Note to Homebodies --- Days 15/54 & 55

Walks: Not a chance, big, blowy back to back storms

Distances: n/a (but yoga)

"That's what books are for...To travel without moving and inch."

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

Ciwt would add "videos" to Lahiri's quote.  As a lifelong essential non-traveler, Ciwt has gone far with these two stay at home substitutes.  

In this seemingly travel crazy world, it isn't easy being a nontourist.  Actually that's the easy part; admitting it is the hard part.  Looking down at homebodies goes way back. The Catholic Saint, Augustine (354-430 AD), apparently said "The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” And just yesterday our SF Chronicle had a front page article on the travel 'empressario' Rick Steves extoling the never ending benefits of travel and calling it the 'true fountain of life.'   Implicit in that for sensitive nontravelers is the message "and those who don't do it are chumps." 

It started young with Ciwt.  Her family went to Florida for spring vacation every year, and every year, though she could barely write, she would pen her will.  (She can't remember the valuables she had to bequeath - maybe her china dog collection).  Every moment on the low flying planes those days through snowstorms then thunder storms was terror for her.   

And really travel has never gotten better for her since then.  There's the disruption, the anxiety, the airplanes 😨, the homestickness, the concern about her cats (used to be dogs) - oh yeah, and the sights.  Every once in a while there is an occasion or art viewing experience (eg, the astounding Shchukin art collection in Paris) or old friends and homes to visit.  But in many ways she feels she is always traveling right at home.  Besides the books, videos and movies that show her places that interest her, San Francisco - with its history, museums, vast cultural resources and all the international communities and travelers that make her walks alive with different architecture and passersby speaking foreign languages - has expanded her horizons immeasurably.  

If any CIWT readers are also anxious travelers/homebodies, take heart.  You are not alone.  Please continue tending to the parts of life that nourish you - art, books, music, food, learning, animals, nature, whatever is your personal fountain of youth - right at home.   

Even the Most Hardened Heart... --- Day 15/53

Walk: SF Ballet (Balanchine)

Distance: 5 miles

Valentines Day is for Everyone

Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are --- Days 14/51 & 52

Walks: Hood, Presidio 

Distances: 4 miles average

Pooh/Ciwt emerges

Where is Ciwt? --- Days 15/49 & 50

Walks: Hood

Distance Average: 3.75 miles

Are these Ciwt's footsteps?  Where is she?

Not for Non Fans --- Day 15/48

Walk: Not yet

Distance: tbd

CIWT can't ignore it, especially when it is here in the Bay Area.  So, Ciwt will be tuned in later today and is (foolishly) predicting the Seahawks by 14 or more points*.  'Catch' you later with results.....

*Evening now and Seahawks won by 16.  Never did get that walk in; the game was a defensive (ie, low scoring) so Ciwt had extended time for her Sunday home capers.   PS - San Francisco looked beautiful and surprised many who had been reading all the cesspool stories that have blanketed the media for the past several years.  So, Ciwt calls a win for us.

Super Bowl Experience (of sorts) --- Days 15/45 - 47

Walks: Hood

Distance: Average 3.5 miles

Super Bowl Experience, Moscone Center, February, 2026

So, maybe you've heard.  The Super Bowl is being played here in the Bay Area and a lot of the events are happening in San Francisco.  Because she doesn't live near a Pro sports arena, Ciwt didn't think there were many out of town fans in her neighborhood.  Then she went to her local Trader Joe's!  

Ciwt herself was going to go to Super Bowl Experience, a multi day Super Bowl fan event that sounded like a lot of fun. The day before her ticket she happened to hear a TV sportscaster reporting on the Experience.  According to him there were throngs of kids happily engaged all sorts the football-esque activities while their parents who had brought them from all over the globe enjoyed watching them.  At one point, the reporter said "Forget social distancing!  When one of the pro athletes shows up, the crowd is thick with kids trying to get a glimpse!"  Clearly he was enthusiastic and saw this as a total positive.  But Ciwt knows plenty of grandparents who seem to be perpetually under the weather from their grandchild sitting stints, so all she heard was "flu!," "colds," "kids diseases!"  So, she decided to let her ticket go unused.😞

She will defintely watch the game though.  After her fashion that is.  In her youth she was her father's football watching buddy and sat with him almost without moving from the kickoff to the final play.  Now her style is to turn on her bedroom TV, then change the bed sheets, fluff flowers, do a closet or other caper -  all while keeping an ear peeled for important replays.   

Maybe you too?  Whatever your style, Ciwt wishes you a good and healthy Super Bowl Experience. 

Merry Valentines Day --- Days 15/40-44

Walks: Hood

Distance Average: 4 miles

February 4

So none of Ciwt's cats over the years have shown their appreciation of her on Valentines Day.  Thia year looks like her Christmas amaryllises have decided to make up for that.

February 1

Hints of Spring --- Day 15/39

Walk: Presidio and Hood

Distance: 5 miles

So, almost the end of January, and Ciwt and CIWT are still feeling like the San Francisco spring shrubs barely beginning to enter the scene.