another flower show

It's Easter Week and I always hit the flower show at Macy's Union Square.
This year it's an Indian theme  and very colorful. The top photo is from the
first floor which was a little lackluster, but the displays on the 6th floor
(bottom two pix) were impressive indeed. Downtown is packed with
tourists and folks from the burbs and a few of us who live here too.

green table turns blue

We took advantage of the fact that our Casa Verde is spotlessly clean and
entertained again last night. Also our friend Bill W. is here from Las
Vegas and we don't see him very often and he loves the SF crab. So
that's why the newspaper is on the table ~ we just dump the shells on
there, then roll it all up and have dessert and coffee on the nice clean
tablecloth underneath. Wish I had taken a photo of the 10 lbs. of crab
covered with butter and crusty garlic, enough garlic to insure that no
customer will get too close to me today.

and it's not a downer!

The Sessions is based on a true story about a man (John Hawkes) in an iron
lung who finds a sex therapist (Helen Hunt) and this movie is so frank and
intense that you wish every young person could see it before their first
sexual experience. Of course it's really all about love, something often
missing from that first time. Beautiful film, one that stays with you for a
long time. From our Flix® friends...

BTA at the DY

As beautiful as most of the floral arrangements are at Bouquets to Art, I'm
happy to only be working there one day this week. The deYoung is PACKED
with people and I am lucky to spend the rest of the week out at the quiet Legion
of Honor. Still, it is quite an experience to see all these flowers, my favorites
are the "black" tulips in the photo above because they remind me of London.

monday's heart throb

Buttercup is an Australian Kelpie MIX. Most of the dogs are of the Mix
Variety. She is small, less than knee-high and very timid. Very sweet.
Three years old and much-loved by the workers and volunteers, including
this woman. Since I feed the 50 or so dogs, I know she doesn't require
any of the specialty foods like venison, duck, unusual vitamins, chicken
appetizer enhancement, etc. An easy dog, I'm guessing, if there is
such a thing.

new family member!

The Great Plotniks created and delivered these daffy beauties to us on
Sunday. Aren't they just perfectly gorgeous? Grown from bulbs, something
I might try next fall, I've never done anything this impressive garden-wise.

how green is our table?

We had a lovely corned beef and cabbage celebration yesterday ~ lots
of laughter and so nice to be with friends for this Irish feast. Special
thanks to the three who sat at the grandchild table down at the end, a
tight squeeze in this small house. Casa Verde is getting back into shape
now, preparing for a Friday night party and then we rest until the
winter holidays.

costume party

Meet the Lumieres, they go to a lot of work to dress up for these French
events. This was out at the Legion of Honor yesterday for the Louvre
Snuff Box exhibit. I talked to one brightly-decorated woman, she said
it takes her about an hour and a half to get into costume. Lordy, I have
vague complaints if I spend more than 10 minutes dressing. But, hey,
it was fun and greatly appreciated by drab retail workers and the other
museum customers.

horses and poetry

Now that RR is becoming a talented horseback rider, I'm much more
aware of all things equine. I love this poem...

Landscape with Horse Named Popcorn

The hummingbird hovers over bougainvillea, darting in and out
of blossoms as the bride throws
her corset among laughter and waving hands. Seeing you, glass in hand, sunlight
piercing the punch bowl's crystal, I remember
the horse, an Appaloosa, the white and grey markings
like clouds, cumulus, one
later on his grave, the 2 × 4 cross with name
above a swell of land that could bring
a man to his knees,
or make him look up at fumbling shapes, cotton-fumed
and slow. I can hear the screeching
still. The colt had grabbed a turkey nesting in scrub oak, and prancing,
shook it in his mouth as we ran
reaching toward black feathers—then the fine
spray of blood—until beyond adrenaline we began laughing,
as laughing now, brushing confetti away, you hand
the bride flowers, narcissi, their green throats pushing up
from wet stones in a jar.
Mark Irwin

Large White House Speaking
New Issues Poetry & Prose

big time spring clean-up

We're having our traditional St. Patty Day dinner party on Sunday and this
is the perfect opportunity to thoroughly clean the house. I've had two days
off and what a pleasure to have time to dust and polish, scrub and wash
assorted dishes that we only use twice a year or so. For someone who has
always loathed house cleaning, this feels strangely virtuous. Maybe I'm
finally turning into a Good Wife. Shoot me now...oh, let's have a round
of applause for Dianne Feinstein for stomping on that creepy Cruz jerk
yesterday. How dare he treat her like some stupid nincompoop?

back to what's important

Well, we have the new old Pope so now I can show you the Brothers Striped.
Bengie and Sammy ~ very sweet. I'm a big believer in the theory that if you
want one cat, you really want two. This was from my Monday visit to the
SPCA and I'm hoping that by now the boys have been adopted.

daily Round Robin piece

IT'S A SCIENCE (the prompt)

Today I'm borrowing heavily from word-a-day. Stealing. The word is ~
SUFFRAGIST

ETYMOLOGY:
Via French from Latin suffragium (voting tablet, right to vote). Ultimately 
from the Indo-European root bhreg- (to break) that also gave us break, 
breach, fraction, fragile, fractal, infringe, irrefragable, and fractious. 
Suffrage? Remember, a broken piece of tile was used as a ballot in the past.
 Earliest documented use: 1822.

NOTES:
While we have come a long way in treating people equally regarding the 
right to vote, there are still places where a woman is not considered fit to 
vote or to run for an office, for example Saudi Arabia and the Vatican.
USAGE:
"Women had not won the right to vote; one suffragist slapped Song 
Jiaoren in the face for not taking up their cause."
The Song of Song; The Economist (London, UK); Dec 22, 2012.

I'm a life-long feminist. It pisses me off to see the men marching into
the Vatican to cast their precious fucking votes for the next pope man.
The nuns wait patiently in the courtyard and I bet a good percentage of
them are as annoyed as I am.

So there, today we learned where the word comes from, it's a science, sort of...

some truly great theater

Say a trained sniper returns from Iraq or Afghanistan. A likable young man
who did his job extremely well, too well. Where can he find work to support
his wife and baby-on-the-way? ACT presents Dead Metaphor and it's one
of those plays that will stay with you, and it should. Great acting from:
George Hampe (the solider), Tom Bloom (his dad), Sharon Lockwood (his
mom), Rebekah Brockman (his wife), plus Anthony Fusco and the always-
incredible Rene Augesen.  Excellent play, riveting.

the first emperor's afterlife

We had a fine time at the Asian Art Museum yesterday ~ the Terracotta
Warriors (and horses) guarded the First Emperor until 1974 when they
were unearthed to the amazement of China and the world. There are 10
life-size figures (out of thousands), all different and exquisitely detailed.
The emperor spent three decades working on his tomb and afterlife,
seems sort of silly, but hey, that was before the internet. The exhibit is
here until May 27th and well worth seeing, that's for sure.

oh, such acting

The Master is out on DVD now and you shouldn't miss it if you haven't
seen it already. All my adult life I've been irritated by Scientology and the
whole L. Ron Hubbard worship-fest and this movie tries to explain the
cult and it's leader.  Philip Seymour Hoffman is more caring than I
expected and his loyalty to the crazed and beat-up Joaquin Phoenix is
indeed touching. Explosive scenes, incredible acting ~ disturbing.

a new SF walk!

house boats across the way

a park for dogs!

a wall of condos with a break here and there (facing downtown)

Honestly, we had to read about this Mission Creek Promenade in the chronny.
It starts at Lefty O'Doul's bridge and ends at the 280 Freeway ~ gentle curves
with a clean and clear creek on one side. Who knew? And here we thought
it was all just not-very-interesting new housing. It's always better walking
near water, isn't it?

So I met Ginger here yesterday at the Jewel so we could buy our Giants tix
for the season. That went smoothly, but my, so many games almost sold
out already. The dugout people were very helpful and our first game is
April 10th. Then some more walking and talking ~ my kind of day with
two lattes (each) and a reasonable lunch at Whole Foods. Lovely.

a Lyle Talbot extravaganza

The Great Plotniks are friends with Steve Talbot, son of Lyle, and last
night we went to a double bill of his father's work. It was a sell-out,
truly festive. I'm not one of those people who really enjoys the old movies,
but these were great fun and of course we want to support the old Roxie
on 16th Street, sticky floors and broken down seats included. Oh, yes,
excellent popcorn ~ $3 a bag ~ that was dinner.

Heat Lightning was the first movie and then came Fog Over Frisco with
Bette Davis. Both totally ridiculous plot-wise, but we especially enjoyed
seeing SF in 1934 without cars, traffic, congestion. This was after some
rough in the rain driving from the deYoung to 16th and Mission. Busy
times in this booming hipster area with still enough burned out druggies
to keep one walking quickly and with purpose after the sun sets.

time, she flies

RR's first St. Patrick's Day (Dorffie guards her)

RR last week, with Aspen guarding her

"Turn house green" is on my ToDo List this week. St. Pat's is a big time of year
for this agnostic (formerly Presbyterian) and her Jewish husband. Mostly it's
the corned beef and gathering with friends, but also it doesn't have the holiday
craziness.  It's a fine time to feel blessed and grateful for all that we have.
Husbando was bitching about Comcast price-gouching (not an unusual rant
on his part, after spending hours negotiating with them on the phone) and I
had to remind him how many millions of people would love to have our "problem"
and yes, when I get preachy like that he's is delighted to see me go off to work.

the happy holiday family

We watched this via Roku® via the Flix® last night. Three adult children
join their parents for pre-Christmas dinner. The actual holiday is too stressful,
so this is their solution. This is all-Bay Area and it was Chris Brown's first
feature film (2010) and he won 16 awards in national and international film
festivals. This family is so shocking, yet for some reason it is darkly
amusing too. More dark than amusing, come to think about it. Anyway,
I'm glad we watched it because now our families seem mild and loving.
Bring on the holidays!

16th and Bryant

optimism

Penny - mellow 8 year old

I spent a v. pleasant morning feeding dogs and petting cats yesterday at the
SPCA. They are having a SALE of chihuahuas because there are just too
many in most California shelters. Sometimes they trade them for bigger
dogs from far-away shelters. I don't adore tiny dogs, but I've learned to like
them better than I used to, they are dogs, after all and quite lovable in
their bouncy, nervous way.

our Sunday with Walt

the Disney Museum in the Presidio ~ go!

orange vests are always in style

old style animation

the beginnings in black and white art

the new technology too

many Mickeys

view from the museum

Disneyland ~ an amazing concept ~ the man was a genius (and I'm not because I can't seem to get the copy block correct correct today, so I'll just keep typing and bitching.) Anyway, we had a terrific time here yesterday, it's really not for kids because the Walt Disney Museum is packed with history. We skipped the separate Snow White exhibit, figuring that the children were probably in there. Really, it's a fascinating place and extremely well done. Part of the First Free Tuesday program so you could go that way. They comped us because of my museum badge and really, we were impressed with everything. Highly recommended ~ the World War II propaganda was especially interesting.

belated birthday wishes

Cody and b.day catnip

Mr. Blogmaid and his pal Cody

I know it's hard to believe, but Cody Cat is already a year old. There was
much birthday fur fan fair down in Pumpkinville and the shiny boycat
couldn't be happier in is forever home, even though he was treated beautifully
at the SPCA in San Francisco. Everyone knows that...

rewards work wonders

Actually it was a grueling time yesterday because the CD wouldn't work on
this computer. I spent more than an hour above the spice shop in New Delhi
(thanks for this line, Great Plottie) and here I thought Turbo Tax® was an
American company. Anyway, finally we could get going and Husbando fixed
us squishy buttery grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch and by the end when
we were getting irritable we'd say things like, "they aren't going to check this,
not with so little money, besides we have receipts, etc. etc." and just checked
off a lot of boxes. Sooooo glad that's over. Of course on my s-l-o-w printer
it takes hours to print the returns, so I just left, hoping the printer wouldn't
jam and it didn't.

It was 70º yesterday, so I'm glad I got out for a late walk and the much needed
latte and crumble cake. What a relief, now to type up the notes for next year.
Password, pin, secret offshore phone numbers, update software, etc. My
federal and state governments already texted me (!) that they have accepted
our returns and I do thank them for that. Onward...

Long walk needed at once

We just finished our taxes - about 5 hours and some problems along
the way. Grrrrrrrrr. But small refunds from the Feds and the State, so
all is well and I need to get out of here and MOVE right now.