All right, trip report time. The drive to LA on Thursday was uneventful, if
boring. There was, of course, no traffic to speak of in the teeming metropolises
of Quartzite, Blythe, or Indio, and only a moderate amount in LA. (Well, for LA.
That means we hardly ever actually stopped, just slowed down a lot.) I got lost
slightly once (there are at least three places in the LA area where I-10 has an
exit called 4th Street), but only very moderately so. The dreaded parallel parking
was no problem, as I found a space-and-a-half I could pull right into, then just
left my truck there all weekend.
The woman I stayed with, Miss S-S,
has a life that is admirably designed for her preferences, and a family (husband
and adult son) that have clearly long since worked out the bugs in their
relationships, and who enjoy each other's company. They are all more or less
nocturnal, earn a living through reading and writing, and do most of their work
either at home or at a nearby book-lined coffeehouse. I don't know if I've ever
met anyone with such a tailor-fitted life.
Also staying there was a
Dutch woman, the Lounge Lizard, whose visit was the main impetus for this
gathering. She turned out to be quieter than I had expected from her postings on
our mutual List, and very thoughtful. We spent time together in the mornings while
the S-Ss were asleep and had several long conversations, emphasis on the CON.
Sometimes she talked and I listened, sometimes I talked and she listened, neither
one was overwhelmed or overwhelming. When we went out exploring the Santa Monica
promenade, she bought several souvenirs and gifts she'd planned to bring home, and
I bought (as did she) a Chinese papercutting to hang over my computer. Mine has
two complicated dragons entwined (for me and Rudder); Chinese characters on one
side say "Successful career" and on the other "Health, wealth, happiness, and
longevity". I think that covers my present needs.
We spent Thursday
night and Friday immersed in books and conversation, with some trips to the beach
or to shops interspersed, with frequent applications of good beer, coffee, and
food. On Friday afternoon, we spent some time with another listsib, a woman deep
in the folk-music world with whom I have some mutual acquaintances. Her
conversation was interesting, because it centered on musicians whose work I've
listened to for years. She was oddly cagey about parts of her private life,
though, refusing to tell us, for example, how many children she has. They're all
grown, and she has "one and two-thirds" grandchildren now.
On
Saturday, we met two more listsibs for Dim Sum. This particular Dim Sum restaurant
apparently interpreted its cuisine as a challenge: How many ways can you prepare
shrimp? Note that I am not complaining here. I think I ate at least 6 different
versions. The Lounge Lizard ordered chicken feet, but I think everyone else left
them all to her. The other listsibs seemed nice, but I didn't really get to know
then enough to see details, except that the one who posts in very high volume
speaks the same way, while the one who is quieter onlist is so in real life as
well.
The drive home was a duplicate of the drive there, only facing
the other way. My combination of audio books and music worked well, except for
annoying volume problems with my library's copy of Pride and Prejudice; the
sound would cycle from loud to inaudible on two of the cassettes, which was only
tolerable since I was already very familiar with the plot. The spoken version was
amusing though; the reader highlighted all the flirting and sarcastic authorial
comments more than I had done in reading. While perusing P&P, I generally find
myself mumbling "Bitch, bitch, you BITCH!" at speeches from Mrs. Bennett, Lydia
Bennett, and Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and this was accentuated with the spoken
version, so it was perhaps fortunate that I was alone in the vehicle..