Hmmmm --- Days 10/45 & 46

Walk: 1. Presidio Pickleball Courts, Up & Down Stairs for Monday chores 2. GG Park Pickleball

Distance: 1. 2.6 miles, small yoga, 2 games pickle  2, 4 miles, 90 minutes pickle, small yoga

Ciwt has a hard time concentrating when there is work being done around her home.  (See Day 10/44)

'Settling' in San Francisco --- Day 10/44

Walk: Presidio Pickleball

Distance: 3 miles, 90 minutes pickle

Just a few 'hairline cracks, a little plaster, a little paint' thought Ciwt about her back room.  

Ropes of Pearls & Classmates --- Day 10/43

Walk: No

Distance: n/a, Yoga

So Ciwt was so 'sobered' by her zoom class reunion that she couldn't get out of her home even for a walk today.  Most of the old (definitely!) faces she could see were strangers to her because she hadn't even known them at college and the conversation tended toward the serious, sentimental and decidedly unfunny.  Ie, draining.  

But the thing that really got her down was that many of the women (it was a women's college) were wearing pearls.  Ropes of pearls!  All Ciwt could think was "How old are we??"  And those same people were wearing bright red, not necessarily a flattering color on older people.  (Ciwt was wearing her pickleball attire).

At the end of the get together she pressed the "Leave" button and just sat in her chair staring at the empty screen. She felt heavy, like she had gained 100 pounds and her energy level was near zero.  Luckily a classmate called; one she actually knew and liked.  Her first words, even before hello, were "There was no humor; hardly even a smile!"  

Well all right!  At least one person remembers Ciwt loves to laugh and could crack up her friends in our dormitory back then.  So, energy returned, and Ciwt learned the ropes of pearls were leftovers from the last 'important' reunion.  They were fake (whew) and hopefully worn tongue in cheek.  Who knows about all the red - probably that was from some other reunion.

Anyway, that's that for Ciwt and reunions for several more years (hopefully).  Tomorrow she will make it to the pickleball courts followed by a long walk. 

                                                                             

The Movies Are Back --- Day 10/42

Walk: Vogue Theater (In the Heights)

Distance: 2 miles

Superior - the movie and being back in a movie theater (carefully spaced).  

Lin-Manuel Moranda continues to add so much to our cultural lives.  Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly gave a succinct review Ciwt likes: A Technicolor marvel as heady as Old Hollywood, and as modern as this moment.

Personal Bouquet Favorites --- Day 10/41

Walk: Presidio

Distance: 4.5 miles

Forget Me Not Florist, Maggie Wan; Jullian Mak, co-exhibitor (San Francisco) in front of Flora C. Mace and Joey Kirkpatric, Watercatcher, 1995

Floristika, Emma Soloveychik, MS, EMS, CCF (San Francisco)  in front of Robert Henri, O in Persian Costume, 1913

Noovo Bloom, Alan Hhan Do (San Francisco), in front of Richard Mayhew, Rhapsody, 2002

Maybe for their overall simplicity and colors, Ciwt particularly enjoyed these bouquets to their selected art pieces.  If you go to the site ourself yourself, maybe you'll have other favorites.  https://deyoung.famsf.org/bouquets-to-art

"A Celebration of Their Lives" --- Day 10/40

Walk: Green Apple Books, Sloat Garden Center

Distance: 4.5 miles, Yoga

Eko W. Tjoek (San Francisco)

So, today Bouquets to Art, a weeklong display of fresh floral installations inspired by works in the de Young's permanent collection returned to our Fine Arts Museums for the 37th year.  It is their principal fund raising event -  gorgeous, and immensely popular. And always sold out so that Ciwt long ago abandoned the idea of  attending.  But, to her happy surprise, this year Bouquets is being offered on line*. 

On her first virtual visit, understandably, Ciwt found that the pandemic, along with the art, has inspired many of the talented and specially invited floral designers. She thought the arrangement above was particularly lovely, and was deeply moved by Eko W. Tjoek, the artist's, statement:

This past year has been a difficult and unprecedented time for all of us.  The pandemic has affected our daily lives, our way of living and how we think.  There is a lot of heartache and sorrow.  But it also allows us to pause and slow down.  I want to dedicate this arrangement to my parents, whom I lost to this virus, and to millions of  families who also lost their love ones.  Think of this arrangement as a celebration of their lives.

I chose this location because of its simplicity  No art, no paintig or sculpture.  Just the room, glass windows, and the garden outside.

Peace and serenity.  That's all the world needs right now.

*You can attend too! (just click on this link).  

Who is M.B.? --- Day 10/39

Walk: GG Pickleball

Distance: Just a mile, 90 minutes pickle, yoga stretches

So just a week ago Ciwt didn't know who Mayim Bialik was and now she's rooting for her to be permanent host of Jeporady.  

Every single guest host so far has commented repeatedly on how difficult it is to fill Alex's shoes.  Not just his likeability, but the fact that Alex made an exceedingly challenging job look easy.  And isn't that the ultimate sign of exceptional talent?  You watch Roger Federer speed around the tennis court like a graceful and beautiful gazelle hitting the most remote shots with perfect timing and think "tennis looks so fun." Not, omg, what a struggle, he's trying so hard, I could never do that, etc.

And Bialik has that special something.  Like Alex, smart as a whip, personable with the contestants, fast on the draw with comments and evaluations of the contestants' answers, human, humane, humble, fun.  Etc.  She is so good she handles every moment as if it is perfectly natural, plus she's likely to draw a whole new crowd of viewers while keeping us old ones glued to the show.  So, in answer to one of TV's most pressing questions, Ciwt is ready to answer "Who is Mayim Bialik?"

(But then again a few weeks ago she was championing Buzzy or Ken or Bill.  So guess she better wait to see all the candidates before buzzing in.  The really good news is there already are several great ones).

Not Blowing in the Wind --- Days 10/36, 37, 38

Walk: 1. Presidio Pickleball  2. Vogue Theater (NT Live: Cyrano de Bergerac  3. Monday errands

Distance: 1. 2.8 miles, 1 hr. pickle, yoga  2. 2.4 miles, tiny yoga  3. 3.5 miles, Yoga

So where has Ciwt been past few days?  Well, it is summer, so like any good San Franciscan she has gone inside.  To get away from the wind and cold, that is.  While the rest of the country comes to life, sun bathes, swims, has backyard barbeques, plays horseshoes, we turn on our heaters or just stay in our down jackets when we give up chasing pickleballs in the wind.  Did Ciwt tell you about the birds that were blowing over trying to stand next to a golf green she was putting on?

With all her excess energy Ciwt turned to not just one but three cultural events yesterday.  First, National Theater Live's Cyrano de Bergerac.  Like many people who know that play, Ciwt was expecting to see a bough covered balcony with Cyrano hidden beneath crooning sweet poety to Roxane.  Nope!  Not in 2021 where classics are a thing of the past.  This Cyrano was haughty, vaguely homosexual, dancing hip hop, swearing like mad and speaking in modernized rap verse.  He was also quite gorgeous and completely buff (with no artificial nose) and played beautifully by James McAvoy.

Then it was back for an informative and passionate art lecture about the ever impassioned Vincent van Gogh.    

Vincent van Gogh, (Last) Self Portrait. 1889

Finally she Netflixed a movie she'd missed from a recent film festival. Turned out the (gay) main character was the opposite of the two emotive artists she had spent the day with: cold, remote, cruel. 

Alfonso Herrera in Dance of '41

Finally, she threw her down comforter on top of all her other covers and went off to sleep with her cats curled up beside her.