How Much Can Elliot Eat? --- Day 13/330

 

Let Ciwt introduce you to Elliot, a Russian tortoise.  He lives in the rehab center her friend was in recently (luckily she has now been able to fly home!), and Ciwt and her friend both became quite fond of Elliot.

The answer to the headline question is: Elliot eats a Lot.  He is a burrowing animal, and you can see him relaxing in his beloved burrow-type shelter away from the warm light.  You can also see the size of his new meal of mostly leafy greens. It's one of his species' favorites so he comes right out to eat and, when full for now, goes right back into his burrow/shelter.

Ciwt and her friend feel lucky Elliot wasn't in hibernation when we were there.  On average, Russian tortoises hibernate anywhere from 8 weeks to 5 months throughout the year.  Some have been known to spend as much as 9 months a year in dormancy.  Whenever Elliot does hibernate it must do him good; the average life span of Russian tortoises is 50 years, and Elliot is 80 according to the sign outside his cage!

Ciwt and her friend are also glad Elliot wasn't on the moon.  It turns out that two Russian tortoises flew there in 1968, circled it, and returned safely to Earth on the Soviet Zond 5 mission.  Accompanied by mealworms, plants and other lifeforms, they were the first Earth creatures to do that.  Who knew?  

Bye Bye, Elliot.

Waiting, Waiting for CIWT to Return --- Days 13/324-332

 Walks: Hood, Jewish Home mostly

Distances: 4 miles average

Alfred Stevens (Belgium,1823-1906) Melancholy Poster

Edward Hopper, Cape Cod Morning, ca. 1950

Carl Holsøe (Denmark, 1863-1935), Light of Spring (Detail)

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.... --- Days 13/321-323

Walks: Jewish Home, Hood, AMC Kabuki (Anora)

Diastance: 4 miles daily

See?

Not a pumpkin, not a turkey, not a lovely fall 🍂wreath.  No decorations at all, block after block.

San Francisco, at least the San Francisco Ciwt frequents, is notorious for its lack of Christmas Holiday decorations.  But usually much time and effort is spent on stately, gorgeous, warm and welcoming Thanksgiving adornments which Ciwt loves to see and maybe add to a CIWT post.  

A friend had a guess about this highly unusual dearth: the timing.  Many San Franciscans are 'processing' and just aren't ready to celebrate 

Lasting Charm --- Day 13/320

Walk: Jewish Home, AMC Kabuki

Distance: 4.5 miles

Hugh Grant in Heretic

So, for reasons unknown the movie Heretic has a 93% critics consensus on Rotten Tomatoes.  Not realizing it was one of the many, many horror movies in theaters these days, Ciwt went to it to see Hugh Grant.

And there he was: the same and wonderful hesitations, adorable stumbles over words, beguiling eyelash flutters, winning smile.  Wrinkled now, but all that irresistable charm undaunted by age.

Thursday? Friday? --- Days 13/318 & 319

Walks: Hood, Jewish Home

Distances: 4 avg

Do you, dear reader?  Between Halloween, daylight savings, the election, whatever Ciwt is doing to process the election, moving deliveries and just leading life in general, she seems to have lost all track of what day she's in.

It's Random --- Day 13/316 & 317

Walks: Hood

Distances: 3 miles

So one moment Ciwt was looking toward her empty dining room and talking to her visiting best friend from D.C..  And the next moment, her dining room looked like this.  Filled with EMT's and firemen, all of whom deserve a medal for their quick arrival and total competence.

Her friend had fallen. Badly it turned out at the hospital.  In a nanosecond everything was different and awful.  

What  Ciwt say?   She can borrow from Montaigne "Seize the day." Or from Horace who said it decades earlier in Latin, " Carpe Diem."  But she'll go with what her friend said several times as she and Ciwt began to let this incomprehensible, unexpected and sad event sink in.  "It's random. Things like this, they're random."  

PS - Her friend had successful surgery and is now in an outstanding rehabilitation center working tirelessly to recover enough to get on an airplane back to her home, friends, family and dog (who is all those things)in D.C..  Or, as she puts it, getting from A to B.

Mary Cassatt, Businesswoman --- Day 13/315

Walk: SFMOMA

Distance: 5.5  miles

Mary Cassatt's chateau at Bacheviller's

So as impressed as Ciwt is by Mary Cassatt's boldly experimental, technically proficient and downright fetching art, she is just as impressed with Cassatt's business acumen.  

Yes, Cassatt came from wealth. Her father was a highly successful stockbroker in Pennsylvania and her mother came from a prominent banking family.  Yes, her family placed emphasis on education and success, but, for Mary that meant preparing to be a good wife and mother.  This was expected of all proper women, not preparing for what Mary had firmly in mind -  a career in art.  In fact, her father was so firmly against her ambition to paint professionally he refused to give her any money that would go towards buying her art supplies.

He did agree to provide food, clothing and shelter which of course was huge and must have necessitated major bargaining on Mary's part.  But even more huge were the obstacles to a 19th century independent woman artist in Paris gaining any degree of financial independence.  Difficult enough for a man who was able to go to art school and associate with other artists at bars, cabarets and other public gathering places.  But Cassatt persisted, copying at the Louvre when she wasn't allowed to paint live nudes, working with private teachers and learning from her friend and champion Degas.  She also employed her strategic financial wiles, including selecting, posing and painting irresistably adorable children with loving caretakers in her studio, to gain commissions.  All this until she was, indeed, self-supporting as an artist.  

Ciwt suspects Cassatt's father came to have great respect for his daughter.

League of Her Own! --- Days 13/313 & 314

Walk: Jewish Home (more later), St. Dominic's Church (more later), Shade Store (more later)

Distances: 2.5 miles

So, as much as Ciwt loves and admires her Annual Neighborhood Halloween Decorating Contest, she has become aware of a woman in Virginia who is in a League of her Own.  Sadly CIWT can't upload videos so you can only see a few stills from two long films - with eerie music! - of this woman's yard.  

All Time Grand Champion Halloween Decorator

Neighborhood Halloween Decorations Contest Winners --- Day 13/312

Walk: SF Animal Medical Center for her cats' annual exam

Distance: 2 miles

Halloween is here, and so is the hard part where Ciwt must choose winners of the CIWT Annual Neighborhood Halloween Decorating Contest.  Here they are!!!

 

Whole House

Whole Yard

Huge Skeleton

Small Skeleton

Vignette

Best Bird

Best Prowlers

Scariest

Most Authentic

Most Authentic

Most Like Ciwt as as she bids farewell to the CIWT Annual Neighborhood Halloween Decorating Contest: 

PS: Whole Yard: Saddest

Here Ciwt needs to take a moment for a fond farewell to a former Whole House winner.  It is directly across from the Dragon Teaching Whole House winner, and Ciwt was looking forward to seeing its decorations this year.

It was always FILLED with Halloween scenes: From the side walk 

to the landings 

All the way out to the fence on the street beside it.

But when Ciwt came around the corner this year, this is what she saw:

Some windows were even boarded up, and she thinks the Dragon neighbors might have placed the meager pumpkins and skeletons in front to honor their holiday competitions and the neighbors themselves who have moved on for some reason.  Ciwt wishes them well and thanks them for years of wonderful spectacle.

Last Minute Stragglers --- Days 13/309, 10 & 11

 

Walks: St Mary's Hospital

Distances: 6 miles

Tomorrow is THE day!!   So a few quick pictures, but not official entrants.

Teaching the Kids How to Breath Fire (2 views) --- Day 13/308

Walk: Magic Flute, SF Opera (Tristan and Isolde), Presidio Kebab

Distance: 2 miles

Did I Miss the Wizard of Oz Try Out? --- Day 13/307

Walk: Chouquet's, SF Playhouse, Jasmin's

Distance: 2.5 miles

Only one this year, but an entrant because Ciwt is a big fan of scarecrows.

The Girls --- Day 13/306

Walk: deYoung, Greens, AMC Kabuki (conclave)

Distance: 2.5 miles

Halloween Neighbors --- Day 13/305

Walk: Hood

Distance: 5 miles

Time is short and entrants are many so Ciwt will post their pictures over the next few days.  And enjoy her time with a visiting friend.

 

Step Aside Amateurs --- Day 13/304

Walk: Hood

Distance: 3 miles

An ultimate pro at Ciwt's home decided to teach the silly Halloween imitators how spider webs should look.*

This Too --- Day 13/303

Walk: de Young Museum

Distance: 6 miles

 Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Harvesters, 1565, oil on wood

Vincent Van Gogh, The Harvest, 1888, oil on canvas

Winslow Homer, The Veteran in a New Field, 1865, oil on canvas

Remembering that this time of year isn't just about netherworld creatures reminding us of mortality, misfortune, evil.  It is also a time of taking in, gathering ripe crops to get through winter, working with fellow laborers or alone with private thoughts.  A thankful, receiving, contemplative time of year.  And a very beautiful one.