The Jimmy Stewart Hike

I am sure most of you will be able to figure out Pat's title of this blog, especially since we are in San Francisco.

After I  went to jazzercize, and Dan took a bike ride, we thought we didn't get enough of our daily dose of exercise, and decided to take a hike in Mill Valley.   We chose a long walk up in the hills in the West Blithedale Canyon Park.   We took Gus with us, we were so happy we finally could.

But this walk!   It was quite scary, as the path was very narrow and steep, with a deep canyon very near the edge.   There were a few short bridges across in a few places, then a plank at another part, though this wasn't over anything steep.    Nearby, we saw a small little hut, and a teepee with  strange objects around, left by people who'd hiked up there.   (it was almost like geocaching)   We also found a labyrinth made out of stones, which Gus and Pat walked.   We found another path nearby , and I thought it was a flatter way down.    Dan did not, didn't think it was much of a path at all.   I went down it a bit by myself, with Gus following.  Well, this was very narrow, and hazardous.  I finally turned around when I saw that you had to walk over a plank over the canyon!    Yikes!  So we turned around and went the other way.   Pat

Pat was quite afraid that we were all going over the edge. It reminded me of the time in the glass elevator in Chicago, where a bouncing ball.....well I'm sure Jason remembers.

Any way it was another beautiful walk in a dark redwood forest that wasn't that long but was quite strenuous. Gus is back to his old self tromping up and down the path. It was his first big hike in a long time and he did great.

The day was the warmest since we have been here, somewhere in the 70's. I took a bike ride for an hour in the morning around Hamilton Field, which is the old Hamilton Air Force Base that has been redeveloped. 

We finished the day watching the NCAA tournament games, and enjoyed the Wisconsin win, and also the OSU loss.  MSU was quite impressive in its game also. They could have a great run in this tournament. Michigan squeaked out a win yesterday, but will have a tough time surviving against a very good Oklahoma team tomorrow. So far the tournament has been fun.

Dan

The Biking Road to Nowhere and The Turkey in the Straw

It's still the same day.  After golf, and my museum adventure, we decided to take a bike ride.   We've wanted to take this flat bike ride between Mill Valley and Sausalito that wasn't very long.  We loaded the bikes, and went on our way.    We are so happy about the warm, sunny weather, that we figure if we're tired, we'll just go to bed early.     This too was disappointing, we went over a marsh.   It was pretty smelly and muddy, and made me think of all those quicksand movies I'd seen when I was young.  (what are the names of some of those anyway?)

The path sort of just ended, and really, went nowhere.   I should mention this though--there are bike paths between all the towns in Marin, and probably beyond.  People bike everywhere,  it is a bit like Copenhagen.  (and can be as harrowing).  At one point on our road to nowhere, there were signs and maps to other bike rides, and they are all numbered, to Corte Madera, Sausalito, Tiburon, Larkspur, etc.    One reason why we wanted to do this bike ride is that every time we drive on 101 past this exit, we see many, many bicyclists, so we were very curious. 

We also have seen the turkeys a lot lately, and their chicks are now around too.   In fact, the Toms were in our backyard!    Gus was told to stay inside, and I got a close up.    They sort of own the road, by the way. They walk wherever they damn well please, and no one or animal seems to bother them.   A cat was just sitting there, didn't even chase them.

Oh, these clothes! And, oh, I feel like I'm in an Ikea!

Yesterday, both Dan and I played golf with Lindsey's mom, Paula, playing at a county golf course in Alameda. A nice little course, and we had a lot of fun. Neither Paula nor I are serious golfers, nor that good, so it was fun. We ate lunch at a wonderful Vietnamese restaurant that is right in town. Alameda is so compact and pretty; Jay and Lindsey can walk up to restaurants, movies, etc. and they love that.

Today, Dan played golf with his new friend, Fred, the couple we went out to dinner with. I went to the DeYoung Museum to see several exhibits, a flower exhibit, called "Blossoms to Art" and an Yves St. Laurent clothing exhibit.

The clothing exhibit was magnificant! I managed to take a few pictures before they told me it wasn't allowed, I honestly didn't know because cameras are allowed in the rest of the museum. So I have to describe some of the others. If you aren't interested in clothing, just skip ahead.

This was a large collection, and I overheard some women saying that YSL helped put it together before he died last year. It's the only U.S. city it will be in. My favorite clothes were ones with color. He was one of the first to pair unlikely colors together, like turquoise and peach. My favorite piece of all, and for those of you who know me, you will say, "Oh, that's so Pat", was an evening ensemble. The jacket was a flowing lime green silk with an irregular hem, the top of the gown was yellow silk that was one shouldered, the bottom of it was a beautiful shade of pink (I thought of you, Melisa) and the sash was a deep pink almost a fuschia. The shoes were lime suede, and peeked out of the dress. It was my favorite.
! The other part I really loved were the clothes he made to honor different artists, like Van Gogh, Picasso, Matisse, Mondrian and Braque. But he made clothes based on their paintings. The Van Gogh ones were jackets with the sunflowers embroided into it, with sequins all over,and the other one had iris's on it, in the same vivid colors of the paintings. The Matisse one was a long black skirt with the cut-out pattern we've all seen appliqued on. They were gorgeous!

I think a lot of the clothes were in his collection, but many of them were also made for Lauren Bacall, and my gal, Catherine DeNueve. (Dan teases me about Catherine, as she's my woman crush!) It was very enjoyable, and good to go alone, as Dan would not have liked it. Lindsey would, but she is working a lot, and won't get to it, I fear, as it's closing soon. But she should try.

The other exhibit, the "Blossoms to Art" were flower exhibits that were all over the museum. It was displays of art using flowers. I enjoyed it, but not nearly as much as the clothing, and would not have made a point to see it. However, I was certainly in the minority on that one because the rest of the museum was mobbed with women bumping into each other to take pictures of it all. It was mobbed! At one point, I could not move, as I was trying to get out of the museum. I got caught up in the museum, was going from room to room to get out! It was like being in Ikea!

I later did another stairway walk, this one in the Presidio. I used my trusty stairway walk book, but it was a confusing walk, plus, it wasn't very good. I would not rate it very high, it was disappointing.

Not the Cliffs of Moher, but Still, a Jolly Good Day! Also, Another Ethnic Group Heard From

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone, and Happy Birthday to our Laddie, Wally.  But do remember that Dan hates the song, "Danny Boy".  We took a road trip today to the Peninsula, and stopped at beaches at Half Moon Bay and Pacifica.

We were surprised at how cool these towns are--they really look like seaside towns, of the East Coast or of Southern California. The beaches were beautiful, full of surfers, nice waves, and sand. The Grey Whale Cove Beach is a potential lookout for whales, but it was so foggy, we could see very little. There are cliffs that drop directly into the ocean there, making it a bit hazardous to hike near!

We then went down to Half Moon Bay, and had a very nice lunch at Sam's Chowder House, famous for it's lobster sandwich. (which we didn't order!)y good, and we walked near there. We then stopped at Cowell Beach, but didn't go down the path because we had Gus with us and dogs weren't allowed. As it was a long walk to the beach, we didn't want to leave him that long.

We came back, and went to Boca's, to celebrate St. Paddy with a nice glass or 2 of a great Zin, Roshambo, 2006.

And a happy day to all ye lads and lassies!

On Sunday, we went into the city to see an exhibit at the Jewish Contemporary Museum.  The building itself is beautiful, and I later found out from a gal at jazzercize that it's known more for it's architecture rather than it's exhibits, which is apparently true of several new museums here.  There is some controversy about that too.   We saw an exhibit of Seder plates, as Passover is coming up.  It was quite interesting.   There were 80 artists displaying their take on the plates, very interesting.  Afterwards, we voted on our favorite.  My favorite was a Seder Plate made from CD's of contemporary Jewish Music---there were earphones nearby so you could hear the music.  As I was on my way for my standard bathroom stop, a young man stopped me and asked me if he could interview me for a video they will show at the museum.  The question he asked was "what are some of your favorite Passover memories?"    I answered that I had never celebrated Passover as a child, but began to do this when I was married the first time.   We always had non-Jews, family and friends at our Seders, and were very informal.    I carried on this tradition when I was single, and re-married, and always enjoyed it so much.    So it's become one of my favorite celebrations.  The other favorite memory is Jason and Dan making horseradish every year, and how we generally have to leave the house because it's so strong!   The interviewer smiled at this last bit, and when we finished, told me he has horseradish stories too!