Found 7/30

To the Movies

Too weary to walk this evening and too dispirited to go to class. In the car on the way to the movies.

Found 7/28

Sutro Park

The sun came out this evening. We're in Sutro Park looking down. That's our nitty gritty city beach where we usually walk. Why does today feel like a Friday?

Great Finds on a Gloomy Night

None of these are mine–all were simply stumbled upon. (Except for the glass arrangement below.) Are they not wonderful?

Weekend

We collect washed-up beach glass; Anne and Peter collect washed-up beach buoys. They probably have a hundred-something hanging in their back yard around their new lettuce garden. Saturday we saw six paintings that Anne had just had framed, and then ate at Helmand Palace.
Important note: Anne and I each happened to wear our cowboy boots.



















This evening we drove up to Pt. Reyes to hear Joseph Goldstein talk at the Dance Palace. (That's two palaces in one weekend!) Breathtaking scenery all the way up–and then while we were driving back, the full moon rose. We had to watch out for the deer and raccoons who wandered out in the moonlight.

Found 7/23

Anne, Peter, and Carmen!

Finished?

One of Those Days

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

It's cold and foggy. I made up a dance this evening.

Me: I made up a dance called One Step Forward, Two Steps Back. I can teach it to you if you want.

Tom (not impressed): That's the story of my life.

• • •

In case you want to learn it, here's what you do:

Hold your elbows straight out and your forearms horizontal to the floor at a 90 degree angle. Make loose fists.

Plant your feet on the floor like you're wearing leg braces. Stand pigeon-toed. Put some James Brown on. Then go two slow steps forward, keeping your feet pigeon-toed. (When you take a step forward with your left foot, swing your right arm out like a crane, horizontally–vice versa when you step forward with your right foot.) Then go back four quick steps using the same awkward movements.

Twist at the hip. Project your lower jaw forward like you have an underbite.

Repeat over and over until dinner is ready.

Stand Up, Sit Down

My new desk!
It goes up and down. You can stand at it, sit at it, and I bet you can lie down on top of it. We won't talk right now about our experience assembling it.

Found 7/18

Found 7/14

Found on the Beach 7/13

Working and Walking

That seems to be all I'm doing these days, but it's a good way to be living. Here's what I found on my walk this evening. That gold thing is a Christmas tree ornament that washed up!

The illustration is by Henning Wagenbreth, one of my favorite illustrators.

Found on the Beach and in the Fridge 7/10

We're drinking pink wine after our walk. Windy and cold outside.

Found on the Beach 7/9

Nothing to do with the photo, but does anyone else like to lie in bed and read exercise books? I'm reading one called The Ab Revolution. The book makes a lot of sense: it claims that sit-ups and crunches are useless, and terrible for your lower back. I was glad to discover this fact and haven't found it hard at all to quit doing sit-ups. It offers other ways to strengthen your abs, and all I want to do today is lie in bed and read about those other methods.

It reminds me of the time Hane went on that macrobiotic diet and gave me a book all about the diet as a gift. One day after work I sat in the armchair reading the book, enjoying a martini and agreeing wholeheartedly with everything the book said about macrobiotics.

Found on Our Doorstep

Zow!

So somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good
(It sure hasn't been recently.)
Thanks, Peter & Anne.

p.s. The white ones are gardenia blossoms. Our house smells like paradise.

Anne's Show

At Gallery 28

in North Beach.

Having seen The Tosca Project, we decide to have a glass of wine at the real Tosca. This is Ernie, the real bartender.

Laughing Anne

Size Zero Anne

The Girl With The Cracked Nail Polish

You're probably wondering: How can she let her beautiful nail polish become so cracked and unkempt?

It happened in the course of a movie! A very tense movie. A movie I never wanted to see in the first place–but one that turned out to be the best film I've seen all year.

The reviews are lukewarm and I never could get into the book at all. BUT YOU MUST GO SEE THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO!

I'm way behind; Tom wanted to see it from the moment it first came out but I resisted and resisted and resisted.

And guess what comes out in three days? The Girl Who Did Something Else. (I can't remember the title at the moment, but it's the second in the series and I'm going to see it this weekend instead of waiting until it's out on DVD.)

Found on the Beach 7/4

I didn't see this guy until I was pretty close, because I had my head down looking for sea glass! When I saw him I gave him plenty of room. Then I stopped and zoomed my teeny camera lens close as I could get. He's waiting for the Northcoast Marine Mammal Center to come and check him out.

Found Objects and Maira Kalman

We made it to the Contemporary Jewish Museum this afternoon to see Maira Kalman's work. I love her paintings. Her writing, too. And the fabrics she's designed, which I didn't know about. 

You know that Tibor Kalman was her husband and partner (M&Co.), right? I had an M&Co. watch with a big plain white face before I knew about Maira and her paintings. When the watch completely fell apart, I ordered another one just like it. The day I ordered the replacement, Tom sent me a neon green rubber watch, so I gave the new M&Co. watch to Aggles.

Here's what Maira has to say about found objects:

Can you say something about found objects and how they inspire you?

First of all a found object is free. And that is always exhilarating. It was waiting for you and you took it. It had a life and now the life continues. You may pass it on to someone. Or forget it for years and then refind it in a box. It is mysterious and yet tells a story.

(that's from an interview with Lori Pickert)

Treasures 7/02

A good beachcombing day.

The sorrowful thing is that Maira Kalman was at the Contemporary Jewish Museum last night giving a talk–but I didn't even look at yesterday's paper until today. And it was on the cover of the Ovulation section. (That's what Tom calls the Ovation section.)

So tomorrow maybe I will go and see her work; I have a feeling it would have been great fun to see her.

Breakfast from Minamoto Kitchoan