Everyone needs a fur lined rut to return to!

http://deyoung.famsf.org/orsay

Perfect timing. The second half of the world tour of these paintings was in SF--the only city to have both exhibits.

SF is my fur lined rut. So comfortable have been the last 30 plus years. Sure there have been the usual cross bearing episodes but if you have to do your penance there's no place like Mill Valley, Sausalito and SF to do it. The only drawback? The thought of leaving Broadway in Pacific Heights is very scary. It's a long way to the bottom with virtually no chance of getting back if you make a bad move. True, we thought as much when we moved from high on Mt. Tam to the water's edge in Sausalito. For nine years we thought living on a small ledge with a beach below was our final bay area destination. Pano 180 degree views across the bay with the moon rising lighting up the living room. Two bedrooms and a fireplace. I cried like a baby when the owner died and we all got the boot. But who knew SF would even surpass that. With our move in date etched into the concrete sidewalk out front the last 23 years have been an urban delight. Nary a care. Top floor, you can hear a pin drop.

Walk out onto the roof deck and there lies the bay and city. Blah, blah, blah, you get the picture. Moving is not taken lightly. But move we shall, 2012. Change is good, right?



Billy Idol at the Fillmore. Way better than we expected. I was amazed by how many young people were there. I thought it would be geezer rock. I hid my cane!


The new Jewish Museum. Interesting building to say the least. There seemed to be a lot of wasted space on the inside. Maybe a little too much form over function.


Denise reunites with one of her favorite friends. Having grown up tied to a stake in the backyard I had no idea who he was. His travels aside the authors have a much more interesting story escaping Europe.


Change!? With 4-8 minutes for two bits, SF had to go to credit cards. The blinking lights also let the meter folks know who is out of time without even getting out of the cart. Tickets are BIG money in SF.

Aside from the usual holiday events, dinners, xmas parties, catching up on all the future Academy award movies and the like, I actually spend most of my time resourcing materials for the house. This time it was tile and kitchen solutions. Names, prices, samples etc that I can later resource in Florida. Denise and I each have veto power so whatever the results, we have agreed on them. I sneak in a thing or two, three on the construction side but the finishing touches are strictly agreed to. Peace in the kingdom!

Yes the weather does suck after being acclimated to St John. All of a sudden 45-50 seems very cold for winter temps. However that does not stop us from our favorite Winter retreat--Yosemite.

The drive in. You literally go from green grass and flowers to this in about 10 miles.


This has been our "off road" sport coupe SUV for the last 15 years! There are a few stretches of road from SF to the park where I get to run her in reckless fashion. Every car has a sweet spot and this one I put at about 95-100 mph. "What's your hurry Pat" as Denise always quotes the State Trooper who pulled us over in Washington. He busted a high speed U turn right out of the movies to get me on a highway through the Cascades after I crested the top of the hill and there he was coming up the other side. I told him it was the road! He was nice and wrote me up at 20 over keeping me out of the "reckless" category.

The view from our room at the Yosemite Lodge. Rooms are pot luck for the most part. This was a major score. Our favorite cabins at Curry Village have been closed because of the rock slides. They were giving these rooms away when we got the email. This year we got our perennial wish--that it snow while we were there. The whole place goes winter fantasy land if it does. This time the effects lasted the four days we were there.

The pictures say it all....



"Alpenglow" in full effect

People in Yosemite: A TimeLapse Study from Steven M. Bumgardner on Vimeo.Full screen, speakers on.

Like SF when we go to Yosemite we slip into our fur lined rut. Get a room or cabin, eat lunch and dinners at the lodges but breakfast at the Awahnee.


The dining room.

Wintertime it is basically empty. Hike all day or whatever and return to Lodge later in the day.

Part of the lobby.

It literally is, pick your own fireplace. Many you can walk into! Years ago this area was guests only.

This year they were offering ski packages to Badger Pass inside the park. Bunny slopes to good skiers but to us--perfect after not having skied in many years. Denise refused to bring our antiquated equipment. It's classic stuff. That's what I try to keep telling her. It looks good traversing our trunk, one of those classic movie shots where the luggage is strapped to the trunk rack. No such luck. Actually it was nice just renting!

Snow? This is snow!


A coyote on our way out.

From 25 foot drifts to this in four hours. It never ceases to amaze. In the old days we would ski one day and play golf the next.

An apartment building I painted years ago, still looking good. Like all the apartment buildings I specialized in, I would paint the entire building with usually just one other person. A building this size would take two of us about four months. I rigged my own steel stages and away we went. It was heaven, everything on a stage, pushing a button going up and down. The hard part was psychological. It's a big building, a lot of paint strokes, no spraying and its a long way down if something goes wrong! Getting your bid right is the real skill. I had a formula that never let me down on any building. I would nail it to within a day or two. I never once "ate it" or changed a bid price. Ever. Towards the end I was painting buildings like this on a handshake, nothing more. No money up front, 50% at the halfway mark and the balance on completion. Everyone knew who I was and how I did it. True, it ended up being the same small group of owners over the years with their multiple buildings. But any referrals knew the program. I was booked years in advance.

That said it is easy to see why I thought building a small house would be no big deal. Hubris. Pride goeth before the fall!!!!

A typical house in the neighborhood, one of my favorites.

True dat, as they say, the SF rut is addictive, to be sure. But St John is even more so. This time, we get to live inside a National Park in paradise. Well, that's how I see it. Denise still thinks it may be akin to falling off the map!

Just like that a month flies by and I'm getting off a ferry in Cruz Bay.
Waiting for me at the 12x12 shack? Two grifters who adopted me before I left. These rain forest kiddies took care of themselves for the month.