All Full Today --- Day 7/15

Walk: No, Marin Driving Day (Sausalito HouseBoat!)
Distance: 0, Big PT/Yoga/Pedal

Ciwt always loves spending time with her friends on their immaculate and beautiful houseboat.

Not Quite Seduced --- Day 7/14

Walk: Legion of Honor (Casanova Exhibition)
Distance: Not far.  Drove.  No PT, yoga or anything.

Diarama from Casanova: the Seduction of Europe exhibiton at the Legion of Honor

The Legion has done a superlative job collecting and displaying 18th century paintings, costumes, furniture and furnishings and from all over the world for their current Casanova show.  If you a Canaletto fan 

Giovanni Antonio Canal, Regatta View from Ca'Foscari, 1727, o/c

this show is a Must See.  There are more Caneletto's in this exhibition than there are in all of Italy, his home country. In case you wonder where the most Caneletto's hang, that would be in Buckingham Palace where the Royal Family have 50! Caneletto's on the wall of their dining room.

But, if you are like Ciwt, there is only so much interest you can bring to that man and his frivolous-appearing era .

Oscar Fashion Mystery --- Day 7/13

Walk: Walgreens for new Shingles Shot
Distance: 2 miles

Ciwt was mystified when one of her more fashionable friends texted to say she LOVED Frances McDormand's Oscar dress.  Ciwt loves most things about McDormand, but she didn't love that dress  .  To Ciwt, watching on TV,  it was kind of a green blur that made FMcD's face and hair look green as well.

So how could her friend have loved it - and thought it was just perfect for the two time Oscar winner?
It turned out her friend hadn't actually seen the Oscars and saw the dress the next day in pictures.  Here are dress and star again in good lighting
Beautifully crafted dress that captures something about McDormand's essence, vibrant skin, blond hair.

Mystery solved.

Oscar Grows Up --- Day 7/12

Walk: Hood
Distance: 2.5 miles, PT, Yoga

Ciwt thought it was her first grown up Oscars last night. The Oscar fashion statements said it all.

Everyone, woman and man, looked lovely.  There were so many Best Dressed, she'll just feature a few of the men.  The only exception she can remember was some man who sported an old 'un grown up - look at me' jacket with short sleeves and long white cuffs.  

Dim Bulb Math--- Day 7/11

Walk: Laurel Village/Hood
Distance: 2 miles, (PT, yoga while watching Oscars)

While she was watching Daniel Day-Lewis yesterday, Ciwt was sorry to have missed the First Annual American Tulip Day right downtown on Union Square. As her followers know, tulips are right up at the top of Ciwt's List of Favorite Works of Art. If she had to choose from a created work, a Matisse painting and a natural one, a vase of fresh tulips, she's not sure which direction she would go.

Now the financially unattainable Matisse of course, but once upon a time those tulips would have sold for more than a Matisse would fetch today.  In the Netherlands during 'tulipmania' (ca. 1634-1637) and well before Matisse, promise of a single tulip bulb might have been enough to secure a mansion on one of Amsterdam's canals. "Promise" because people didn't have actual tulip bulbs in hand during the mania. What the "owner' bought was a piece of paper that gave "Proof of Ownership" of a tulip bulb that was apparentlygrowing in a field somewhere. And that Proof of Ownership paper could be sold to someone else, then someone else again at an increasingly higher, virtually limitless price. You can begin to see the problem; sadly most tulip 'investors' lost everything.

But the flowers are so beguilingly beautiful, Ciwt can understand wanting to 'own' them - in bulk.  The most sought after and therefore expensive were the striped  
and flamed varieties.  Luckily Ciwt prefers the solid colored ones - so maybe she would still have had a little of her money when the tulip bubble burst.

All the better to pay her fare into the movie theaters so she could watch with (some) interest hour after hour of Oscar presentations over the years.  The Red Carpet  pre-pre-ceremonies begin soon for this year's epic.  If time is money, she has a huge investment in the Oscars and doesn't want to miss a minute.

Red Carpet Predictions Time --- Day 7/10

Walk: Presidio Theater (Phantom Thread x2)
Distance: 3 miles, PT, Yoga

Best Actor

Ciwt is just home from seeing Daniel Day-Lewis's 'hallowed' performance in Phantom Thread for the second time.  The only movie she went to twice this year (unusual) and the only category she will throw something across the room if her favorite doesn't win an Oscar.  Gary Oldman is consistently outstanding in whatever movie he's in including this year's Darkest Hour, but Day-Lewis is in a category all his own.

She's steeled for Best Actress disappointment.  Sally Hawkins should win for literally carrying The Shape of Water, but she won't get the Oscar.  Frances McDormand will which is fine with Ciwt.

Oh wait, there's a second disappointment she's expecting: Willem daFoe whose supporting actor performance gave The Florida Project humanity and soul.  And please, please don't give Supporting Actress to Allison Janney.  Like the real mother, Janney was an off-the-charts bitch in I, Tonya, but how hard is that to play, especially when there are videos of the prototype?

Okay, here go the rest of Ciwt's predictions. 

Best Picture                                                The Shape of Water*

Best Director                                              Guillermo del Toro

Best Actor                                                  Daniel Day-Lewis !!!!

Best Actress                                               Frances McDormand

Best Supporting Actor                               Sam Rockwell

Best Supporting Actress                            Laurie Metcalf* (although probably Allison Janney)

Animated Feature                                      Coco

Cinematography                                        The Shape of Water*   

Costume Design                                        The Shape of Water

Documentary Feature                                ? Ciwt missed doc this year due to house arrest

Documentary Short Subject                       Ditto

Film Editing                                               Dunkirk

Foreign Language                                     The Insult

Makeup and Hairstyling                            ? Ciwt only saw one nominee

Original Score                                           Phantom Thread, Jonny Greenwood

Original Song                                            Remember Me, Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez

Production Design                                    The Shape of Water

Short Film, Animated                               Revolting Rhymes

Short Film, Live Action                            DeKalb Elementary

Sound Editing                                            Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Sound Mixing                                            Dunkirk (No clue about either Sound category actually)

Visual Effects                                            Star Wars: The Last Jedi  (?)

Adapted Screenplay                                  Call Me By Your Name

Original Screenplay                                  Lady Bird

* Close contenders: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Allison Janney, Dunkirk

Daffy Time --- Day 7/9

Walk: PGCC, Trader Joe's
Distance: Not far, another storm on and off 

They're here; can spring be far behind?  (This applies to you in the Midwest and East Coast.  Take heart).

Cabin Fever, YES! --- Day 7/8

Walk: No, Storm!
Distance: A little PC/Yoga

                                        1800's Edwardian Interior

For those of us/ Ciwt living in almost daily (and glorious!) light, stormy days are such a treat. Guilt free,  we relax and enjoy our Victorian, Edwardian or other types of California. For her own reasons, Mother Nature is happiest of all.