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A sell-out crowd at Vroman's!

What they're saying about our new book:

"The elderly have quite a bit of wisdom, and often you'll get it whether you want it or not. "Feeding Mrs. Moskowitz & The Caregiver" is a pair of two novellas focusing on the topic of the elderly and their interactions with the people around them. 'Feeding Mrs. Moskowitz' is the story of the titular elderly lady and her encounters with a girl rapidly approaching middle age. 'The Caregiver' tells the tale of a caregiver and her job at an assisted living facility. "Feeding Mrs. Moskowitz & The Caregiver" is an enticing read that shouldn't be missed."
-- Midwest Review of Books

"The novellas are authentic, filled with believable characters and situations that resonate with our own life experiences. The stories are funny and poignant at the same time, teaching those who have not thought much about the aging process in the best way possible by fascinating and amazing us."
-- Anne M. Wyatt-Brown

"As someone who was the caregiver for two aging parents, both of whom lived into their nineties, I found Feeding Mrs. Moskowitz and The Caregiver: Two Stories by Barbara Pokras and Fran Yariv a delightful experience. It is a candid and humorous look at aging. .....It is well work reading whether one is a caregiver or not. This is a slice of life worth visiting."
-- Alan Caruba, Bookviews

"Caring for aging parents is one of the most common experiences sisters share, but few can transform their responsibility into bittersweet words of wisdom the way the Pokras sisters, Fran and Barbara, have done. This book, with its tender, funny, and revealing insights into the world of the elderly, is a must-read for every caretaker." -- Carol Saline, author of The New York Times bestseller, "Sisters"

"The novellas are beautiful little parables that are just not meant for caregivers or for the children of the elderly, bur for everyone -- as most of us will, eventually, take similar journeys to those taken by the residents of Sunset Hills, in one form or another." -- John McDonald, New York Journal of Books, award-winning novelist, screenwriter, playwright and graphic novel adaptor of the works of William Shakespeare.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Do you like coffee?

We should have known something was wrong when the cab driver who was taking us from Oakland to San Francisco admitted that he didn't know where the Marina was.  We were lulled by the fact that he seemed to know how to get to Davis and Jackson, where our friends would meet us at Starbucks.

"There it is," shouted Fran, spying a Starbucks across the street. 
"Make a u-turn," I added.
Noori, our driver obliged.  Did we mention it was pouring rain?  Why else take a cab from Oakland airport?  Who knew that little luxury would end up costing more than our plane ticket?
We waited patiently at Starbucks.  Time passed.  Fran called our friends, who supposedly lived right around the corner.
"We're at Starbucks," we announced.
"So are we," was the reply.
Duh, wrong Starbucks!
Finally united with our friends, we headed off to dinner, first stopping by Book's Inc. to introduce ourselves.  We were pleased to see an announcement of our reading posted by the door, along with a display of copies of the book.  Bob, in charge of the evening's event, welcomed us warmly.  We knew we were in good hands.

Book's Inc, the West's oldest independent bookseller, has been around since 1851.  The Marina store, located on Chestnut Street is spacious, well lit, and well organized.  It was impossible not to browse, and each of us bought books -- not our own.

Dinner at A16, just down the street, was fabulous.  After a shared dessert, we left the bookstore.  To skip ahead a bit, lunch the next day was something out of a Steve Martin comedy.  The restaurant, a new addition to the Embarcadero, was a study in casual elegance.  No fault could be found with the food.  Fran, however, made the mistake of ordering a cup of coffee.  Our overeager waiter snapped his fingers, and two more servers quickly appeared at his side. 
"Coffee?" said our man.  "We have a blend of beans from three African countries, and then there's Blue Bottle, a local favorite.  We have drip, Americano, French Press, automatic, full strength, half strength, decaffeinated...."
"French Press, Ugandan, Espresso, drip...."echoed the chorus.
"Which of those is like regular coffee?" Fran naively queried.
"I would recommend the French Press."
"Fine," said Fran.
"Which French Press would you like?"
"How many do you have?"
"We have three."
Fran's eyes were glazing over.  Thankfully, our friend intervened.

Our presentation at Book's Inc. was well received, and we stayed to answer questions, mostly about assisted living and the challenge of aging.  We also spoke about how we hoped the writing of the book would prepare of for our own golden years.  As we left, thankfully out of earshot of others, our brutally honest friend reminded us that, in his word, "You two are no spring chickens!"

The little gift of a Book's Inc. book bag and moleskin journal given to us by Bob, helped blunt the pain!  Next stop, Santa Barbara!

My Blog List

Some of our favorites to share:

  • Barbara's favorite movies: "Precious" "Inglorius Bastards" "The Orange Thief" (never released theatrically), anything by Frederick Wiseman, and "Stop Making Sense" (I worked on this!)
  • Fran likes "ALL ABOUT EVE" with Bette Davis
  • Another of Fran's favorites -- FIELDWORK by Mischa Berlinski