Jan 02 2013
New Year, Old Place
Good morning, Polk Street!Well, I started the new year off right by heading to San Francisco on New Year’s Day.
It was a beautiful, sunny day, the sky the clear, arching blue you only get in California. The sun peeked through the canopy of the ancient redwoods as I drove the long and winding road to Civilization, past the fields blazing green with winter rains and dotted with snowy white lambs, and the vineyards dreaming of summer. My heart lifted as always at the sight of the majestic Golden Gate Bridge and the first glimpse of the beautiful city, its pastel buildings tumbling down hills toward the brilliant blue Bay.
I settled into my modest motel in my old neighborhood. It’s a few blocks from my first apartment here and just around the corner from my last apartment, which just sold a few months ago for half a million dollars more than John and I paid for it. Maybe we should have held onto it…
I ordered dinner from my old friends at Lemongrass and went to sleep virtuously early, to the familiar sound of fog horns and the hum of the city.
I woke up to sunshine and the wild parrots wishing me good morning. I made my way to Polk Street and did a little delightful shopping, including a card for a friend whose second son was born on Christmas Eve and a birthday card or two. After getting my nails done (appropriately enough, OPI’s “Sweet Memories”) at my cheap and cheerful nail salon, I sat at a little green table outside the French bakery and had a prosciutto and fig sandwich on a freshly-baked walnut baguette, enjoying the sunshine and the passing crowds. Also the “dog parking” sign:
Tomorrow I’m heading over to Berkeley to meet up with our IT person to get…an iPhone. Wish me luck figuring it out!