Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Packing Bags

Len and I are getting ready to head to San Francisco on Thursday. I dropped the car off for service this morning and that's going to be a bit of a hit--but still a lot cheaper than the payments on a new car. I don't mind the fact that the Odyssey is almost 11, but it is getting a little battered looking. It's comfortable, gets me from point A to point B, and it does O.K. on fuel mileage. It can't haul a trailer, but I wasn't even taking riding lessons when we bought it, much less thinking about having a horse own me. The best thing about it is that it seats 6--four really comfortably in bucket seats and two more on a bench seat--or I can drop the last seat into the floor and take out two of the bucket seats for a lot of cargo space, all on the frame of an Accord. The newer models have sliding back doors, but mine are like a sedan, which I really prefer.

The agenda for the meetings which I will attend (while Len gets to enjoy the amenities of the Fairmont Hotel on Nob Hill and the wonderful city of San Francisco) included the note "semi-formal attire" for the closing dinner on Monday night. Does this mean I've got to bring a fancy dress or can I get away with a simple black number? And what is Len supposed to wear? A suit or a black tuxedo (it is "semi-formal," after all)? This is California and a bit of a surprise. Most places are fine if you wear socks with your shoes.

San Francisco is my favorite city in the U.S. While not quite a European as New Orleans, it is very much a walking city with all sorts of wonderful neighborhoods. It is a great place to photograph and I've already packed the camera and the Mac so I can digitally process on the road. Over the years I've done some gorgeous shots of the Golden Gate Bridge on transparency film. This will be my first opportunity to shoot digital. Maybe I should slip in one of my film cameras, but I don't know where I'll be able to get it processed.

3 comments:

Flying Lily said...

Enjoy your trip! A good old car is something to appreciate in this economy. Hope the semi-formal event is fun. I would anticipate quite a range of attire, and someone will be wearing Crocs or I'm a monkey's uncle.

M. C. Valada said...

As it turned out, Joe was wearing sandles without socks and Robert Silverberg did not wear a tie with his jacket, somewhat chiding himself because he is usually the one in a tie when others are not. He spent the evening giving my husband a hard time about wearing a tie with Wolverine on it. I'm thinking about having a "Lord Valentine's Castle" tie made for Bob as a follow-up to the evening.

I wore a black dress with the silver and malachite necklace and earrings Len had made for me for Christmas a couple of years ago. I received many complements on the jewelery, which has silver horses anchoring the disks of malachite.

M. C. Valada said...

For clarification, the Joe referred to in my comment is Joe Haldeman, author of the award-winning novel "The Forever War." This is not to be confused with a recent non-fiction book of the same name.