my 10,000 steps

 I walked up to 16th and Bryant yesterday for a veggie sandwich at ToGo and a latte at Peet's. The tables and chairs for outdoor dining are returning and people are feeling hopeful I believe. The above is a new No Parking in Our Driveway sign and yes, even big cities can and should be civilized. 

The Happiest Place on Earth

 Forget Disneyland ~ here's the big white Kaiser vaccination tent on Geary Street. Oh, joy. Which arm? Thanks to Dancing Jen who suggested the one I don't sleep on as there can be tenderness, in a good way. Which vaccine? Kaiser chooses and I have the Pfizer, meaning I go back in three weeks for dose #2 and that is already arranged, then and there, appointment made. Everyone smiling under their masks and the nicest bunch of doctors, nurses, vaccinators and people getting shots that you will ever find anywhere. One doctor told me that they normally do 500 arms a day and are planning on 1,000 each day this weekend. All very well organized and yes, I am so grateful. 

Eleven

 Not that you could ever tire of Annabelle photos, but a change of cat works too. This is Eleven, or Elle, El, Kitty ~ one of the Blogmaid's three felines. She is doing the meat loaf and thinking deep thoughts. A beautiful picture with a new iPhone and thank you Blogmaid.                    

park & rec & zoom

 "Grab your weights!" Yesterday I joined a fabulous FREE online exercise class given by the SF Park and Recreation Department. Barb told me about it and I am grateful. Forty-five minutes of constant motion and just what I need in the morning after my lazy yoga. M-W-F ~ I honestly did not feel one moment of clumsy even though I am not the most coordinated woman in all of America. Or Bernal Heights.

librarians on horseback

 The Giver of Stars is based on fact and it is required reading for the Book Club. I love it! I'm listening to it as I puzzle here. This takes place during the depression era and women librarians are part of the EPA program and they travel by horse to deliver books. Rural Kentucky is the setting (god help us) and these women are true heroes. 

fun for shut-ins

 Well, I did get a good walk in yesterday on Valencia Street and now the restaurants will be opening again for outdoor dining, so things are looking up. In the meantime, this book is keeping me happy ~ The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict. Agatha Christie did disappear from her life and marriage for eleven days and the author has found a perfect fiction-based-on-fact vehicle. Thumbs up from this blogger.

safe to Gogh? (sorry)

 I know you have all seen this on the internet. The Immersive Van Gogh exhibit opens here on March 18, and I bought tickets for Ginger and me for the end of May. We will have had our vaccinations but will probably still be wearing masks. So looking forward to this!

internet = sustenance

 Belated resolution time. I'm going to take advantage of the Road Scholar lecture series ($25) and learn more about Peggy Guggenheim on Feb. 23rd. And my old often-cursed employer (de Young/Legion of Honor) offers free online study of their existing art and I really need to keep my mind from turning to mush here while I am a shut-in. So now I am feeling smug. So sue me.

refrigerator = sustenance

 The outside of my refrigerator is always filled to overflow, but now the inside is too. Friends and neighbors have been cooking while the much-needed rains bounced all over the streets and our gardens. Needless to say I am filled with gratitude and new pandemic pounds. Stuffed peppers, chili, rice and beans and even some salad which I managed to provide for myself. Life is good.

Husbando's birthday

 That mean Blogmaid texted me the bottom photo after I sent her the photo of our celebration yesterday over at Doug and Barb's. We had BLTs and potato chips and I brought Bill's favorite almond torte from Dianda's on Mission Street. Coffee, of course. Annabelle and I sang the HB song to him early in the morning overlooking the sparkling city that he loved so very much.

just one of the highlights

 Poet Amanda Gorman moves and stuns us all with her beautiful The Hill We Climb and we are overwhelmed. Here is just a snippet:

“We seek harm to none and harmony for all. Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true. That even as we grieved, we grew. That even as we hurt, we hoped; that even as we tired, we tried; that we’ll forever be tied together, victorious. Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division.” — Amanda Gorman, Inaugural Ceremony, January 20th, 2021

a very good day indeed

 Annabelle and I were up extra early to celebrate Inauguration Day. The Memorial for Covid-19 victims yesterday afternoon brought me to tears. No surprise. One of the newscasters described this as "a return to radical normalcy." Please, please, please. 

The Three Widows

 Neti, Pat and I are planning to celebrate St. Pat's Day this year. We will all have received our vaccinations by then and I can taste that corned beef now. Yes, normal life will happen again. In the meantime, we are so very pleased that this is tRump's final destructive day in office. Good riddance. 

not a perfect process

 Kaiser is usually so organized, but not this time. The phone lines were jammed and the sign-up website was useless for a few days as we all begged and clamored to get our shots. But then finally yesterday the log jam ended and we all now have appointments. Mine is for Jan. 29th ~ hooray!

hmmmm, did you say nine? NINE?

 Ruby lives in San Diego now and her mother, Tanya, sent me this birthday photo of her at age nine. She sure looks like her mama and that's a very good thing.

summer in San Francisco

 These are the best smelling and tasting lemons in the world ~ from Doug and Barb's backyard. I have a few nice ones, but theirs are superior. Their children in cold climates have asked them NOT to publish these kind of sunny photos in winter, but we need all the positive images we can find, in my opinion.

this is a fun one (honest)

 I avoided Death to 2020 on Netflix because I thought it was a news documentary and the LAST thing we need is a rehash of last year. But do watch this one ~ it's only a little over an hour and you will chuckle and guffaw and feel better before you fall asleep.

cat not allowed on table...

 ...except to celebrate another historic headline this morning. Of course I spent most of yesterday with the TV and my friends on MSNBC. In the afternoon I enjoyed a fine victory walk in the sun. Whoosh.

we love French humor

 Le Monde is a famous daily newspaper published in Paris. A friend thought I would appreciate this and I do and now you will too. Tweet.

here is a bit of hope for change

 Behold Bill Belichick, head coach of the New England football team. He used to be a pal of tRump, but yesterday he turned down the Presidential Medal of Freedom because he was disgusted with the riots in Washington, DC. I'm not a great football fan, but this action pleased me greatly. 

Annabelle and me

 A little bit of cuteness to start this week. Needless to say, I do not know what I would do without Herself.

hooray ~ Danish humor!

 Just what I needed, just what you need. Rita is a complicated woman with three children and an unusual life style. She is screwing the principal where she teaches and well, you'll see. Drama-comedy, yes!

finally ~ El Chapo warms up

 This was a happy first yesterday. El Chapo has been visiting Doug and Barb's backyard since March when I first visited them every Thursday for lunch. He belongs to their neighbor and he roams freely using Doug's freshly planted areas for his bathroom. But he never wanted human contact until yesterday. I bet it was all the scary rioting in Washington, DC ~ El Chapo wanted reassurance. Don't we all?

domestic terrorism

 Of course I spent the day glued to TV. Try to imagine if these thugs were black ~ how many dead bodies? Trump incited this riot. Disgusting and all based on lies, lies, lies. Come on, America, wise up...

is this really possible?

 A Democratic senate victory in Georgia? I consider myself a positive person, but I was certain that the two scumbag GOP candidates would win in yesterday's election. Interesting things happen when people's votes are not suppressed, right? Rev. Warnock (on the right) has already been declared the winner and now we hold our breath for Ossoff to continue his slim lead over Perdue. Politics is fun again...

designed with me in mind

 I taste tested the new Ben & Jerry's Netflix ice cream at 9am today. I had heard about this (probably on TV) and when I spotted it at Safeway at 7:30am I was intrigued. Tonight perhaps, will be the true test, while watching Trapped, which my wonderful writing partner, Anna, told me about. We need little rewards these days...

everyday gets stranger and stranger

 Remember how we hated Dick Cheney? It appears that he was the organizer of this logical and most- welcome letter signed by all of the ex-Defense Secretaries. In essence: the military should not get involved in the election dispute and there should be a peaceful transition of power, as per the Constitution. Huzzah.

another step child and more snow

 Here is the backyard of #1 step daughter, Nancy, who lives in Elgin, Ill. We had a good, long phone conversation yesterday and although this is beautiful, she would like to live in Northern Californa.

New Year's Birthdays

 The Blogmaid was 27 again yesterday and my dear friend Leah in New Jersey also celebrated her birthday. Kristin is wearing her tiara and RBG accessories on this special day. Happy Birthdays!

well, it is 2021 today

 More good TV, less Covid, please. I finished the Delhi Crime series and moved to Canada for Tin Star with Tim Roth, a favorite of mine. More violence, alas, we will see. This is on Amazon Prime. Last night there were more loud local fireworks than usual, or so it seemed to Annabelle and me.