Reading tonight at Mrs. Dalloways with Douglas Kearney!

Reading Thursday night, April 24th in Berkeley at Mrs. Dalloways with Douglas Kearney and Peter Kline at 7:30 pm.

Then I fly home and Mark and I will go off to Santa Barbara to celebrate our birthdays! We like staying at nice cozy little places and walking around town. I like going to Lush; there used to be art galleries and bookstores, but those are long gone. We go to some of the shops, and my favorite thing is to go down to the docks and look at all the boats and choose which one I would have if I were going to have a boat. Of course, there is the matter of taking care of the boat, sailing the boat etc, but I think I would love all that in my next lifetime when I have more time.

I’m at the Brentwood Country Mart and I like this little area. Maximum quaintness. The women are sleek as antelopes. They all look they do yoga/Pilates five hours a day. Their faces are perfect, their skin is flawless, their shoes are expensive, they look like they all stepped out of catalogs. Their hair is wonderfully shiny and has its own little bounce. The shops are pricey, so I never go into any of them. There are all these little yoga places and salons. The funny thing to me is that you cannot get any booze around here. I just want a glass of wine before the reading, but I am S.O.L. What they have is fresh pressed juice. What if I want Jack Daniels? Or even Makers? People around here keep their bodies pure and lovely, they put green things into their body, not brown things or red things. Their bodies are leafy. I’m not knocking green. I eat an avocado every day because Angela said it would improve my skin, and she should know. Her skin looks like a fourteen year old’s. Mine looks like I started using sunblock at forty (which I did) and what can I say, some people never started using sunblock, so I’m ahead of those guys. I like the Brentwood Country Mart. I like the fountain and the people watching. I like entering a world in which I am ill equipped to live but can visit for a moment. I couldn’t look this good all the time, it would exhaust me.

Before Mrs. Dalloways, we are going to dinner at a restaurant called Revival in Berkeley. They are dedicated to the farm to table kind of sustainable food. From snout to tail, root to shoot, toes to nose. I don’t eat meat but I will be interested to see what the place is like and the food is supposed to be great. I’ll let you know. I do think people are a little too excited by food these days, foodie culture gone wild what with all the cooking shows and fine dining places here and there. I’m not a fan of the Better Homes and Garden garbage that included food products, but I’m also not opposed to seared fish and salad as a dinner. Speaking of which, I’m starving, and I have a reading in twenty minutes.

Note now that the reading has happened. A great crowd, a good reading. Robin Coste Lewis and Alice Quinn came and I was so honored to see them. We went to Rex’s place afterward and he heated up pizza for us! Great times in Venice.