day and night in SF

Every year I just have to see Macy's Flower Show and every year I am
underwhelmed. Carnival was the theme this year and it was better than
no flower show, but we all know that traditional retail suffers and this
year tourism is down because of travel bans. A very small line for the
cable cars and Peet's seems to be the busiest spot in town.

Then last night we dined at Tartine Manufactory on Alabama Street.
You can see that we were early (surprise!) and I can assure you that
they were busy by the time we left. Delicious and unusual food and
wonderful service. Home in time for baseball and a WIN.

Macy's Easter flowers

inside - first floor

front window - yarn bombing

more yarn with reflection (sorry)

We went downtown to see a play yesterday and stopped by Macy's to enjoy
the flowers. The theme is Art in Bloom and the deYoung store has a mini
shop set up there and I believe that they are doing well. It was absolutely
gorgeous weather and not too many tourists. Next weekend, yes, the
city will be packed with visitors.

nice to meet you, Albert

This arrangement caught my eye on Thursday

...it depicted this painting by Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902) entitled
Sunlight and Shadow and as many times as I've wandered about
up there on the second floor, I had never seen it. The artist was
an American who studied art in Europe and we have other works
by him that I have admired. So thanks to flowers, I know this one too.

flowers are my friends (again)

I so appreciated the Blogmaid's email this morning because in a
show of solidarity she didn't buy flowers for her home. But now I can
release all of you ~ I had an hour to myself yesterday before the
museum opened and I was not only impressed with the flower
arrangements, I realized that some of them made me really study
the piece of art more and I saw things differently and better. In
one instance, I had never even noticed a Bierstadt entitled Light
and Shadow and I'll show you that tomorrow along with my
amazing insights (joke). So I'm pro-flower, anti-people and that's OK.

not so much

I can imagine the emails from the Macy's big guns. You know
the ones: we must cut expenses for the Flower Show by 20% (it
could be 30%, who knows?) and we will start in 2011. No more
over-the-top elaborate windows, do they help sales? Forget the
ultra clever themes, let's go with Towers of Flowers, that could
cover everything. In any event, I was used to being knocked over
by the smells and sights of the annual Macy's Flower Show, but
such was not the case this year. Pretty, certainly, there aren't
many ugly flowers, are there? And it's always fun for me to be
downtown (except I have to dash by Borders, still closing), but
no need to rush into Macy's Union Square immediately because
this goes on through April 10th. I do wonder if the NYC store cut
back this year too...