Summerized

Long weekend with Meredith

Meredith came to visit us last week, for a long weekend. We had a lot of fun. She, Jason and I went to a South Asian re-imagining a Midsummer Night's Dream, acted in seven languages, including English. The costumes, set and acrobatics were beautiful.

The next day, she and I went to a running store for some shoes. We'd planned to walk in the redwoods, but extremely sore knees and back I got after the first training walk put a crimp in my plans. Meredith thought I needed better shoes. That evening, M's friends cooked an amazing home-cooked Korean meal for a group of us.

Sunday, the three of us drove to Healdsburg's antique fair, where M got a great old poster, and returned in time to eat dinner at the Slanted Door.

On our last day, I showed Meredith around a few SF neighborhoods she hadn't seen -- Chestnut Street, Fillmore Street, and Clement Street, where we tried delicious peanut butter flavored egg cakes, Hong Kong style. We also stopped at Ichiban, the Japanese dollar store in Japantown, where I purchased a collection of kelly green bamboo planters, an iPod headphone winder, silicon hedgehog kitchen mats, and a yellow bird-shaped orange peeler... I'm not sure why. Perhaps my affinity for chindogus got the best of me.

Our first day prepping for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer

In a little over two 2 from now, Marcia, Susan and I will participate in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, as team Udder Chaos. We've set a team goal of raising $6,000 for breast cancer treatment and research by then.

Susan and I decided to try out one of their training walks this weekend. I got up at 5:30 for the first time since 1986 -- ouch. We met the group at Chrissy Field, near the Golden Gate bridge.

Walking over the Golden Gate was amazing -- it was the first time I'd done it on foot. It was an absolutely gorgeous sunny day, with the sun shining on the water. On the other side of the bridge is Sausalito, and hilly landscape looks like the Italian riviera. There were many kinds of wildflowers blooming along the hillsides. We walked to and through the commercial part of Sausalito, then back toward the bridge. There is a network of pretty foot and bike trails by the bridge we hadn't known about. We walked under the bridge on the way back, and saw this cool and unexpected patchwork pattern.

Walking 12 miles was a little strenuous, and we were definitely feeling some muscle aches, but it was a lot of fun. Apparently the group meets up almost every week; we'll try to join them.

The event was laid back and friendly, and we enjoyed talking with the other walkers. Some of them had lost close friends and family to breast cancer. It was touching to see their involvement in helping others with the disease. We were excited to be a part of it.

If you'd like to help us reach our $6,000 team goal for helping those with breast cancer, please click through to my personal page, where you can easily donate online. It's a great cause, and we would truly appreciate your donation.

Neighborhood Wedding

Victorians - Alamo Square, originally uploaded by David Paul Ohmer.

Last weekend, we attended Kit and Jake's wedding -- a short and sweet ceremony at Alamo Square Park. That's the park in the opening credits of Full House, with the painted lady Victorians and city skyline in the background. It was a gorgeous sunny day. The ceremony was punctuated by a bicyclist zooming between the officiant and the bride and groom.

Catching up

A random list of things I'd meant to blog about in the last few weeks but was too busy...

- a very modern ballet performance at the SF ballet with Gail

- a great dinner at Gary Danko with Meredith and Scott

- tacos at Pancho Villa with Jen, Steve and a sleeping Luca

- delicious Vietnamese sausage wraps at Pag-A-Loc with Matthew

- a low key evening at Victoria's, with wine and cheese

Sigh

Butters jumped down a shaft between the bookcases, where they meet in the corner. The shaft is 1'x1'x8.5' tall, and there was no way for her to escape on her own. I spent an hour and a half lowering down duffel bags attached to ropes, filled with cat food; screen door material cut to size; rope ladders; etc. Pathetic mewling sounds issued from the shaft. Finally, a red cat play tent (yes, I have a red cat play tent) was the thing that worked. I attached it to a rope and shot it down there. She climbed on top and I airlifted her out. We spent part of last weekend cat-proofing the living room.

Morning Constitutional

I've been taking a morning walk, a few times a week lately. It's soooo much better than being at Golds Gym on a treadmill. I call it my morning constitutional, like my grandmother would say, in her cute Mississippi accent. Heading up the hill, there are few cars and people, and lots of interesting warrens of pretty houses, tangled streets and gardens to walk through. Or parks to explore; this photo is from Buena Vista park, which is basically a wooded, steep hilltop with an almost panoramic view of the city. It's kind of amazing to be able to walk to such dramatic scenery, within 15 minutes of leaving the house.

Geek Chic: Bay Area Maker Faire

So we went to the Maker Faire last weekend, for the first time. I'd meant to go last year, but it coincided with the New York furniture fair. Maker Faire is an interesting confluence of various types of enthusiasts -- people who build intricate replicas of old Naval ships, iPhone hackers, utili-kilt wearers, knitters, costumed players of a life-size game of Mousetrap, and, of course, steampunks. In some ways, this is about as different from the furniture fair crowd as possible. It's kind of like the biggest science fair you've ever seen.

A steampunk motorcycle tooted its steam powered horn.

Giant 10' tall tesla coils, revving up to create big crackly bolts of lightening between them were impressive and made me feel an animal urge to run away.

Tesla coil 3/3, originally uploaded by Jef Poskanzer.

And the Coke and Mentos guys were amazing. They created a large elaborate fountain out of several hundred bottles of Diet Coke, and it was stunning to watch in person. Little kids were frolicking in the Coke.

The TechShop people had a large section at the Faire. And the whole experience make me want to get back into tinkering with power tools again. Freelance has kept me a bit frenetic the last few months, but I hope to find time soon.

Bimbo Bear and Friends

For some reason, it took me this long to check out the Salvadoran bodega by my yoga place. We really should try cooking some Salvadoran dishes, since all the ingredients are probably there. I just tried quesadilla salvadoreña, a bread made of eggs, sour cream, flour, margarine, parmesan cheese and sugar. It's pretty good. Fruit is cheap and good, like this pomello... And I got a freshly made "lollipop" made of tamarind, sugar and nothing else. That one didn't make it home; I'll have to get more. And who can resist Bimbo Bear, the L'il Debbie of Latin America?

Day at Muir Woods

Susan and I drove up 101 the weekend before last and stopped at a little beach town. We hung out on the shore a bit, and I got a white Hollywood Regency candlestick at an antique shop.

We hiked in Muir Woods long enough to get tired (not very much) and enjoyed the quiet of the trees. On the way back, lots of small lizards crossed the path.

We ate delicious Shepherd's Pie at a little pub type place called the Pelican Inn, which is cute and hobbity.

What color is your parachute for cats?

Seen on the way to yoga class.