Trees and Spire --- Day 12/34

Walk:West Portal

Distance: 3.5 miles

Old Monterey Cypress Trees along a Presidio Path to Andy Goldworthy's Spire

So, with all the felled ones around the city from the unrelenting and torrential winds and rain a few weeks ago, Ciwt is thinking about trees.  Their long lives and what they endure during them.  

The ones above are in the San Francisco Presidio, now a National Park. They were once part of a stand of Monterey cypress planted near the San Francisco National Cemetery by the U.S. Army in the 1880's. When they went in the grounds of the Presidio were scrub and sand, there was no other trees in sight.  When planted, Ciwt is guessing the branches began about 8 feet off the ground, and the trees probably stood approximately 20 feet at most. Because they are a rare tree only found around Monterey at the time, they would have been brought up the coast by horse drawn wagon.  And they they would have been selected because they are resistant to wind and salt and can form natural barriers against strong sea winds. 

It's likely there would have been protesters to greet them at their arrival at the Army base because this was the beginning of Major William Jone's plan to create a forest within the Presidio, and, as with most changes there were many vocal detractors.  Luckily for the millions who have enjoyed the Presidio treees since then, the dissenters didn't prevail.

But, unfortunately, due to lack of knowledge about the root system of Monterey cypress, the trees were overplanted, have weakened and reached the end of their natural live spans.  In response the Presidio Trust has been raising young Monterey cypresses from seed and begun an ongoing thinning and replanting program to restore the forest. Since 2003 more than 40 acres have been restored and 5,000 young trees have been replanted, much to the pleasure it seems to many bird species, coyotes and other wildlife and vegetation.

Also several of the trees that have been thinned or fallen during powerful winter storms have actually found second lives as benches, fences and, most prominently, Andy Goldworthy's Spire, the first of the internationally acclaimed artist's four wood artworks in the Presidio.

Bad Hair Day Party Attire.... --- Day 12/33

Walk: Monday errands

Distance: 4 miles, Yoga

Viktor & Rolf, Pastel Gown,
from their recent Parisian Haute Couture Show titled Late Stage Capitalism Walttz

Game Day --- Day 12/32

Walk: Mollie Stones (grocery) for snacks, Drive to Sausalito for 49ers game*

Distance: 1 mile

Normal Home Size TV Screen These Days

So Ciwt's largest TV screen is 36". 

Ha Ha Ha, she knows.  Laughable these days when most people's screens are anywhere from 50" to wall size to entire room size probably.  

But today the 49ers are in their final playoff game so Ciwt isn't messing around.  A friend who knows just about every nuance and fact about just about every sport and has several Huge screens has invited her to his place.  So she'll drive across the Golden Gate bridge to join him and all the others around the country who will be cheering or knashing their teeth in front of their Entertainment Centers.

Then it will be back across the bridge to her fuddy duddy 36" screen 👎 hopefully to watch the 49ers in the Super Bowl in a couple of weeks.

* Game over.  boring, boring, Boring on every screen.

Time To Retire? --- Day 12/31

Walk: SF Ballet

Distance: 4 miles

Jeopardy! Hosts Over the Years: Art Fleming, Alex Trebek, Ken Jennings

Loyal CIWT readers (thank you) and friends know that Ciwt is a long time Jepoardy! fan who even went down to Universal City to a taping of the show.*  So she is often sent the occasional articles questioning whether the game should be retired. She received one written by a former big time Jeopardy! winner just today, and, for those who might be curious, this is her response to the sender:

No question he's right about how changing the 5-game limit changed the game.  And I've heard from actual contestants that it is more daunting than the viewer realizes to get used to the buzzer, the general noise and commotion, the lights and relax into being able to play the game.  So the winner who has already had experience with these things definitely has an advantage - thus setting up streaks.  I don't know if there is anything they can do to even out those things.

They definitely know this, and several years ago made a change that helped quite a bit.  They began interviewing the contestants half way through the 1st round.  They used to go all the way through the round before giving the contestants an opportunity to talk, and by then the new ones were often so behind and so anxious they couldn't recover momentum.  You often see contestants now relaxing, gaining confidence, even going ahead and winning after their personal talk with the host has grounded them.

A factor beyond Jeopardy! runnerrs' control is the human brain.  It gets tired and that often stops streaks. Competition and tension, being away from home and other circumstances are wearing and you can see some contestants on streaks struggling to maintain a competitive edge. Often by their last round, they just don't have the stamina.  It looked to me like that's what happened to Matt for instance.

Overall, no, I don't think it is time to retire Jeopardy!.  It is still an excellent game - for trivia buffs at least - full of surprises and amazement at the range of facts and experiences some people - ordinary people - have lived,  learned and retained in a vast array of subjects. And their lives are often interesting, heartwarming, expanding to hear about. Not to mention how composed they can be losing or winning in front of millions. Games evolve: most athletes these days are much! more buff, have been focused with high power trainers since childhood, in general people are larger, equipment is more sophisticated, etc.  Likewise, Jeopardy! has evolved.  

*See Days 297, 298 and 299 way back in 2012

And Ciwt's Award Goes To... --- Day 12/30

Walk: Day of Rest.  Drive to Presidio Social Club

Distance: .8 miles

A few of the personas Michelle Yeoh brought to outrageous life in Everything Everywhere All At Once

Okay, now Ciwt can let you know her thoughts about Everything Everywhere All At Once.  

She found it an incredibly clever, fast-moving (to say the least) send up of Kung Fu movies, aspects of Chinese family culture, aspects of all families: marriage, children, in-laws, traditions, money and probably myriad other things.  But after 90 minutes (of 132) she had enough of the slapstick, and wasn't particularly interested in what the grand finale might be.  So she walked out early past everyone else who stayed. 

If Michelle Yeoh had been standing at the door on Ciwt's way out,  and if Ciwt  had happened to be carrying an Oscar Statuette, she would have happily presented it to Ms. Yeoh for Best Actress.  The movie, beyond being skillfully acted by Ms. Yeoh, is in many ways an homage to her and her many roles over a long career.  So, Ciwt thinks give her the Oscar: No Question None At All Period.

Best Picture, NO, NO, NO.   

Nothing No Way Not Ciwt --- Day 12/29

Walk: 4-Star Theater (Everything Everywhere All at Once)

Distance: 6 miles

Ciwt's great movie going friend and her husband have tickets for Everything Everywhere All At Once tomorrow afternoon, so Ciwt promised she wouldn't say - or write - a thing about it before then.   Stay tuned.....

Beyond Words --- Day 12/28

Walk: AMC Kabuki (Women Talking)

Distance: 4 miles

Ciwt didn't think Women Talking was her kind of movie.  All that quiet and, well, just women talking.  But its Academy Award Best Picture nomination and its high Rotten Tomatoes ratings got her to the theater today.

And, like the Mad Hatter, she'll begin at the stirring ending of Women Talking.  You don't see its impact coming -  or at least Ciwt didn't as she listened to the various arguments made by the Mennonite women in the movie.  The decision they were required to make was of the utmost importance and consequence and each woman offered her thoughts with precision and passion.  Articulate words, well reasoned and sensible but they didn't stick with Ciwt particularly.  What did stick without her realizing it was the cumulative effect of  the bedrock and courageous place the women were talking coming from. Quietly, Writer-Director Sarah Polley takes that effect to nearly magic dignified magnificance.

Another Difference Between Cats and Dogs --- Day 12/27

Walk: Union Street

Distance: 2.5 miles 

Dogs are more relaxed when they type...

 

Relaxed or intense, Ciwt would have loved some pet help filling out her Real Estate Seller Disclosure Forms.  But, she slogged through and finished today (hopefully)

'Nother Day, "Nother Form --- Day 12/26

Walk: Monday Errands

Distance: 4 miles

Today Ciwt was busy filling out more Seller Disclosure Forms.  Truth in Advertising abounds here.

Bittersweet Broker --- Day 12/25

Walk: AMC Kabuki

Distance: 3.5 miles

So tenderly subtle, Ciwt isn't even sure she completely understood Broker.  But it is one of those longish, beautifully crafted, directed and acted Asian* movies that are just her cup of tea. Usually exquisite even in the raunchiest of settings and powerful even in the quietest of moments.  If you are like Ciwt, you will like Broker very much.

*Japanese Writer-Director Hirokazu Kore-eda, filmed in South Korea

A Tough Fish to Rate --- Day 12/24

Walk: Presidio Theater (The Whale)

Distance: 5.7 miles

Brendan Fraser in The Whale

Ciwt is just home from the supremely well acted, 'not pretty to watch' The Whale.* 

Out here our local paper uses cartoons as short hand movie ratings:

And The Whale is one of those movies that would have audience members jumping out of their chairs wildly clapping and movie critics either dully staring at the screen or falling asleep in their chairs.  And Ciwt can understand both reactions.  If you decide to find out where you stand (or sit) on the ratings scale, you will see Academy Award level performance by both the lead character, Brendan Fraser and make up artist, Adrian Morot.  After that, well....up to you

* Ciwt has now let her personal rating of The Whale settle in, and she is able to say with conviction that she joins the snoozing man.  She found the accolades for Fraser's acting well deserved but the rest of the movie to be gloomy, maudlin, claustrophic and filled with unconvincing religiosity and thinly written characters.

At Home with My Amarylls --- Day 12/23

 Walk:  Hoods

Distance: 4.8 miles

So sometime early in the holiday season Ciwt received a medium size, fairly weighty package. Not usually being the beneficiary of many holiday presents, she opened it to see who she should forward the contents to. But, surprise!, it actually was for her. From a farm in Connecticut. Hmmm?

Opening further she discovered a dark brown basket with a big dry lump in it.  Hmmm again.  Then she realized it was a plant bulb. And from a long time close friend according to an enclosed card.  

Unsure whether it was dead already, Ciwt placed it in draftless full sun and began watering it according the farm's instructions.  Weeks went by with absolutely no progress so she began trying to figure out what to tell her generous, thoughtful friend. Then the entire stalk with all its leaves flopped over and she was sure she'd have to report to her friend - but understandably put that off.

Luckily, because the very next day, it pulled itself full upright again.  And, well, as you can see from the picture above, began blooming.

And such a bloom!  As her readers probably know, it turned out to be an Amaryllis plant.  But who could have predicted such height and wonderful splash of color?  Not Ciwt obviously, so she sent pictures of it off to a friend who is nearly a professional gardener and a mini collector of amaryllis plants.  And that friend was as smitten as Ciwt with it, its look and its impact on Ciwt's place.  I quote:

Oh, you have a top grade amaryllis!  Not all of them perform as yours is performing!  It is a beauty.. And it looks very much at home in your place ... with the sun streaming through the window.

Ah, flower power.  How perfect for San Francisco.

The Things We Disclose --- Day 12/22

Walk: Errands

Distance: 3.8

Seller Disclosure Quiz:  Do you know these things about your home..

1. Whether the exterior foundation consists of piers and posts that have been strengthened?

2. Whether the basement/garage perimeter walls are reinforced by plywood or by other means?

3. All about the following at your home: (possible) pests, (possible) seepage, heater and heating system, structure and engineering of your building and more?

If you can answer and stand behind those questions and about 300 others regarding your home, you are ready to put it on the market.  Even as Ciwt is still scratching her head about a couple of them, looks like her home for 40 years (41 now) is just about to go on the market. (Finally)

The Lovely Brides of City Hall --- Day 12/21

Walk: Civic Center, City Hall

Distance: 5.8 miles

San Francisco City Hall Bride with Lights on Her Gown

So Ciwt was in the agitated state most people who receive an unexpected tax notice often are she arrived at City Hall today.  But her spirits were immediately lifted by the brides and their soon to be husbands in the rotunda.  Happens every time: they look so new and fresh and  beautiful .  

Next Bride Waiting for Photographer (and taking a moment away from her left high heel)

All Married Now; Just like the Couple Outside Through the Door on Right

PS   All went well with Ciwt's taxes.  She wishes the same for these young couples.

Foxy --- Day 12/20

Walk: Public Storage Places

Distance: 6.8 miles

Photo by Brittany Cossman, taken in Prince Edward Island, Canada

What is cuter than foxes?  Ciwt coudn't resist posting this adorable image of two of them from this year's Wildlife Photograph of the Year competition.  The contest is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum in London, and they have invited the public to vote for the People's Choice Award.  

If you would like to see the other 24 finalists - or even cast a vote - you can go the the museum's site here.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memories --- Day 12/19

Walk: Hood

Distance: 5.5 miles

So, on this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Ciwt has a few personal memories of the man and his movements.  One of the most vivid is when she was working in DC and volunteered as a census taker at Resurrection City in late May, 1968.  It remains an almost indescribably powerful experience in her memory.

Although Dr. King had conceived of and laid the groundwork for the massive event, he had been assassinated in Memphis 6 weeks before.  Even so thousands traveled to Washington to honor Dr. King’s memory and to pursue his vision. When they arrived, by mule train, bus, and other means they built “Resurrection City,” made up of 3,000 wooden tents, and camped out there for 42 days, until evicted on June 24, a day after their permit expired.

The Poor People's Campaign, or Poor People's March on Washington, was a 1968 effort to gain economic justice for poor people in the United States . It was organized by Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and carried out under the leadership of Ralph Abernathy in the wake of King's assassination in April 1968.

It rained 29 of the 42 days Resurrection City lasted, and Ciwt remembers the nearly knee deep mud, water and stench when she went there at the prescribed 5:30 hour to take census.  Nearly everyone was asleep so she had to wake them up.  You can imagine how pissed they were, but nice actually because they knew the census was required for their safety.  Plus how angry are you going to be at a young, 'well meaning'  white woman maybe.  One of her tents was Ralph Abernathy's, and he was exhausted but incredibly polite and reassuring to Ciwt, telling not to worry; people understood.  

Even at 5:30, though Resurrection City was a very, very busy place.   There was a makeshift City Hall, a shantytown Univerisity with courses and clearinghouse information  for college students who had come from all over the country.  

UNITED STATES - MAY 20: The Rev. Dr. Ralph Abernathy (center) and Mrs. Abernathy, with Jesse Jackson (left), as they tour Resurrection City with their staff during Poor People's March. (Photo by Fred Morgan/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)  

Abernathy and Jackson ended up for at least one night in a jail right across from the house Ciwt and two  friends who also worked in DC were renting.  The entire time the men were in jail there were lousd voices and a constant stream of civil rights leaders, politicians, international dignitaries as well as law student friends of Ciwt volunteering their talents on behalf of the jailed men.  All their efforts were rewarded when Jackson and Abernathy were released within days.

Lenneal Hendeson, a young Berkeley student in 1968, took a Greyhound bus across country to the 'People's March.'  When asked about life within Resurrection City, Henderson told a Smithsonian Magazine writer: I was there all 42 days, and it rained 29 of them. It got to be a muddy mess after a while. And with such basic accommodations, tensions are inevitable. Sometimes there were fights and conflicts between and among people. But it was an incredible experience, almost indescribable. While we were all in a kind of depressed state about the assassinations of King and RFK, we were trying to keep our spirits up, and keep focused on King’s ideals of humanitarian issues, the elimination of poverty and freedom. It was exciting to be part of something that potentially, at least, could make a difference in the lives of so many people who were in poverty around the country

When In Doubt.... --- Day 12/18

Walk: Hood 
Distance: 4.5 miles

Benjamin Franklin is credited with the saying "When in doubt, Don't"  So, since she really doesn't have anything to tell her readers today, she is taking his advice.

Tardy, Yes Quite... --- Day 12/17

Walk:  Other Place

Distance: 2.5 miles, small yoga

                                                                              Dan Kitwood/Getty

It is a bit late for New Year's Day.  But, Ciwt is a bit of an anglophile and couldn't resist showing her readers this photo of fireworks lighting up the London skyline over Big Ben and the London Eye just a few minutes into 2023.    Ta Ta.

• 
  

People In, Creatures Out Enjoying --- Day 12/16

 Walk: Other place, Laurel Village, Pet Food Epress, Mayflower Market (ie, the hood)

Distance: 4.5 windy, cold but gloriously (and temporarily) rain free miles, small yoga

Some San Franciscans are more whimsical about their homes than Ciwt.  And walking past these little creatures all dressed up for and probably enjoying the winter cold and rains always makes her smile.  When she can get out these stormy days, that is....

Wrong Way to Stop --- Day 12/15

Walk: Between Homes

Distance:  2.5 miles.  So nice to be able to be out!  But didn't get far due to exhaustion from continual storm stress. A lot of California people are experiencing it apparently.

Poor Holly.  Hope she was okay.  Wishing these California storms stop soon - but not ths way.

Far From (Urban) Rains --- Day 12/14

Walk: No, Pouring again

Distance: 0

Georges Seurat, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, 1884-1885, oil on canvas

Ciwt always enjoys viewing this treasure of a painting, and particularly in the midst of California's present day-in, day-out winds and heavy rain.   

Play and movie goers recognize it as the basis for the 1984 musical Sunday in the Park with George or from its prominent cameo in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  It is featured in numerous art books, the subject of posters large and small, a favorite greeting card not to mention coffee cups, refrigerator magnets, placemats and other ways to bring this warm, friendly and colorful image into people's daily lives.

Some CIWT readers may not know though that the Island of la Grande Jatte lies in the Seine at the very gate of Paris.  Today a site of a public garden and housing development, it was a " bucolic retreat" far from the urban center when Georges Seurat began painting it in 1884.  Well, bucolic may be euphemism because the area was widely known at the time as a place to procure prostitutes.  Perhaps the woman with an attention getting monkey on a leash might have been making monkey business available to an interested member of the bourgeoisie.  And the innocent little girl in white may be taking in more than her mother realizes.  All in all, the Island's long distance from the center of Paris was likely a most appreciated feature for a variety of reasons.

No Hype --- Day 12/13

Walk: Not really

Distance: Maybe brief .6 mile during storm break

Beloved Beach Town, Capitola, CA (78 mi. S of SF)

During one of our atmospheric rivers/bomb cyclones

Today with more storms to come

Often it seems the media hypes storms, but not these days in California.  Unfortunately.

Monday, Clean Monday --- Day 12/12

Walk: Parks

Distance: 3 miles, yoga

No matter where Ciwt lives, Monday is always laundry, errands and cleaning day.

The Superb Bill Nighy --- Day 12/11

Walk: Opera Plaza Cinema, Trader Joe's

Distance: 3.6 miles

Being a woman well beyond a 'certain age,' Ciwt understandably did not have a movie about a man also well beyond that age and dying on her list.  That is until her long time movie friend told Ciwt she would love Living.  This is a recommendation Ciwt could not overlook so today she walked to one of the few and excellent theaters remaining here after the pandemic.

As is her habit she bought her ticket ahead - more expensive, but it becomes an appointment of sorts and ensures that she will get there.  Certainly for the last few years this has been a particularly unnecessary expense since she's often one of only three or four (or less) in the theater.  But not today!  The seats were all sold out and people were being turned away when she arrived..

The disappointed ones Ciwt saw walking from the theater were all within 5 years of Ciwt's age, and when she got into the actual screening room, so was everyone else, to a man or woman.  Maybe they also had friends who recommended Living or maybe they were wise enough to go simply because Bill Nighy was in it.

If so, they were the smart ones and everyone else is thanking their friends and passing on the word.  This was the performance of a lifetime for Mr. Nighy - which is the highest possible praise because Bill Nighy is always superb in any movie he is in, in any role.  As at least one critic says of him, he is "an international treasure."

So Ciwt passes on what her friend told her:  Go, you will love it.  Whatever your age if you appreciate truly great acting.  

And now a bonus NYT article about Mr. Nighy

 

Urban Rain --- Day 12/10

 

Walk: Hoods

Distance: 4 miles

As the atmospheric rivers flow into San Francisco one after another, Ciwt's thoughts turn to people  experiencing rain in urban environments around the world - and the painters who capture them.

Natalya Savenkova (Painter, Graphic Artist. Member of the Union of Artists of Russia), 

Petersburg Rain City Winter, oil on canvas

Igor Andrianov (known as Shulman, contemporary Russian painter based in Prague),

                                   Rain City, oil on canvas

Tony Rubino (American based in New York), New York City Skyline Rain Storm, Dark Day, acrylic on canvas

Requium for Felled Trees --- Day 12/9

Walk: Pacific Heights Parks

Distance: 3.5 miles, yoga 

Our recent ferocious storm, a combination 'cyclone bomb' and 'atmospheric river' brought a particular sadness with the numerous trees downed throughout the Bay Area.  Including Ciwt's two neighborhood parks.  So many years growing, standing, communing with and nourishing other trees* and a century of park goers.  You see neighbors standing, looking, taking pictures, saying their personal goodbyes

Alta Plaza Park (tall pine once part of  the stand, now down surrounded by red tape))

Layfayette Park lost four trees. Two are lying together in this photo with tree still standing now leaning East

Lafayette Park, tree in middle right at new very precarious angle

* According to Canadian tree scientist, Suzanne Simard, trees are social beings that exhange nutrients, help one another and communicate about insect pests and other environmental pests.  You can read more of her (controversial) arguments and findings in her popular and critically praised book:

The Persistence of Genius --- Day 12/8

Walk: No, Still storming

Distance: Yoga to the Rescue

Salvador Dali, The Persistence of Memory, 1931, oil on canvas

Something about this painting turns Ciwt's stomach, in person at MoMA when she gets to New York, but even just seeing a picture of it.  Is it the slick, slimey (to her) paint, the sickening (to her) palette, the liquid ghastly images (her again)?  Could be all three plus some semi and unconscious things she knows nothing about.

But, in spite of being repelled, or, more accurately being drawn by 'the fascination of the abomination,'* she acknowledges it has continually been the most visited painting in the most visited modern art institution in the world for good reason.  Its surreal sensual power has persisted for nearly a century now because it is, quite simply, genius.

*Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

Tastes Change --- Day 12/7

Walk: BIG Storm so no

Distance: Yoga

Gustave Klimt, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, 1906, oil on canvas

Today: "A striking example of Klimt’s golden period, this elaborate Judgendstil portrait of a Viennese society lady was once the most expensive painting in the world. It is the Neue Galerie’s crown jewel—museum director Renée Price has likened its importance to the institution to the Mona Lisa at the Louvre."

1907: Klimt exhibited his portrait at the 1907 Mannheim International Art Show, alongside the Portrait of Fritza Riedler (1906). Many of the critics had negative reactions to the two paintings, describing them as "mosaic-like wall-grotesqueries", "bizarre", "absurdities" and "vulgarities".^[

Peacable --- Day 12/6

Walk: Presidio

Distance:2.5 milesssssssssssssssssssss

Edward Hicks, A Peacable Kingdom, 1833-4, oil on canvas

Ciwt continues to wwwait for her newww keyboard.  So let The Metropolitan Museum of Art (ie, The Met) where this one hangs in Gallery 751 be your guide.  

The Quaker minister and painter Edward Hicks is best known for his Peaceable Kingdom pictures, of which sixty-two exist. The paintings represent a messianic prophecy in the book of Isaiah (11:6): “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.” During the 1820s, a severe rift formed within the Society of Friends. In this version of Hicks’s favorite motif, the split is represented by the shattered tree trunk, and the desire for peace between the factions by the menagerie of discordant beasts lying down in perfect harmony. The lion and his companion, the ox, were, for Hicks, symbols of redemption.

 

There Will Be WWWWWWarmth --- Day 12/5

Walk: Quick one before rain continues

Distance: .8 mile, yoga

Pierre Bonnard, The Terrace at Vernonnet, 1939, oil on canvas

Warm colors to make CIWT readers' cold, grey, maybe rainy, foggy or snowy day cozier.  

(And a wonderful painting to tide us through until Ciwt's new keyboard arrives to replace her olddddddd

one wwhich hassssssssss begun to sssssssssstick).

2023 Begins --- Days 12/2, 3 & 4

Walks: Just small ones, wind, rain, cold

Distance: 2 miles average, small yoga practices