New Vases AND New Flowers --- Day 4/122

Walk: Utilitarian Loop: Sacramento Street, Laurel Village, Trader Joe's, Fillmore Street
Distance: 4 miles and home yoga

  

  

              

Not easy.  Trader Joe's has been having a difficult time with Ciwt's favorite flowers so she's been forced to work not only with new vases but new flowers.  Sigh......

Free(way) Fallin -- Day 4/121

Walk: Too cold and windy (again :( )
Distance: 0, home yoga



So, Ciwt's cute and talented brow girl is moving to L.A. with her boyfriend Rivvrs who has been Following Her (press link) for quite some time. He's a talent, and so is she!  They're excited. Good luck, Have Fun!!

Check, Check, Check... --- Day 4/120

Walk: Corte Madera/Macy's, Terra Linda Sears, Terra Linda Rugs, Strawberry Shopping Center Watch Repair and Plant for sustenance, many trips up and down Ciwt's mighty stairs
Distance: 1 mile and home yoga


Pooh rests after accomplishing many errands.

Vase Hazard --- Day 4/119

Walk: Van Ness, Errands
Distance: 2.5 miles, teeny home yoga

  





 

After working with clear glass for years, Ciwt is struggling a bit with making lovely flower arrangements in her new ceramic vases....

Blue Freedom --- Day 4/118

Walk: Union Square
Distance: 8 blocks and small home yoga

On her first day of  freedom (sort of)* from regular teaching, she thought of the expressionistic freedom artists of many sorts (architects, musicians, filmmakers) found in pre-WW I Germany. Experimenting with bold new ideas, non-realistic forms and artistic styles, they released energies which continue to this day in all the arts.

In the fine arts, the best known expressionistic movement (along with Die Bruke) is Der Blaue Reiter, centered around the Russian immigrant, Wassily Kandinsky, and the German, Franz Marc. It was a manifesto-less school.  Even so the artists all shared a desire to express spiritual truths through their art. They believed passionately in the very new modern art and in the connection between visual art and music.  To them color had spiritual and symbolic associations, and blue in particular awakened the desire for the spiritual eternal.  Their approach to painting was spontaneous and intuitive.

Sound familiar, modern art students?  Here we see its strongest origins bursting out.  Exciting and powerful.


Franz Marc, Great Blue Horses, 1911


Wassily Kandinsky, Der Blaue Reiter, 1903
(This may or may not be the painting from which the movement took its name.  There is evidence that it was renamed after the movement was torn apart by World War I).


*Ciwt is irreplaceable!! (So far).  So, she's been asked and freely chosen to sub the class she retired from yesterday - on a week-to-week basis until a new teacher is found. Best of all worlds - freedom plus valued students.

Retirement Time --- Day 4/117

Walk: CPMC, Trader Joe's, Mindful Body
Distance: 4 miles and teach Last Regular Yoga Class

After 15 years in the yoga teaching business, Ciwt reverted to non-yogic, completely materialistic thinking and chose this for her retirement watch...in her mind's eye that is :



The Rolex Datejust Ladies White Gold Diamond Pave watch has a case that measures 26 millimeters in diameter. The case is made of 18k white gold and is beset with 150 diamonds. The band is also made out of 18k white gold set with diamonds. The dress style ladies watch has automatic movement and hours, minutes, seconds and date functions. The dial is diamond pave. The price of this watch is $109,350.  (2 years ago, probably more now)

Memorial Day, 2015 --- Day 4/116

Walk: Hi-Tech Nails (new yoga toes)
Distance: 8 blocks and home yoga practice



Ciwt's personal honor to my father's brother, TCA, who is still on Leyte under a simple white cross.

Fleet Fleeting Times --- Day 4/115

Walk: Embarcadero Cinema (The Clouds of Sils Maria), Bay Bread
Distance: 3.5 miles


Today Ciwt once again put on her down coat and slogged through the cold, grey, windy clouds  of San Francisco to The Clouds of Sils Maria, which looked nearly identical in the movie when they snaked up through the Alps from Italy to Southern Switzerland.                                                                                                                                                                      
What also blew in like a force of nature was Kristin Stewart's powerful performance.  She recently became the first American to win the french equivalent of the Oscar and is Ciwt's early pick for this year's Oscar nomination for Best (Supporting) Actress.  (Possibly with Juliette Binoche as Best Actress nominee if that's how the Academy decides to label the roles.  Otherwise both will probably be nominated for Best Actress.  We will see...)


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Ex's --- Day 4/114

Walk: AMC Van Ness (Ex Machina), Japantown
Distance: 3.8 miles and home yoga

Ciwt took herself to Ex Machina, a movie about artificial intelligence and stared and stared at the superior visuals, excellent acting, beautiful female robot.  There was tension but for her it was along the lines of 'When is there going to be any action around here?"  Luckily, Oscar Isaac's character, a sort of 21st century genius/gorilla provided a lot of that.  She tried, but Ciwt had to admit to herself that she is still way back there struggling (since high school English) with the exact meaning of deus ex machina.  
 And as luck would have it, she came home to find in her mailbox her high school alumna magazine.  So she sat down and stared and stared and stared at the rolling Connecticut countryside, the lovely historical buildings, the reports by ex-classmates and alumnae about families and their multi-generational estates, vacation homes and thoroughbred horses..  Almost as surreal as the sci fi movie.  Then she took a nap.

A Life of Textiles --- Day 4/113

Walk: Noe Valley
Distance: 1 mile and home yoga


Henri Matisse, Odalisque in Yellow Robe, 1937

Ciwt needed to solve another carpet puzzle today and encountered a couple of rugs which had been named "Matisse Rug" by their manufacturers.  Not quite she thinks, but a sincere homage she imagines.

For one thing the carpets were machine produced.  This would have been an anathema to Matisse who had been born in a small weaver's cottage in Bohain, France where people still traveled everywhere on foot or horseback even though the railroad had recently arrived.  His father's family were weavers - silk weavers, the aristocrats of the trade - as were most families in the ancient town. Those who mastered the exacting demands of this profession were highly sophisticated, resourceful, inexhaustibly original and constantly innovative.  Also competitive.  Working with threads as fine as human hair, each shuttle in the hands of such talents performed the function of a paintbrush.

These standards of excellence and this way of life formed Matisse - his work ethic and ever-demanding aesthetic among other things.  Although other early influences drifted away, textiles retained their power for him throughout his life.  His studio in Nice was a treasure house of exotic Persian carpets, delicate Arab embroideries, richly hued African wall hangings, and any number of color cushions, curtains, costumes, patterned screens and backcloths.  
 Henri Matisse, Seated Odalisque, Left Knee Bent, 1928, o/c

Light and Lovely Coastal Towns --- Day 4/112

Walk: Sausalito
Distance: Just a little; a few blocks


Henri Matisse, Les Toits de Collioure, 1905, 23.4" x 29" oil on canvas (Hermitage Museum)

Lunch today with a friend in Sausalito. To Ciwt Sausalito has a similar feeling to Matisse's beloved Collioure, the joyously light-filled place where he first encountered rich, vibrant color and was set free to eventually - with Picasso - give birth to modern art.

The Sky Around Us --- Day 4/111

Walk: Van Ness, Japantown, Fillmore
Distance: 3 miles


Vincent Van Gogh, Starry Night Over the Rhone, 1888, oil on canvas

All our recent overcast has put Ciwt in mind of the sky and this Van Gogh painting - so much more vibrant and intense when she saw it in person on its visit to San Francisco a few SF 'summers' ago.

I Said NO --- Day 4/110

Walk: CPMC, Mindful Body
Distance: 3 miles and teach yoga class (one more to go)



This cat absolutely does Not want to go for a walk on a leash.  Here's a video of another cat who takes refusal even further by faking death.  Ciwt knows posting a video is sort of a cop out, but she guarantees you this one will make you laugh. http://cestnormalauquebec.com/2015/02/un-chat-fait-semblant-detre-mort-pour-ne-pas-aller-dehors/

Sad Men and Women --- Day 4/109

Walk: Pets Unlimited (Callie fine!), Fillmore Street
Distance:  2 miles and round and round and round the condo




Condolences to my Mad Men friends.  One wrote to say she "can't imagine life without Don Draper and the gang."  Also that she - And her husband - teared up. Luckily, though, most of the millions and millions of fans were happy with the finale.  

All Square, Sir --- Day 4/108

Walk: Fillmore, Geary
Distance: 3.6 miles and home yoga




After another day of arrangement derangement, Ciwt wishes her home looked like this.  All spacious, organized, squared away, calming.

Now, Where Does This Go? --- Day 107

Walk: Sacramento Street, etc.
Distance: 3.6 miles



Are you like Ciwt?  All it takes for her is a new vase or two (see Day 4/104 ), and suddenly her entire environment (and mind) is subject to re-arrangement.

New York or Hollywood --- Day 4/106

Walk: Fillmore Street
Distance: 2.5 miles

  
Waterfall                                             New York or Hollywood

Ciwt hadn't noticed until recently that there are two basic styles (and probably more) of carpeting stairs.  She chose the first, Waterfall, for her common hallway.  In her unit she went for the more expensive style.  It plays a bit with her mind that some carpet dealers call this more upholstery style New York while others call it Hollywood. Such different connotations...

PS - Thanks to very kind and professional painter, yesterday's baseboard disaster is all good again.  Thank you, Joe!

The Good and The Too Bad --- Day 4/105

Walk: To and From Car
Distance: 6 blocks or so and home yoga



The Good: New (Taupe) Hallway carpet installed with continuous lines all the way up.

                   

The Too Bad: New Hallway paint afterward.

All the Pretty Vases --- Day 4/104

Walk: CPMC (all good), TJ's
Distance: 3 miles

Hiatus Coming --- Day 4/103

Walk: Fillmore Street, Mindful Body
Distance: 1.8 miles and teach yoga class


   
So the Big news you've been waiting for from yesterday is that Ciwt is taking an unknown length hiatus from teaching yoga.  What will she do?  Maybe some more writing, or......Together we will find out.

Far From the Junior Year --- Day 4/102

Walk: Van Ness, Sundance Kabuki (Far From the Madding Crowd), TJ's
Distance: 4 miles and small home yoga



Ciwt will make a big announcement tomorrow (stay tuned) and needed to keep herself diverted today. So, she went way back to junior year in high school - and watched a movie of the novel she read then, Far From the Madding Crowd.  It always amazes her when she re-reads or sees screen adaptations of books she read back then that they were taught to young students with essentially no capacity to grasp any of the adult nuances.  Guess we were  meant to get acquainted/exposed so we would be grounded and gravitate to these classics in later years.

Ciwt can't exactly remember the book, but today's movie seemed to her to do the Thomas Hardy novel justice.  (Except for the rake/husband (Tom Sturridge) who had no draw whatsoever for her and, thus, diminished her sense of Bathsheba Everdene - along with her out to lunch understanding that she should immediately drop everything and hang onto the smoldering, gorgeous sheepherder next door (Matthias Schoenaerts) ).

Testament Re: Testament... --- Day 4/101

Walk: Cinema Club (Testament of Youth)
Distance: 2 miles and home yoga



For some reason, Cinema Club's last spring session is consistently on Mother's Day.  That would be today, and it was.  The movie was based on Vera Brittain's World War I memoir.  For Ciwt the movie was a bit stiff for her to engage completely.  But, since it was a period drama, and Ciwt has some Anglophile tendencies, she absolutely loved the impeccably precise, pressed, twee clothes as well as the impossibly lovely sweeping English sea and countryside, the manor house the perfect furnishings and Oxford .

Needless to say, the war images were quite another story.  

Tween Style -- Day 4/100

Walk: Local Hoods (Fillmore, Japantown, Laurel Village, Geary Street)
Distance: 5 miles




In her walks around town Ciwt enjoys seeing how tweens  are putting their outfits together.  Very alive and expressive.  Go tweens!!  

High Needle Artistry --- Day 4/99

Walk: Japantown, Hayes Valley, Opera Plaza Cinema (Dior and I), Local Hoods
Distance: 6 miles



Ciwt had one of those only in San Francisco days beginning in Japan (town) strolling through all those inexpensive colorful wares and eateries.  Then on to Hayes Valley to look in wonder at her old working ground (Miller/Brown Gallery) in what was once a remote, fairly dark outpost under a freeway overpass.  Now the freeway has been torn down, and Hayes Valley is filled with trendy/expensive shops, uptown eateries and 'the young.'  Next came New Orleans!  She  had big! East Coast shrimp and listened to jazz at the bar of a New Orleans style restaurant.

Finally it was the world of Haute Couture, specifically the House of Dior with its new head, Raf Simons.  She saw the movie (Dior and I), but it doesn't matter how much Ciwt learns about the haute couture world, to her it is eventually mystical - dependent on the heart, soul and skill of each person who pours their artistry into each piece.

But also an archaic, crazy-making world if you have any head for business.  For instance, Raf Simons  was hired by the most famous couture house in the world just Eight weeks before the Paris Fashion Show where the (non-existent until he creates it) Dior collection will be presented.  Eight weeks to meet the staff , get familiar with the company and Paris, learn all the idiosyncrasies of both, envision a new, personal spin on an iconic look with the world watching and other completely pressing matters.

At this very time, mostly unannounced to Raf, all the old-timey House of Dior ways are still in place. This leads to situations where he - head of the House, designer being watched by the world, with just a few weeks before the show of shows - comes to a meeting set for the purpose of seeing the first completed samples of the show's dresses.  Only to find out that there is not one dress there on top of which the chief seamstress (incredibly important personage) has flown to New York to meet with a private client.  This being at the fingertips of important clients, he is told, is how Dior does it.  For his part, he tries to carefully, ever so politely explain (the one would think obvious) that, weeks before such an important show, if anyone is to fly off to meet with a client, it should be a subordinate so the main person can continue the work of show preparation.

Ciwt could just sense the room thinking "Yeah, he will learn." (To be fair, Raf's artistic nature also trumped his business sense at various junctures).  By the end of the movie when the new collection hit the Paris runway, Ciwt was in tears for this impossible, supreme accomplishment - along with all the House of Dior peeking behind the curtains and Raf himself .