Fort Mason, San Francisco

In fall and winter, the skies in San Francisco are the clearest and bluest, the light the most blessed gold. Last December, my wife/then-fiancée and I stopped here as part of our wedding planning. There is a theater on the end of a long hallway at the end of a pier. I remember rehearsal on that stage when I was a teenaged ballet student - how when the music stopped, we could hear sea gulls crying. 

Indian summer heat

Right about now I begin to idealize real autumn and winter. Thank goodness for a hefty fan to blow warm air out one window in the evening and draw cooler air in the other. Thank goodness for perfectly airy summer blankets my father-in-law brought back from Israel. 

We have a new kitten (!) - not pictured. My wife found her hiding in a storage cranny at a school, and we caught her together. She is a glorious happy-go-lucky little tabby. We've named her Matilda. We are currently spending...quite a lot of time on tasks related to her. Please cross your fingers with us that at the conclusion of our feline diplomacy program/introduction protocols, she and our adult cat will have a beautiful friendship.

I'm listening to two songs from Erin today:

"I Could Have Been" - Fire Swimmer

"effortlessly, i feel everything" - The Man The Myth The Meatslab ("so reminiscent of 'Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl' and making me nostalgic but also like a sequel to it" she said)

She sells

I thought I had collected sea shells etc. selectively, but over the years it still ended up being far too many. (More than pictured!) Mostly from two points on the edge of two oceans: Laguna Beach, California, and Mandurah, Western Australia. (Though I grew up on the coast, the surf at my home beach is cold and rough, spitting out broken sand dollar fragments and little else.)

 In my 30s I learned that the accumulated effects of tourists removing seashells from beaches are measurable and detrimental to the beach's ecology - did you know? So these days you'll catch me treasuring the ones I have, and enjoying the rest where I find them. 

Muir Woods again, Stinson Beach all burned up

January 2025. My then-fiancée, now-wife and I showed Muir Woods to two transplant friends who hadn't seen it before, followed by a jaunt up the winding cliffside part of Highway 1 to Stinson Beach. I opened the back of my camera at some point in error. Light licks at the edges of some images, nearly obliterates others. Sometimes when the tourists are in the way of the photo, it means they are the photo, you know?

Scottish highlands and islands

May 2024.

Edinburgh - first days in Scotland

 

I didn't know what to expect from Edinburgh and I loved it so much. It enchanted me. The architecture, the walkability, the many delicious vegan food options, the bookstores, the artsy vibe, the history, the Harry Potter Easter eggs - like Victoria Street (above), said to be the street Diagon Alley was based on. I just loved it. My only regret is not having longer there, and not getting a vegan afternoon tea.

 

The weather was gloriously clear and mild. (Our cab driver from the airport reported that until a few days before our arrival, it had been raining for about five months straight.) The sun was up until after nine o'clock.

 

So many fellow tourists. So, so many. I heard so much French, German, and American English.

 

Erin had told me, "King Arthur's Seat is worth the climb, even if (especially if?) it's foggy." That's the hill pictured above, peaking at 822 feet high. Funny story, but as an adult steep hillsides and cliff edges make me irrationally uncomfortable; they feel like they have a force to them that will yank me/my car over the edge if I get close enough. I ended up taking two long breaks on the hillside to wrestle with my urge to come back down. BUT I did manage to make it to the very top, and dashed off a postcard to Erin as I sat there.   

 

 May 2024.

The West of Ireland - the Aran Islands

May 2024.