Pouring Sunshine, Drifting Through Crowds.

I awoke Saturday morning to warm sunshine. I sit outside in sweats and a t-shirt. Only the sight of christmas decorations remind me it’s the holiday time of year. Feeling chipper me and my hosts decide to go for a walk - or rather a hike to the Randall Museum . I used to go to this place when I lived here. It’s where I learned the ancient art of setting movable type in a shop there. Me and a friend also helped feed the animals in the mini zoo they have. 

Looming over the museum is Bernal Heights, otherwise know as Rocky Mountain. It’s a bare outcropping made unattractive by a cyclone fence placed along the edge so people won’t fall off. I say lose the fence and let nature take it’s course. We wisely stay at ground level and enjoy the view of the city skyline marred by yet more ugly architecture in the form of a tall apartment buidling downtown that looks like an air filter. ( Note building in the center of photo).

When we return to base , Operation Rainbow Grocery Shopping is launched. Five people pile into a Honda Fit- the official car of SF -and we head off.  San Francisco has a population of  800,000 and I’m pretty sure most of them were at the store. It was an absolute madhouse. Note to self: don’t shop in SF before New Year’s Day without sedatives. 

We planned to stay in and celebrate the new year but decide to eat out with the arrival of another couple. We walked down to Castro Street and dine at the Sausage factory (insert your own joke here) an excellent Italian restuarant. While the two adult couples chat completely enraptured with each other E  and I sit in silence. I recognize the awkwardness in her expression from my own years of feeling excluded from company. As we walked back we passed by mobs of people out for a evening of  gala partying. Handsome men decked out in tuxes and a few in dresses stood in line outside a club or strolled around. Yep, gay people really know how to party. 

The hike up the Saturn stairs exhausts me but I’m proud of the achievement. I’ve exercised more in one week than I have in months. It inspires me to keep it up once I get home. I greet the new year sitting on the balcony looking out over the city hearing the whoops and hollers at the stroke of midnight. It’s an odd and unexpected way to bring in the new year. I was grateful for the privacy of the darkness, alone with my thoughts.