Back in the Mission

During our recent trip to the Mission District in San Francisco, Terry and I spent some time around the actual mission–Dolores and Dolores Park.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

It was such a lovely day and the views were magnificent. People love to bring their dogs to Dolores Park and that day was a particular favorite. We sat for awhile and got a good dog fix, something we cat-lovers enjoy now and then.

The park overlooks Mission High School: 

We had lunch at Tacolicious, just up the street, where we saw the mural of the high school painted by Paul Madonna, the artist who does All Over Coffee.

Out to lunch

A group of friends gathered on the south end of town for lunch yesterday, at a tiny place called Box Car Cafe. The building and cafe have been around for decades, but in the last year a new owner, Keith, has taken over and made the place into a go-to spot for lunch. This is the really old, industrial part of town, and the lunch crowd is mostly the men who work in the surrounding businesses. The tiny cafe can seat 20, maximum, and when we arrived yesterday, it was standing room only. We decided to take a walk and come back a little after 1:00 when the lunch bunch would be back at work.

The walk was perfect. It took us down narrow streets, without sidewalks, in and out of alleyways, and around very old buildings, like the brewery which dates back to the 1880s:

There was a grapefruit tree around back:

One of my friends managed to get one of the gigantic pieces of fruit.

Around the corner, and down another street, is an abandoned farm house and packing plant. One of the group remembers the place being vacant when she was in high school in the ’70s.

The yard was a mass of gopher holes and sticker vines. Fortunately, I had worn a good pair of shoes for walking around this terrain. Another gal had such flimsy shoes that the stickers went  right through the sole. Her lament, “I didn’t know we would be hiking.”

For just a brief moment, we could catch a glimpse of the downtown buildings. Here you can see the Federal Courthouse in the far distance, reminding us that we weren’t too far from a more cosmopolitan locale:

Terry and I were discussing the windsock and why it would be there on a building that obviously does not have a heliport. Then, I realized it is probably a plant that produces noxious fumes and they must keep a check on the wind direction so as not to annoy the people in those downtown buildings.

Our walk was lots of fun, and there was a great amount of laughter. We had worked up a good appetite for the pulled pork sandwiches Keith is famous for at the Box Car Cafe. The cafe was empty upon our return with plenty of room for our group to combine tables and sit around sharing stories for awhile. No rush to get back to work for us.

In the Mission

Having spent little time in the Mission District while living in San Francisco, I decided that our next visit would be to that area of town. It’s a large area, with lots to see and do, and one day wouldn’t make a dent in all the possibilities, but we were on a mission to see as much of the Mission District as possible.

There are two BART stops in the Mission, 24th and 16th. We got off at 16th, into a cacophony of sights and sounds. The Mission District is busy and the languages you are most likely to hear are of a Spanish variety. There are, of course, the mutterings and rumblings of the disenfranchised, the drunks, the homeless, the mentally disturbed. It’s all to be seen around the BART station.

As we walked along 16th, I noticed a storefront’s windows filled with beautiful drawings, much like what you might expect children to do. The pieces, though, were very large, framed, and well displayed. This is Creativity Explored, a place for developmentally disabled artists to come, work, exhibit, and sell their pieces. There is a small gallery right inside the door, but even more intriguing is the workrooms beyond. They are full of artists, doing so many things, working on so many pieces, in all kinds of media. And what natural born sales people. They will gladly give you a tour of the workroom, which is huge, showing off their own pieces as well as that of others.

One young lady that we met, Selene Perez, was intent on showing us a particular work of hers. She took us to the back of the studio, where there was a huge file of drawings and paintings. She painstakingly went through the massive numbers of work until she found her piece that she wanted us to see:

I was so charmed by the artist, and her work, that I knew I wanted to purchase this piece. There was another piece that intrigued me, too. The artist is Maribel Guzman.

However, I did not have enough cash on me to make the purchases. The front desk assured me they would take credit cards, and so I made another trip through the studio rooms, picking up these two pieces. I stopped at Selene’s work table and told her I was taking her picture. She was so pleased, dancing around, giving me a hug, and telling her friend at the next table. The artists get a portion of the sales price.

Should you find yourself in San Francisco, take BART to the 16th Street station, walk west on 16th. Creativity Explored is on the south side of the street, before you get to Dolores, where the mission itself stands.

Happy feet

During our hot summers, I don’t wear shoes around the house. From morning, till evening, I run around with bare feet. If I go out in the public, it’s either sandals or tennis shoes, but still bare feet.

Summer feet

Come winter, though, that changes. I wear socks around the house and also when I go out, to keep my feet warm. I like soft, colorful socks because it seems that my winter wardrobe has a lot of black and the flash of color from my feet makes me happy. Some days I wear a pair of socks around the house and then change to a different pair when I go out. That adds up to a lot of  socks. The last load of laundry had 11 pairs.

Winter feet

Copycat

A few months back, Christine had a lovely sailboat on her blog post that she had painted. It was so inspirational that I copied it onto my desktop and looked at for weeks, thinking/wishing that I could do something similar.

First, let me say right up front, I am not artistic. My students would make fun of my stick drawings when I would put them on the board. Last summer I bought some watercolor pencils and found them to be very easy to use. Rather fun, and relaxing even. I posted a bit of my work here. Many of you were very kind with your comments. So, I am going to post MY version of Christine’s sailboat:

Twenty years ago

I read the words, “twenty years ago,” and think of another, more genteel time, a time accorded a place in history, a long-ago time. Wait a minute…twenty years ago was 1992! That was only a couple of years ago, not twenty. The word twenty has a historical ring; 1992 has a day-before-yesterday ring. Nineteen ninety two is not some hazy historical moment in the continuum of time, it’s a very recent part of my life. But, 20 years ago?

My husband and I say the same thing about the year 2000. That seems but a brief moment ago, yet it’s been 12 years. Twelve years, now, with all the electronic innovations speeding us along, is like a century to our forefathers. So much has happened. Yet, I can clearly remember 2000 as if it was last year. Wait, what was last year? 2011? What all did I do? What happened with those 12 months? A whirl of actions and colors. People coming and going. Mostly going. Mostly loss.

Twenty years from now will be 2032, and I’m sure, if I’m still around, that I will be amazed at the speed of the last two decades. Decades. Okay, that has a more concrete sound than years. Decades are blocks of time so much bigger than just years. I marvel to think of the changes we will see if innovations continue to come at us at the same dizzying pace of the last two decades. In 2032, 1992 really will be a hazy, historical time. A time before the turn of the century. Will I still feel as if it was a short time ago?

Lunch & window shopping at Stanford Shopping Center

The Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, right next door to Stanford University, is probably my favorite shopping place on the planet. It is a lovely outdoor mall, beautifully landscaped with some water elements, really good restaurants, and seating scattered throughout so as to rest and people watch. Terry and I made a stop there last week.

We almost always go to Max’s to eat if we arrive around lunch time. Nordstrom’s bistro and Frank’s Hot Dogs are also favorites. Thursday it was Max’s where we shared one of their famous pastrami sandwiches. The things are so big, you really do need to share. The cabbage soup is also a favorite of mine, but I decided to just have the sandwich and onion threads which came along with the bowl of french fries, which I seldom eat.

After that large lunch, we meandered through the center, looking at all the changes in the stores. Some of our favorites have left–Discovery Store, Smith & Hawken, a wonderful card shop–some are remodeling–Sony–the McDonald’s has downsized and moved one block. Nordstrom, Bloomingdale, and Macy’s still have large stores there. Kate Spade, Louis Vitton, Fritte, all have their boutiques here. Palo Alto is one of the wealthiest cities in the nation. There is no recession here.

I also enjoyed photographing some of the of flowers that were blooming.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Favorite things

My long-time online friend, Lynn, wrote a blog post some weeks ago that I keep meaning to come back to and write about. I think I have a few minutes right now to do that.

Lynn wrote a 400-word post about her favorite things and challenged others to do likewise.  I liked her subtitle: what lights up your life? This reminded me of a photography class I took at Stanford University a number of years ago. On the very first day, the instructor had us write, for one minute, all the things that made us happy. I still have the workbook from that class, and I look at that list from time to time. The idea behind it was to get us thinking differently about taking photos. Not to just point and shoot, but to find the things that make us really happy and reproduce that feeling in photos. I’m still working on that.

Here is my list:

• Summer mornings
• martinis
• the dappled light across the backyard
• Sunday newspaper
• walkways
• bookstores
• cookies baking in the oven
• fresh fruit
• meeting deadlines
• my daughter (I would add my grandchildren, now)
• pine tree smell
• cold cereal (that one is now off my list due to lactose intolerance)
• unique shopping centers
• cats
• purple
• books on a shelf
• corner office with a window
• teenagers having fun
• my husband
• lunch with friends
• my journals (I would now add this blog)
• my prayer time
• fine point pens
• San Francisco

Except as noted, these are still favorites, all these many years later. I would probably add my iPhone, MacBook Pro, and social media.

 

Days of meat & restaurants

Paula Deen’s announcement of having Type 2 diabetes sort of set me back on my heels this morning. There is a running joke among family and friends that I, like Paula, start all my recipes with a cube of butter. Actually, it’s not far from the truth. The recipes I make actually do start with a cube of butter. I just don’t cook like that every day.

Paula is a few years older than I am, and I have a hunch she is under a lot more stress than I am in a normal day. I say NORMAL because that has not been my life for the last couple of months. I am trying to regain my equilibrium, though, and live more calmly with less frenetic activity. Also, my blood sugar levels are always very good–60 to 80. Cholesterol too. Which is kind of funny, considering all that butter! One year, the number came back just over 200, and my doctor, who was used to seeing numbers like 170, told me she hoped I was “just camping there.” I had to admit that I had been excessive with the butter. I backed off and the level backed down, too.

I am trying harder to eat a plant based diet with less and less meat as I believe we don’t need as much meat as we seem to consume. Terry and I can make a three pound roast last all week; two chicken breasts can do the same. We have quit eating any cured meats with nitrates and nitrites. All fruits and veggies are organic as are other foods. We stay away from most processed foods which means very little restaurant eating. However, this past week was a bad one in this area as we were out of town and trying new places.

Last Tuesday we finished off a roast I had cooked the previous week. Wednesday I had lunch with a friend and ordered a shish kebob sandwich (lamb). Thursday Terry and I shared a Rueben sandwich at Max’s made with pastrami (!) and sauerkraut. Friday we had carnitas tacos at a new place in San Francisco. Saturday I picked up a ham sandwich at Whole Foods. At least it was nitrite and nitrate free.

Yesterday I met the Ladies Who Lunch at a new Mexican restaurant in town. I ordered the short rib burrito but they were out of that. Saved! Instead I got the veggie tacos. My meat binge has ended.

On holiday, sort of

It’s a three-day weekend for those of you working in the real world. The school district in which I toiled all those years is still on winter break, returning on the 17th, after a 3-week hiatus, so they are enjoying the last of their holiday.

Terry and I took off Thursday morning for the bay area, stopping at Stanford Shopping Center for lunch and window shopping. On Friday we took BART into San Francisco and spent most of the day in the Mission District. I will have more to tell you about that once we have returned home. We got back to San Mateo in the late afternoon to help our son-in-law take care of the two kids. Our daughter works late, very late, on Fridays, and so he must do it all–chores, dinner, baths, bedtime. Today we are taking care of the small granddaughter while her parents and baby brother attend the 49ers vs somebody game at Candlestick Park, which fortunately for them, is just up the road apiece. We’re going to take small granddaughter back to our hotel to spend the night which will make it a little easier for her mother to get up and get ready for work in the morning. (If I haven’t already told you, our daughter is a minister in San Mateo so weekends are her working days. This morning was Chinese School until noon.)

As I sit here typing, small granddaughter is napping, Terry is doing the dishes, and I am on the fourth load of laundry, one more to go. Remember, it’s a holiday weekend!