Washing Dishes, Taking Baths

October 17, 2012

Yes, I know the title is irresistible.  But there's a whole culture in those watery topics--and they don't have much depth because that would be environmentally harmful.

I learned to take shallow baths in Tonga, where I'd draw the water from the well, pour it into a jerry can, dip out enough to fill my kettle, and heat the kettle on my kerosene stove.  Then I'd pour the hot water into a pan and add enough to turn it warm and increase it to at least a gallon.  Then I'd take off my clothes and kneel down in the space with the concrete floor, soap myself, and pour the water over sudsy me.

Now I let the water run into the bathtub--but only enough to cover the bottom of the tub.  I follow a similar procedure, but it's more than a gallon I use.  It's not as much as a shower, though--at least not the showers I know about.

We saw a video in my Environmental Science class, and I admired the woman.  She took a shower with each foot in a bucket so she could catch the water and use it for other things.  Me?  I belong to that self-indulgent generation when young people--once out of the Peace Corps--prefer taking baths with a significant other rubbing their back  to taking it with two buckets at their fee.  But I respect the woman in the video.

Now, back to a better carbon footprint.  I put just enough water in the tub to wash off my carbon footprint.  And as you know  (shhhhh), I don't take a bath every day. 

Moving from the bathroom to the kitchen:  I always wondered why I never knew what people were talking about when they mentioned the Summer of Love.  Then I looked it up in my 1967 diary and realized that I wasn't in San Francisco during the Summer of Love.  I was doing volunteer work at an orphanage in Mexico, and when I wasn't taking care of newborn babies, I was eating or watching my Mexican "sister" wash the dishes.  They didn't have running water in the kitchen, so she took all the dishes out to the patio sink and gave them a sponge bath pretty much like the one I gave myself in Tonga.  She used a soapy sponge to wash every glass, cup, plate, or piece of flatware, and then she poured cold water over them all.
That reminds me that the heater wasn't left on.  It was turned on (lit) when someone needed to take a shower, and then it was turned off.

That reminds me of what we learned in home economics in junior high school.  This was the procedure for washing dishes:
Put warm water and soap in the basin.
Wash the glasses first.
Then wash the silverware.
Then wash the plates.

I'm not quite sure about rinsing, but I think maybe the dishes were put into rinse water.  But there was none of this business of just letting the water run.  There was always a plug in the sink, capturing the water, and I wonder whether the practice started when there were no pipes but just basins.

Do YOU know?

More about today's carbon footprint:

In Walgreen's I didn't buy the Comet Cleanser I know and love because I know it's harmful to the environment.  But I spread the word to Kathy, the salesclerk there.
Me:  Hi, Kathy.  How are you doing?
Kathy:  Fine.  How are you?
Me:  Fine.  I'm taking a really interesting course in environmental science, and our teacher is an expert in toxicology, so we've learned not to use cleaning products that are bad for the environment.
Kathy:  I like Comet Cleanser, myself.
Me:  So do I!  But I'm wondering what we can use that won't poison our water supply.
Kathy:  Gee, I don't know.
Me:  Baking powder maybe?
Kathy:  Yes, I've heard you can make a paste with water.  But I have no idea how that works
Me;  I'll let you know.

Lessons Learned and the Log So Far

Yesterday I wrote about my not-too-successful attempt to support a strictly vegetarian restaurant, which led to finding three of them converted to meat-serving places, and finding them involved much too much driving around spewing carbon.  So...instead of just confessing my sins, I should be giving the lesson learned:  If I had taken time to call the vegetarian restaurants on my list, I could have saved fossil fuel for Javier and the rest of the world, and we would have had a much smaller carbon footprint.  Because of a fire at West Portal, I'd been a little delayed and got no further than looking for a fabric shop for Javier and getting a list of vegetarian restaurants that must have been put online at least a year ago.  (Second lesson:  Find date when website was last updated.)

Now I'm going to share the rest of my long so far.

Water Logged & Carbonated

Giving those words a new meaning

Thursday, October 4, 2012  Got Peggy’s go-ahead for my proposal:

Items from my bathroom cabinet--

Further “training” for my meque

Tracing water

Cap in Trade:  Sometimes I use water for relaxation; but if I do, I try to compensate by not using it in another way.

By Tina Martin

Drank a glass of tap water.

Boiled (not in the microwave) tap water for tea.

Reheated in microwave.

Skipped bath.  Sharon Stone was ridiculed when she said, “We really don’t need to take a bath every day.”  But she’s right. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/fashion/31Unwashed.html?_r=3&adxnnl=1&ref=fashion&pagewanted=1&adxnnlx=1349445861-p4Jj2N73ooJVOQX7BuNwtg

Wrote to ‘Ana to wish happy birthday to her four-year-old son.

Dear ‘Ana,

            I’m so sorry that I’m about two days late (your time).  I see that it’s 2:33 AM in Tonga on Saturday, but I’m late even by San Francisco time.

            It’s ironic that one reason that I’m late is that I’ve been thinking and writing about Tonga.  I’m on the second half of my sabbatical and taking a course in environmental science.  Our teacher is asking us to keep a log showing our consciousness of our use of water, energy, and other resources.  Maybe you’ve heard that if everyone lived the way Americans live in my country, more than 5 planets would be required.  Twenty percent of the people on this planet use 86% of the resources.  We are so wasteful.  So I think of Tonga in the early 1970’s, when nothing was wasted.  I want to be more like the Tongans in that era and less like Americans now!

            I hope Solo will grow up (like his siblings) with the consciousness Tongans had when I was living there. 

            Hello to Vaika, Palei, Noli, Finau…and may it never be goodbye to the wise and wonderful no-waste I knew in Tonga!

            ‘Ofa atu,

            Tina

To PG&E  http://www.pge.com/myhome/customerservice/contact/

I would like to turn down my water heater so that the hot water is very warm but not scalding.  I've heard this is a good energy measure, and it would mean not having to "balance" too-hot water with cold.  Could you advise me on how to do this?  Perhaps a representative could even come to my house and show me and my in-law?

Contact Us – Confirmation

Thank you for contacting PG&E, your message was sent successfully. If your message requires a response, a Customer Service Representative will reply within 2 business days.

Attended Green Corps meeting 3-4

When Robin mentioned the possibility of showing Fork over Knives, at their Unity Day on October 10 (or was it their event on Coober 25?), I said I had the DVD and could bring it.

Friday, October 5, 2012

Typed up my notes for Bio 31.  Good use of energy, I feel sure.

 Later used it for UCLA online course in memoir writing

Didn't bathe.

I didn't drive anywhere today because I was so busy getting my ad ready for Craigslist.

Very little carbon footprint today!

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Read about the documentary "Bitter Seeds".

Went to Y, so I bathed afterwards but used very little water.

Watered plants and, I have to admit, I used regular water, not greasy.

Javier and I had to drive because we were going to Oakland to take my brother out to lunch.  He usually takes the four-door car because my brother has trouble get in and out of the car, but this time he brought his two door.   At least it uses less gas.

We went to a vegetarian restaurant, Vegetarian Central, on Park Street so I could keep my vow to support only vegetarian restaurants this month.  Delicious!  My brother ate better than ever, and he used to be a big-steak guy.

Alas, we spewed more carbon because Javier forgot his overnight bag, so we went to Fremont to get it.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

When I showed downstairs apartment to prospective tenants, I had all lights turned on because I’ve been advised that it looks brighter and cheerier that way.  But all bulbs were fluorescent ones. 

When they asked about the washer-dryer, I told them they could use it for up to two loads a week and that I usually had only one load because I was very conscious of the energy and water.  I also told them that our shared utilities would come to less each month if we both (tenant and landlady) watched our use of energy and water.  I also told them the garbage bin  was almost never filled, and we could get our Recology bill down if we got a smaller one.

After the showing Javier and I walked to West Portal so as not to use fossil fuel, but I forgot my bag.  I was carrying around stuff without a bag until I broke down and got one in Papenhausen’s Hardware.  I felt like a criminal.

Monday, October 8

Took a bath after the Y but as usual used very little water. 

Looked for my DVDs of Forks Over Knives and Flow so I can lend them to the Green Corps if they want to use them for their showing from 2-4 on October  10?

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Felt bad when I saw the headline “Pain at the pumps may soon be easing/Politicians seek to increase gas supply—prices may be peaking. “  There’s a picture of two people in Victorville pushing an SUV into an Arco station after it ran out of gas nearby.  If only our politicians were leaders who provided public transportation with  a stipend and made the rest of us pay $10 a gallon for gas…

Sent an e-mailing to Jonathan Woo of Green Corps

Dear Jonathan and Other Green Corps members,

            I  hope I’m still on the list for your mailing.  This is the most recent mailing I found when I did a search for Green Corps. 

I appreciate all that you’re doing,  Jonathan and Jerry, on the web site, which I think will be so wonderful once up, as co-presidents, Robin and Jerry, and all the awareness all of you are creating through Unity Day on October 10 (Do I have that right?  Are we talking about tomorrow?) and the event on October 25.

            I also wanted to say, as I mentioned at the meeting  last Thursday, I have the DVD Forks Over Knives if  you would like to use that, as Robin said you might, for your 2-4 showing.  I also have the DVD of Flow:  How Did a Handful of Corporations Steal Our Water?   I’m taking Peggy’s wonderful Bio 31 Environmental Science class and can bring them there today. 

            I also want to say how much we miss Erika, who’s recuperating well (I think) after surgery.  Someone in our ESL faculty said when he visited her in the hospital (she’s home now), she was her “usual effusive self.”  She does have an indomitable spirit, and she’s a good example for people like me who use too much fossil fuel.

            Thanks for all you do,

            Tina

           

Watched videos including the one on Nature Deficit Disorder and made up my mind that our walks will be more than about not using fossil fuels!

Skipped my bath but washed my face before dressing, and my grooming included using a deodorant, maybe not a great substitute for soap and water.

A friend told me that the caps of bottles had to be put in the garbage, not in the recycling bin where I’d been putting them, so I double-checked.  According to the picture on the recycling bin, caps can go in there too.

Called recology.330-1300  Was put on hold.  Listened to the message, which said that property owners were entitled to two free pickups a year.  It also said what I was telling the people who came about the apartment:  “By using your blue & green carts more, you may be able to save money.”

When someone named Andrea picked up, I explained that I was doing a project for environmental science and would like to call her more than once so I didn’t keep her on the line too long.  I first asked her about getting a smaller garbage can, and she said that I now had a 32 gallon one and could get a 20-gallo one and save $6.40 a month.  But I didn’t make the change.  I’m afraid that when my new tenant moves in this month, he may have a lot of stuff to throw away that won’t go in the garbage, so I’m going to wait.  I’ll talk to him, and I may even mention this in the screening process to see how different applicants react.

So…I found out that I can separate my mascara wands from the plastic container they’re in and throw the wand in the garbage and the container in the recycling. 

I learned that if there’s only a residue of something in a plastic or glass container, I can put it in the recycling without worrying about it because of the way the recycling process is done.

I asked about the old, old aspirin, and she told me that online there was a list of places I could take these tablets, and one of the places is to police stations!  But I think I might choose a pharmacy.

Action:  I discarded several items correctly and confidently.

Glass container  and metal top of Chanel Numero 5, gift of my meque, who pronounces it Channel Five—into the recycling bin.

Lamp oil plastic container—into the recycling bin

First Aid Kit plastic box—into the recycling bin

Wednesday, October 10, 2012  Today my likely tenant came by, and we went down to the basement apartment to lower the water heater temperature to 130.  There was no such indication, but the dial was between hot and warm, so we moved in farther in the direction of warm. 

Took out bins for Recology pickup with stuff I looked into yesterday.

Disappointment:  After mopping the bathroom floor, I tried to use the water to flush the toilet, but it wasn’t enough.

In the news from the SF Chronicle:  “Pier 39/ Entangled sea lion rescued by Will Kane (white plastic packing band wrapped around his neck—maybe something he grew into!) and on other side of page

Picture of tiger playing with “an enrichment ball”!  a continuation of the following article:

Animals in captivity:  “Oakland Zoo turns to voters/Parcel tax to fund animal care, education programs “ by Carolyn Jones. (picture of caged lion, tone through wire cage getting “spritzes of goat’s milk” at the Oakland Zoo.

“Report cites pesticides as cause in more kids’ illnesses” by Stephanie M. Lee

In the news from West Portal Monthly

“Endangered species endanger park trains/Eastern slope of Mt. Davidson could be set aside for transplant” by Jacquie Proctor.  (Are they worried about public access to park or the golf courses?)

Franciscan Manzanita

My topic, WATER:  “Sutro Reservoir groundbreaking/Water system upgrades begin and end in District 7.”

Thursday, October 11, 2012   

Didn’t go to Y today.   

 Didn’t take a bath but “groomed” myself so as not to be offensive or imagine that I am.

Paid attention to news article on “Great Lakes wolf season.

Walked to West Portal to deposit my tenants moving in deposit.  (In class we’d learned that ¼ of cars driving a distance of less than a mile.  West portal is a half mile.  School is 2 miles away.

Mention Bitter seeds, reviewed October 4-7

Friday, October 12, 2012   

Cleaning up, I see that the sale on Cashmere sweaters  40 off is valid only until October 14

Union Square UNIQLO.com  I decide I’ll do without. 

Habitat:  Bayview teardown sends rats fleeing  Oct. 7, 2012  (lost habitat)

October 6  Fastest way to go—by bus or bike  (The answer is by bike.)

Oct. 6 “’Game’ change:  Call ‘em ‘Wildlife’” by Marisa Lago and Wyatt Buchanan

Fish and Game will replace the word “game” with “wildlife.”

I've been walking to West Portal and back, but I have to admit that I picked up my computer-helper instead of having him walk.

Javier and I meet friends at Greens, an all-vegetarian restaurant.  Although they are meat-eaters, they like Greens so much that they want to meet their next time too.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

I didn't go to the Y today, but I still bathed because Javier, who wanted to get fabric to take to his tailor in Costa Rica,  was coming over.  As usual, I used very little water.

 After looking up fabric shops, I looked up vegetarian restaurants in hopes of finding on close to the fabric shop so we could walk. I found one within walking distance of Fabrix on Clement.

 Here's a list, but beware!  Some of them have "turned" and "gone to the other side."  (This can be taken as a joke.) 

Vegetarian Restaurants SF

Bangkok 900 Vegetarian/Vegan Friendly Thai  

900 Stanyan St., San Francisco, CA [MAP]
Phone: 415/665-5333
Hours: Mo-Sa 11:30a-3p,5p-10p; Su 5p-10p

Joubert's All Vegetarian South African  

4115 Judah Ave, San Francisco, CA [MAP]
Phone: 415/753-5448
Hours: Mo-Tu closed; We-Su 6p-10p

Golden Era Vegetarian Restaurant Vegan Friendly, Vegetarian Vietnamese  

572 O'Farrell Street, San Francisco, CA [MAP]
Phone: 415/673-3136
Hours: Tu closed; We-Mo 11a-9p

ShangriLa All Vegetarian Chinese  

2026 Irving, San Francisco, CA [MAP]
Phone: 415/731-2548

Bok Choy(was called Vegi Food) All Vegetarian Chinese  

1820 Clement St, San Francisco, CA [MAP]
Phone: 415/387-8111
Hours: Mo closed; Tu-Th 11a-9p; Fr-Sa 11a-9:30p; Su 11a-9p

Miss Millie’s All Vegetarian  

4123 24th St., San Francisco, CA [MAP]
Phone: 415/285-5598
Hours: Tu-Su 6p-; Sa-Su 9a-2p

Ya, Halla from Nadia [13 Jul 2000 is this still open? dpg says closed]All Vegetarian  

494 Haight St., San Francisco, CA [MAP]
Phone: 415/522-1509

Millennium All Vegan  

246 McAllister, San Francisco, CA [MAP]
Phone: 415/487-9800
Hours: Su-Sa 5p-9:30p

Greens All Vegetarian  

Fort Mason Center Building A, San Francisco, CA
Phone: 415/771-6222
Hours: Su 10a-2p; Mo 5:30p-9:15p; Tu-Fr 11:30a-1:45p,5:30p-9:15p; Sa 11:30a-1:45p,5:30p-9p(4 course fixed price Sa eve)

Ganges Indian Vegetarian Restaurant All Vegetarian  

775 Frederick Street, San Francisco, CA [MAP]
Phone: 415/661-7290
Hours: Su-Mo closed; Tu-Sa 5p-9:30p (prefer come by 9:15p)

Kowloon All Vegetarian Chinese  

909 Grant Ave, San Francisco, CA [MAP]
Phone: 415/362-9888
Hours: Su-Sa 11a-9p

Organicity [16 Jun 2001 Changed names. No Longer Vegetarian]  

San Francisco, CA

Herbivore All Vegan Eclectic  

983 Valencia, San Francisco, CA [MAP]
Phone: 415/826-5657
Hours: Su-Th 11a-10p; Fr-Sa 11a-11p

Ananda Furara All Vegetarian, Vegan Friendly  

1298 Market , San Francisco, CA [MAP]
Phone: 415/621-1994
Hours: Su closed; Mo-Tu 8a-8p; We 8a-3p; Th-Sa 8a-8p

11:11 Lounge [16 Jun 2001 No Longer in Business]All Vegetarian  

San Francisco, CA

Lucky Creation All Vegetarian  

854 Washington Street, San Francisco, CA [MAP]
Phone: 415/989-0818
Hours: We closed; Th-Tu 11a-9:30p

Amazing Grace Vegetarian Restaurant [ERROR: No matching formats lines 20001026 No Longer in Business]All Vegetarian  

SanFranciscoCounty

10,000 Buddhas Chun Kang Vegetarian Restaurant [13 Jul 2000 Is this still open? richard says closed]All Vegetarian  

608 Geary Street, San Francisco [MAP]
Phone: 415/928-2178

Fleur de Lys. Vegetarian Friendly  

777 Sutter, San Francisco, CA [MAP]

Nyala [ERROR: No matching formats lines 2001026 No Longer in Business]Vegetarian Friendly Ethiopian  

San Francisco, CA

Bamboo Garden All Vegetarian Chinese  

832 Clement Street, San Francisco, CA [MAP]
Phone: 415/876-0832
Hours: Tu closed; We-Mo 11a-9:30p

Legume Vegetarian  

4042 24th St. , San Francisco, CA 94110 [MAP]
Phone: 415/401-7668
Hours: 11a-10p

Chun Kang Vegetarian  

608 Geary St., San Francisco, CA 94102 [MAP]
Phone: 415/985-3899
Hours: Su-Th 11a-9:30p; Fr-Sa 11a-10p

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Bathed.

Water plants.  When the dish under pot held water, I poured it on another plant.

Took a bath but put no PMB  or phthalates stuff on me because Javier wasn’t here.

Went through newspaper clippings pertaining to the environment:

“Feed, milk prices driving state’s dairies under” associated press

            Quote:  “Experts say California dairy men face a double whammy:  exorbitant feed costs and lower milk prices.  The Midwest drought has led to corn and soybean costs increasing by more than 50 percent this summer, stressing dairymen from Wisconsin and Minnesota to Missouri.  But in California, mil, prices have also lagged behind those in the rest of the nation, exacerbating the crisis”

Milk is the top agricultural commodity…the value of dairy cattle has plummeted by as much as 50 percent in the past 5 years.”  Comparing to the housing industry:  “People have the same cow, but now it doesn’t’ have the same value.”

From September 30, 2012  Monday is D day for bags.

From Oct. 5, 2012 Earthweek:  A Diary of the Planet

Ice quakes—melt of Greenland’s glaciers cause “ice quakes” detected on the worldwide seismic network. 

Paper:  I saved the papers that were used on only one side.

Bill Witt, http://www.rpcvcalendar.org/afghanistan_2012.php

My Peace Corps Calendar:  This month is illustrated by a picture of a child in Afghanistan with the words of Bill Witt, who was a PCV there i1973-75.  Here’s the copy: 
In the early 19970s, Kabul, then a city of 650,000, had no landfills.  Instead an efficient ‘kid-based’ system kept the city free of trash.  Each morning, neighborhood residents dumped their trash and food waste at designated spots.  Teams of children with gunnysacks sorted the refuse, bagging the recyclables they found.  When only food scraps remained, goatherds arrived with their flocks and fresh hay brought by donkeys was spread over the garbage.  The four-footed kids grazed the hay and garbage down to bare earth while the two-footed kids made their way through the congested maze of the Old Bazaar.  There, wholesalers bought the bones, metal, rubber, paper, cloth, and plastic from the children and delivered it all to factories and workshops.  Everything was recycled.

 Monday, October 15, 2012 

Didn't take a bath.  (See earlier entry.)

Decided not to mail a packet because it wasn't urgent, and I didn't want to spew carbon and I didn't have time to walk 

Read articles on Proposition F so that I can vote wisely in November.  

Measure seeks plan to empty reservoir/Rethinking Hetch Hetchy could cost S.F. $8 million by John Wildermuth & and opinion piece in Open Forum:  "Hetch Hetchy restoration plan key step toward greener future" by Huey D. Johnson and Douglas P. Wheeler.  (Johnson was California's secretary for natural resources from 1976 to 1982, and Wheeler held the same office from 1991 to 1999.

This Proposition would require that SF put together a plan  to do away with the city-owned O’Shaughnessy Dam and drain Hetch Hetchy Reservoir so that the valley could be restored to its original wild state.  The valley is part of Yosemite National Park.  According to the article just creating such a plan would cost $8 billion.  Mike Marshal who supports this Proposition says that "if the politicians have their way, Prop F will be road kill."  The people who opposed it include Mayor Ed Lee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Assembly members Tom Ammiano and Fiona Ma, state senators Mark Leno and Leland.  (Didn't notice Boxer's name.)  The article gives John Muir's opinion , given in the early 1900s, but at that time, water was considered a renewable resource instead of blue gold.  Both the editorial and the article give the same 1913 date when Congress permitted SF to build a reservoir in Yosemite National Park by damming e Tuolumne River.    Johnson and Wheeler think we could us other water storage site, make greater use of local water sources, and filter and recycle water to compensate form what we would no longer be getting.   But here's what the proponents say:  The Tuolumne River is the primary source, and Hetch Hetchy is simply one of nine reservoirs the city uses for water storage.  In the news article it says  that the Hetch Hetchy provides 85% of the water.   That seems to be a major difference in the facts given.

One focus I have for this life style project is being water-wise--knowledge and use--and sharing what I learn with Javier. 

\

Tuesday, October 16, 2012 Called Recology Sunset 330-1300 to see how to remove the Direct TV dish and wiring.  

Y

Took a bath with very little water.

Water Logged and Carbonated

Today I'm going to post what I've already started writing up for my Environmental Science class:  A month of my Water Logged and Carbonated day-to-day accounts of my life style in terms of what it does to/for the environment and how this life style project affects my day-to-day life.  I'll first recount what happened yesterday, when I proved the adage that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.  Now the paved road has lots of carbon footprints, which of course I was trying to avoid leaving.

Strictly Vegetarian

  
          Javier my meque (mejor que un esposo--better than a husband) asked me to go with him to get fabric so his tailor in Nicoya--the one he's gone to for fifty years--could make him some trousers next month when he goes back to his hometown.  In an off-handed way, he said, "Let's Eat Out," which are supposed to be the three words women love most to hear.   I explained that for my environmental science class, I was supposed to improve on my life style in terms of the environment, so I'd vowed to eat exclusively in vegetarian restaurants to give them the support they deserved and might need.

                “Okay,” he said in his usual agreeable way. 

                On our way to Fabrix on Clement, Javier revealed that he had forty pairs of pants, and I told him that one of the suggestions for our life style projects was to reduce, as in to not buy anything new for a month, and he admitted that he didn't need any more trousers but it was a tradition with his tailor.

        

                Javier proved to be  a very decisive shopper, finding three bolts of wool in only ten minutes.  We then waited for another ten minutes for an employee to cut the fabric.

                When he paid at the counter, the clerk asked him whether he wanted a bag and he quickly changed his “Yes” to “No.”

                I knew that it wasn’t because of the new law asking customers to bring their own or pay ten cents.  He didn’t want me to catch him empty handed, without his own bag, so he just scooped up the material and headed towards the car.

                That was when I said, “Let’s walk.  The vegetarian restaurant is just seven blocks away.”

                Javier is a good walker, so I was surprised when he hesitated.  Then I realized that he was hungry and wanted to get there as fast as possible.

                “We’ll walk fast,” I said.  “It’s at 832 Clement.” 

                But when we got there, 832 Clement was a Hawaiian-style restaurant, and this is not the month to relive our Kauai experience.  Are Luaus ever strictly vegetarian?   The Big Island dish had the choice of Portuguese sausage, spam, bacon or house made sausage.  And what, I wondered, was kalua pork?

                “There’s one more vegetarian restaurant on Clement,” I said.

                “Okay,” he said.

                “Shall we walk?  It’s ten blocks farther.”

                “No.  Let’s drive.”

                “Okay,” I said.  Then it occurred to me that if we were returning to the car so close to Arguello, we could go a bit farther east to The Bangkok 900 on Stanyan.  I called their number and found out that they opened at five.  It wasn’t quite four-thirty.

                So we went back the eight blocks we’d come and drove to the restaurant at 1820 Clement.  We saw a big banner announcing “GRAND OPENING.”   The Bok Choy, formerly Vegi Food, vegetarian restaurant was now North China.  They promised “No MSG,” but they also promised pork and beef in big letters. 

               I suggested that he get something to tide him over, and then we could eat at home.

                We were greeted at the door with, “How many?” and Javier said, “Well, two, but only one is eating.”

                “When did this stop being a vegetarian restaurant?”  I asked the greeter, trying not to sound as if I  were asking “When did this become a hard drugs joint?”

                “I don’t know,” the hostess-server said courteously.    Was she disassociating herself from the place, trying to sound like an innocent bystander? 
                Javier ordered noodles with prawns, but after a couple of bites, he said, “Let’s go,” and not in a hostile way, he asked the hostess-server for the check.

                “Would you like me to put this in a box?”  she asked.

                “No, thank you,” Javier said.

                “I’m sorry,” the waitress said, really seeming to mean it.

               I wanted to comfort her, to suggest that things could be better if they’d just go back to a meatless menu.  But we just thanked her and left.

               "Let’s go home,” I said, but Javier didn't want to disappoint me.  He wanted me in the romantic mood that the words "Let's eat out" create.

                “No, let’s go to the other restaurant,” he said. 

                He was even willing to drive down a very congested Clement Street by the restaurant at 832 so that I, having forgotten to write down what it had turned into, could include that detail in my report for my environmental studies class.      Ono Grindz Hawaiian.          

               When we got to Stanyan at Frederick, parking became another issue.

                Suffice it to say that we went around and around and around and around, and Javier’s usual parking karma didn’t show up until we’d already spewed carbon through the neighborhood of  the Upper Haight Ashbury.  Only then did we find a place right across from the Bangkok 900 restaurant, which—we found out after being seated—now served meat.

                We got in the car and headed home, west on Frederick.

                I should never have mentioned that the Ganges vegetarian restaurant was on Frederick.  After a bit of circling around to find a parking space, we parked  and then found out that the Ganges had folded the previous year.

              This time I insisted we go home and told Javier there were two ways we could go—left to Judah or straight ahead to enter Lincoln.

                Javier chose Lincoln. but it's one of those stressful entrances, where the traffic never seems to stop, so instead of turning left and going west, Javier turned right and headed away from my house.

                Once Javier had made the circle back to Stanyan and Frederick and gone on to Judah,  I  knew that he wouldn't be in any mood to make all the changes I was going to suggest he make in his life style.  Not only had I unwittingly increased the carbon throughout the city, but I had lost a possible convert on that road to hell paved with good intentions.

Water-logged and Carbonated draft

In Praise of My Meque

My Meque (mejor que un esposo) and I celebrate the 10th anniversary of our Club on September 14, so I'm reflecting on what I love about him.  Here's something:

For more than twenty years Javier’s brother Alcides had epileptic seizures, but there was no doctor to help him in Nicoya, and there was no money to go to San Jose until 1958, when Javier  was twenty-two and had saved six months of his salary from his first job.  Then he, his brother, and their mother set out for San Jose.  (Por que nadie vino de San José?  A causa de la dificultad de hacer el viaje?)

 

This involved a horse, an ox-driven cart, a raft, a train, and a taxi over about 225 miles, most on land and about five miles on water.  They had to leave in the morning because there was a change of tide, when there wasn’t enough water to take the raft on the river between Puerto Jesus and Punta Arenas.  So they first took two horses from Nicoya for about 7 miles through the bush (se llama “the bush”?  Era una selva?  Muchos arboles, nada de caminos?)   to a wider space, where they took an ox-driven cart to Puerto Jesus.  Then they took a raft for four hours to travel about five miles to Punta Arenas, where they spent the night.  The next day they took the train—electric, not charcoal-fueled--from Punta Arenas to San Jose, where they took a taxi to Pension Palma, where he asked his mother and brother to stay inside so they wouldn’t get lost, and he set out to find a doctor.  He found an eye doctor (?Como lo encontraste?) and offered to pay him if he could direct them to a doctor who could help his epileptic brother.  The doctor refused the money but directed Javier  to a Doctor Cuevas, and once everything was arranged, Javier took his brother and their mother to see Dr. Cuevas   The doctor gave them three medicines for his brother, and all seizures stopped for a year, at which time they started again.  Javier telegrammed the doctor to find out what to do, and the doctor told them to wait two days until the body had forgotten that it “knew” the medicines and could fight against them. 

                The next time Javier took his brother to San Jose, they went by plane—a DC 10, and it took fifteen minutes instead of a day and a half to make the distance of one hundred and twenty-five miles.

 

            This story represents to me part of what I love in Javier—his spirit and his way of finding a solution.  The journey to San Jose seems almost heroic and mythic to me, but there are other things Javier has done that also impress me because they show an individual, brave approach—actually bravely approaching individuals he didn’t know.  For example, parking around City College was  frustratingly difficult, and one day he noticed an elderly woman out in her yard, and she didn’t have a car parked in her driveway.  He explained that he was a teacher and would pay her $50.00 (?) a month (a semester?)  if she would let him park in her  driveway.  She was very happy to get the money and to make it look as if someone was coming and going from her house.  For several years, he had a break between classes and wanted to rest without having to go home.  He spoke to a janitor who gave him the key to a tiny attic room where Javier could lie down.  This “finding a way” goes way back to his childhood, when in order to see movies (Perils of Nyoka and other wonders) he became the drummer boy, walking around the square in Nicoya and beating on a drum while another boy followed behind with a sandwich board giving the address of the man who showed the movies in his home for the five cents that Javier and the other kid didn’t have to pay because they worked for the establishment. He worked as an altar boy and made more money than a school teacher (?) because he served at marriages, funerals, and every other rite of passage.   Once, when he saw a man repairing bicycles, he told the man that he could do that and showed the man, who then gave him a job repairing bicycles.   He gave the money he made to his mother.  After all, he didn’t need money if he could play drums and get into movies free.   He says that growing up his brother got all the attention because of his special needs, so he learned to fend for himself.  When he was sent off to high school in Liberia (Costa Rica), he was only twelve (?), and he was scared.  He cried whenever he was alone.  Other people were accompanied by their parents, but he didn’t have anyone, so he just found groups and joined them without waiting to be invited.  Later it was clear that he was blessed.  When he had a wife and four children to support, he went for an interview at Los Gatos, and the director turned out to be a Mormon missionary who had served in Costa Rica.  Once he found out that Javier was from that country, he conducted the whole interview in Spanish and offered Javier a job on the spot.  He also got Javier credited for previous teaching, and with that extra sum of $5,000, Javier made a down payment (25% of the cost!) on a house in Fremont—one of the homes where he still lives.  The second year, when the Mormon director couldn’t offer Javier any classes, he contacted the director at Terra Linda and told him about Javier and what a good teacher he was.  Before Javier arrived at Terra Linda, he had already been hired.  Then, a couple of years later, there was one full-time position open at City College and 122 applicants.  Javier got the job! 

            He says his philosophy in life is “Se amable, y pone mucho esfuerzo.”  Be kind and try hard.  He seems to live by his philosophy.