The Journey and Blind Tulips -- Day 113

Walk:  No

Seems like a good day for this poem: 

The Journey 

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice --
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do --
determined to save
the only life you could save.

~ Mary Oliver ~

(Dream Work)

And this picture (not related to the poem; just seems like a day for it as well):

Wonder what color is hiding in there..

Me and Magritte -- Day 112

Walk: R/T Mindful Body
Distance: 8 blocks and teach yoga class

Don't have much to say today for some reason.



(After - not by - Magritte)

 To support himself the Belgium surrealist painter, Rene Francois Ghislain Magritte (21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) spent many years working as a commercial artist, producing advertising and book designs, and this likely shaped his fine art, which often has the abbreviated impact of an advertisement. While some French Surrealists led ostentatious lives, Magritte preferred the quiet anonymity of a middle-class existence, a life symbolized by the bowler-hatted men that often populate his pictures. In later years he was castigated by his peers for some of his strategies (such as his tendency to produce multiple copies of his pictures), yet since his death his reputation has only increased. Conceptual artists have admired his use of text in images, and painters in the 1980s admired the provocative kitsch of some of his later work...


The men in bowler hats that often appear in Magritte's pictures can be interpreted as self-portraits. Portrayals of the artist's wife, Georgette, are also common in his work, as are glimpses of the couple's modest Brussels apartment. Although this might suggest autobiographical content in Magritte's pictures, it more likely points to the commonplace sources of his inspiration. It is as if he believed that we need not look far for the mysterious, since it lurks everywhere in the most conventional of lives... 

Legacy:

Magritte's work had a major impact on a number of movements that followed his death, including Pop, Conceptualism, and the painting of the 1980s. In particular, his work was hailed as a harbinger of upcoming trends in art for its emphasis on concept over execution, its close association with commercial art, and its focus on everyday objects that were often repeated in pictorial space. It is easy to see why artists such as Andy Warhol, Martin Kippenberger, and Robert Gober cite Magritte as a profound influence. 

www.theartstory.org/artist-magritte-rene.htm
 

Bye, Bye, Doyle Drive -- Day 111

Walk: R/T Mindful Body, R/T Bridge Theater (The Hunter)
Distance:  33 Blocks and Teach Yoga Class

Crews work to demolish Doyle Drive, the narrow approach to the Golden Gate Bridge, in San Francisco, Calif., Saturday, April 28, 2012. The 1.6-mile approach, which opened along with the Golden Gate Bridge in 1937, closed for good at 8 p.m. Friday between Marina Boulevard/Richardson Avenue and Highway 1. Crews will spend the weekend demolishing Doyle Drive, which will be replaced by the $1.1 billion Presidio Parkway project.

  http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1681730592?bctid=1611419310001  (video)

Picture and Caption above are  from The Chronicle such as it they could be copied.  The demolition began approximately 22 hours ago and will go on continuously/non-stop until the old Doyle Drive is completely gone and a new road has been cleared for traffic.  Fingers crossed.  This is a big, complex deal physically and emotionally, and many Bay Area residents are carrying it around with them as they go about their weekends.  Love it or hate it, there are decades of memories of this only access road to and from the Golden Gate Bridge since it was built 75 years ago.  Those are already demolished and have to be moved somewhere else to a new mental/emotional holding area.  There are too the very present concerns (at best) about the impact of the new road - "temporary" until 2015/3 years from now - on traffic and the daily lives that depend on this crucial traffic flow between San Francisco, Marin County and beyond.  It is very difficult realistically to hand trust over to the construction companies and Federal agencies in charge of this enormous and fragile mission, but that is our only choice.  I wish us all well - workers and those of us who stand by.

Set List -- Day 110

Walk: R/T JCC, R/T Trader Joe's
Distance:  30 Blocks and yoga class

Great Concert last night!!!
 
Thursday, April 26, 20112

Phil Lesh & Friends
Terrapin Crossroads San Rafael, CA

Set I: Shakedown Street > Jam > Pride of Cucamonga, Doin’ That Rag, Acadian Driftwood, Dire Wolf, Here Comes Sunshine > Into The Mystic > Cumberland Blues
Set II: Jam > Golden Road > Viola Lee Blues > Bertha > Viola Lee Blues > She Said She Said > Viola Lee Blues, Levon* > Jam > I Know You Rider, Help On The Way > Slipknot! > King Solomon’s Marbles > Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower
Enc: Midnight Hour
Notes: *Debut (Elton John)
Band
Phil Lesh (bass, vocals)
Warren Haynes (guitar, vocals)
Jimmy Herring (guitar, vocals)
Rob Barraco (Keyboards, vocals)
John Molo (drums)

Post Mayan art lecture, pre rock concert. Day 109

Walk: de Young/car 
R/t Distance: 6 blocks 

Hanging out in San Rafael before rock concert tonight. Still need to finish reading Moby Dick so rented a motel room in case it It makes me sleepy like in Mill Valley library last week. Now I'm feeling a bit like a rock star myself. Just hanging in a motel waiting for the evening. A very different life. Hmmm...an interesting experiment. More later - off to Moby...

Day of Rest, Unsolicited -- Day 108

Walk:  R/T Curbside Cafe and carrying monitor(s) up and down stairs
Distance: Little less than a mile

Went to my computer this morning and the screen was completely black. So, the day has now been about getting a new monitor (that my eyes can tolerate).  All the affordable monitors are a larger size than my defunct one, and everything just seems so big.  Makes me feel like I'm living in my monitor and craning my neck from side to side to read entire lines.  Maybe my eyes will adjust.

Anyway, there went the day....

Neighborhood Roses -- Day 107

Walk:  R/T Trader Joe's via JCCSF, R/T Mindful Body
Distance: 32 Blocks, Take Yoga Class, Teach Yoga Class

Tulips are still here for a while, and spring roses are just beginning to come out of their buds.

 

        

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Blissed Out Teddy Bear Smelling the Roses