Bounce Factor --- Day 8/336 and 337

Walk: 1. Presidio  2. Marin Driving
Distance: 1. 3.5 Miles, Small Yoga   2. Medium Yoga

With so many things closed or closing, not much for Ciwt to bounce off of in San Francisco these days.

Another Sort of Home --- Day 8/335

Walk: St. Dominic's church and Hood
Distance: 2.5 Miles, wee yoga

St. Dominics Church, San Francisco

So when guides give public tours of the houses in Ciwt's neighborhood, for some reason they begin at the top of the Alta Plaza Park steps looking across to the church in the distance.  Where?  Not just to the church but to the steeple tower.  Can you find it (in the approximate middle of the photo)? 

Usually by the time Ciwt figures out what building they are talking about, the guide is well into their spiel about how the original steeple was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake, and they never rebuilt it.  Not a particularly electrifying beginning in Ciwt's opinion but probably an excuse to talk about about the 1906 earthquake - which always gets everyone's attention. 

Today, continuing her recent 'Home' theme and after decades of walking by it, Ciwt explored St. Dominic's - on line and in person. On line she saw right away why they didn't rebuild the original steeple. Given how the fog rushes in and the wind howls in San Francisco, it is a wonder it even lasted from its erection in 1873 until the earthquake .

St. Dominic's Church Interior
(Why can't iphone cameras capture stain glass? Ciwt wonders).

In person, the church is gorgeous. Particularly the woodwork which was carved by the Edmund Schmid Woodcarving Studio of Oberrammergau, Germany.

In the old days, wood carvers were itinerant and carved individually in situ.  But by the time of St, Dominic's rebuilding in the 1920's, it had become customary for carving to be done by machine.  So it was a joy to see wood that - albeit it in Germany by contract - was carved by hand.

Stop, Look, Enjoy --- Day 8/334

Walk: Sloat Garden Center
Distance: 3.8 miles, Yoga

Several reasons to stop here, especially to enjoy the gorgeous blue ceanothus bush.

More Homes --- Days 8/332 & 333

Walk: Presidio both days
Distance: 4 miles and Yoga both days

Why so many home pictures?  Homebody Ciwt - like many health conscious people - has been doing double duty these days so her home is particularly on her mind.

Sadly she has virtually no pictures of the grand house on the lake she patially grew up in - and it is on a grey, almost leafless early fall day.  Anyway, it had a tennis court, beach house, dock and rolling hill to those.  Ciwt thought it was gorgeous, lakeview and light-filled, beautifully appointed.*

But the house she identifies with is this one.  Again on a leafless day, taken on one of Ciwt's rare visits to the place she grew up.  This was the Zipper (her dog) house with woods all around it that she and Zipper explored every day after school.  It was red with white shutters when she and her family lived there.


* After Ciwt left for college and her family moved on, the next owners painted it bright white which Ciwt thought was way too showy.

Then, grand and well situated as it was on on the property, it wasn't grand enough for the last 'owners.'  After paying a pretty penny, they tore it down and built a hulking (Ciwt thinks monstrosity) that overpowers the property and sprawls nearly to the lake.  

At first when she heard the house was gone, Ciwt was quite devastated.  Now, she feels relief.

Home --- Days 8/330 and 331

Walk: 1. Not sure  2. Hood
Distance: 1. Yoga  2. 2.8 Miles, small yoga

So, Ciwt doesn't remember ever showing you a picture of the outside of her building.  Finally, here it is.  

It is an Edwardian which is an architecture style in vogue amongst style conscious San Franciscans from 1904 to 1910 (Ciwt's building is 1904).  Named for Victoria's son, Edward, it was intentionally more 'tastefilly' plain or 'less cluttered'

  

and decidedly less colorful

than the Victorians that preceded it.

Ciwt's World Turns Curious Yellow --- Days 8/328 & 329

Walk: 1. Errands 2. Presidio
Distance: 1. 2.5 miles, medium yoga   2. 3.8 miles, Yoga

So many yellow wildflowers in bloom in the Presidio right now.

Earliest San Francisco --- Day 8/327

Walk: Trader Joe's
Distance: 2.5 Miles, Yoga

Louis Choris, Ohlone Indians in a Tule Boat in San Francisco Bay, ca 1922

Since she knows a bit about San Francisco history, several people have asked Ciwt why they don't hear or read more about its first settlers, the Ohlone Indians. So, Ciwt did some research and found that present day members of the Ohlone tribes know very little of that themselves and are working hard to learn more.  

In many respects much of their history has vanished.  And in many respects this is due to the Ohlone taboo against mentioning the name of a dead person.  This taboo is common to many indigenous peoples worldwide, and can go so far as to remove a person's name from the language entirely.  Needless to say, individual lineage/geneology is nearly impossible to trace along with many aspects of Ohlone culture.

Along with this taboo, the decimation of the Ohlones' lives and culture by Spanish, Mexican and American colonialists and the diseases they carried was so rapid, historical accounting was nearly impossible. 

Certain things are known or known with some dispute.  These are just a few:

Original migration to California:  Either 20,000 years ago by land from Asia or 3000 years ago by sea from Siberia by sea.  There are other theories, with the preceding being the outer limits.

Northern California Village Regions: From the present day San Francisco Peninsula to Big Sur and inland to the Diablo Range. 50 distinct nations or tribes have been recorded to date with 50 to 200 in each.  These interacted through trade, intermarriage, ceremonial events as well as conflict.

Diet: The Ohlone were hunter-gathers and rough harvesters.  They ate crushed acorns, nuts, grass seeds and berries.  Hunted and trapped game, fish and seafood were also important to their diet and abundant.

Arts: Basket weaving, female tattoos, ear and nose piercings and other ornamentaion.  

Clothing: Men did not wear clothing except in cold weather when they wrapped themselves in animal skin or feather capes. Women wore deerskin aprons, tule or shredded bark skirts along with ornaments of shell beads, abalone pendants, bone or wood.  As mentioned, they were tattooed.  On cool days they too wore animal skin capes.

Building Materials: On the Coast, dome-shaped houses of woven or bundled tule mats 6 to 20 feet in diameter.  Inland they built conical houses from redwood bark on wooden frame.  Their boats were built of tule or balsa wood.

Contemporary San Francisco Area Ohlone group: Muwekma Ohlone Tribe has over 400 enrolled members and is comprised of 'all of the known surviving Native American lineages aboriginal to the San Franciso Bay Region who trace their ancestry through the Missions Dolores, Santa Clara and San Jose and who descend from members of the historic Federally Recognized Verona Band of Alameda County.'

Trader Joe --- Day 8/326

Walk: No, Recovering while doing laundry, reading, enjoying Sunday
Distance:  Yoga

Joe made a trader out of Ciwt.  And that's saying something.  Ciwt is basically a non-cook, non-foodie, one of those who eats to live.  But!  She Loves going to her local Trader Joe's.

For one thing it is a perfect mile away - which makes a walk there and back 2 miles.  Add a few more errands, and, voila, a long or longish walk.  For another, how could she live without the Alstroemeria lilies that light up her life and she buys by the dozens because Trader Joe's sells them for $3.99 - at least half of what they are sold for elsewhere? At Joe's she can count on the year round affordable fruits and juices, the premade and healthy salads, the tuna, nuts, cheap and good wine (and the addictuive snacks).   All Ciwt needs - along with super friendly employees and a zanyish atmosphere Ciwt likes better than a few of the ultra high brow grocery stores around her.

So, a personal thank you and send off to Joe Coulombe, the original Trader Joe who made all this trading joy available to millions of people.

Joe Coulombe (1930-2020)