Bouquets To Art

Every year the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco host an exhibition called Bouquets To Art. They invite various designers, celebrities, local artists and artisans et al to each create a unique, floral display that acts as an homage to a specific painting currently on display in the deYoung Museum.  The exhibition only lasts a few days...they're real live flowers after all...and opening day is the best time to go. So of course we had to be there. The crowds are legendary....and more than a little entitled, privileged and crazy but the payoff is well worth it. 

My friend Tessa introduced me to the whole affair last year and it was such fun we went back again this year and braved the onslaught of well heeled gray haired ladies accompanied by their oh-so-gay companions; all armed with their copious cameras, iPhones and iPads!  It was a picture perfect day in Golden Gate Park - 70 degrees, bright blue skies with just a bit of a balmy breeze. And that perfection clearly spilled over into the Museum providing a much needed dose of light, beauty and pleasure in these rough times.

Here's a sampling of what we got to savor and enjoy:

SPRING HAS SPRUNG FOR SURE!

CAN'T WAIT FOR NEXT YEAR!

OFF TO NOPALITO FOR CEVICHE AND FISH TACOS!

Happy Birthday Jodi!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JODI!!!

A big bunch of Birthday Wishes for my dear, sweet Sister on her Special Day! 

Here's a memory from your old front yard:

And another memory from a past hike:

Pointing The Way

Excelsior!

More Bliss

Yet another dazzling display out over the Pacific this evening....love my view!

Spring Has Sprung

The monsoons are finally abating...the skies are clearing...the temperature rising! I do believe Spring is finally arriving in dear old San Francisco...and not a moment too soon.  On Thursday, Tessa and I ventured out to the Botanical Gardens in Golden Gate Park to check on the magnolia trees and see if they were in bloom.  What beauty and wonder awaited!  

Not only were the magnolias blossoming in full force but so were the daffodils, wild tulips, hyacinth, vinca, camellias and calla lilies.  The sky was bright blue, the air perfumed and the hills and gardens a riot of color.  What a treat!  It all brought to mind the last line of "I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud" one of my most favorite poems by the brilliant William Wordsworth:

"...and then my heart with pleasure fills and dances with the daffodils."

BLISS

New Year's Getty and Broad Visits with Tom

Hey...seeing how this is our blog to share experiences and wonder and beauty I think we should expand the parameters and include things like fun trips and museum visits.   We don't need to limit our posts to just experiences with nature.  Particularly when they include cherished relatives and friends.  Anything that brings joy is now officially on the table!

So here's a late entry from last month when I visited Tom and Sandra down in LA. The weather was pretty spotty for normally hot and sunny LA. The bouts of rain and cold and fog and mist were especially surreal and amazing. And all the more memorable when the sun finally popped out again.

The art on display at the Broad and the Getty was above and beyond. The art scene in LA is thriving and growing exponentially. In a word - PHENOMENAL!!! I completely forgot how much I love LA and can't wait to visit again...and again...and again. These were just a few of our favorites:

Cezanne

Van Gogh

Jean Baptiste Camille Corot

Simon Alexandre-Clement Denis

The Getty Shrouded in Mist

Yayoi Kusama "Infinity Room"

Jeff Koons

 Cy Twombly (and Tom)

Robert Therrien (and Tom...again...lol)

Kara Walker

Mark Bradford

Bye Bye!

CLOUDS...CLOUDS...GLORIOUS CLOUDS

Hmmmm...do we need to rename this blog "Clouds Catharsis"??? Lol....

The incessant rains finally stopped yesterday afternoon but some of the amazing, incredibly gorgeous clouds hung around a bit.  I was so glad they did! They created quite a spectacle out over the Pacific which I got to view from my cozy, warm little studio perched up on the hill....#SoBlessed!

I hope you can enjoy at least some of the inexplicable joy I receive from these stunning works of art!  They make me feel the limitless potential that exists in us all...and they make me feel that there is some design, as rough as it may be, to all of this.  TAG! YOU'RE IT! START POSTING DEAR SISTER - THE PRESSURE IS ON - COME JOIN YOUR LITTLE BROTHER!  HAHAHAHA....

Valentine's Day 2017

A VALENTINE'S DAY TALE

 Matriarch receives heart shaped box of See's chocolates.

Valentine's Day gift from  Prodigal Son out West.


Photo courtesy of Cha Cha Phyllis, Jr. 

And yes, that is a Panda on the cover of the box.

Because Pandas are ADORABLE.

Yum.


The End.

Little Bro Returns...Will Big Sis Follow?

After a year's long sabbatical from posting, I have reached peak levels of boredom and am determined to dust off and restart our fabulous, famous and simply fucking fantastic blog!  I can no longer spend time reading and staying abreast of the news... everytime I try to I end up feeling extremely ill, like I landed in a story by Kafka or a Fellini film.  And we are experiencing a new season out here in beautiful Northern California. I like to call it the Extended Monsoon Season and it's doing a great job of keeping everyone indoors for lengthy periods of time with nothing to do ...except wait for the rain to stop.

So I was trying to find ways to fill the void when I accidentally stumbled on our old blog and realized how much I missed sharing our adventures.  I hope you'll join me in resurrecting the old girl!  It's not only a fantastic way to stay in touch but the perfect way to share precious moments and our wonderful experiences cavorting in nature. I just hope and pray I don't get washed out to sea with all this torrential rain and flooding so I'll have more experiences to share with you.  I know you're a heathen...errr I mean you're not at all religious but pray for your poor ark-bereft brother nonetheless.

As you well know I am completely obsessed with clouds and all that happens in the vast open spaces above us so here are a few snaps of this past week's views out over the Pacific Ocean taken from my apartment window:

6:15AM - Snow Moon Still Up

Late Afternoon Sky

Sunset!!!

Oops! That's a painting from the Getty Museum