From Venice to San Mateo

Monday, we changed plans to get more time in at Venice, looking and
poking around to help me create a vivid sense of setting for the third
ragtime book, now in process. Julie and Robert, firefighters at Station
63, were kind enough to give me the mother of all Venice maps, so we not
only could find our way around, but I'll be able to refer back to it as
I write the book. We found Brun Campbell's house, with the garage where
his wife banished him to play his piano, his barber shop, and a couple
of houses to serve for some fictional characters. The weather was
terrific, 85 degrees and sunny, so we walked out on the Venice Pier,
where a couple of women just in from Dallas, and excited about going to
see the Dr. Phil Show the next day, took our picture.
Yesterday, we drove to Los Altos, in the SF Bay Area, and visited
friends. We passed right by the trailer park north of Pasadena that had
just been burned to the ground. If you think you've got troubles...
Today, my event was at San Mateo's M is for Mystery, as always, an
enjoyable visit with Ed Kaufman, the man with endless enthusiasm. Now
up to Berkeley for a day with son Casey and daughter-in-law Maggie befor
heading on to Sacramento for the big ragtime festival.