AM

Friday, December 26, 2003

In the dark of winter

This has been a perfectly splendid week of holiday revelling. Revelling:reveille - to call awake the sleeping earth. Calling back the light. Lighting up the tree and windows to remind the sun of its business. We have had a lot of rain and chill, but yesterday the sun burst forth and lit up the world in a blaze of clean, well-scrubbed glory. The blue sky was filled with seagulls wheeling over ponds. The flooded marsh was aglitter with fragments of light.

There have been many gatherings of friends. A sharing of food and drink, conversation, gifts and laughter. I am overwhelmed the abundance we are surrounded in, and grateful for it too.

Speaking of gifts, our dog Lola can now be translated with the help of a Bowlingual. However, since strapping it on her collar, she has remained remarkably quiet. The handheld devise must be picking up brain waves or sub-sonic barks in the neighborhood, however, for every once in a while a message appears on the screen when you least expect it.

The cat, Rudy, has no such tool handy to him. But he gets his message across without any need of technology. He is a master in the subtle art of body language.
Leah Brooks at 8:57 AM

Friday, December 19, 2003

Nostalgia

On our morning walk, I noticed that the giant candy cane seems to be the item most affixed to homes for the holiday season. I remembered the large Santa face that Dad used to put out on the outside of the house at Christmas. Where did that thing come from, and where is it now? It was about three feet in diameter, an old fashioned face made of plaster, framed in gold. The Santa had a wart on his nose. It looked like the kind of display a victorian store might have in its display window. Dad always put a spotlight on it.

Last night, coming home from work, I found myself whistling a Sousa march, and was suddenly in tears. The deep grief of missing my parents, especially at the holidays, bubbles up in unsuspecting ways.
Leah Brooks at 10:13 AM

Thursday, December 18, 2003

The Elk Hound has found a reindeer

Lola gets into the spirit of the season...


Leah Brooks at 4:13 PM

A couple of holiday show pictures

A friend from chorus, Carol, took these shots, which are small and therefore appropriate to put on this page..

Here's the quartet singing "Let it Snow/I love the Winter Weather Medley"


I had a small solo part while the chorus sang an arrangement of "Let there be peace on earth".

Leah Brooks at 9:37 AM

Tuesday, December 16, 2003

Victorian Christmas images

If, like me, you like victorian paper ephemera, you will enjoy browsing this greeting card scrapbook. I especially loved the section called "A Christmas Menagerie". I wish I could use some of these images on my site, but they seem to be copyrighted. Hmm, how can a picture from that era still be under copyright protection? Well, enjoy it at a distance.
Leah Brooks at 9:09 AM

Saturday, December 13, 2003

Out on a limb

Feeling resistant to the high prices that the tree sellers are charging for the trees in the lots that are just going to be shredded in a few weeks, I decided that I would go for the artificial tree this year. Only if I could find one that looks quite real. We shopped around this morning, and finally found the perfect one at the hardware store, and it was the very last of its kind, and we got 25% off because it was the floor model! What a deal. I'll post a picture once it's in and decorated.

Last night, we went into the city with Ariana (aged 10) to take a look at the tree in Union Square, and to have a holiday window shopping outing in Macys. The tree in the lobby of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel was artificial, and frankly looked it. Some of the decorations were balloons (they were also artificial.. real ones would have popped). But the fantastic gingerbread castle was all real. I had to admit to Ari that probably no one would ever eat it, because I'm guessing hot glue was used during construction. We were planning to eat at the Cheesecake Factory on the roof of Macys, which may have terrible food but which lures people in with the name. The wait up there was 2 and a half hours! and it was packed with wet people and their soggy umbrellas. We went instead to the Cafe de la Presse, a charming French bistro across from the gates of Chinatown (aux portes de la ville Chinoise). We promised ourselves to make it a yearly pilgrimage. Jazz singer and guitar, warm atmosphere, pleasant waiters, delicious food.
Leah Brooks at 1:11 PM

Monday, December 08, 2003

Winter whirl

It was a very pleasant weekend with many diversions. The quartet had a couple of holiday gigs. There is something very special about singing christmas songs to people. There are always people who cry when they hear the songs. That always causes me to feel particularly sentimental about the songs, and then I sing more from my heart, and then more people cry.

There is a vulnerability that people have at the holidays - we are so busy, we have more to do, we remember how the holidays used to be, perhaps thinking of good times that will never be repeated, we remember who we miss and why.. all those things are right on the surface. A song carries extra nostalgia and causes our tears to take us over the edge. I think it's enjoyable for people to feel that way. Many people come up to us after these events and talk about how lovely it is to be able to sing (when we do a sing-along), because it's the only time of year they are able to sing. I can't even imagine how terrible that would be.. to only get to sing one or two songs all year long.

JL's new store, Design Within Reach, opened in Berkeley and we attended the gala grand opening, and did a little shopping too. Stella's fabulous holiday party was more crowded and festive than ever. We did a gift (steal) exchange, and every gift I picked out was stolen at least once. I guess I have good taste. But at least I ended up with a decent bottle of French wine, instead of the glowing Santa lamp.
Leah Brooks at 8:57 AM

Wednesday, December 03, 2003

Queer Eye on the Mayoral Race

I had a dream last night, or maybe it was just one of those dreamy streams of unconsciousness that floats along after the cat woke me up with his lonely howl. The way it went was that I wrote a letter to the editor (with a name de plume and an address in SF) concerning the state of San Francisco's mayoral candidates' hair-dos. Of course the letter was VERY well written and sharp and witty, and none of that clever prose was retained when the sun came up, but it had to do with the large numbers of handy-dandy San Francisco queers, drag queens and metrosexuals who are clamoring to make over Matt Gonzalez and Gavin Newsom. A committee needs to be formed, our own local Fab Five (or Five Hundred).

Much to my surprise, I opened the newspaper this morning and read this article.

I guess I'm not alone.
Leah Brooks at 9:33 AM

Monday, December 01, 2003

Family

I understand that many people do not enjoy being with their families. They talk about boredom, arguments, stale, long-lasting grudges, being held accountable for ancient tastes and grievances, and the general horror that is the forced holiday visit. How lucky that I am not among them! When we gather, it feels to me like we create a common space. There is the comfortable way that we communicate. There is a lot of laughter and music.

Here are some photos of my fabulous family.
Leah Brooks at 3:07 PM