A diversion...

So the World Cup Soccer has started, Fred has found a pub, Netherlands was playing, so I had time to fuel other interests.

The de Young Museum of Fine Arts in the Golden Gate Park seemed the spot to explore.
Fascinating building to start.

I have not focussed on the art of the Native Americans, in fact have been avoiding the tourist shops and their wares.













The de Young has an exhibition that interested me and I joined the docent tour, and as it happens Marlene is a South African living here in San Francisco.

Cheyenne Ledger sketches

Navajo weaving, from the mid 1800's using churra sheep wool

The 11th C Mimbre pots!

I was enchanted by the ceramics, even though they are 11th century they have a modern, fresh appeal. The fine line work of the geometric shapes done with yucca brushes is distinctive on all the clay bowls.

June, was thinking of your ability to work as fine and as accurately! Inspiration?

Lines on the Horizon: Native American Art from the Weisel Family Collection

May 3, 2014 – January 4, 2015

Lines on the Horizon highlights Native American art from the collection of the Thomas W. Weisel Family. Spanning more than 1,000 years of artistic creativity, the exhibition will focus on the indigenous arts of the American Southwest, featuring 11th-century Mimbres ceramics alongside masterful classic Navajo weavings from the mid to late 19th century and 20th-century works by recognized artists such as the ceramicist Nampeyo of Hano Pueblo. Singular pieces from the Northwest Coast and the first Plains ledger drawings to enter the permanent collection will also be shown. The artworks, carefully chosen over 30 years of collecting, reflect an emerging sense that, through close visual and technical analysis, it may be possible to identify the styles of specific individuals who created these diverse works. Even if we may never know their names, we can still celebrate their works of art as expressions of personal and communal worldviews.

Foodie Interlude: two San Francisco institutions

Instead of dinner and a show, we did hot fudge sundaes and a show. I love how at a certain age it really does not matter. 

A visit to Ghiradelli is part of any itinerary in San Francisco, as is booking to see the raucous, irreverent, funny Beach Blanket Babylon, now in its 40 year at Club Fugazi, North Beach.

Ghirardelli has produced commemorative slabs of chocolate for BBB. That is Tammy Nelson featured on the chocolate, she has been part of the show for 20 years,  the final scene has her wearing the famous San Francisco headgear which is lit up and showcases all the well known San Francisco landmarks.

Loved the show!

San Francisco: Crooked Lombard Street

Takes some effort to walk the length of Lombard Street.

The morning fog had burnt off and it was a fine afternoon for yet another 5 miles of walking.

The sign says park at 90 degrees, well it felt like I was walking at 90 degrees.

Certainly a crooked street with its paved switchbacks and impressive gardens.

Imagine having to negotiate your parking garage each day if your house is on Lombard Street.

Pink and blue hydrangeas with box hedges.

View down Lombard towards Telegraph Hill and Coit Tower.

There is a full time gardener for the street and there were hundreds of us traipsing up and down the street taking photos.
Must be the most photographed hydrangeas around.

Foodie Interlude: getting it right and getting it wrong

Buying cheese from Cowgirl Creamery, Ferry Building

My friend Sharon sent me to Cowgirl Creamery and thank you Sharon. An excellent selection of local cheeses and we choose a mature soft goat cheese for matins with our coffee and the favorite Californian cheese of our 'cheese man'  called Carmody. Good olive oil, fresh bread, organic arugala and cheese, that's called getting it right….

….but, at times all my research and planning finds me in a place that does not work for me. 

We missioned to Mission for some authentic Mexican food, found a good margarita at Taqueria La Combre but the burritos were bland, lacked texture and most disappointing. 

San Francisco: a morning with Painted Ladies

Feeling like a seasoned traveller here in San Francisco, on and off the Muni, destination Alamo Square, a historic precinct with colorful Victorian row houses. The park has a view across to downtown San Francisco that is immortalized in a photo taken from this spot of the city burning after the 1906 earthquake. Its a peaceful place.

Alamo Square with the view across the Painted Ladies to downtown.

San Francisco is known for residential streets lined with highly decorated Victorian Era row houses dating from 1860's through to 1900. They are narrow, regularly spaced with lavish decorative wood elements and beautifully painted.

Queen Anne houses, most photographed in San Francisco

and they are so worthy of all the attention!

Narrow in the front and deep into the stand below, how well they manage the hill.

Walking around the square was a visual treat and sometimes

just a little bizarre.

This is the view from Alamo Square back towards Stanyan Street, below the trees in the centre of the photo - home for the week.

San Francisco: Alcatraz

A warm sunny day in San Francisco for a ferry ride across to Alcatraz, all looked inviting...

As we got closer and the buildings come into view the mood changed.

Until one lands.
Immediately I noticed the lack of color, the signage becomes really grim and a reminder of what the history of the island over the last few centuries.

The all seeing guardhouse as sentinel along the pathway to the cell house.

Desolation of crumbling buildings and the story starts.

Infamous cell house from the exercise yard, I am cold and windswept in this photo and feeling low.

The wardens lived in this mansion with a glorious view towards San Francisco but a few steps away from the cell house

Final image which says it all….

San Francisco: Alcatraz Cellhouse

The highlight of the Alcatraz visit was the audio tour of the Cell house, narrated by ex prisoners and the  guards.

The Cell house was smaller than we expected but also looms so large when you are inside, the 3 levels rise in steps above you with skylights letting in cold watery light.

Its bleak. The cells are narrow with a miniature loo and basin.

The kitchen that apparently served its captives well

Walking out into the exercise yard against the force of the wind made my eyes water.
This was a privilege?

Steps to the exercise yard.

Fred in isolation in D facility, tempted to leave him there!

Solitary, 'the Holes'

Home to 1576 prisoners over the 30 or so years before closing in March 1963. These cells held about 260 prisoners at any point in time. The photos of the 4 wardens that managed Alcatraz over the years looked even more intimidating than the prisoners…

Oh my, I left feeling low and it took a long walk along the Embarcadero to cheer me up.

PS: we visited on the 11 June which is also the date of the infamous escape in 1962, where the 3 prisoners dug through their vents with spoons, which took over a year….

San Francisco: a lifer on Alcatraz

The island a strange mix of life and color from the breeding birds and the loving tended gardens and the sombre tones of the crumbling buildings with their history of human suffering.

My unexpected lifer on Alcatraz, Brandt's Cormorant in full breeding plumage, sky pointing his bright blue throat pouch.