Holiday Decorations Contest Begins --- Day 9/226

Walk: Hood and (yes) Presidio Pickleball                                                                                                  Distance:  5 miles, 1 Hour Pickleball, Yoga stretches

Well, looks like it is already time to start the CIWT holiday decoration contest.  Usually Ciwt's hood - the whole city actually - doesn't seem to put much effort into these.  But maybe this year will be different.  

Here are the first contestants:

Perplexment --- Days 9/223, 224 & 225

 Walk: 1. Thanksgiving ramble  2. No  3. Monday errands                                                           Distance: 1. 4.5 miles  2. 0, wee yoga  3. 4 miles, yoga

Three days with no CIWT inspiration!??  Oh dear, Ciwt usually gets a bit brain blah at this time of year.  Now after 9 months and counting of covid restrictions, well..... To counteract all that she made a return to the pickleball courts.  Maybe she'll tell you how that's going. 

As you may be aware, pickleball is a fun sociable game and a good way to get outdoors for some exercise. The pickleball welcome mat is out for whoever wants to show up.  It is come one, come all, and usually they do - in droves. 

When the droves arrive at Ciwt's venue they find just a few courts available for 90 minutes max.  So the trick is to 1. get on a court and 2. with players that are a good match for you. 

This is much easier said than done.  With so many people and limited courts it doesn't take long before everybody is working hard just to get on the court. Some people being considerate to others, others hog the court and start forming cliques, some are experienced in the game, some truly terrible, some healthy, some hobbling, some taking injurious spills, most old - except when they bring their little grandchild 😠.

And in the midst of all that Ciwt starts unravelling but doing her best not to show it.  She has heard lots of people are very comfortable - even love - crowds and unstructured commotion.  Not Ciwt. To her competing for place on pickleball a court feels like hailing a rush hour cab in New York.  Her energy gets increasingly diverted, and silently around the bend she starts going. 

Then the 90 minutes are up and it is home to put Ciwt back together again.   

Was that fun?  Perplexing.....

City Pumpkins --- Day 9/222

 Walk: Presidio Pickleball                                                                                                                               Distance: 2 miles, 1 hour pickleball

                                                                             

             by Grade School Poet

Thanksgiving 2020 --- Day 9/221

 Walk: Presidio                                                                                                                               Distance: 4 miles

Familes and Friends Enjoying a Thanksgiving View from Inspiration Point, Presidio

Let's see.  So much to be thankful for.  Today Ciwt will go with the way the Presidio Trust has managed and expanded the Presidio trails since the base was demilitarized.  There are now more than 25 miles in the hiking and biking network filled with old growth greenery, scenic overlooks and spectacular vistas. All these layed out in an interesting way that offers many forks so that the biker or hiker like Ciwt can create a different route no matter how many outings they go on.  

So often as she walks through the Presidio and San Francisco, Ciwt reflects on the fact that she did not start here.  At a certain point she took the trail that led here, and that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost, 1874 - 1963 (born in San Francisco)

For information on Presidio Trails and Maps press this link

Window Seat Days --- Day 9/220

 Walk: No                                                                                                                                                           Distance: 0, Small Yoga

Ahhh.  True window seat days of just reading away are such gifts.

Assembling the Harvest* --- Day 9/219

Walk: Grocery Stores in Hood                                                                                                                          Distance: 5 miles

Ciwt has been busy (almost) beating the crowds as she assembles the perfect single woman's upcoming Thanksgiving feast.  Used to be that we had to buy and cook an entire turkey, mash the potatoes and make gravy ourselves, which, of course, many singles or couples or non-cooks didn't do.  Then about 15 years ago, a nearby grocery store tried cooking and packaging small portions of Thanksgiving food and being open on Thanksgiving Day.

Great decision.  Happy people came, one by one, or two by two in droves, and Thanksgiving Day has become the store's busiest and most profitable day of the year.  And now they've started to make the food available a few days ahead.  Another great decision for people who choose to stay home that day (with books and cats). 

*Apologies to foodies.....

Last Act --- Days 9/ 217 & 218

 Walk: 1. Presidio Pickleball   2. Same as yesterday                                                                          Distance: 1. 2.3 miles, 90 minutes pickleball  2. 3.5 miles, 1 hr pickleball

Tonight will mark the conclusion of Ciwt's Zoom Contemporary Theater class.  Another Pulitzer winner, the intense and upsetting Sweat by Lynn Nottage will be discussed.  Probably good timing; no more prize winning and exceptional dramatic downers as we head into the holiday season. 

Plain, Direct, Beautiful --- Day 9/216

Walk: 1. Presidio Pickleball     2. Trader Joe's, Presidio Pickleball                                             Distance: 1. 2.5 miles, 90 minutes pickle, small stretch   2. 6.3 miles, 2 hrs pickle, stretch                                           

Wayne Thiebaud, 1961

 

Wayne Thiebaud, Lunch Table, 1964, oil on canvas

Lunch Table (detail) 

Wayne Thiebaud, Various Cakes, 1991, oil on canvas, 25" x 23"

Wayne Thiebaud, Two Kneeling Figures, 1966, oil on canvas

Wayne Thiebaud, Ripley Ridge, 1977. Oil on canvas, 48 x 36"

'

 Wayne Thiebaud, River and Farms Study, 1995, oil on wood, 13 1/4" x 12"

Wayne Thiebaud at Crown Point Press @2019