As I predicted, the new setting on my knee brace left me feeling pretty uncomfortable for a couple of days.  The knee itself is fine, but the muscles around it and in my leg which haven't gotten a lot of action for a long time are now starting to move again and they aren't happy about it.  I sat around for the rest of the week and played video games but by Sunday I thought I was used to it enough to go for a walk.  Mr Poe and I headed off with the dogs towards the Castro.

This is the Clarke Mansion that was built in 1892.  I love it and think it's super fantastic.  It's especially interesting to note that it was only a mansion for about thirty years.  It was cut up into apartment pretty quickly.  You can read a little more about it here:

Mr. Poe on Douglass St with the little ones.  Hello gorgeous!

The view up Romain towards Twin Peaks:

The view of Candlestick Point from the Romain St footbridge:

Rufus and I on Corbett:

Corone Heights from Corbett:

Some of the old Victorians on Corbett.  From the looks of these, they are some of the older houses in the city.  1870's and early 1880's:

Poor Mimi was exhausticated when we got home.  She passed out til dinner:

I'm headed back to work in the office Monday.  Stay tuned!

I made it out of the house in the late afternoon for a walk.  This was likely my last walk for a couple of days because I was going to adjust my knee brace to give me more movement when I got back and I thought that would take a couple of days to get used to.  I headed up Corbett with Rufus.  This is the view up Mars from Corbett:

The view down Romain.  I loves me some One Rincon Hill:

These are the pretty murals at Rooftop Middle School on Corbett at Romain that were done by 8th graders in 2007.  I love them.  They're so pretty and they've got such an interesting feeling of texture.  You can read a little more about the project here:

The view of the East Bay from the Romain St Footbridge:

Corona Heights from Eureka:

Pretty Victorians on Eureka:

Me:

Rufus was a very good boy while he was tied up outside of Cala Foods in the Castro.  Very good indeed.  I headed home and adjusted my brace and it was indeed very tight and very strange feeling to have that much more movement.  Stay tuned!

I made it out of the house a little late today and went on a shorter walk.  The crappy weather wasn't very encouraging and I had a lot of work late in the day today.  My speed is definitely getting faster.  I'm still very slow but I think my pace has moved past mosey on most terrain and now approaches stroll.  I wasn't very good at the sitting around part of this injury.  The rehab, on the other hand, I'm totally on board for.  Rufus and I went and walked around Liberty Hill.  This building is on 19th at Collingwood, I think.  It looks to me like it once had a more sloped roof that it is not lacking.  Also, the name of the hair salon on the first floor made me giggle.  There's something about that name that reminds me of hair gel.

This fabulous Mural is also on 19th, at Noe (I think).  It's very whimsical:

This building really made me look.  But it's too much.  Too much!  I've concluded that most of the decoration is modern slapped on a Victorian with far less grand an exterior.  I'm certainly not taking issue with it.  It's gorgeous.  But the ornament is just too much, too big, and too prominant for a building of that era in this neighborhood.  I think the front porch and the round tower above it is modern as well.  They did a great job.  I bet most people wouldn't notice:

The houses on the Sanchez Steps.  Gorgeous:

The view towards Buena Vista from the top of the Sanchez steps:

Me on the Sanchez steps.  Hello roots:

Rufus:

This gorgeous place on Sanchez at Liberty has the most amazing gardens:

The view from Sanchez and Liberty:

Prety roses in front of a cottage on 21st:

I'm looking forward to tomorrow.  I'm hoping we get a little more sun.

I headed off for a walk in the late afternoon.  Rufus and I went up to the Buena Vista Park.  I think my speed is gradually increasing which is nice.  I'm planning on adjusting my brace on Wednesday night to give me some more movement and then I think I'll be at the pace of one of the seniors that live at my mom's retirement community.  I love this house.  It reminds me of the place I grew up in in Iowa.  Except the place in Dubuque was a little (cough, cough) larger.

Some of the gorgeous homes on Upper Terrace:

The view of St. Ignatious from Upper Terrace and Masonic.  Mayor Newsom just bought a house tantalizingly close to me.  I know he loves me.

Buena Vista Park has amazing views of most of the bay area.   A lot of it is under construction right now but the good parts are still open:

Alta Plaza with Angel Island behind it:

Golden Gate Bridge:

Downtown:

The Mission Dolores:

More downtown:

Then I walked around Ashbury Heights for a while.  St. Ignatius looks good from many angles:

Some of the gorgeous Victorians on Waller:

I love the detail on this little building:

Fabulous detail:

Gorgeous homes:

With equally fabulous detail:

The view up Belvedere:

Hippy murals on a food kitchen:

More fabulousness on Belvedere:

Check out this incredible detail:

Pretty Piedmont St:

I tried to get a good pic of Rufus but look at him--  he's all suspicious:  J'accuse:

Big Blond on Piedmont:

Prettyness on Piedmont:

The view west towards UCSF and the ocean:

I saw this cute little dog who was clearly too tired to bark at us:

The vierw from Roosevelt looking towards Candlestick Point:

When I got home I noted that the garden of Mr. Poe has exploded this week.  Check out the trumped vine:

The rest of the garden is super cute as well:

Mr. Poe showed up around 7.  Mexican night!

Mr Poe and I headed off to South San Francisco mid day.  We had to go to Target and also the Lay Z Boy furniture gallery.  Mr. Poe has been wanting a recliner ever since visiting my parents in Florida for the first time.  I associate recliners with old people and have resisted their introduction into our home.  On account of Mr. Poe's turning fifty in August,  I have finally capitulated on this matter.  Thus the visit to the Lay Z Boy furniture gallery.   The construction of their stuff is pretty solid.  But man is a lot of it ugly.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

We found a chair that's pretty OK.  The ones we got were black leather and will be ready in August.  Just in time for his birthday:

Afterwards I took Mr. Poe to Arby's.  How it is that somebody who likes meat as much as Mr. Poe had overlooked Arby's all these years if completely unbelievable to me.  Arby's you may recall was Ashley Senior's very favorite restaurant.  The trick to eating there is to only get the roast beef sandwich and not get the horrifying cheese sludge on it.  Mr Poe enjoyed it very much and was escpecially delighted by the horsey sauce.  The Arby's in South San Francisco is a very old store and kind of in the shape of a cowboy hat.  It's probably from the early seventies.  The sign is amazing:

The South San Francisco sign as seen from the Arby's parking lot:

Then it was off to Target and then home.  The weather was holding up and we took the dogs for a walk.  Hello gorgeous!:

If I was still living in the south I'd assume this was a KKK rally and go and hide.  Thankfully, in San Francisco these are nuns.

The view from Hattie Street:

Some of the fine Victorians on Corbett:

Me with Mimi.  Note my super cute new shorts:

The beautiful view from the top of the Saturn Steps:

Hello Gorgeous!:

Rufus and I went for a long walk this afternoon.  My pace is infuriatingly slow.  I've always been a fast walker, but now the fastest I can manage is a mosey.  I'm hoping that's going to go away.  I went on a walk that made me pine for my good friend Mr. Nick as it's one we took many time together--  Castro into Noe Valley and then Laidley to the Harry steps and home on Diamond Heights Blvd to Portola.

Castro Street has a number of gorgeous apartment buildings.  These are symmetricalicious:

Houses on the Noe Valley side of Castro:

24th and Castro:

Castro ends in steps at Noe Valley and at the top of them is a very un-urban area:

Twin Peaks from I think it's called Fairmont hill:

The view of Castro looking South from Fairmont Hill:

Bernal Hill and the East Bay:

The view Southeast from the same vantage point:

Noe Valley and the Mission with Potrero rising behind it:

Spectactular downtown views:

The view looking back at Fairmont hill from Laidley:

The Harry Street Steps.  These seem to go on forever.  I wonder if they are the longest in the city.  They might well be:

There are a couple of houses on the steps and they're both about a zillion steps either up or down.  I don't know how people who live there get groceries or deal with garbage:

There are a bunch of gorgeous 70's (I'm guessing) homes at the top of the steps on Diamond Street:

Goregeous views from Diamond Heights:

Happy Rufus!

Windblown Joseph:

I saw these pretty succulents on Diamond Heights Boulevard right before Portola:

There are spectactular views of the city as you're coming down Portola into Market:

My beloved Corona Heights:

I was SORE when I got home.  Not my knee, everywhere else.  I had dinner and waited for Mr. Poe and then we went and sat in the hot tub for a long time.  Very helpful.

Mr. Poe took me to REI last night where we picked up my new commuter bike.  Yes, yes, we all know I won't be on a bike for another couple of months.  It's Daddy's old bike that Mom shipped up to me and I had refurbished.  It looks teriffic.  It's a lot lighter than the Cannondale I've been commuting on all these years and it looks so much cooler.  It's a Vitus 979 from the late eighties.  Here's how it looked a couple of months ago in Orlando all horrible handlebars and awful seat:

Here's it is now.  Sexxxxy:

It's got such a fantastically slim profile.  I love it:

The drivetrain and wheels were in really good shape so we didn't do anything to them.  When the wheels wear out in a couple of years I'll swap them out and put a new drivetrain on at the same time.  Vince at REI did a really nice job on this bike and I'm very pleased with it.  Since this bike has new tires and is very clean, this is the one that's going to be in the living room on a trainer that I'm going to start up at the beginning of August.

I took Rufus for a looong walk over to Cathedral Hill and back after work.  I wasn't exactly comfortable towards the end of it but a necessary part of my recovery.  No pain, no gain.  It isn't the knee that's hurting.  That's still braced and protected from too much impact.  It's everything else.

They've opened a farmers market at Noe and Market on Wednesdays.  It seemed really well attended.  I hope they keep it up.  I wonder if they'd consider doing it twice a week and include a weekend day.  That would be really nice.

These are some of the fine Victorians on Noe Street:

Pretty homes on Pierce by Duboce Park:

This is the Nightingale House on Buchanan at Waller.  It was built in 1882 for John Nightingale who had made his fortune during the Gold Rush.  It seems like it needs a lot of work but it's so pretty with so many interesting angles:

The view down Lily Street:

These two Maya Revival apartment buildings are on Eddy across from Jefferson Square.  It's be great if they renovated the building because they'be got such great detail but you can't really see it because it's nearly buried underneath so many layers of paint:

The view across Jefferson Square:

Some of the buildings on Cathedral Hill:

The Cathedral is amazing.  So modern and futurlicious with so many intriguing angles:

Rufus was happy to go and was an angel the whole day:

Me with my crazy hair that shows no sign of abatement:

A few shots of Japantown:

An angry kitty who was disgusted with it all:

A pretty building off of Webster that miraculously survived the Western Addition redesign in the 50's:

Such great detail:

This cute little cottage is on Steiner.  It's got a lot of detail for such a little place:

I headed home and took some advil.  I'm sore and beat.  The hot tubs gonna feel wonderful tonight.

I went to the doctor yesterday and I'm healing up splendidly.  I've been moved to a new brace which allows my knee to bend thirty degrees.  In a couple of weeks I will adjust it so that I can move my leg sixty degrees and then this time next month I should be free of the brace for good.

I've registered for the Lifecycle next year.  It's gonna be a lot harder training than it's been before but I think I'm up for it.  I'm ready for the slow claw back to where I was. 

Ashley Junior is slowly cementing his role as ruler of the house.  Here he is on his throne:

Rufus and I went for a walk today.  It's much easier to walk with the new brace but I am SLOW.  We headed up Corbett Street with Rufus.  Corbett Street is very beautiful.  This is the view looking down through one of the gardens:

The view up towards Twin Peaks:

Iron Alley:

Rufus was a little confused why we were going so slow but he was happy to be out:

Here's me.  My hair is officially out of control.  I haven't gotten a haircut since FEBRUARY.  And I'm not going to be able to go for like another month until I've got more movement in my knee:

The view down Glendale:

The view down Romain:

The footbridge on Romain over Market has some seriously nice views.  This is the view north towards Japantown and the Cathedral:

The view East:

Bernal Hill:

Twin Peaks from the Romain St Footbridge:

Corona Heights Park:

I came down Eureka Street.  I love these pretty Victorian cottages because they all match:

More Victorian goodness:

More matching houses:

With super cute detail:

I can walk pretty much as much as I want at this point.  I need to really work on speed or it's gonna take me forever to get down to Muni to go to work.  I'm kind of looking forward to getting back to the office.  Which surprises me.

They invited me to be part of the opening ceremonies for the Lifecycle.  My friend Annette and I walked the riderless bicycle up to the stage at the opening.  I kind of wish I hadn't done it because it was incredibly depressing.  It's so hard to watch an event that I'd been looking forward to and training for all year leave without me.  It was awful.  I should have stayed and cheered everybody on as they rode but I just went home.  It was too much.  But starting Saturday I can start looking forward to the Lifecycle in 2010.   Focusing on that has greatly improved my mood.

Annette: