Musings

If you want to be noticed, let Neil Gaiman post a link to your blog on Twitter or on his blog. I got 6000 hits within hours of Neil directing people to the photos I did at his appearance in L.A. last week. Then there was another bump of about 1000 hits after he reposted the link in his blog a couple of days ago.

Thank you, Neil, my friend. It's one posting that I know had an audience.

I realized today that I need to start gathering up paperwork for Comic-con.  In two weeks, we'll be on the drive down to San Diego, for five days of business and a bit of fun.  Invitations for evening parties and dinners have started to come in and I find myself wondering what all I will do during the days when the hall floors are just too crowded to contemplate. I tend not to get to many of the larger programs unless we've been given the special wrist bands that bypass lines that are (literally) hours long. Sometimes even those don't work. If Peter Jackson brings anything to the convention  (and he promoted the hell out of Lord of the Rings before it openned), I'd like to see that (but I probably won't get in.) I'd like to see the panel for A Game of Thrones, but that's only likely to happen if George R.R. Martin can get me a guest pass.  Ditto with The Big Bang Theory, where I've only been able to get in the room the year Bill Prady got me a guest pass.  Last year, my girlfriend stood on line for 3 hours and couldn't get into the room. (The nice thing about TBBT is that I can always catch a taping and hang out back stage afterwards here in L.A.)

For outside entertainment, I bemoan the loss of antique shops within walking distance of the hotels. Most of them disappeared when the baseball stadium and new hotels were built.  It is still possible to drive to Ocean Beach or Solano Beach for their antique malls, but the antique-store lined streets in most other areas have been lost to the power of e-Bay.  I miss the thrill of the hunt and immediacy of the kill that e-Bay lacks.

The week could be a good one for meals, if we weren't always constrained by time and crowds. We were in San Diego last month to see "August: Osage County" at the Old Globe Theatre and had a terrific meal at a nearby restaurant, and it was only one of several suggested to us in that area.  While I might be able to go to Balboa Park during the day, an evening trip will not fit into a schedule that includes publishers' parties and other business gatherings.

General Musings

I don't like working on my birthday. I'd rather spend the time with Ace. But we're leaving for San Diego tomorrow and I need to conserve my vacation days this year. I'm not even taking off next Monday, which I originally scheduled, because I'm still debating a last-minute trip to my high school reunion back east. The idea of a whirlwind weekend to New York State is not nearly as appealing as a 10 day visit, but I can't be back east for that long right now.

The heat makes riding unappealing. Not so much the riding as the tacking up. I was sick to my stomach after tacking Ace up for an 8:30 lesson on Saturday morning and just didn't have much energy for anything except suppling him for his lesson with Ashley after mine. It worked out alright, but I hate that feeling. When it was 110 at 4:00 yesterday, I canceled my 5:15 lesson. We're supposed to do a lesson at 8:15 tomorrow morning, so I hope it is at least tolerable then.

San Diego is always a great city to visit, but especially so when the temperatures are supposed to be 25 or more degrees cooler than Los Angeles in the summer. A couple of years ago while we were at Comicon, it was 119 degrees at Pierce and there was a horse show going on. They were really lucky that they could use the covered arena, because they had to pretty much cancel the rest of the events that couldn't take place in that shade. I was happy not to be around for it.

I'm looking forward to meeting Chi McBride and Jackie Earle Haley at the Human Target panel on Saturday. The Human Target is another one of Len's off-spring and it will be a mid-season entry on Fox. We enjoyed the pilot, and the changes from the original material seem to work. Rick Springfield starred in an 8-episode version of it that ran not quite 20 years ago. Can a revived Swamp Thing be far behind?

We're also planning to go to The Big Bang Theory panel on Friday, but not if I have to stand in line. Which is why it is nice to know the show runners. I'm waiting for e-mail from one of them telling us how to by-pass the crowds. Sometimes it is a really good thing to be married to a comic book god. I was sorry that TBBT didn't get nominated for an Emmy, but Jim Parsons richly deserves his nomination for playing the wonderfully quirky Sheldon and I hope he wins.

During the day, except for those times when Len is on a panel, I'm free to wander about greater San Diego. I like to avoid the crush of 150,000 comic book fans all crammed into the convention center. I usually will only do the main floor at the Wednesday evening preview, but I actually prefer it when someone slips us exhibitor passes and we can get in before the preview crowd. That's what we did last year. Because Len was an honored guest last year, I spent a lot more time at the convention than I usually do--he was on a lot more panels. Plus my friends Melinda Snodgrass and Connie Willis were at the convention and on panels and I wanted to support them as well. This year is a lot easier for me to be selfish.

A couple of years ago, when the convention coincided with my birthday, I brought my riding gear along and found a rental stable where I went out with a private tour guide for a couple of hours and we walked and trotted on several thousand acres, including a wildlife preserve, east of San Diego proper. I had a great time, my guide was a very entertaining 15 year old, but the heat was as bad as it was in L.A. I did enjoy riding the dun quarter horse, even when he did a 180 underneath me because a bicycle came zipping up behind us. Luckily, I was relaxed and well stuck to the saddle. Love those well-seasoned trail horses.

We're going to look at a house right after I'm done with work today, before Len takes me out to dinner. We may look at more than one house, because I saw a photograph of a spectacular place in one of the neighborhoods I keep checking out and it's within our feasible range. It wasn't quite where I was looking, but the inside and the patio is definitely worth the consideration. The sink even looks out a window, which is something I really like. What we definitely need is more space, and a chunk of that space needs to be open because we love to give parties.

So, for my birthday, the spousal unit gave me an iPod, which I got to take the place of my Palm Tungsten 5, which gave up its ghost right after I got my netbook last month. I managed to get the Palm information into the netbook before the Palm went to Jesus, but now I'm trying to figure out how to migrate the data to the Mac's address book to sync with the Palm. The netbook is great, and I'm taking that to San Diego rather than a full-sized notebook, but I still don't want to be carrying it around with me all day. I've only had the iPod since Saturday, but I am deeply in love with it. I bought some music, but more importantly, I bought a bunch of reference apps, a couple of trivia games, and even a version of Jeopardy to keep me amused during the trip to San Diego (Len is a lousy passenger, so I am perfectly resigned to letting him do the driving while I nap or do other things.) Tonight, I need to add some pictures of Ace to it, because people always ask about him.

Some of my friends contributed to the restoration of my Hugh Jackman and Viggo Mortensen collections by getting me Blu-ray disks of Hidalgo and Appaloosa and a DVD of Oklahoma. Rounding out the horse theme, I was given a replacement in Blu-ray of Seabiscuit. I can't wait to watch them when we get back.

When Len goes to Toronto in August, I'm going to invite the ladies over so we can watch Viggo in Alatriste, which has not been released in English. I got the Spanish release with subtitles. I've read most of the Perez-Reverte novels about Captain Alatriste (I had them all in hard back, until the fire) so I was disappointed when the film never opened here. I'm always up for a good swashbuckler and Viggo does know how to use a sword.

Tea Time

I think it is time to take a break and go to a nice tea shoppe for a few hours of R & R. Here in the San Fernando Valley, there's a lovely place in Granada Hills called the Gilded Rose. The rooms are decorated in a Victorian theme with lots of chinz. It has a very nice gift shop. There are common rooms and rooms for larger parties. We've often seen bridal showers or baby showers going on. There are theme teas during certain times of the year.

Going to tea became a tradition soon after I started attending San Diego Comicon for the first time in 1992. We stayed at a Victorian-era hotel in the Gas Light District called the Horton Grand which was frequented by Wyatt Earp, reputed to be haunted, and where tea was served most afternoons. The waitress looked and dressed like Jean Marsh in Upstairs, Downstairs and the food was terrific. The wives-and-girlfriends-of the comic book pros would pick an afternoon to put on hats and act like ladies. Many a time, Comicon occurs on my birthday, tea with the ladies is my only celebration.

The tea experience at the hotel went down hill, so we've tried the U.S. Grant, the West Gate, and any other place we've been able to locate. Last summer, we discovered a new place called Tea on Chatsworth, located between the Newport Avenue antique row we like to visit and the Convention Center area. We certainly hope it is still there when the end of July rolls around this year. The six of us had a delightful time, the food was very good, and the tea selection memorable.

The very best tea shoppe we ever went to was called Ticky-Boo (probably not spelled correctly) and it was in Carlsbad, California. The Victorian theme was carried as far as the clothing worn by the owners and service people. There was confetti all over the place, hats on the wall, a fairy garden for parties, and cozies on the pots. It had the best scones ever. Fortunately, the day my friends and I attended was my birthday and they bought me a copy of the the shoppe's cookbook which had the recipe. I got to go there one more time and then it disappeared. An antique shop owner down the street said it disappeared almost overnight. The scones are an important part of any tea party I host and I'm often asked to bring them to parties elsewhere. I am partial to the lemon curd recipe and the savory stilton cheese cake recipe also found in the cookbook.

I like to host tea for the third race of the Triple Crown, if there's a possibility of a Triple Crown winner. I'm convinced that Barbaro had it in the bag when the tragedy occurred at the Preakness. I had a run of about three years for it, but it's been a three years since I've held it. I've got hopes again for this year and I've been busily collecting teapots, napkins, and other accessories in horse themes for decoration. I now have a set of horse-related cookie cutters, one of which should work for the Ticky-Boo scones. It is four months before the Run for the Roses, but I have started looking at the sports pages to see just which horses may be in the running.

I'm told the Bel Air hotel has a chocolate tea at Christmas time, and that intriques me, although I've never gone. The Four Seasons in D.C. used to have a nice high tea when I lived in the area 20 years ago. The Huntington Gardens serves tea each day, but it is a buffet, which isn't quite the right atmosphere. The Rose Tea Garden in Pasadena is another lovely, traditional spot. Like a number of places, reservations are required.

The Internet has made locating tea shoppes a little easier, but it pays to look at the descriptions and evaluations before you go. There's a place in Old Orange I've thought about visiting, but it recently got scathing reviews on-line.

I ought to give a few friends a call and make a date at the Gilded Rose. That would be a lovely way to spend Saturday afternoon.