north beach date

m and i did some touristing in our former home city of SF: buildings, food, views, and the (heretofore not visited by either of us) enchanted gardens of telegraph hill.
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north beach has always felt like a foreign place to me, a destination (even when i lived in SF). m and i remarked on how in the many years we lived there, no friends of ours ever lived in north beach. i did temp occasionally, in 1998 or 1999, as a teller at a bank in north beach. the chinese folks would line up for the chinese-speaking teller and the italians for the italian speaking teller. i guess i served the people who spoke english and/or who didn't mind my lack of other useful languages (there not being many swedes in north beach). on lunch breaks i went to the italian deli next door for seriously delicious sandwiches made by seriously italian men. i rode the increasingly packed bus through chinatown to downtown to go home, north of the panhandle. the whole thing was a fun intro to SF.

park life

dreamy SF day at the de young (mainly in the garden) and in the castro. 

feelin' lucky. 

here's a delicious flower near my work.

indigo dye day

over in jen and bob's lovely back yard. fresh outdoor made eggs and coffee and chiminea cocktail times too.

check out how the indigo oxidizes from yellow to green to blue. 

all the photos

bits

pastel pinky 
espresso float (again) 
sea music festival at hyde st. pier

also went on a fun field trip to point reyes with lady friends last weekend when it was HOT. ate the requisite dunbar at bovine bakery, wandered around, went to limantour beach, and made it back to berkeley for an early dinner at saul's deli. unplanned, relaxing, and fun. 

before / after

 
front cafe in SF

county line harvest

 

an outstanding in the field farm dinner, this time in petaluma, right across from straus ranch. such a gorgeous part of california. great food, great table mates (including an entertaining, opinionated, surly rancher), ridiculous views. fog rolled in during dinner and the blankets were passed out. brr.

last year, we went to capay farm. 

happy valentines day ❤

it's been a ridiculously beautiful few days here in the bay area. 72 degrees and everything blooming. too early for spring, but it sure feels good.

i did some mindless heart drawing and stamping for valentines. been a long time since i got lost in a project. i miss that.

everyone talks about how our brains are changing with our addictions to our phones/constantly checking them. i feel it (in numerous ways). i am considering taking a year off from FB and IG. or maybe i'll IG only on the weekends.

my plan is to each day try start at least one conversation with a stranger or acquaintance or have a longer conversation with a friend. this will be a HUGE challenge for me as i'm quite introverted, and i enjoy, for example, listening to music or reading and not talking with anyone on my daily bus commutes. but, i also would like more in-person interaction with people, and i may need to make this kind of commitment in order to make it happen. funnily enough, the day i came up with this idea—a couple of days ago—i had more conversations with strangers and acquaintances than i normally have in a week.

going to try this for a month to start, starting tuesday. we'll see how it goes/if i sense that my brain is acting any differently/if i can handle not checking my phone all the time.

❤ ❤ ❤

sun light / moon light

been so enjoying daylight arriving earlier and staying later. i like this half of the year leading up to the summer solstice better than the other half, for sure.

one of my favorite things about where i work now is that the university gym's outdoor pool is on top of a building. it revolutionizes my days to be able to leave the sea of cubes, to walk in the cold air from the locker room shower up to the roof (nothing like a little cold shock), to watch the sky above as i swim. today's back strokes were cloud filled. just blue and cottony white stretching in all directions. those cloud blanket days are always so comforting/calming. all of us wrapped in the soft stuff. the best. i do the back stroke a lot more now that i swim outdoors.

 

flew down to so cal and back with no drugs/alcohol. normally i need something to handle flying without hyperventilating/panicking (even though i've flown many times in my life). occasionally, when there is no turbulence, and i am able to focus on the beautiful views, i do not totally freak out. i do love seeing my home from above. i love that the island of alameda can be so easily seen as a whole. it's graspable (both from above and on foot/bike). i see the green park street bridge, and from there can figure out what the other visible main streets are and where my house is. 

after flying over alameda, we passed over the golden gate, which looked like a bright toy bridge against the blue. and then water and more water and the blinding sun casting a gigantic gold circle on the water. and then some rows of curvy clouds lined up seemingly evenly spaced, like a letter written in cloud instead of ink. i got lost in the incredible beauty of the earth, instead of in thinking about how insane it is to be up so high. was still completely exhausted by managing the anxiety though.

at my parents' i sat in the sun on the front steps in the mornings. it was strange and still without any dogs around. first time ever in my life that my parents have been without dogs. no one running up to wipe their shaggy sandy schnauzer beards on me. 

saw two of my long time/lifelong friends and then back up to my insistent lap cat, PL. a short but sweet trip.

december

 
wispy clouded, sweets-filled, a fika mamma

the glögg is made, the tree is trimmed, the candles burning and the rain falling (finally).

views

 

good views of late: angel island and napa

more weekend adventures with good food/picnics, bicycling, friends and nature/views please.

listening to frazey ford. i like you better

back yard refuge

 
above from jen and bob's thrifted-gifted-traded-scavenged-pilfered-hand-built yard. a magical ever-changing piece of sf bayview heaven, complete with chickens, cats, ol' dixieloo dog, a night warming chiminea, heart shaped stone collection, driftwood reminders, and succulent color bursts. and soon to sport a handmade pizza oven (built with clay gleaned from a friend's land). 

we were there for jen's ceramic bead class. we shaped, jen fired, we glazed, and jen will fire. can't wait to see what the finished beads look like.

mati and heather and i rode our bikes to/from class along the embarcadero. (we realized that we were a bicycle-beading gang and hooted/rang our bike bells accordingly!) we passed this urban beauty and topped the day off with some ice cream from mr. and mrs. miscellaneous. mmm.

thx jen and bead gang for a fun day. 

from the rainy weekend

with lucius standing in the middle of wall-to-wall audience, a sweet and quieter end to an all-out smokin' show

condensation chickens
condensation kitchen

halloween bird

 
in the work bathroom.   

being a blackbird meant having the beatles singing in my head all night. could be worse.  

sad i didn't get a photo with elissa, who was also a bird. 

legs masked

not a very advanced costume, but it was fun to get back in the spirit of halloween after several years of lacking the spirit.



    

love now

 

after watching some of the parade, elisa and scottie and i crashed the wedding of some friends who were getting married at city hall during Pride in SF. what a fantastic energy in city hall. while outside the building crowds of pride revelers were partying, inside the building it was a different kind of excitement. a nervous, reverent, brewing excitement, until couples were wed, and then  bursts of clapping and joyous hoots from various corners of the room when knots were tied. when the newlyweds left the upstairs marriage area, they passed folks in line downstairs waiting to get sent up. those in line cheered the newlyweds as they exited the building. whole lotta love in that building.

the man in the second photo above was waiting for his man to show, and meanwhile, he was the wedding band.

love now balloons

light stripes \ \\\\ \ \\ \\\

 
my workplace is near the construction of SF's new transbay terminal. one benefit of this forever construction zone, is that on sunny days, there is a beautiful stripey light show on my walk to work. i did not catch the best part in my short video. i realized upon reviewing it, that the show happens more on people's backs (see seconds 10–8) than on their feet. (i was feeling shy about filming.) must try again. when there are a lot of people walking, it's the best, because everyone has these light stripes going across them, and the walkway is filled with moving stripes. a daytime disco walk, but almost more surreal. so pretty.
 

poppy \\\\ silver candles

some nice lettering

G&G

 
i remember when they were building the interior of gravel & gold, before they opened, and i would walk by and wonder what this gravel & gold place was going to be. sey yes posters covered the windows, and a lot of woodworking seemed to be happening inside—sawdust came flying out of the darkness through the cracked open door. they've changed their layout many times since opening, but the store retains its yummy scent and always its excellent aesthetic.

the g&g store owners appreciate textile art, marimekko, producing their own fabric/designs, the 60s/70s, sweden, hand crafted goods, and boobs! among other things. and they're a pickup site for eatwell farms csa. overall goodness.

steve martin and edie brickell's collaboration is up on first listen.

a little lightness amidst the sad news.



 

roller rainbow

pretty sure this is where the roller skating/blading disco magic happens in golden gate park. i managed to not take any photos of the de young museum or of my friend today. instead took ones of the rainbow above and of my food. 

phosphorescent on first listen
 

vanishing ice

 
my trip to the city yesterday for a haircut meant salted caramel and a walk down pretty lexington street.

two great photographers are documenting the changes in the world of ice.

james balog who has documented the receding ice through time lapse and still photos, has a documentary coming out called chasing ice.

james also gave a TED talk.

and katrina shared this link to an emotional TED talk by national geographic photographer paul nicklen, who documents the animals who depend on the ice for their survival.

meanwhile neither obama nor romney addresses climate change in any meaningful way. romney's plans would in fact speed climate change—what with his ties to big oil and plans for increased drilling and his ties monsanto (see last post). money for corporations clearly comes before the environment for that guy.