angie's important autumn event -- please gogogo!!!

Event Description Here cousin thomas, visiting from tx, is back in bako with the gias, & my insides are packed with bean & onion burrito. trying to be of some good use, i edited the poster my seester started for her bakersfield event. she & her hubby doug have created a highly-worthwhile drop-in center for women living on & around union avenue. homeless, staying in hotels, sheltering wherever they can, couch-surfing, walking the streets: visitors to the center are doing what they must to stay vertical. the drop-in center is a clean, safe, lovely little refuge where women receive free counseling, food, clothing, & shoes. they can wash up & take a break from the bakersfield heat. i tell you, what angie & doug are doing with this center is their best idea yet, & they've had some good ones. doug has plans to expand it, if the dough is there, so if you are in bako or want to make the drive, this will be a fun as well as spiritually valuable & rewarding investment -- i believe tax-deductible, too. plus james & i will be doing a set. :)

why hate?

it took only 58 yrs, but my mug finally made the bakersfield society pages, thx to rod thornburg, photojournalist. at my left & right, respectively, are dapper dad & handsome hank... well, i read again today that vegans are widely hated, but now typing that, i remember having addressed it already. vegans make ppl uncomfy, it read. since i'm no longer vegan, i can make ppl comfy again. had to add small oily fish *tinned fish!!!! yum!!!!* bc my iron level dropped. should feel bad for the little oily fish, but i don't. must be a character flaw, an oddly empty moral space... well, nothing much is up except this way of eating is causing me to lose chub, but mebbe it's not the food, perhaps i'm just more dad than mama, & the older dad gets, the skinnier he gets. he was a child fatty, like i was. whatever the reason, this is a good health direction to be heading... just went to the ridge rt museum yard sale on this here labor day (thank you, trade unions, for all the benefits you've given this ungrateful society) & got 2 yoga books, 1 vegan cookbook (the veganomicon - what a title!), & the smokey bear comic of my (maybe your) childhood, all for a buck. that is one solid deal. one can never, never, never have too many books... back to food, have gotten to enjoy some superb meals lately. sister-in-law sherri sent me a gift card, so we drove south & had a staunchly middle-class, bustling, air-conditioned time @ cheesecake factory. what you see is the make-your-own lettuce wraps. outstanding!!! the other pic is from the botanist (bakersfield). the blood-suckingly dark, swanky interior made the table top glow with jeweled tones. seester angie had recommended it, & tho i think the botanist is mostly known for its booze drinks, they insisted that they had eats for the teetotaler, too. (that is fun to say aloud, btw.) i was surprised by the posh west-LA atmosphere (difference: only 10 ppl in the restaurant) & had the mezze plate w/very fresh, chunked-up veggies, hummus, & sourdough toasted in olive oil. great stuff!! it was exotic to eat @ such a chichi place in the middle of downtown bakingfield, but i've not lived there for a long time, so mebbe LA has stretched its tippytoes to reach nashville west. when we exited this place, we recoiled & screamed like vampires... i exaggerate, but you get the pitcher.