weblog - 2010
Jun 22, Petaluma
Following
a nice drive that included crossing the Golden Gate bridge, we arrived in
Petaluma for a visit with Sharon and Brian Olesky, friends who emigrated here
from Houston. This is wine country and we took the opportunity of visiting
several wineries including the beautiful properties of Kendall Jackson and Ferrari
Carano. We took a picnic lunch and ate outdoors enjoying the climate and
the wine. I'm afraid the wineries in Texas' Hill Country have a ways to go
before catching up.
Jun 1 8, Pebble Beach
Here we are at the final day of the U.S.
Open golf championship. No cameras allowed so no pix for the blog.
We arrived early by shuttle bus and is was a typical freezing northern
California summer day. Our plan was to walk the entire course but the weather
got to us. We found a warm oasis at the thirteenth hole and found
ourselves a spot in the bleachers. The sun was shining and the was very
little wind so we just sat and watched the last twenty or so groups come
through, including all the leaders. When the last group finished we made
our way up the course but the galleries were about ten deep on all the holes so
we left and settled for a nice dinner in Monterey.
Jun 8, Lake Como
We
first visited Lake Como fifteen years ago when I had to return to South America
after one day. We vowed to return and here we are. If there is a
more beautiful spot in the world, we haven't found it. On a recommendation
by Ann and Ted Parker we stayed at the Belvedere Hotel in Bellagio. The
hotel upgraded us to a suite which was very nice. The lake is shaped like
an upside down Y, and Bellagio sits on the intersection of the three legs,
making it very convenient to visit all of the neighboring cities and
villages. We enjoyed the food and compensated by doing a lot of
walking. There was a rumor that George Clooney had a villa nearby, but his villa was quite a distance away. The owner of the villa reputed to be
Clooney's got tired of all the gawkers and put up a sign that said No George.
Jun 2, London
We
find London to be a very interesting city. We revisited and enjoyed
the British and the Victoria & Albert Museums, and went to the Churchill War
Cabinet for the first time. It is a don't miss. One our favorite
activities in London is the organized walking tours. We did two this
time. We visited the Inns of Court, the heart of the British legal
system. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and the weather was
perfect. Our second tour was to Greenwich. The tour included a boat
ride on the Thames. What we didn't know was that the tour was one way and
we were left on our own to find a way home. We eventually found a train
after walking around the town and asking people for directions. The
weather was less than perfect. These pictures show the guides and the
conditions.
May 30, London
The
Levys and the Browns are here to pursue mutual interest in history, stage plays
and food. We got off to a good start by eating at Rules Restaurant.
This place has been in continuous operation since 1797, although the staff has
turned over a few times. We opted for traditional English fare and we
weren't disappointed. We took in three plays; War Horse (outstanding - should
do well on Broadway), Love Never Dies (the sequel to Phantom of the Opera is a
triumph for ALW fans, still entertaining for the rest of us), and Dirty Dancing
(dismal). Pat and I also saw the revival of Alan Ayckbourn's 1975 hit
Bedroom Farce (still very funny).
May 22, aboard the QM2
This is our second Atlantic
crossing on the QM2, the first time east to west. Security in New York
Harbor is pretty impressive - we were accompanied on our way out by machine-gun
toting Coast Guards. The ship and final destination are the attractions on this
voyage as there are no intermediate ports of call. The ship is in tip-top
condition and luxuriously appointed. There are concerts, classes, lectures
as well as 13 bars and a casino to keep you entertained. We planned to
circumnavigate the ship a few times every day to work off the great food served
on board but the temperature was in the low forties and windy so it appears we
had to get our exercise vertically by avoiding the elevators.
May 20, New York
We are spending a night in New York as we
get ready to board the Queen Mary 2 for a transatlantic sail to Southampton,
England. .We are traveling with Pat's brother Dick Brown and his wife
Jann. We will go to London after the cruise and stay a few days to visit
the city and take in a few West End shows. We went to see the musical
"Fela" which was OK but not great.
May 16, Harker Heights
Big
doings at the Solomons household as they prepare for their move to the east
coast. On Saturday John played left field for the Mudcats, who lost
a one run heartbreaker to the favored Lugnuts. He entered the game in the
fourth inning as a defensive replacement and made no errors. The Mudcats
took a one run lead into the bottom of the sixth and final inning.
Unfortunately, five walks and an infield single allowed two runs to score to end
the game. On Sunday, the focus turned to Katie who made her first
communion at St. Paul Chong Hasang Catholic Church. She looked very grown
up in her white dress and veil.
May 9,Houston
We
had the pleasure of having a visit from Mark and Johnny for Mother's Day.
Katie and Margaret were in San Antonio for a Girl Scout outing. We went to
a dinner party on Saturday night, and then enjoyed a pancake breakfast prepared
by Johnny on Sunday morning. This was followed by a short trip to the
Houston Aquarium. Some interesting fish exhibits but the highlight, don't
ask me what they were doing in an aquarium, was a pair of white tigers. They
were quite entertaining.
Apr 23, Killeen
Lieutenant
Colonel Mark Solomons was honored in a Change Of Command ceremony at Fort
Hood. Mark recently returned from his third deployment to Iraq with his
battalion intact. The First Cavalry is steeped in tradition which is on
display during their ceremonies. The incoming commanders ride in on
horseback, dismount and turned their horses over to the outgoing
commanders. The outgoing commanders ride off to their next
assignment. Next to seeing the officers on horseback, the highlight of the
event is a cavalry charge featuring high speed horses and a covered wagon.
Mar 28, Melbourne
We
just finished a wonderful week in Marvelous Melbourne visiting friends, enjoying
the food and wine, and walking. We stayed at the historic Windsor
Hotel. The hotel houses the Cricketers Bar, one of the class watering
spots in the city. We sampled the local brews with the grandson of a good
friend in Houston, who was spending a term at Melbourne University. We
went to a remarkable aboriginal art exhibit at Federation Square. The collection
was primarily of young aboriginal artist who have integrated modern ideas into
their paintings and sculptures. We toured the Mornington Peninsula with
our friends the Hunters and spent a couple of days there at a farm owned by our
friends the Caplans.
Mar 19, Sydney
It
was still dark when we entered Sydney Harbor yesterday. Too bad - this may
be the world's most beautiful cruise ship port. It was just starting to
get light as we slipped into Circular Quay, in between the opera house and the
harbor bridge. A quick look at a calendar would indicate that we had
completed a ten day trip, but we lost a day crossing the International Date
Line. We will get it back later in Hawaii. One thing we missed when
we lived in Australia was the Tooranga Zoo, one of the world's best. It is
located across the harbor from Sydney and is accessible by ferry. There
was a lot of excitement in the zoo about the recent birth of an Indian
elephant. The baby could be seen walking under its mother. At night
we saw a jazz concert featuring Branford Marsalis at the opera house.
Mar 12, Pacific Ocean
The
voyage from Honolulu to Sydney lasts nine days. This trip gives you
an appreciation for the size of the Pacific Ocean. We were a little apprehensive
about being at sea for nine days, but it has been anything but boring. For
one thing there is an on-board film festival, with lectured and movies twice a
day. There is a daily bridge game, a casino, other lectures and food,
food, food. This is not a trip on which to be dieting. Every meal is
better than the last. We have walked the track on the seventh deck every
day in an effort to minimize the weight gain. Also, Pat has made the
elevators off-limits.
Mar 7, Honolulu
We
are aboard the Crystal Symphony, tied up in Honolulu harbor. It rained
this morning, but the skies have cleared and the day is glorious. The ship
has provided liquid refreshment for the departure so everyone is in a good
mood. The cruise ship dock is right in the middle of downtown, with
Diamond Head clearly in view. We are docked two blocks from the office
that I occupied for many years. A little bit of nostalgia but not too
much.
Mar 4, Honolulu
Our new travel objective is to see the world
but never taking a flight that lasts more than nine hours. We have been
wanting to visit Australia, but the flights from the U.S. mainland are too
long. We solved the long flight problem by flying here from Houston, and
then on to Australia by cruise ship. On the return we will fly from Sydney
to Honolulu, a flight of less than eight hours. We will spend a few days
here relaxing and getting used to the time change.
Feb 17, Harker Heights
We
made one of our final trips to Fort Hood as Mark and Margaret are counting down
the days until their move to the East Coast. Pat and Katie went
door-to-door selling Girl Scout cookies. According to Pat, Katie is a very
persistent salesperson, refusing to take no for an answer. Many boxes were
sold in a little over an hour. Another highlight was a birthday dinner
complete with birthday cake prepared by Margaret for your reporter's
seventieth. This is the coldest winter in memory for most Texans, but I
shouldn't complain as we got off a lot easier the folks on the East Coast.
Where is Al Gore now that we need him?
Feb 2, Houston
We
are in the midst of Houston's annual Regional bridge tournament. This year
Pat is the co-chair of the event and she has devoted untold hours ensuring that
the tournament is a success. After two days the hard work and planning are
producing excellent results. She has introduced many innovative changes
such as electronic scoring in which the results at each table are wirelessly
transmitted to a central computer enabling instantaneous scoring. There
was a large upset in the first Open Pairs event as your reporter managed to
finish first. What made this rewarding is that the event was dedicated to
Lt. Colonel Mark Solomons and his battalion. Most of the events in the tournament
are dedicated to bridge players and their relatives.
The year is off to a great start for the
family career-wise. Mark has received his orders and heading for the
Navy War College where he will be an instructor. Margaret and the kids
will join him soon in Newport, Rhode Island. Mark returned to Fort Hood
last week with the nine hundred or so soldiers under his command all returning
with out a single life lost. Monica has gone to work for ITT in Chicago,
so she and Mike are looking for a house on the north side of the city. She
has resumed her globe-trotting schedule and is currently attending a meeting in Italy.
Andy is a Vice President with The Botsford Group, a financial planning
organization in Dallas. Ross and Kelly lead a successful campaign to
rescind and ordinance which would have inhibited their ability to take their
dogs to the park.
Jan 5, Houston
Pat
has been trying for months to drum up some publicity for the Houston bridge
unit, of which she is president. She has been working with The Buzz, a magazine
distributed to four neighborhoods in Houston - Bellaire, West University,
Memorial, and Tanglewood. Each of the issues is the same inside, but
unbeknownst to us each has a different cover. We were pleased with the
nice article we read in the Bellaire Buzz, but when the Tanglewood Buzz came
out, we were shocked to find ourselves on the front cover.
Following
a nice drive that included crossing the Golden Gate bridge, we arrived in
Petaluma for a visit with Sharon and Brian Olesky, friends who emigrated here
from Houston. This is wine country and we took the opportunity of visiting
several wineries including the beautiful properties of Kendall Jackson and Ferrari
Carano. We took a picnic lunch and ate outdoors enjoying the climate and
the wine. I'm afraid the wineries in Texas' Hill Country have a ways to go
before catching up.
We
first visited Lake Como fifteen years ago when I had to return to South America
after one day. We vowed to return and here we are. If there is a
more beautiful spot in the world, we haven't found it. On a recommendation
by Ann and Ted Parker we stayed at the Belvedere Hotel in Bellagio. The
hotel upgraded us to a suite which was very nice. The lake is shaped like
an upside down Y, and Bellagio sits on the intersection of the three legs,
making it very convenient to visit all of the neighboring cities and
villages. We enjoyed the food and compensated by doing a lot of
walking. There was a rumor that George Clooney had a villa nearby, but his villa was quite a distance away. The owner of the villa reputed to be
Clooney's got tired of all the gawkers and put up a sign that said No George.
We
find London to be a very interesting city. We revisited and enjoyed
the British and the Victoria & Albert Museums, and went to the Churchill War
Cabinet for the first time. It is a don't miss. One our favorite
activities in London is the organized walking tours. We did two this
time. We visited the Inns of Court, the heart of the British legal
system. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and the weather was
perfect. Our second tour was to Greenwich. The tour included a boat
ride on the Thames. What we didn't know was that the tour was one way and
we were left on our own to find a way home. We eventually found a train
after walking around the town and asking people for directions. The
weather was less than perfect. These pictures show the guides and the
conditions.
The
Levys and the Browns are here to pursue mutual interest in history, stage plays
and food. We got off to a good start by eating at Rules Restaurant.
This place has been in continuous operation since 1797, although the staff has
turned over a few times. We opted for traditional English fare and we
weren't disappointed. We took in three plays; War Horse (outstanding - should
do well on Broadway), Love Never Dies (the sequel to Phantom of the Opera is a
triumph for ALW fans, still entertaining for the rest of us), and Dirty Dancing
(dismal). Pat and I also saw the revival of Alan Ayckbourn's 1975 hit
Bedroom Farce (still very funny).
This is our second Atlantic
crossing on the QM2, the first time east to west. Security in New York
Harbor is pretty impressive - we were accompanied on our way out by machine-gun
toting Coast Guards. The ship and final destination are the attractions on this
voyage as there are no intermediate ports of call. The ship is in tip-top
condition and luxuriously appointed. There are concerts, classes, lectures
as well as 13 bars and a casino to keep you entertained. We planned to
circumnavigate the ship a few times every day to work off the great food served
on board but the temperature was in the low forties and windy so it appears we
had to get our exercise vertically by avoiding the elevators. 
Big
doings at the Solomons household as they prepare for their move to the east
coast. On Saturday John played left field for the Mudcats, who lost
a one run heartbreaker to the favored Lugnuts. He entered the game in the
fourth inning as a defensive replacement and made no errors. The Mudcats
took a one run lead into the bottom of the sixth and final inning.
Unfortunately, five walks and an infield single allowed two runs to score to end
the game. On Sunday, the focus turned to Katie who made her first
communion at St. Paul Chong Hasang Catholic Church. She looked very grown
up in her white dress and veil.
We
had the pleasure of having a visit from Mark and Johnny for Mother's Day.
Katie and Margaret were in San Antonio for a Girl Scout outing. We went to
a dinner party on Saturday night, and then enjoyed a pancake breakfast prepared
by Johnny on Sunday morning. This was followed by a short trip to the
Houston Aquarium. Some interesting fish exhibits but the highlight, don't
ask me what they were doing in an aquarium, was a pair of white tigers. They
were quite entertaining. 
Lieutenant
Colonel Mark Solomons was honored in a Change Of Command ceremony at Fort
Hood. Mark recently returned from his third deployment to Iraq with his
battalion intact. The First Cavalry is steeped in tradition which is on
display during their ceremonies. The incoming commanders ride in on
horseback, dismount and turned their horses over to the outgoing
commanders. The outgoing commanders ride off to their next
assignment. Next to seeing the officers on horseback, the highlight of the
event is a cavalry charge featuring high speed horses and a covered wagon.
We
just finished a wonderful week in Marvelous Melbourne visiting friends, enjoying
the food and wine, and walking. We stayed at the historic Windsor
Hotel. The hotel houses the Cricketers Bar, one of the class watering
spots in the city. We sampled the local brews with the grandson of a good
friend in Houston, who was spending a term at Melbourne University. We
went to a remarkable aboriginal art exhibit at Federation Square. The collection
was primarily of young aboriginal artist who have integrated modern ideas into
their paintings and sculptures. We toured the Mornington Peninsula with
our friends the Hunters and spent a couple of days there at a farm owned by our
friends the Caplans.
It
was still dark when we entered Sydney Harbor yesterday. Too bad - this may
be the world's most beautiful cruise ship port. It was just starting to
get light as we slipped into Circular Quay, in between the opera house and the
harbor bridge. A quick look at a calendar would indicate that we had
completed a ten day trip, but we lost a day crossing the International Date
Line. We will get it back later in Hawaii. One thing we missed when
we lived in Australia was the Tooranga Zoo, one of the world's best. It is
located across the harbor from Sydney and is accessible by ferry. There
was a lot of excitement in the zoo about the recent birth of an Indian
elephant. The baby could be seen walking under its mother. At night
we saw a jazz concert featuring Branford Marsalis at the opera house.
The
voyage from Honolulu to Sydney lasts nine days. This trip gives you
an appreciation for the size of the Pacific Ocean. We were a little apprehensive
about being at sea for nine days, but it has been anything but boring. For
one thing there is an on-board film festival, with lectured and movies twice a
day. There is a daily bridge game, a casino, other lectures and food,
food, food. This is not a trip on which to be dieting. Every meal is
better than the last. We have walked the track on the seventh deck every
day in an effort to minimize the weight gain. Also, Pat has made the
elevators off-limits.
We
are aboard the Crystal Symphony, tied up in Honolulu harbor. It rained
this morning, but the skies have cleared and the day is glorious. The ship
has provided liquid refreshment for the departure so everyone is in a good
mood. The cruise ship dock is right in the middle of downtown, with
Diamond Head clearly in view. We are docked two blocks from the office
that I occupied for many years. A little bit of nostalgia but not too
much.
We
made one of our final trips to Fort Hood as Mark and Margaret are counting down
the days until their move to the East Coast. Pat and Katie went
door-to-door selling Girl Scout cookies. According to Pat, Katie is a very
persistent salesperson, refusing to take no for an answer. Many boxes were
sold in a little over an hour. Another highlight was a birthday dinner
complete with birthday cake prepared by Margaret for your reporter's
seventieth. This is the coldest winter in memory for most Texans, but I
shouldn't complain as we got off a lot easier the folks on the East Coast.
Where is Al Gore now that we need him?
We
are in the midst of Houston's annual Regional bridge tournament. This year
Pat is the co-chair of the event and she has devoted untold hours ensuring that
the tournament is a success. After two days the hard work and planning are
producing excellent results. She has introduced many innovative changes
such as electronic scoring in which the results at each table are wirelessly
transmitted to a central computer enabling instantaneous scoring. There
was a large upset in the first Open Pairs event as your reporter managed to
finish first. What made this rewarding is that the event was dedicated to
Lt. Colonel Mark Solomons and his battalion. Most of the events in the tournament
are dedicated to bridge players and their relatives.
Pat
has been trying for months to drum up some publicity for the Houston bridge
unit, of which she is president. She has been working with The Buzz, a magazine
distributed to four neighborhoods in Houston - Bellaire, West University,
Memorial, and Tanglewood. Each of the issues is the same inside, but
unbeknownst to us each has a different cover. We were pleased with the
nice article we read in the Bellaire Buzz, but when the Tanglewood Buzz came
out, we were shocked to find ourselves on the front cover.