The Red Present
My girlfriend, Juniper, called me from her cell phone on her way to the airport. She was headed for “The City of Love,” San Francisco, to visit one of her sons and was wearing a poppy flower in her hair for the occasion.
I can always tell that it’s Juniper when I pick up the phone and hear her barking. Literally.
“Woof….Woof…Woof,” she yipped, in honor of the nickname my father gave me: Colly Wolly Wolf, Wolf, or Wolfy.
“You’re the only one who does that!” I said to her. “I love it!”
“You lucky dog! It’s your birthday! Are you still 49?” She asked.
After catching up a bit, we talked about San Francisco. I told her about my trip there a few years ago and how I wanted to go to The City Lights Bookstore but didn’t get to.
“I don’t think the friends I was with understood my interest in it. We had spent too much time in Sausalito, walking up and down the pier looking at the houseboats, and then in Chinatown,” I told her.
She wanted to know what was so special about that particular bookstore, and so I explained.
“It’s a literary landmark, where Allen Ginsberg and other poets got their start, a small press, and always politicaly progressive. In the old days buses full of tourists would stop there to see the beatniks and hippies. We actually drove right by it,” I continued, “but didn’t stop. It looked like any other small independent bookstore.”
Then we talked about my son’s wedding and her son’s new girlfriend, and before we hung up she said this: “I’m going to bring you something RED (in honor of my last name - Redman- and our Moonlodge history) from The City Lights Bookstore for your birthday!”
I was thrilled! She might as well have offered to fly me to Paris for lunch.
Comments
Hi..from Michele's.
First time visiting here and really enjoyed your blog...especially the essay on your dad.
My next door neighbors here on the island live in Floyd, VA....part of the year. Perhaps they're your neighbors when they're not down here on the island.
I'll be back again soon to visit.
Posted by: Terri | May 19, 2006 9:50 AM
I went to City Lights when I was in San Fransisco; I didn't much care that my traveling partner didn't understand the significance. But she enjoyed it.
Here via Michele today.
Posted by: Courtney | May 19, 2006 9:55 AM
Hey, thanks for visiting! My daughter is in a never ending state of VW Bug alert! The older the better, too. She sometimes scares me to death while driving because of all of her shrieking! Have a great Friday and weekend!!
Posted by: shpprgrl | May 19, 2006 10:10 AM
That is one good friend, can't wait to see what she brings you!:)
Posted by: Shannon | May 19, 2006 10:22 AM
If Liliacs were red that'd be my guess, since I know you love them and when they're out, it means you're having a birthday.
Posted by: Kathy | May 19, 2006 11:29 AM
aww. how lovely! and exciting.
i just caught up... so sorry i missed your birthday darling! i really hope it was a happy one.
the camilla thing made me giggle, and though i'm 5'6 i still have to take in the hips on everything... no matter how big or small the waist i spend hours (or money!) on the blooming hips! what a waste.
you can crystalize those violets you know... yummy! egg white 'n castor sugar then into the airing cupboard.
Posted by: keda | May 19, 2006 1:12 PM
So we can't call you Colly Wolly Wolfy? That sounds so cute. She sounds like a really good friend.
I really want to go to San Francisco and wine country one day soon. Cross my fingers.
Posted by: Deana | May 19, 2006 1:29 PM
Good friends are hard to find these days........love the pictures. It will be fun to hear what she brings back. xoox
Posted by: Sherry | May 19, 2006 4:44 PM
Hard to find travel companions that 'get' everything. I've only had one that would understand the importance of visiting The City Lights Bookstore. We never made it to San Francisco, though.
Posted by: Leslie | May 19, 2006 5:00 PM
Hope you like whatever she brings.
Posted by: kenju | May 19, 2006 5:53 PM
Nyssa is threatening to bring coconut bras back from Hawaii.
I hope not. Don't you think the excitement and anticipation of a surprise is as good as the surprise itself?
Posted by: srp | May 20, 2006 8:17 AM
Is the second photo a young version of you or Juniper?
Posted by: Pearl | May 20, 2006 8:33 AM
I wondered if anyone would ask about the photos. The one on the right is a birthday card I got last year. The one on the left is me posing with the card and mimicking it....just for fun!
Posted by: colleen | May 20, 2006 10:12 AM
Ahhh. :-)
Posted by: Pearl | May 20, 2006 10:36 AM
City Lights is just like most independent bookstores in a lot of ways--all new paperback books on the main floor. It's a little more interesting downstairs, but upstairs is where they keep the poetry. There are posters from art shows by the Bay Area Figurative Artists like David Park, as I recall. Comfy chairs. And they probably have readings upstairs, though I never attended. My last time there, there was a big fire up the street and I watched the North Beach skies turn black outside the bookstore window as hordes of fire trucks tore to the blaze. It must have been huge.
Did I miss commenting on your birthday? 49, huh?~,:^)
Well, happy belated birthday.
Posted by: Rick | May 22, 2006 1:00 PM
Thanks for the peek inside, Rick. It makes driving by without stopping a little more bearable.
Posted by: colleen | May 22, 2006 2:01 PM
This is a super nickname. You would fit right in with our family with a name like that. :) And a cool friend who honors your nn with woofs.
Posted by: lisa | May 23, 2006 9:30 PM