Farewell USA

My stay in California has come to an end sadly! There’s much for me to still reflect on and maybe write more about still, though. My stay was punctuated throughout by various things I haven’t yet mentioned much: tennis matches (my sister in law and brother played quite a few mixed doubles matches while I was there), local characters (some of whom are below), relaxing moments swimming in the shared (but seemingly always empty) pool or enjoying the hot tub (while being occasionally pelted with huge pine cones by the local squirrels who’d nibbled them to the core and then dropped (threw?) them at us from a great height!), “bubble” tea, delicious cocktails and quality time with Didi the cat. And mysteriously unavailable internet even with good WiFi. Yep even in Silicon Valley! 🤔 Oh, and mochi, too. Hmmm… delicious 😋

Here are some pictures of (and poems about) those things:

Tennis

Hot sun

Floodlights straight up, redundant.

Opponents barking

All is hot and glaringly bright

Or suddenly (but only narrowly) cool and dark.

The colours are as definite as the scores;

Hard white lines and solid squares of green, red, black

Or the blue blue blue of the sky.

Big birds glide overhead

In between planes and balls

Matches hook me in

The winning or losing is relentless

Alongside a million psychological subtleties I can tell are there but do not fully understandTerri, the Posh Bagel Queen, who never takes time off, and remembers every customer she ever served. She remembered who I was, even though it’s been 4 years since I was last here!! She’s been at work since some God forsaken hour of the morning baking bagels and yet here she is, in all her splendour, glamorous as ever:

Aaaarghhh! “But I’m in a café the middle of San Francisco, with WiFi, in the interweb capital of the world! Eh???! 🤨🧐👇🏼

On a brighter note, here’s Larry, with his huge dogs, Winter and Pretty Girl. Everyone stops to talk to either the dogs or him or both. I wrote a poem about them:

Larry sits enthroned like a King,

Oversized corgis at his feet [NB the Queen of England famously has several corgis]

With his bread bag of raw carrots (a healthy snack)

and a coffee,

He presides over the table,

Faithful, friendly and contented mutts at his feet;

A triptych staged for canine lovers’ delight,

They entertain the neighbourhood.

Who could be richer than this giant, with his splendid hounds

and all the new friends they keep making?Jasmine tea with green mango in the bottom, lemon, orange and hibiscus..a refreshing summery delight!👇🏼 Mochi (Japanese ice cream filled fruit/tea flavoured things. Delicious!)