Days 11/338-342

Walks: Neighborhoods and Presidio

Distance (average): 5.5 miles

So the other morning early one of Ciwt's new neighbors called with an SOS.  She had given a memorial tree to the park on the corner, but wasn't told when the Park Department gardeners would plant it.  Turned out it was that day, right now! and she wasn't able to attend.

It was such a meaningful gift to her - and to the park visitors - could I possibly go over and take a picture.  Sure, and not only did Ciwt go over, she stayed for the entire event: crane lifting the tree off the truck bed, driving it down the park path, lifting the tree into the hole. It was a delicate dance, and took nearly an hour. She'd never seen a tree put in the ground.  Have you?  If so, you already know it is a very moving sight.

Also one that reminded Ciwt of Joyce Kilmer's beloved poem about trees.

Joyce Kilmer was born on December 6, 1886, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The author of Main Street and Other Poems (George H. Doran Company, 1917), he was killed while fighting in World War I.

Come On In, Holidays --- Day 11/337

Walk: Presidio

Distance: 6.5 miles

Random Holiday Charm --- Days 11/325-336

Walks:  Hoods

Distances: Average 5.5 miles

Billionaires Row has gold skeletons

                               

Welcome Floss --- Days 322-324

Walks: Hoods and Presidio

Distances: 6 miles average

 Glass Onion is as light, colorful and airy as:

Cotton Candy

A very sweet gift when so many artistic offerings these days are so heavy.  Go, sit back, just enjoy

Movies for Critics or the Terminally Upbeat --- Days 11/317-321

Walks: Hoods

Distances: Average 4.5 miles

If you wouldn't describe yourself as either of the types mentioned in today's title, Ciwt suggests that you stay away from the following technically excellent movies.  Otherwise you may find yourself like Ciwt -  down for a few hours to several days afterward.  

Here they are with no spoilers.

On the 10th Day --- Days 11/306-316

Walks: Hood, Civic Center, Presidio

Distances: 5 miles average

It's a bit early for Christmas, but perhaps Christmas views out the window of Ciwt's old home: 

December, 2021

And her new one:

December, 2022

will give her loyal readers a sense of the transition that has been distracting away from CIWT.

Miller Coast to Coast --- Days 11/304 & 5

Walks: Presidio and Hood

Distances: 4.5 miles

So for several years Ciwt on the West Coast and her friend on the East Coast have been taking online play reading classes from a Yale professor.  And every year one of his selections for us is a play by Arthur Miller.  And every year Ciwt is reminded of how devastatingly deep and accurately Miller dove into the American psyche.  Every one of his plays could have been written yesterday and cuts to the quick with a brilliance both compassionate and damning.  

'Delicate Intimacy' --- Days 11/266-303

Walks: Hood and Presidio

Distances: 5.5 miles average

Frankie Corio and Paul Mescal in Aftersun

So today Ciwt went to a movie without knowing anything about it except that critics are giving it high ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.   And she sat tranfixed from beginning to end somewhere inside her tracking the deep but almost indiscernable emotional threads that hold it together. Aftersun.  Everything seems uttery natural in an unnatural way, and the acting is excruciatingly human and precise.

She likes how the NYT's A.O. Scott puts it:

 It’s hard to find a critical language to account for the delicacy and intimacy of this movie. This is partly because Wells*, with the unaffected precision of a lyric poet, is very nearly reinventing the language of film, unlocking the medium’s often dormant potential to disclose inner worlds of consciousness and feeling. 

* the writer-director