Forget the Crystal --- Day 11/202

Walk/Lope:  Golden Gate Park Pickleball, Hood

Distance: 3 miles, 90 minutes pickle

So, Ciwt continues to share with her readers her fascinated visual entry into the modern, or current selling aesthetic.

Forget the old world crystal chandelier for your entryway: 

Here is the updated version (at least at Ciwt's place):

All in Black and White --- Day 11/201

Walk: Hood, of course

Distance: of course: 5 miles, small yoga

Black House, White Flowers

B&W House, B&W Cars

B&W Beach Scene

Hopefully Ciwt's stagers don't have dreams of painting her yellow building black....

Sneak preview of what Ciwt predicts might be coming next:

COLOR

No Color Please --- Days 11/199 & 200

Walks/Lopes: You know, neighborhood

Distances: 5 miles

So Ciwt comes from a generation where much was made of color.  Think of Matisse, Rothko, the decorator Dorothy Draper who famously in the late 40's draped the Greenbriar Resort in intense colors:

So she is a bit non-plussed as she watches her home of 40 years become 'millenialized.'  It is quite clear that her  new, younger potential buyers have no interest whatsoever in color.  Unless you are talking about black and ______.  

Let's take for example her former living room:

Here it is so far on its way to complete millenialization:

                                                

And instead of brass and traditional fixtures, you have: 

black doorknobs

                       

(post) modern lighting 

After she got over the initial shock, Ciwt is now quite enjoying watching this new aesthetic move into her old place.

In a Scurry --- Days 11/191 - 198

Walks/Lopes:  The Usual: Hood, Presidio

Distances: 5 miles average, small yogas

One whole week since Ciwt has communicated with her readers!  Oh my.  Just know she's working on establishing new patterns, activities, acquaintances in her new home and scurrying around like the langur from Sri Lanka above.   And thinking of all of you and wishing you lovely dog days of summer.

A Great Exhibition --- Days 11/187, 188, 189, 190

Walks/Lopes: The Usual: Hood, Parks

Distances: 5.5 average, small yogas

Mortuary Temple in Thebes commissioned by Ramses II @3200 years ago to safeguard his soul

So Ciwt was invited to the press preview of the new exhibit at the de Young Museum: Ramses the Great and the Gold of the Pharaohs.  And WOW!

Ramses II, who ruled Egypt for 67 years, was a consummate builder, particularly of monuments to himself throughout his country.  So Ciwt can think of no higher praise of the exhibit than to say Ramses himself would approve and be proud.  The exhibition is so wonderous in terms of scale, detail, dignity, high-tech and musical innovation among other qualities that Ciwt asked one of the visiting dignitaries who organized it if a video had been made of the elaborate and exacting preparations for it.  He shook his head sadly and said "No, but that would have been a very good idea."  All involved must have slaved - with love and care.

At first the exhibit feels like a movie set, with lighting that captures the actual feel of sunshine and desert-like quiet.  Original music plays and you slowly realize that everything towering above you is is an actual Egyptian museum relic or a painstakingly perfect replica. Exhibit designers explored temples, town and tombs in Egypt to accurately recreate the art and architecture so as much as possible you have been transported to ancient Egypt.

Besides huge columns and temples,  thousands of artifacts from exquisite gold jewelry to weapons to, yes, mummies, are put in the context of their time. Which was really Ramses the Great's time.  He lived for 92 years in an era when something around 30 was the usual lifespan. Understandably several  generations of Egyptians considered the words Ramses and Pharaoh synonomous. And during his 67 years as Pharaoh Ramses advanced Egypt's culture, wealth and influence, expanded Egypts's borders, brokered the first known peace treaty, spearheaded the building of cities, temples and monuments - as well as being a great warrior and devoted family man.  Not for nothing was he known as The Great, and the exhibition imparts a vivid sense of the man, his country, his accomplishments, his motives and the belief system that determined so much of who he was. 

The deYoung is the only West Coast venue for Ramses the Great and the Gold of the Pharaohs, and Ciwt would strongly encourage people to travel to take it in.  It is an Exhibition like no other, a Great one.

Ramses the Great

https://deyoung.famsf.org/exhibitions/ramses-great-and-gold-pharaohs

Bird Hide? --- Days 11/185 & 186

Walks/Lopes:  Presidio, Hood, Park Next door

Distances: 5 miles, small yogas

         Malabar Parakeets (aka blue-winged parakeets)

 

So, Ciwt doubts she'll ever spot a Malabar parakeet and will need to settle for the rambuncious Red-Headed ones in her next door park.  This pair was actually photographed by an under-16 photographer who waited patiently in a bird hide in Karnataka, India  for this prize winning shot.*

*The contest was the Nature TTL Photographer of the Year 2022 which attracted more than 8,000 entries in eight different categories celebrating the natural world.  

Nature TTl is a website obsessed with nature photography and offering high quality tutorials by real professional nature photographers.  They've been doing it since 2014. 

https://www.naturettl.com/about-nature-ttl

Hmmmm.  Maybe a new Ciwt hobby(?).....Although she's not sure bird hides are allowed in her little urban park.

Two Blue --- Days 182, 183 & 184

Walks/Lopes:  Hoods and Presidio

Distances: 5 miles, small yogas

CaliforniaScrub Jay

So Ciwt is proud to announce that she has now spotted a bird with no red in her 'unnatural' next door park.  

The fetching California scrub jay with - Ciwt came home and read -  deep azure blue, clean white underparts, and soft gray-brown.  She also read that scrub jays are 'very common' which made her a little less proud.  Oh, and truth be told, there were two of them just hanging out on the ground in a flat grassy place.  Also they didn't change a thing they were doing, muchless fly away, when Ciwt stood looking at them.

But, still, she did spot them.  And onto her new 'unnatural park' bird list they go!

All The Easier To See --- Days 11/179.180,181

Walks/Lopes:  Hood/Presidio

Distances: 5 miles average, small yogas

So these are the birds Ciwt has identified in the 'unnatural' park next door to her new building.  Funny they should all have red coloring.  Or maybe neophyte birder Ciwt wouldn't have spotted them otherwise.

Downy Woodpecker (Pacific Male)

Red Headed Parakeet

Red-Shouldered Hawk

Now We Are Five and ..... --- 11/175, 176, 177 & 178

Lopes/Walks: Presidio, Hood

Distances: 4.5 miles, small yogas

When Ciwt adopted her two sister cats no one was sure exactly when they had been born. That being the case she decided to give them her birthday.  SO, today is a BIG one around here.  The cats are 5, and Ciwt is. well, older than that.......All healthy and enjoying their celebrations.

Peperomia Frost At Home --- Days 11/173, 174 & 175

Walks:  "Unnatural' Park, Hood 

Distances: 3,6 miles average, small yogas

Peperomia Silver and San Francisco

Ciwt is still scratching her head about how to make her new place feel more like home (besides giving it time which is the real answer).  A houseplant 'pet' came to mind, but not one that would require a lot of pampering and certainly not one that wouldn't survive because it was never meant to be in the place Ciwt set it.  She needed expert advice for that, so off she went with photos of her place to a speciality plant store a few blocks away.  And home she came with cute little easy-care Peperomia Frost you see above.