Friday, December 17, 2010
Two doggies splashing and an Asian Art Museum Membership!
Above title sounds like a Christmas song lyric...i've got such on my brain, it being so near the Day and all.
Actually, above title describes two of the more delightful San Francisco things that have happened to us in the past couple of days, making our life here - already so wonderful that we walk around with smiles on our faces all the time -richer and even more fun.
Stephen,Paul and I took the pups over to Baker Beach earlier this week on a gorgeous grey, wet and dramatically cloudy day, (while Peter worked away at getting his cunning little office set up so we can record Christmas gifts for family) , and I was overwhelmed by how easy and free-wheeling our two spoiled mini-dachshunds were on this vast stretch of wet sand, the moment we took them off their leashes! It was like Cyrano became god of the Bay, his extravagantly wild ears flying in the winds, as he took off down the beach in pursuit of a wet beach stick thrown as far as Stephen's arm could throw it! And, once she got her delicate little princess tootsies used to it, Sally walked and walked like I've never seen her walk before!
There was a large Irish wolfhound sort of creature named Moxie there with his owner Tom, and all three dogs became friends - another revelation, since our dogs have always been barky and squeamish around other canines....one of the fears I had moving back to a city was about how our pups would behave with other dogs, back on concrete streets,etc. Well, little did I know how quickly the magic of San Francisco would work on Sally and Cyrano: they have been perfectly well behaved and friendly and open and sharing sniffs with other dogs, since we arrived three weeks ago: no problems! There are flowers in the air here, and every creature knows it: peace reigns, in this most delightful city! Dogs included.
It helps that we are renting in an extremely dog-friendly building, where a special doggie-bathroom area has been set up out back by the garages, complete with wall-mounted dispensers of poo-poo bags for whatever needs picking up, and that 3/4 of the people in these 3 connected buildings are dog-owners, or at least it seems so. And yet, there is never the over-crowded feeling or threat of meeting all the dogs at once in the elevator, like there is in NYC, since altogether, there is less crowding in this city: it's a relaxed experience, rather than a "fraught" one. So all four of us seem happy with the dog situation. And then, there are these beaches for the dogs to run on!
So, Baker Beach one afternoon, then the famed Chrissy Field Beach the next: dozens of fabulous pooches running and chasing balls and sticks, ...one enormous dog run...edged by the magnificent Bay again, with the Golden Gate Bridge on one end of an extensive walk, and the entire Marina area on the other end...i mean, with it's marsh wildlife restoration projects and charming dogs and their owners all happy in the sun, mild breezes blowing: the perfect picture of Doggie Heaven, if ever there was one.
And once again, both free of restraints, Sally and Cyrano were perfectly in their element: chasing balls (well, Cyrano more than Sally, but she was walking like a regular pup athlete!) and hobnobbing with other dogs like they'd been friends forever....i never expected it to be so easy. And CYRANO? HE WENT ALL THE WAY UP TO HIS CHIN INTO THE WATER IN PURSUIT OF WHATEVER STICK OR BALL HE WAS CHASING! Never blinked a doggie eye! Just ran after whatever was being thrown and splashed around til he found what he was chasing and swam back to us standing on the beach...his little paws flapping away, til he got out of the water. At one point the waves were so big, his eyes widened as he seemed to think: wow, what's all this? What do I do now? But whatever he needed to do he did, and HE INEVITABLY FOUND THE STICK, no matter how lost it got in the waves...he found it! My boy! I was so proud....and , frankly, AMAZED!
We walked 'til I was exhausted, so I can only imagine how tired the dogs must have been , but their energies never flagged, they were so filled with joie de vivre and bounce! All the way back to the car, where i have learned my lesson: bring towels to wipe them off with, and get as much sand off their wet bodies as possible before we get back in the car! This much is true, however: once they did get home, they COLLAPSED onto the bed and slept like the dead ! Cyrano was so exhausted, he didn't even wake up when I moved him so I could have room on the bed! He just lay there like the tired lump of love he was and let me move him where i needed him to be!
This doggies-on-the-each thing? Wonderful. And we will do a lot if it, especially since it's great exercise for us as well!
THEN: as if things aren't already so great i can hardly stand it: we received the perfect holiday gift yesterday: membership - actually multiple memberships -in some of SF's greatest museums: the Asian Art Museum (Peters favorite of all), and the extraordinary DeYoung Museum of Art, both in Golden Gate Park and it's Legion of Honor Museum as well! I mean: there is no more perfect gift for us, as much as we adore good museums, and have missed going to them for several years now. And since Stephen and Paul also have family memberships to these, we can all go and enjoy them together!
In fact, on December 31st - 9:00 AM for Members, and 11:00 for non-Members - there is a ringing of ancient Japanese Bells (16h Century ancient), and we all hope to go to that unique celebration: each guest can actually put hands on one of the ancient bells and ring it for good luck! Well...i mean, come on! Such a SF way to ring out the old year and ring in the new! The very thought of it gives me goosebumps. AS does our plan to spend New Year's Eve up at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and celebrate in the special ways they have planned! We 'd even discussed doing the Eve at the San
Francisco Symphony Gala Celebration...but decided we needed something less formal, so SPirit Rock was our choice...we will spend it with Paul and Stephen , of course. All four of us feel very grateful that our dear little family can spend this turn of 2010/11 together, with our major move having been accomplished...so we can all be together for days to come! This is a blessed time for all of us, and we all feel the special-ness of it. New Year's eve at Spirit Rock will be a time of celebration and thanks-giving.
What a wonderful time this is.
Actually, above title describes two of the more delightful San Francisco things that have happened to us in the past couple of days, making our life here - already so wonderful that we walk around with smiles on our faces all the time -richer and even more fun.
Stephen,Paul and I took the pups over to Baker Beach earlier this week on a gorgeous grey, wet and dramatically cloudy day, (while Peter worked away at getting his cunning little office set up so we can record Christmas gifts for family) , and I was overwhelmed by how easy and free-wheeling our two spoiled mini-dachshunds were on this vast stretch of wet sand, the moment we took them off their leashes! It was like Cyrano became god of the Bay, his extravagantly wild ears flying in the winds, as he took off down the beach in pursuit of a wet beach stick thrown as far as Stephen's arm could throw it! And, once she got her delicate little princess tootsies used to it, Sally walked and walked like I've never seen her walk before!
There was a large Irish wolfhound sort of creature named Moxie there with his owner Tom, and all three dogs became friends - another revelation, since our dogs have always been barky and squeamish around other canines....one of the fears I had moving back to a city was about how our pups would behave with other dogs, back on concrete streets,etc. Well, little did I know how quickly the magic of San Francisco would work on Sally and Cyrano: they have been perfectly well behaved and friendly and open and sharing sniffs with other dogs, since we arrived three weeks ago: no problems! There are flowers in the air here, and every creature knows it: peace reigns, in this most delightful city! Dogs included.
It helps that we are renting in an extremely dog-friendly building, where a special doggie-bathroom area has been set up out back by the garages, complete with wall-mounted dispensers of poo-poo bags for whatever needs picking up, and that 3/4 of the people in these 3 connected buildings are dog-owners, or at least it seems so. And yet, there is never the over-crowded feeling or threat of meeting all the dogs at once in the elevator, like there is in NYC, since altogether, there is less crowding in this city: it's a relaxed experience, rather than a "fraught" one. So all four of us seem happy with the dog situation. And then, there are these beaches for the dogs to run on!
So, Baker Beach one afternoon, then the famed Chrissy Field Beach the next: dozens of fabulous pooches running and chasing balls and sticks, ...one enormous dog run...edged by the magnificent Bay again, with the Golden Gate Bridge on one end of an extensive walk, and the entire Marina area on the other end...i mean, with it's marsh wildlife restoration projects and charming dogs and their owners all happy in the sun, mild breezes blowing: the perfect picture of Doggie Heaven, if ever there was one.
And once again, both free of restraints, Sally and Cyrano were perfectly in their element: chasing balls (well, Cyrano more than Sally, but she was walking like a regular pup athlete!) and hobnobbing with other dogs like they'd been friends forever....i never expected it to be so easy. And CYRANO? HE WENT ALL THE WAY UP TO HIS CHIN INTO THE WATER IN PURSUIT OF WHATEVER STICK OR BALL HE WAS CHASING! Never blinked a doggie eye! Just ran after whatever was being thrown and splashed around til he found what he was chasing and swam back to us standing on the beach...his little paws flapping away, til he got out of the water. At one point the waves were so big, his eyes widened as he seemed to think: wow, what's all this? What do I do now? But whatever he needed to do he did, and HE INEVITABLY FOUND THE STICK, no matter how lost it got in the waves...he found it! My boy! I was so proud....and , frankly, AMAZED!
We walked 'til I was exhausted, so I can only imagine how tired the dogs must have been , but their energies never flagged, they were so filled with joie de vivre and bounce! All the way back to the car, where i have learned my lesson: bring towels to wipe them off with, and get as much sand off their wet bodies as possible before we get back in the car! This much is true, however: once they did get home, they COLLAPSED onto the bed and slept like the dead ! Cyrano was so exhausted, he didn't even wake up when I moved him so I could have room on the bed! He just lay there like the tired lump of love he was and let me move him where i needed him to be!
This doggies-on-the-each thing? Wonderful. And we will do a lot if it, especially since it's great exercise for us as well!
THEN: as if things aren't already so great i can hardly stand it: we received the perfect holiday gift yesterday: membership - actually multiple memberships -in some of SF's greatest museums: the Asian Art Museum (Peters favorite of all), and the extraordinary DeYoung Museum of Art, both in Golden Gate Park and it's Legion of Honor Museum as well! I mean: there is no more perfect gift for us, as much as we adore good museums, and have missed going to them for several years now. And since Stephen and Paul also have family memberships to these, we can all go and enjoy them together!
In fact, on December 31st - 9:00 AM for Members, and 11:00 for non-Members - there is a ringing of ancient Japanese Bells (16h Century ancient), and we all hope to go to that unique celebration: each guest can actually put hands on one of the ancient bells and ring it for good luck! Well...i mean, come on! Such a SF way to ring out the old year and ring in the new! The very thought of it gives me goosebumps. AS does our plan to spend New Year's Eve up at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and celebrate in the special ways they have planned! We 'd even discussed doing the Eve at the San
Francisco Symphony Gala Celebration...but decided we needed something less formal, so SPirit Rock was our choice...we will spend it with Paul and Stephen , of course. All four of us feel very grateful that our dear little family can spend this turn of 2010/11 together, with our major move having been accomplished...so we can all be together for days to come! This is a blessed time for all of us, and we all feel the special-ness of it. New Year's eve at Spirit Rock will be a time of celebration and thanks-giving.
What a wonderful time this is.
Labels: San Francisco life
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