Food and Art - last memories of the trip

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Trip Start Jan 23, 2010 Previous
Entry Trip End Mar 05, 2010

  Fremont, California
Tuesday, March 9, 2010

I apologise - I'm actually sitting and writing this in the VW garage in Hereford. My poor little Polo didn't like being abandoned in the cold for six weeks and something cracked. But while I'm sitting here with internet access and free coffee and biscuits I may as well transport myself back to Fremont, San Francisco and the last few days in the U.S. A.
Thank you to all the people who have posted comments on the blog - it has been really encouraging to get them - I'm only sorry I didn't individually reply to you all. Hopefully I'll catch up soon.

 
Well .... back to the U.S. Kathy treated us to a meal in an Afghani restaurant in Fremont on her last night. It was really tasty food. There's quite a large Afghani population in Fremont ( remember The Kite Runner ?) and the restaurant was bustling and busy. The next day we went to the airport and Kathy flew back to Singapore, wearing her woolly hat and scarf for the last time for a while I think.




While we were saying our last farewells I took some pictures of the mural in the departures lounge - the wall covered by individaul ceramic tiles - reminded me of The Big Draw at blue-ginger. ( When I got home there was a letter from Acorns Childrens' Hospice to say we'd made  £579 with The Big Draw postcard exhibition last year)

It seemed very quiet at Gail and Ausaf's house in Fremont now - Kath, Jane and Kathy all flown home , and just me and Gill staying a few more days. Originally the plan had been to hire a car and drive somewhere else, but we were both a bit exhausted and wanted to do a couple more places in San Francisco and rest before going home.
We went to Berkeley for the day on the train. I have an idea that the naming of the University was something to do with one of the Berkeleys from Berkeley Castle - at least that's what I remember from guided tours with students. One of Berkeley relatives in the 18th century was  Anglo-Irish Bishop and philosopher, George Berkeley. He must have said something very wise to be remembered in this way - and the British Berkeley ( as in bark) became the American Berkeley ( as in berk )The campus is large, leafy and right in the middle of town. It was lunchtime when we walked through and the paths were teeming with students looking for food. One  advantage of the cosmopolitan atmosphere and cultural diversity of the students was that Gill and I  enjoyed Singapore noodles and curried tofu in a university cafeteria for very few dollars. We were on a mission in Berkeley - we were looking for a picture framer. On our trip to Sonoma we'd clubbed together to buy our hosts a print . Gail had admired it and we'd sneaked back to get it. But we now discovered that framing is VERY expensive in the States - and giving our generous hosts a gift that required loads more investment from them before it could hang on the wall just didn't seem fair. I even toyed with the idea of taking it back home to Miles at mi-frame ( next door to blue-ginger) - but posting it back to the States would be a problem. Hmmmmmm. The first two framers we found were closed- it was Monday, but when we got to the third on our list - it was open. The young woman in the shop loved the print too, and she had a few frames already made up from off-cuts - and as luck would have it - one of them was a perfect match and fit. " Come back in two days" to collect. We explained that we only had two hours and she agreed to spend her lunch hour framing the print for us. Thank you thank you!!! The next day it rained all day and Gill and I had the perfect excuse to sit around and go for a walk to the park. Gail and Ausaf back at work. Gill cooked a delicious raclette for dinner.
The very last day in San Francisco. We went to the Asian Arts Museum where they had a special Shanghai Exhibition. It mirrored the paintings, prints and film before , during and after the revolution and right up to the present day. We enjoyed looking at that - followed by Szechuan noodles in the Museum cafe. Delicious.


The Shanghai exhibition was good - but when we wandered through the permanent exhibition we were stunned - the collection is absolutely fabulous.: Persia, India, China, Japan and Korea - fabulous ancient artifacts and beautiful contemporary works of art.
Again - to my amazement - photographs are permitted, so I've included a few of my favourites among the contempoary art. The calligraphy is with you in mind Rachel Yallop! Good luck with the exhibition at The Royal Society of Birmingham Artists Gallery this month!!



Then it was time to go home. Fond farewells to friends Gail and Ausaf who have been such terrific hosts.  Parting memory of petite Gail, car window down at the traffic lights, fist raised in support of parents , teachers and kids demonstrating at a road junction about Californian cut backs in education. " Yo Teachers!"



So.... back to Home End Farm, blue-ginger gallery and a pile of mail as high as.... high. Lots to do before opening the doors of blue-ginger for another year on 18th March. New ideas about the web site , a blue-ginger blog and a better way to send out newsletters. New ldeas about the Singapore supper menu ( Thanks to Mahani in Washington!) and plans to do a vege curry special every Wednesday lunchtime. Newly decorated little studio where Carol - Silverfish , will be taking up permanent residence this year, and Miles the framer will be exhibiting limited edition prints of childrens' book illustrators such as Shirley Hughes and Quentin Blake. And lots of fresh work from artists and craftspeople.And the sun is shining ( Well, today anyway) See you soon. Love Sue xx

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Dinner in the Afgan restaurant

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