Moonstruck --- Days 13/237 & 238

Walks: Hood

Distances: 3.6 miles

Sturgeon Blue Moon, San Francisco, August 19

Excuses, Excuses --- Days 13/231-236

Walks: Hood Errands Galore

Average: 3.5 miles

Fractured wrist.  Right hand. She's right handed. Black cast. 4 more weeks.  And that's Ciwt's excuse. 

Without Him, What? --- Day 13/230

Walk: Union Square dentist and errands

Distance: 5 miles

Gustave Caillebotte, Self Portrait, 1888-89, oil on canvas

Without Gustave Caillebotte there would not be the wonderful Museum D'Orsay with its vast collection of superior Impressionist paintings.  Nor, likely,  would some of those paintings have been produced if not for Caillebotte's patronage of the artist.  A painter himself, but even more a collector, patron, organizer and backer of several of the now landmark Impressionist exhibitions, he used his considerable wealth and diplomatic skills to support the Impressionists' efforts and create a large collection of Impressionist works.  At the age of only 28 he wrote a will leaving this collection - now the backbone of the Musee D'Orsay collection - to the French state.  (Who almost squandered it, but that is another story.  Almost; it did keep a sizeable number of Caillebotte's gifted works).

To remind you, here are a few of Ciwt's (and the world's) favorite Caillebotte's:

The Floor Scrapers, 1875, oil on canvas

Paris Street in Rainy Weather, 1877, oil on canvas

Skiffs, 1877, oil on canvas

Contemplating the City --- Day 13/229

Walk: Day of rest (and home upkeep)

Distance: n/a

Gustave Caillebotte, Young Man at His Window, 1876, oil on canvas

Some of Ciwt's favorite paintings from the Impressionist time are by Gustave Caillebotte.  Perhaps because he by-passed pretty and captured so well and realistically the urbane, upper middle class of Paris. His class as he was born in a well-to-do family and trained to be a lawyer before taking up painting after service in the Franco-Prussian. 

The man at the window is his brother looking out at the newly designed Paris from the Caillebotte family home.  You feel like you are in the room with him but he is distracted by his own thoughts and the view outside.  There is also a modern sense of constraint, like he is feeling trapped inside, not quite able to enjoy the sunlight and open air for reasons we do not know.

Pure Winning --- Day 13/228

Walk: Hood 

Distance: 3.5 miles

Something about Steph Curry brings tears to Ciwt's eyes.  (Purity maybe?)  She loved (Steph's long time coach) Steve Kerr's comment about Steph getting his dream, an Olympic gold medal. " I'm happy Steph has his medal and even happier that he went out there and got it for himself."

Kerr was referring to Curry's show in the final minutes of a close game.  He scored 12 points on four straight three pointers in just over two minutes.  It was an otherwordly display that exceeded even his fans' expectations and put the game away for Mens' Team USA basketball.

Summer of Love Redux --- Days 13/221-227

Walks: Hood errands (and quick stop at urgent care for wrist fracture 😒)

Distances: Average 4 miles

So Ciwt thinks it is very dear that a new San Francisco 'thing' has begun: Getting married at our famous, internationally attended Outside Lands music festival.  

The festival now includes a new "City Hall" wedding area, just off a dirt Golden Gate Park footpath heading to one of the performance stages.  With a little advance preparation (a valid marriage license, a reservation, and $361.95) couples can reserve the little grove for a 15-minute, nondenominational wedding, complete with an officant and a photographer.  Friends and family can sit on log benches and, when the new spouses kiss, Outside Lands volunteers shoot streams of bubble into air from soapy guns.  

Today is the first day, and all 14 wedding time slots were sold out.  It is a three day festival, and it looks like a new institution is beginning.  So new that one young Outside Lands attendee on her way to the stage carrying a neon can of energy drink, stopped to ask  "Is that a real weddding?!"

The Play's the Thing - Wherever You Are --- Day 13/220

Walk: AMC Kabuki (Sing Sing)\

Distance: 4.4 miles

Ciwt was periodically bored by all the necessary care and restraint, but felt Sing Sing was certainly a worthwhile (fictionalized doc?) movie with one Oscar worthy performance by Colman Domingo and other very real acting.  Usually she doesn't read reviews ahead of time (and didn't), but in this case recommends doing so to truly appreciate the movie. Theater buffs will appreciate it in any event because much time is spent on the mechanics of play and acting development.

This Teenage Life --- Days 13/215-219

Walks: Hood, AMC Kabuki (Didi)

Distances: Average 3.5 miles

Truth be told, not every teenager is cute or likeable. Not every teenage event is 'coming of age' - or even rises above commonplace and boring.  But every teenager is in a constant state of unrest, anxiety, collosal unsureness of themselves.  Every teenager in his or her own way is worried sick about popularity, who they are, whether their parents are an embarrassment or something.  They all try on personas to meet all the new moments they encounter.  And many shoplift - even the good ones.

Sean Wang's new movie, Didi, captures all that with no attempts at the usual movie happy outcomes, personal growth, marvelous resolutions.  And that is what makes Didi great.  That and sterling performances by its teenage star, Isaac Wang, and his movie mother Joan Chen.