A Hat Takes a Hike

We decided to take a Sunday morning hike. So I met Klaus (my yoga teacher), his wife Amanda and Michelle (both yoga buddies) at the 3 Zero Cafe for breakfast. After breakfast, Michelle fetched her dog Tucker and we all met at the Moss Beach bluffs to begin. I was a perfect day - about 65 degrees, bright blue sky and ocean


Michelle has been car-sitting for our friend Olivia who is on a 6-month assignment in Shanghai - so Michelle drove Olivia's car to the bluff to give it some exercise.

It was a sunny day - rather rare on the coast - so Klaus thought perhaps he should have a hat. Luckily, Olivia had left a most attractive hat in her car so The Hat came along on the hike.

Klaus wore The Hat for most of the hike - The Hat is SOOO Klaus.


But it turns out that The Hat is versatile. Everybody looks good in Olivia's Hat. At the end of the hike, Michelle tried it on - man, it looked great! Is this not a great hat?

The Hat is like a really great playmaker in basketball - it makes everybody look good. Michelle's got it going in this shot.

And it turns out that The Hat works for other species - The Hat is soooo Tucker.


After the hike I went home and muddled about the house for a couple hours but the day was too perfect to ignore. So in late afternoon I grabbed a New Yorker and blanket and went down to Montara Beach for a couple hours.
A perfect day at my favorite beach.

If only I had The Hat.

Sean's Story about Gramps

Sean wrote this piece about my dad a couple years ago. It gives a good sense of Sugar's sense of humor.
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I’d like to take a few minutes to tell you about the funniest guy I’ve ever known, my Grandpa, Ambrose Kane.

Whenever I think about Gramps I start laughing and that, in my opinion, is a good thing. It’s because of how funny Gramps is. Anybody who knows Gramps will tell you the same thing.

When my brother and I were kids, Mom and Dad would ship us off to Nebraska for a month every summer. Even though it was hot and humid in Grand Island and they lived down the street from a cattle yard so, depending on how the wind was blowing, it could smell pretty bad, we always looked forward to going. One of the reasons was that we got to see Gramps and hear his corny jokes.

All 19 of the grandkids probably heard this one every time they saw Gramps. We would show up in Nebraska every summer and Grandma would say to Grandpa, “Look how big he’s gotten!” Gramps would always follow with, “Yep, he’s sure gruesome!”

Back when Gramps was heavier he always wore those denim overalls with all the brass buttons on them. This was at the time when he was driving a semi truck with the word SUGAR painted on both doors. That’s his nickname from way back, Sugar Kane.

Anyway, I’ll never forget the time Gramps, Grandma, Kyle and I were at the dinner table. We had just finished eating and Gramps got up to leave. But the table cloth was caught on his overalls and when Gramps turned and started walking away, the whole table cloth went with him. The problem was all of the dishes were still on the table. After the noise of all the dishes crashing to the floor subsided, there was silence until Gramps said, “I used to be able to do that trick.” Even Grandma had to laugh at that one.

That was just one of the many funny moments I remember from those summers in Nebraska. Every time I see Grandpa, which isn’t often enough, he cracks me up. I owe my sense of humor to Grandpa, the funniest man I’ve ever known.

Everybody knows how much Gramps loves to eat. He was in the hospital recently so I called him to see how he was doing. I asked him how they were treating him in the hospital. He said they were giving him plenty to eat so he had no complaints. He hasn’t been feeling well lately so my brother and I are driving out to see him next month in Iowa City. I wonder if he’ll still use the ‘gruesome’ joke.

Olivia's Story

My friend and neighbor Olivia (see the link to her blog on the right) wrote a piece about her return to Shanghai that was the cover story in last Sunday's San Francisco Magazine. Check it out here.

The Tao of Sugar

This past Friday was my dad's funeral. Held at the little country church (St Anne's) which is in the middle of corn fields. Next to the church is a small cemetary where generations of Kanes are resting - going back to the 1850s.

All of my siblings were there along with many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, cousins, and friends.

At the end of a short funeral Mass, I made a couple remarks and turned the lectern over to sister Kate who delivered a moving and funny eulogy which concluded with her 'Tao of Sugar" (Dad's given name was Ambrose but he was known to all as 'Sugar'.)

The Tao of Sugar

#1-Smile, laugh often, make others laugh
#2-Be friendly to everyone
#3-Don’t waste time on anger, it probably doesn’t matter much anyway.
#4-Don’t preach it, Live it.
#5-Forgive those that don’t embrace previously stated rules
#6-Be independent..for as long as you can.
#7-And then.. accept the help of family and the many friends you will undoubtedly have made by living The Way of Sugar.

Then, out to the cemetary for the burial.

Afterwards, many of us drove the 2 miles down a gravel road to the Kane farm where dad was born and where the Kanes have lived since about 1865.

Visiting the Kane farm has become part of the ceremony as my mom, aunts, and uncles have passed on.






Cousin Mike lives there now and he gave some of the youngin's a tour of the cattle barn.









Here, my nieces Caitlin and Molly try to decide whether to take the tractor for a spin.














It was a sad, yet sweet day. Dad would have really enjoyed it.