our Halloween monster

Nergigante is big in the underworld of monsters and here is RR in
her delightful costume. Happy Halloween to everyone and stay safe.

cats in Pumpkinville

Hopper, Eleven and Pumpkin

Cody and Pumpkin

Thanks to the Blogmaid for these lovely photos. Cody has been under
the weather lately (a cat fight, perhaps?) and we wish him our best.
Heal, please and quickly. oxoxo

finally coming home (with dogs)

Istanbul airport

Heading for SF

Paprika and two dog lovers

When Marsha travels home from Turkey she brings street dogs to the good
folks at Muttville. Here she is with the rescue woman and Paprika. It is a
huge Turkish holiday and the airport is chaotic, but the dog lovers found
each other and I bet these three mutts will be adopted out in a week or so.
Because our SPCA works so hard we no longer have the street dog
problem ~ cats? Hmmmmm. Another story....

lazy Sunday

After a people-filled week I needed a day to myself yesterday. I
started gently with my To Do List for the big party here on the
10th, but mostly I spent time with the Sunday Chronicle. a
good 3 mile walk and some quality Annabelle time. Oh yes,
some reading too. Refreshed today despite fire worries
and very dirty air.

and another museum

I'm not a fan of quilting particularly, but my friend Terri is and she had to
go down to San Jose on an errand and she wanted to stop at the SJ Museum
of Quilts and Textiles and I enjoyed the visit a lot. The top two quilts are
about life in West Africa by artist Hollis Chatelain. Gorgeous. In the "tech"
quilt room we found the bottom two. Adam and Eve neglected to click on
the appropriate ACCEPT app box and are lost as a result. Then lunch at
Original Joe's in downtown San Jose, a rather bleak city despite the
growth we keep reading about. A colorful day.

The winds are strong this morning and I am filled with worry for all the
folks fleeing the fires. Terrible time.

cool Burning Man

Burning Man principles

Some of the fashions

A new temple outside the museum!

Blogger with Karen and Suzy ~ happy women

Suzy arranged our Oakland Museum outing yesterday and it was quite fun.
Burning Man intrigues me, but I would never go due to crowds and heat, so
this exhibit was ten times better. Then we three had lunch at the Tribune
Tower and all in all, a delightful day.

back to the bookshelf

Here is my next book by the wonderful Ann Patchett. I just finished
Educated and Olive, Again. Thanks to Susan I did NOT just skim
over Tara Westover's powerful memoir for book club. Good thing.

hot October

It's such a beautiful time of year here, but we have those dangerous fires
and we are all wishing for a good rainstorm. Yesterday Ginger and I
went back to Crissy Field, then I took her to the McEvoy Center where I had
been Saturday. She is working on her city legs and I am helping. Then
a lovely pizza late lunch in Dogpatch and home for another happy World
Series game last night. (Please admire the great trash receptacle picture
undeer the city skyline. Sheeesh.)

game one

Hooray, the Gnats won last night. You know how much I dislike anything
Texas, so this World Series had a good beginning.

Halloween approaches

It's in the air, on the streets and even on my very own front porch.
Some people go to a lot of work, some cats just like to nap in the sun.

brunching with the best

Yesterday I met Jon G. and Dancing Jen here at Bluestem (odd name,
no?) for catch-up and we had a delightful time. Generous Jen treated
and for that I do want to thank her sincerely. We three worked at
Borders together and before that Jon and I worked at Barnes & Noble.
Lots of laughs because although we three are sane and very reasonable,
our fellow booksellers sometimes were totally crazy.

impossibly good

Tempted though I was to stay home and binge on Netflix or Amazon
Prime, I walked up to 24th Street and enjoyed my first Impossible
no-meat burger. It was yummy. Then I hopped on the #48 and went
to the McEvoy Center to catch the Michael Jang photography exhibit.
The photo I feature here is from the George Moscone funeral and
yes, I was there. Jang's family photos are terrific too because he has
a great eye for the absurd ~ and families can be that.

how easy, how true

This was in an email from a friend in grief group. Be the reason someone
realizes how simple it is to be nice.

open rehearsal = cheap and fun

Neti and I had up front seats for the SF Symphony working rehearsal
yesterday at 10am. It's great to see all the musicians in their not so
pretty street clothes and the conductor's young son was yelling
"Papa!" from the balcony. A relaxed and informal time but the
reason I bought the tickets was for the glorious Mussorgsky-Ravel
Pictures at an Exhibition which was just fabulous. One of the
few classical pieces that I feel like I know, an old favorite with a
recurring melody and delightful chattering chicks included. A
happy Thursday morning treat and you can see that the Hall is
all gussied up for Halloween, speaking of treats.

Georgia on my mind

I almost bought this small oil when I was at the art show in the town
square of Roswell, Georgia. The artist is Eddie's friend, Marshall
Lichtenstein, a retired therapist who is taking art classes. I kept
thinking about this piece and sent Eddie a check and now I have this
hanging in my home to appreciate every day. Good memory too.

oh, a party?

Way back in May it was decided that we would throw a museum
reunion party in November. Joe, Pamela and I would host. Lucy
will be here from Portland and Tanya from San Diego. A real
reunion. The catch? My too small house. Yikes. Now I am getting
nervous and worried. Starting on the lists, concentrating on the
imperfections of me as a hostess and blah, blah, blah. Entertaining
is not natural for me, but I need a challenge. Sunday, Nov. 10th,
noon to 4pm. So soon?

love on Haight Street

Sunday afternoon our grief group (now disbanded) met at a restaurant
on Haight Street and we had the patio pretty much to ourselves. It
was good to be with these people again ~ we know each other on a
deep and often painful level. The no-holds-barred kind of anything
goes and crying is acceptable "how are you really?" way. Everything
is easier and better than a year ago, and yet...

more than a touch of Tissot

Yesterday Ginger and I opened the Legion of Honor at 9:30am and that
was perfect because this exhibit just opened Friday and it will be a
busy and popular attraction, as well it should be. James Tissot was
successful as a "society artist" and the fashions are amazing. I liked
the above painting best (at this visit) because of all the intricate patterns
and colors. I will return and I urge my readers to visit ASAP.

book club selection

Educated has been on the best seller list for some time, but I probably
would not have read it. Non-fiction and not easy ~ but it is the Book
Club choice, so I will read (or skim?) this memoir by Tara Westover.

Noche de Los Muertos

Monique's impressive altar

tee shirt weather!

Joe and I attended Dia de Los Muertos last night at SOMArts ~ my third or
fourth year, as I recall. Not quite as crowded or noisy this time, thank
goodness. Ran into a few people I know from the museum and from grief
group and I enjoyed a taco out in the warm Frisco night air on the patio.
Good to be out, good to get home ~ as per usual.

it's Fleet Week ~ must we?

BLUE ANGELS

And another destroyer of poetry and peace, how about those killing

machines, the Navy’s Blue Angels, who have just carried out their

annual attack on the City? But the poetic life requires Peace, not War.

The poetic life of the City, our subjective life, the subjective life of the

individual is constantly under attack by all the forces of materialist 

civilization, by all the forces of our military-industrial perplex, and we 

don’t need these warplanes designed to kill and ludicrously misnamed 

the Blue Angels. They dive upon our city every year, in a frightening 

militarist and nationalist display of pure male testosterone. I’ve seen 

old Vietnam ladies in Washington Square diving under the benches! 

Do we really need to be reminded yearly how our planes have bombed 

Third World countries back to the Stone Age? In San Francisco, of all 

places, do we really need “bombs bursting in air to prove that our flag 

is still there”? 

What would Saint Francis say?

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

San Francisco Poet Laureate 

October, 1998

ready to binge?

Written by Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman ~ based on a true story
about a serial rapist and his victims, one of whom (Marie) was thought to
be lying. Unbelievable features two of my favorites: Merritt Wever and
Toni Collette as tough, determined detectives. Superb, on The Flix.

good old Sam's

Sam's in Tiburon

Ginger and Bliss

Yesterday I met Ginger from Summerland here in Tiburon for lunch.
She is driving to Eureka and this worked for both of us. I have a
ton of Tiburon memories, all good ones, and this is the latest. As
you might remember, Ginger and I were in college together ~ the
Universtiy of Colorado in Boulder.

Duck Ragu? Shrimp with Cashews?

My dear friend with the Fevered Brain (Susan) sent me this glorious
cooking-for-one recipe book and yes, I am inspired. Anita Lo created
Solo with mouth-watering recipes which gives new meaning to "party
of one" and I am filled with gratitude and ready to cook again just
for me/me/me. Maybe Mac with Two Cheeses tonight? Thank you,
SBC ~ sincerely.

best time of year

It was packed with people and dogs yesterday down at Pathetica, but I

needed some sun and fresh sea air and a latte from the Chit Chat. It was

almost too hot to walk as much as I should have, but I did get in some

good sitting and staring. 

a poem story

sand crabs

ALLEGORY

Karen Holmberg

My mother strokes the sandtoward her with her palm, drawingthe story out, then levels itback with the edge of her hand.All the whilea ghost crab, half-hiddenunder a canopy of crispedsargassum, so well-camouflagedit's just a blur of movement,has been sidling in and outits tunnel, forming identical bouldersof damp sand to stackat the entrance,a bulwark. The storyis a stone she collectsfrom the tideline of the past.For years it's arrivedagain and again, as if somethingdraws it backto her mind, tumbles it,and returns it to her tongue,a sparer truth: once she hida pill bottle in her pocket,and when the shop owner'sback was turned, pulleda mystery snail off the glassand dropped it into the vialof water, snapping downthe lid. When her fathersaw it in her tank, he wrappedher braid around his fistand wrenched her off her feet.A new detail brightensthe memory'saching chamber. He gaveher aquarium away.When she loosens her fistto let fine sugar pourthrough the hourglassof her hand, the crab hunches,sinking the picks of its legsin the sand. Its eye bulbs,lusterless as if dipped in black wax,fold inward in a cringe.A mind works this way, in secret,tirelessly shaping, excavatinga refuge for the tender self. A childsteals the power she longs to have.What's a snail's shellbut a coiled tunnel.What's the tough doorbut a body building no.

to the garden!

Today Ginger is coming over to help me weed and clean-up down in
our cold, dank garden. It has been a great year for lemons and I picked
these just yesterday. There are many more out there ~ plus spiders
and bugs and icicles.

minor yet major breakthrough

For the first time since Husbando died I actually planned and executed a
REAL solo dinner for last night. I usually just have a salad and a sandwich
or a left over from a restaurant meal. Or some easy something ~ never any
cooking. Yesterday I marinated (imagine) chicken legs then baked them
and served with fresh corn. It felt good and I have extra chick for future
catch-as-catch-can widow suppers. And yes, that's a TV tray, we don't
want to miss the news, do we?

Top Girls at ACT

I treated myself (cheaply, via Goldstar) to Top Girls by Caryl Churchill,
yesterday. The first act was puzzling, the second act was better. It was
not the best play, but I was pleased to take care of some downtown
errands and all in all, I am very glad that I did this thing.

the Bochy goodbye

It's been an emotional few days here in SF as we soaked up the memories
of our Giants and the past 13 years with Bruce Bochy as the manaager.
I keep watching the reruns of the Sunday ceremony on TV and YouTube
and remembering the three wonderful World Series wins and the parades
and sometimes, honestly, I just get damn tired of all the farewells.

hot dog with everything

Some Mondays I open with this wonderful staff person who often takes
dogs home to her small apartment with her new and understanding husband.
Dogs get so bored here, even in nice rooms and a day or night out keeps
them from going stir crazy. She found this hot dog costume (donated, I
would guess) for this little dachshund who must have some kennel cough
or fever or something and that is why she is wearing the blue gown and
gloves. I am still impressed with the SPCA and the loving and dedicated
workers. Everyone "gossips" about aniamls, not people here. Nice.