Jacquard Tapestry*

Don and Era Farnsworth,
Amiens Reflections III, 2004

We had a wonderful evening with our friends who sold their big Berkeley house and bought a 2 bedroom condo , with a dramatic view, on the 14th floor of a new building at Jack London Square in Oakland. After a tour of their new digs, some wine and cheese and a toast to "our new lives" we walked down the street to a restaurant called Boccanova, where we sat outside in the warm evening and watched sailboats, kayaks and other craft in the Oakland Estuary. Conversation revolved around the choice we both made to make a complete change after many years in one house, how the choice came to be made, and how diametrically opposed they were--their urban walk to restaurants and bars, and our rural drive to everything location.

We exchanged our non-functional key card for one which worked, and went immediately to bed, since OilMan was playing golf with his old golf partner at his old golf course in Tilden Park at 7am. Our room was quiet and comfortable and, best of all, free , thanks to the Marriott points OilMan had accrued over many, many business trips and never redeemed.

It was still dark when OilMan dropped me off at "our" Peet's, but no sooner had I settled in with newspaper and a cup of excellent coffee, than the old Peet's buddies began assembling and time passed too quickly as we all got caught up. My friend of weekly lunches picked me up for some shopping and lunch.

The drive home went quickly and painlessly as far as Marin County, so OilMan, who does the drive at least once a week, decided to take a detour for what he thought might be a great blip opportunity. Perhaps it would have been, but after sitting motionless in the road, watching traffic streaming by in the opposite direction for 25 minutes, we turned around and went back whence we had come. Construction projects on every other road we needed to take to get home delayed us further, but we are now about to have a glass of wine and savor our quiet country life.

*My friend Liz had some work in an exhibit called New Media Combinations Traditional Plus Digital at the Berkeley Art Center. I particularly liked this piece which mixes traditional tapestry with a digital jacquard process.