Tuesday, July 31

Rufus and I walked around Ashbury Heights this morning.  It was beautiful at 5:15 this morning and not too much fog but a lot more of it had managed to roll in by the time I got on my bike at 6:30.  I rode up Corbett to Portola and the dense fog at the top reminded me to get my rear light fixed before somebody kills me.  Then down Woodside to Dewey to Taravel and then Ocean Beach.  I rode through the park today, up MLK drive.  I’m not over there a lot and there’s quite a bit to see.  There are a couple of pretty lakes:

And then another one complete with ducks a little further up the road:

I headed over to the Japanese Tea Garden and got a couple of pics from outside the walls.  What not everybody is up and running at 7AM??

And one of the spectacular entrance gate:

I headed into the Music Concourse and got this pretty pic of a little structure behind some trees:

I headed out 7th Avenue and finally managed to take a picture of the Star of Seas church.  It’s a Catholic church and I hadn’t heard of a Catholic church by that name until I googled it and realized that they usually use the Latin name Stella Maris and that they’re all dedicated to the virgin Mary.  I saw an open door and almost went in to snoop but church was is in session and I was in spandex.  So all you get is the exterior:

Then I continued on 7th ave to Lake to Arguello and then into the Presidio.  I came out through the Marina and over to Fort Mason and then up Columbus to work.  The sun was just starting to come out.

Monday, July 30

Went home over lunch and the dogs were still exhausted from the weekend.  Sleepy dogs are well behaved dogs.  After work, I headed out to McLaren Park.  I rode out Market to Valencia.  I tried again to get a good picture of the new city college building:

It’s such a great building.  I just love it!  The thing I like about San Francisco architecture is that there’s an exuberance that isn’t always successful (like the Museum of Modern Art) but at least they’re trying and you gotta get credit for that.  I continued down Valencia to Mission where I must have pissed off four assholes in a BMW SUB because they insisted on screaming in my ear everytime they passed me in stop and go traffic.  Yikes!  They all had this crazed Simian look and I was afraid they were going to start flinging their feces at me so I didn’t flip them off.  Then I went through Saint Mary’s Park over the pedestrian footbridge to Cambridge and then into McLaren Park.  It wasn’t foggy like the last time I was there and I got some pretty pics of the bay:

And also one of me looking delighted:

Then I headed home Persia to Ocean to Phelan to Flood to Foerster to Teresita to Portola to Corbett home.  Mr. Poe had taken Rufus to the vet and the news is good.  He’s in great shape and we’re doing everything right.  He’s up to 45 pounds which means he’s gaining 3 pounds a week and the vet thinks he’s going to top off at about 90 pounds.  Which is more than Nicole Richie.  That’s a whole lotta dog!!  I took Rufus to the dog park after dinner to play with his friends and then after, Mr. Poe and I took both the dogs for a walk in Ashbury Heights.  Here I am walking them both:

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Mimi as happy as she’s been since we’ve gotten Rufus.  She loves him.  And she loves bossing him around.  And she loves that he’s always in trouble.  We continued down Downey where I saw this house.  If I’m not mistaken, it’s covered in pressed tin which I’ve never seen on the exterior of a building before.

We headed home and everybody went to bed.  It was 9PM.  Total bicycle mileage:  30

Monday, July 30

Cold and foggy again!  Not to worry, I’m used to it.  I walked Rufus and then set off on my bike Corbett to Portola to Woodside to Dewey to Taravel and out to Ocean Beach.  It was foggy but not wet which was nice.  I took a few pictures of the ruins of the Sutro Baths as I headed up Geary:

It’s such an interesting mix of antuiquity looking ruins meets 19th century industrial might.  You can read more about it here .  From there I went up to the Palace of the Legion of Honor.  Here’s an interesting structure in the golf course surrounding the museum:

You can see the fog clinging to the trees.  It can be pretty miserable up there.  I headed down on Lake to Arguello and then Clay to Steiner to Post and into the Financial District.

Sunday, July 29

I tried to go riding with Jeff in the afternoon.  But he had a few flat tires. I determined that the culprit was ripped rim tape but since I didn’t know how long the band aid I used as an emergency fix was gonna hold and we were out of tubes, we headed home early.  We met up with Chris and David along with Sofi the world’s sweetest dog at the dog park.  Here are a few pics of the antics:

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Poor Rufus can’t keep out of trouble:

We headed home for dinner and then walked Rufus and Mimi.  I went to bed at 7:15.  Total mileage for the day:  27.  Total mileage for the week:  220.

Sunday, July 29

Woke up early and took Rufus for an exceptionally long walk.  We went 18th to Collingwood to 19th to Sanchez to 24th to Corbett and then home.  I saw this great bike on 24th street:

Maybe Mr. Poe would ride with me more if I got one of these.  Then he and Mimi could just sit in the back and eat sandwiches.  I got on my bike and headed over to the bridge.  The San Francisco Marathon was going on and there were a lot of closed roads.  Man I’m glad I wasn’t running in that because it was cold and gloomy.  I was all bundled up.  The joggers were not.  I took these on the Golden Gate Bridge:

It was pretty wet and miserable up to the top of the headlands, but the valley was beautiful.  All of the moisture had made everything terrifically green.  I think the fog is a little more optimistic in the morning than the afternoon because there’s still the possibility of a sunny day:

These are from above Rodeo Beach and Lagoon:

When I was coming up Ike Turner Hill I saw a deer!  It was very wary of me and took off the first chance it got:

From the top of Ike Turner Hill I heade back down Conzellman and made my way down to Fort Baker.  There’s a Marina down there and, of course, that wonderful view of the bridge:

And one of me as well:

I headed back over the bridge and then through the Presidio to the Marina and then into Fort Mason. There’s a strange sculpture with a mosaic on it in Fort Mason that I don’t quite know what to make of:

The detail is a little unsettling.  Could it be little Suri Cruise??

From Fort Mason, I headed through Fisherman’s Wharf to the Embarcadero where the marathon finished.  the joggers were all wrapped up in thermal blankets.  But at least the Embarcadero building looked jolly:

From there I went up Howard Street.  There are two interesting buildings at the corner of Howard and 6th.  One of them is a hotel that has clearly seen better days:

The other is a derelict building with furniture attached to the exterior.  The owners keep trying to sell it but no takers.  My thought is nothing says “don’t buy me” quite like a sofa nailed to the exterior three floors up:

I headed down 10th Street and caught the beginnings of the Dore Alley street fair.  No! No!  A thousand times no!  Maybe I’m getting too old but Dore Alley and Folsom are to crowded, too smelly, and too gross for my tastes.

I took Harrison into the Mission.  This mural commemorates an apartment building fire that took many lives:

From there I took Harrison to 18th to Diamond and then home on 17th.

Saturday, July 28th

I caught the dogs napping together!

I had to get reblonded and it took 3 hours and I was dazed and exhausted by the end of it.  Why sitting in a chair for three hours wears me out so much I can’t tell you.  Maybe it’s the fumes.  I met up with my friend Nathan and Jeff picked us up and we headed over to the Palace of the Legion of Honor to go look at an exhibit on works on paper they had going.  It was a very disjointed and poorly organized exhibit that was very frustrating to go to because it was very hard to figure out what they curator who organized it was trying to say other than “Here’s a bunch of stuff we haven’t had out in a while!”  I think if they had grouped the pieces into photographs, media, renderings, manuscript illuminations etc than I think I would have enjoyed the exhibit a bit more.  We went and looked at the permanent collection after.  I think the museum building itself is kind of a hard act to follow:

Hello gorgeous!

Fabulous Rodin from the permanent collection:

And a gorgeous cabinet.  I think the furniture is the most fabulous part of the permanent collection at the Palace of the Legion on Honor. 

The courtyard of the museum is very beautiful:

And it is very popular for wedding photographs.

You know you can wear the dress again.  Here are a few views of the grounds:

And even one with Mr Poe and I in it:

And of course on of Mr. Poe with Miss Smith:

We took Nathan home and went to to grocery store.  We had a quick dinner because Jeff was babysitting our neighbor’s baby so they could go out to dinner.  I took Rufus to the dog park and then came back and collected Mimi and took the two of them for a very long walk.  We went home and went to bed.  Total bicycle mileage:  20

Saturday, July 28

I got up early and walked Rufus and then headed off on my bike.  I went down 18th to Valencia and took a few pics of the new City college building going up on Valencia between 23rd and 24th.  It’s tricky to photograph but straight up fabulous:

I”m pretty sure that the ornamentation above the windows is meant to refer back to Mexico because it’s the Mission.  I hesitate to use the word Mayan because, it makes my archaeologist friend Jim awfully prickly when i do that.  Apparently it’s supposed to be Maya not Mayan although my gut tells me that this distinction is likely an example of something cooked up by academics solely for the reason of giving them multiple opportunities to correct lay people (let’s call them “winkies”).  So I’m not going to suggest that the cool, stylized ornamention is meant to refer back not only to indigenous Mexican art  but also to the local craze for all things MayaN that  swept through the city in the 20′s.  Because if I were to do that a brick might likely come sailing through my window with a note attached reading “THAT’S MAYA YOU IDIOT”.  Well it would more likely come sailing through my neighbor’s window.  Jim’s aim isn’t very good.  And besides, this building’s probably supposed to be Aztec.

I’m fond of the paining on the protective structure they’ve built around the building to keep construction stuff from falling on pedestrian’s heads.  This was my favorite:

I’m not sure what statement it’s trying to make and maybe that’s why I like it so much.  I continued down Valencia and caught this view of Potrero Hill from Valencia and Cesar Chavez:

Pretty!  Then I made my way over to San Jose Ave and then into Glen Park.  Then Monterey to Plymouth to Northwood to Faxon to Ocean to Eucalyptus to Middlefield then round Lake Merced and up the Great Highway.  I went up to the Palace of the Legion on Honor and then down Lake Street where I got this view of the beautiful Synangogue on Arguello:

From Arguello I took Sacramento to Scott to Duboce to Castro to 17th and then home.

I had a lot to do over lunch. First, I had to get that pesky rear tire on my commuter replaced because it was really word down and I was getting a lot of flats. Luckily, they changed it really quickly and it didn’t take a lot of time. Then I had to meet Mr. Poe for a quick lunch and a visit to the Museum of Modern Art. The museum itself isn’t my favorite building in the city. I think it looks like a big lipstick. Which might be great for Lancome’s corportate headquarters but not so great for a museum. The inside has some interesting angles:

Hello gorgeous!

We went to see the Matisse exhibit which was pretty crappy but there were a couple of other things there that I really liked. Check out these dogs:

They come from this larger painting:

It’s like they got my dogs to model as all of them have what they call “crazy face”.  There was also this great super-realistic homoerotic series on rock climbers:

  

Much nicer at the museum than in the reproduction.  Very well executed and finely detailed.  Although the guys at the upper left seem a little porno.  But maybe that’s just me.  Moving into the permanent exhibit, I saw this Rodin sculpture that I really liked:

Rodin seems to be what the scholars call an “ass man”:

I totally got yelled at for taking pictures in the museum.  See what I do for this site??  We headed outside to a little porch high above Yerba Buena Gardens.  There’s a great view of the city.  This building is Humboldt Savings Bank.  It was under constuction when the earthquake hit it in 1906 and was expanded and completed after:

This is a view across 3rd Street into Yerba Buena Gardens:

Mr. Poe hiding from the security guard who kept trying to get me to stop taking pictures:

And me brazen in my lawlessness:

The last thing we saw that was neat was an enormous installation that spanned several rooms.  Got yelled at yet again for taking pictures.  And I really cared.  Yes I did.

I had to get back to work and Mr. Poe had some movie to go to so that was the end of our museum visit for that day.  After work I headed down Geary to Polk to Washington.  I found the German Consulate on Washington Street.  I like!

From there I headed down to Arguello and then through Golden Gate Park, around Stow Lake and out 9th Avenue into the Sunset.  I went up to Kirkham and then 17th to Vicente and then over into Saint Francis Wood.  Here is the circle at St. Francis and Santa Ana:

From there I headed out Miraloma to Portola to Corbett and then home.  The dogs were engaged in their favorite activity:

I took Rufus to the Park and then walked them both and then it was time for bed.  Total bicycle mileage:  35.

Friday, July 27

I managed to get my butt out of bed on time this morning and got out of the house in plenty of time to have get a good ride in. I took the familiar Corbett to Portola to Woodside to Dewey to Taravel route to Ocean Beach and then I went up to the palace of the legion of Honor. Instead of heading back on Lake, I went through the Presidio. Here’s a pic of some of the beautiful homes that back to the Presidio– swanky!

And one of me as well:

It was still pretty foggy but thankfully dry. The bridge was pretty socked in:

I managed to make it through the Presidio without a flat today and took Marina Green to Fort Mason to Aquatic Park and then up Columbus into the Financial District. Fun ride!

Thursday, July 26

Headed out Sutter after work and then took Presidio to Euclid into Jordan Park.  Commonwealth seems to be the swanky street in that neighboorhood and I had a good time checking out an Armenian Apostolic church St. Gregory the Illuminator which was completed in 1966.  It has a very fabulous sculpture commemorating the Armenia as the first Christian Kingdom (c300 ad).

It also has a wonderful Mosaic over one of the entrances:

And some more fantastic detail from this church:

I took Euclid to Arguello to Lake and spotted this cool structure on the grounds of St. Anne’s Home for the Aged (their name not mine).  You can see the fabulous synagogue on Arguello rising behind it and I think it echoes it’s pallette and form:

Then I continued into Seacliff.  Nothing but beautful things to see in Seacliff:

I don’t even want to know what terrible things this homeowner has to do to make roses grow this well in such a foggy neighborhood but I can enjoy the fruits of their labors:

I headed up to the Palace of Legion of Honor and then down to Geary and over to the coast.  I took the great highway down to Taravel  and then headed home Taravel to Dewey to 7th Ave to Clarendon and then down 17th St. Mr. Poe had gone to a movie with his friend Sharon so I had the dogs to myself and, even though he had been home all day, they had a lot of energy so I took Rufus to the dog park to see his friends right away.  He had a lot of fun romping around and generally stayed out of trouble.  Except for the poor lady in the linen slacks who he kept jumping up on.  Sorry about that, sugar:

Then I went home, ate some dinner and took Rufus and Mimi for a long walk in Ashbury heights where my precious Mimi almost behaved herself!  Here’s a beautiful home on Masonic Street at Sunset.

Total bike mileage:  33