latest obsession

my housemate's juicer...

yes, bring me fresh carrot+orange/tangerine+apple. throw in a beet or two to make it a homemade vampiro. So. Good. Yes, I deal with cleaning every nook and cranny of the juicer in the mornings because it's just so right.

tillage

some times a day's work is really good. 

sometimes there's a tour of rolling oak wonderlands, with coyotes and red eagles by someone who feels every inch of the land in his bones. a man who will haul ass up a rocky steep hill in his huge pick-up barely looking at the road and then screech to a halt to point out a baby oak that might just beat the odds of oak regeneration.

Then you happen upon soil  untouched for over 20 years. and that magic crust is tilled before your very eyes. you are in the company of soil scientists. this kind of tilled soil is pretty much the best thing since sliced bread for them. this soil is a time capsule. a sequester of carbon. an ancient text to translate. They hatch a plan to come back out the very next day to poke and prod and sample and stand in awe for all the information only they can read from these big chunks of hard soil. 

I did some long awaited tilling with my own hands this weekend--beginning again feels good. a garden that follows fall into winter is slow going, but so rewarding.
 

my bountiful box of dreams. strawberry runners, arugula and broccoli starts all from a sliver of a nursery in Noe Valley. seeds of fava, baby gem lettuces, and tatsoi.

before

after. half the plot done, half to go...

bilges and bolts not blogs

Immersed in new world these days. A world of bilges and bolts, sockets and screwdrivers, grease and gasoline. Learning port and starboard, not ropes but lines, clove hitches and boulin knots. Learning the blessed beauty of a wet/dry shop vac and the wonders of 5200. All while riding the slow rock of D dock at Pier 39.

Our neighbors: tourists, seagulls, cormorants, sea lions and the characters that live and work the pier. Hearing the big creak of the lines holding us at moor while laying in the v-berth, the loud barks of the sea lions and the neighbor's Shih Tzu's. Breathing in deep: sugary sweet ice cream mixed with the clam chowder bread bowls and a side of gasoline. Projects tackled only to uncover a new or two or four or more. Learning more some days about how to do something wrong than right. Progress slow but sure even when it doesn't feel that way. But nothing's better than watching the sunset from the cockpit, or laying out a picnic in the cabin. Nothing beats dreaming of the open ocean and adventures in anchoring abroad.

 

my man sure can clean his bilge

Grease & Blood #1

Grease & Blood #2

Look up. Look out. Look deep.

Going deep within the beer at Social Brewery thanks to the master cicerone Rich!

Lesson learned: It's all about the yeast.

He's one of the best tour guides ever---SF friends let him take you on a tour of beer traditions here

Happy Monday

I love fun visitors to my city by the bay. The usual day to day is suspended, you push through work to the next evening adventure. You go to all those places you've been meaning to and revisit all your favorites. The Finley's came to SF on a mission: to help with the sail boat we've all fallen in love with, Destiny. After long hours spent scraping and cutting and caulking and problem solving (of which I missed out on due to my boot....) we explored good food in the kitchen and out in the city (of which I did NOT miss out on due to my boot).

We ate a roasted corn soup and rasam with eggplant masala curry (this was no ordinary curry--whole roasted baby eggplants!). Vegan mexican at Gracias Madre and their cashew cheese that did not disappoint. We explored the wine, and thin crust at Pauline's but the salads may have stolen the show (Pauline and Randy have taken local food to new heights, when they want something delicious for their restaurant they grow it. which means just about everything, from the wine to the herbs on the salad. I like their style). We dove deep into Little Star's stuffed crust after strong tini's at Martuni's. Don't forget beach side picnics at Marin's Rodeo beach that would play host to our visiting hound Ralphie, sandwiches made in the cockpit while we prepped to sail to Angel Island, happy hour sunset hike on Bernal, the cucumber water at Kabuki baths and meals made around my comfy kitchen: tofu scramble italian style, pizza piled high, veggie fajitas with slaw and escabeche. 

magical sail to angel island. destiny in all her glory

at the helm!

 

Bernal Hill view from our happy hour hike.

 

at pauline's you feel the love

views from my bicycle. my first ride in 7 weeks!

Ralphie's on Vacay!

 

sisters. rockclimbers.

 A little vacation without leaving home

weekend weekend weekend!

Finally! Boot Free! I celebrated the only way I know how, with bikes and food and friends. First stop, Samovar tea with Erin. Unparalleled sensory experience. The food was so good you had to lick the bowl(s).

Erin in action. Love love love!!

 Hallloooouuummii. Bring it. Grilled please.

 Brunch at Folsom St. A. In my sun-soaked kitchen with two of my favorite ladies. 

And a box of veggies fresh from the Santa Cruz farm program. Thank you Brooke. 

Finished the weekend with some hard work with Stinky B on Destiny.
Followed appropriately by Pliny & Patxi's delivery.

working it out

defying the odds

from Spring to Summer--Erin & Larry's ocean beach-side homestead thrives!
This spring it was all ice plant, sand and unsure transplants from the container garden and community plot where E & L first began their garden experiments.

But after loads of chicken poop carted from Sloat down the street, 30+pounds of seed potatoes, berry plants ordered online, and compost, and love and hard work and so much more I don't even know about -- this little oasis in the fog is what I would call a food forest ;)

The view from above. Take special note of that picnic table...

...that table would be handmade by these two for their 10th anniversary!

hmmm, which choke to choose?

potatolandia. I'm ready to trade...

our apple tree graft appears to have taken!!!that's my baby girl!

part of the new SF sponsored laundry-to-landscape pilot project! Woot!

Can't wait to see how things are looking these days!

things learned after a tumble down the stairs

Boot portraits summer 2011.

Photographer M. Grimm entitled this before and after. I'm looking forward to version II. Note that the ankle injury didn't happen while adventuring in Colorado with my new hiking boots. No, it happened on an ordinary day in an ordinary way. I tried carrying my bike up my awkward stairs at home and just didn't make it all the way up. As I went bumbling and tumbling down the stairs the tendons in my right ankle flexed and stretched as hard as they could when some how my ankle got in the way. but in the end they tried too hard. Result: fractured right fibula.

things learned after a tumble down the stairs

• it's hard to tell a really badly sprained ankle from a fractured one. if you have a dr. go to one.
• when the radiologist comes back to tell you your foot/ankle is broken, they will tell you not to put weight on it. They will be very stern and very serious and look at you with concern making you want to do everything they say to make it better. Then they will point out the door and say "now you must go directly to a doctor". When asked for a crutch, wheel chair, or a walking-stick-for-the-love -of-god-my-ankle-is-fractured! they will sadly shake their heads no, and again, point at the exit sign. If you're lucky, they might give you a pass for one free cab ride. You will cherish this free cab ride until you get to your stop. The doctor's office, and have to pull yourself up stairs, walk, or should I say hobble? and smile (to deflect all the wincing stranger stares), down a hallway, and then walk down another hallway before given the relief of a boot that is reminiscent of what a stormtrooper may wear. Walking 200 yards will never take so long ever again.
  
• when talking to your new doctor after this happens, you will be so out of it you won't be able to ask some crucial questions. Such as:
  
• how is it possible that I can walk on my ankle? without a cast? it is fractured?! (Answer: the fibula doesn't really bear any weight. You just need to keep it immobilized)
• do I have to wear this big ass boot while I sleep? (no.)
  
• do I have to use this weird sock thing you gave me the whole time? (no. just wear something thin and wool and wash it a lot or it will smell like vinegar)
• do i have to wear this big ass boot the whole entire time? (yes. and when they say 4-6 weeks, it will probably be more like 6)
• finally, they will ask you if you want drugs for pain. just say yes already!
  

Things learned while healing:

• ice is your friend. your best friend. ice + hot packs don't get either icy cold nor hot. just put some ice in a plastic bag and save some $$.
• gimpin' ain't easy
  
• i have the best of friends--friends who cook amazing meals and make me laugh. friends who talk to me on the phone and bring me pastries.
  
• I have the most amazing boyfriend--he cooks (he doesn't just cook, he does magic in the kitchen with healing foods), he cleans after he cooks, he does laundry and folds it, he brings treats. and..if I keep going it will just be obnoxious, or more obnoxious than it already is.
  
• asking for help is harder than you think
• everyone. EVERYONE will look at you sadly as you hobble down the street. Complete strangers will stop and talk with you everywhere you go. they have good intentions. but you still want to tell them you're getting your ankles done.
  
• it's crazy how hard it is to get around this city when you're handicapped. cherish your mobility.
  
• Enjoy taking it slow..enjoy being pampered, don't fight it.
  

I'm half way through. time to ice and elevate and relax....and do it all over again.

love love love

I unearthed a little card for Flux Productions with a beautiful bike logo as I was cleaning today. I typed in the website and fell in love all over again. Prints inspired by the sea and dogwood petals, dresses with cowl necks and bike bags made of cork. All handmade. Sigh. Their booth stole my heart at the Brooklyn Flea this summer. It's almost worth another trip to NYC.

I want to do this with some of my photos...