A great day in San Francisco

Walking around in San Francisco one afternoon, I heard a great band. My city is awesome.

A beautiful day for a run

I'm training for the Disneyland Half Marathon which happens over Labor Day weekend. Every Saturday until the Nike women's marathon, you can train as a group. It's divided up into walkers, 12 minute miles to 8 minute milers, then you're divided up into how far you want to go 4-12 miles. A couple in my ward are the team leaders he leads the 8.5 minute mile and she leads the 8 milers. San Francisco has so much to offer, this is one of those exceptional organized events., I love it. This particular day, it was warm sunny, no fog and absolutely gorgeous. I'm so very tired of the fog.

Day with LaVar and Marian

LaVar came with Marian, who was attending a conference, in San Francisco and we spent part of the day with each other. It happened to be an exceptional day in San Francisco, (minus the particulates in the air due to all the fires burning in Northern California), as it was warm, but not too warm, in fact the temperature just right. We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and got our hair blown all over, (except for LaVar), drove through downtown Sausilito, we had a yummy sea food dinner at Ghirardelli restaurant (sorry no food pictures this time), and then attended the musical review "Beach Blanket Babylon" BBB. Of course Marian teased LaVar the whole time and we laughed and maybe even cried a bit. One of the women sure did during one of the songs in BBB, it was about someone not loving her and she really did cry real tears. Sniff sniff.

Here we are waiting in line for BBB to start.
A spectacular view of the bay
Marian & LaVar with the awesome GG Bridge behind them.
(Notice LaVar's hair, it's all messed up)
The Pacific ocean and GG Bridge
Marian saying something funny no doubt
A toast to LaVar and Marian
Still wanting in line at BBB
The local guy who took our picture with his out-of-town father and local girlfriend. If you know these people, could you tell them I have this picture for them.

My five minutes of fame

One of my cards "Joseph, Mary and Jesus" made it into the San Francisco LDS Art Exhibition for the San Francisco Stake 80 years celebration in July and August. Exciting for me. :) check out the website http://www.sfldsart.blogspot.com/

Dinner and an adventure at Dan and Eric's

An adventurous dinner with Steve, Dan, Eric, Lois and Tatiana. We were barbecuing in the back yard, when the door locked behind Dan. We really were trapped; the key got stuck in the back door, the windows where locked, the other door out through the garage was locked as well. None of us had our cell phones with us. Luckily the neighbors were out so first we borrowed WD 40 from them, when that didn't seem to work, we borrowed their cell phone and called Lois, Eric's 90 year old fantastic cousin. Eventually the WD-40 worked and we gave the keys to the neighbor to let us out, the door was still jammed. About that time Lois came, what a spunky lovely woman she was. The backyard was so beautiful it didn't much matter much we were trapped, and besides we never would have been able to spend time with Lois.

There too many stories to write about here, they are too personal and very moving, if you want to hear some, give me a call. Some highlights: Lois life, writers workshop at the university, the home and the marriage. After dinner, we walked to the beach to watch the sunset. Life doesn't get much better than this evening.

The lock that kept us hostage in the backyard.
The succulent garden and fountain
bougainvillea and rosemary
Steve
Tatiana
Dan at the barbie

LoisDan, Eric, Lisa and Tatiana
Look closely in the background for the last seconds of sun as it sets in the Pacific Ocean.
The view seconds after the sun went down
Pelican formation at dusk

Lands End hike in SF

A foggy summer day in SF turned stunningly beautiful in the afternoon.

Legion of Honor Exhibit with Gaylene

At the Legion of Honor there is more Chihuly pieces and the a special exhibit of Women Impressionists: Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Eva Gonzalès, Marie Bracquemond.
This exhibit moved me, it is amazing what women had accomplished in their day, it was truly remarkable. Women had many more restrictions and obstacles to overcome than woment today. One story hit me especially hard and mad me cry, was about Marie Bracquemond "Her rejection of the aesthetic that her husband had publicly adopted, along with his very difficult character, created major obstacles to her career as an artist...Of her struggle to paint in spite of her husband’s discouragement, the artist wrote that she “had decided to overcome any obstacle; instead of painting flowers I want to work on painting and express whatever feelings the work would inspire in me.” Unfortunately, Félix ultimately won, and she stopped painting after 1890." Not long enough, she was talented in deed.

I took one photo until I was told to put away my camera. Check the exhibit out in person, or you can see some pieces on the website. They had no problem taking pictures of the Chihuly pieces.

See if you can guess which photos of the yellow Chihuly piece were taken in the foggy morning and which were taken when the sun came out!

Gaylene and Lisa

It is I
It is Gaylene

The photo does not do this one justice, it looked like a real chandelier brimming with gold.
The one photo I managed to take