The Burrow

I love that. I love the simplicity and the complexity. I love the questions. I love laughing while I'm wondering. The fact that Feynman was in a math class at City College with Daddooooo  (or so the story goes...)  and scored 100% on an exam the rest of the class failed, thus ruining the curve,  only adds to the joy. That's kind of the point of The Exploratorium.   Artess is delighted that we enjoyed ourselves;  she's been involved with the place since our kids were teeny.   The fact that my boys were enjoying themselves even as adults was exactly what the creators of this new, wonderful, waterfront space had in mind. There's something for everyone inside the repurposed piers.   There's art from cutlery (yes, those are spoons)  on the walls as you wait to purchase tickets. Or, if you have a connected young adult in your midst, you can buy the tickets over your phone. It was funny watching his ex...

After the long weekend we spent in San Francisco, Tucson feels very small. ***** Doesn't this look like a bank? Our banks are in the corners of parking lots,  and there's no way to distinguish them from the drive-thru taco shops except for the signs. Those pillars are bank-like. ***** I met up with Miss Nancy at The Ferry Building. Sharon McCone always comes to mind when I'm walking in that neighborhood; Marcia Muller's detective always seems to be walking out of her office at the end of the pier. ***** Now, it's a much trendier space than that occupied by McCone Investigations, Inc.   I waited in front of this sign. Inside, there were Pig Parts and Slow Fast Food and Creamery Girl cheeses.   There were oysters and crabs, coffee roasteries and bakeries. Some of it was do it yourself. ***** There was more, much much more, denizens, but traveling has left me exhausted and in need of some time alone with my roses.  So, I wil...

TBG and I flew to the Left Coast this morning. Our plans include his visit to the orthopedist who repaired his knee two decades ago, a visit during which I spent a lovely couple of hours talking with Bunionella.   The clinic is in The Marina, right on the shore of San Francisco Bay. It's also across the street from a Safeway. The combination of take away foodstuffs and a bench in the shade was irresistible; we grabbed lunch and ate by the sea.   I'm starved for water it seems. I couldn't stop watching it sloshing against the moored yachts. I wish I had taken a photograph. I was too busy being in the moment.   I did take these as we tried to find a garbage can for our lunch trash.   I noticed the punching bag first. With the breeze and the sea air and the sunshine it seems like a perfect location....except that it's right on the main drag. Privacy must not be important.   TBG waxed eloquent over this boxwood hedge.  He loves the cl...

That's almost an oxymoron.  We awoke in Tiburon, and there was no fog.  We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and there was no fog.  We picked up Big Cuter and drove to the Marina and there was no fog.  I began to wonder if I was really in Baghdad by the Bay.  Remember Mark Twain's "the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco"?  Saturday put the lie to that.  Big time.   We sat at the Marina, on a bench looking out   at Marin in the distance and the Yacht Club   and the Golden Gate Bridge.  The old light house is a reminder that we are not the first people to watch ships enter the Bay.  They might have seen this building,  or this building, built after the Great Fire,  but probably not this 1950's modern.  It's a ritzy neighborhood, with golden doors but it is San Francisco, so politics is everywhere. These signs were in all the windows faci...

I need color in my life.  I need expressions of opinion emblazoned on street corners. I need some San Francisco and I need it now.  So, while my brain reels and my hip aches, my mind and I are puttin' some flowers in our hair. We're hanging in The Haight.  Years ago,  G'ma and Daddoooo stayed at this hotel, at the entrance to Golden Gate Park, with The Haight up behind them.    "It was different," was as judgmental as they got. I'd have to agree.  we've got nothing like this in Tucson. Who needs neon, anyway? I love that the temporary fence on the right has decorations, too.  For a moment, from the back seat of our Zip Car, those two under the OPEN sign looked real. Are there words in there?  Action figures?  The aftermath of an explosion? Some of it was creepy, but there was a line outside this pancake house in spite of the ghoul on the wall. The political graffiti was inspiring.  This wom...

Every city has its oddities.  San Francisco has bison They live in Golden Gate Park, just beyond the windmill.  Yes, there's a windmill... actually, there are two windmills... at the ocean end of Golden Gate Park. It's a wonderfully San Francisco kind of place.  Look at that map.  Those are road, and lakes, and polo fields. There are swales for picknicking and trails for running. There are trees to be admired and blossoms to be smelled. Even the weeds made me smile. Sitting on a bench, watching the world go by, with this as the backdrop,  we took pictures of all sorts of different kinds of humans, with their cameras, making memories for them to take home. We watched doggies drink from their own sized fountain and watched TBG wash bird poop off his leg. We were amazed by the bubbles these people were creating. I, of course, have plans to replicate this. I paid close attention to their technique.  No ...