Spontaneous Combustion

There are moments in life when the planets and the stars align with the full moon resulting in a spontaneous combustion of feminine energy. Saturday was one of those times.

It started innocently enough with me attending another walking group meetup. We gathered at the Palace of Fine Arts which rises majestically like a grand Roman architectural monument atop a strip of  land between the maze of Marina condominiums and the Golden Gate Bridge.

The group meandered from here along the bay, under the Golden Gate Bridge, across Baker Beach. Not a nude in sight. Maybe it was just too cold. After emptying the sand from our shoes, we sauntered along the coastal cliffs ending at the souvenir shop near Ocean Beach, about 6-7 miles. Howard, our walking guide, pointed out Robin Williams' ex-wife's house again as we moved through Sea Cliff... except it wasn't the same house he showed us two weeks ago.  But then Robin Williams has two exes so maybe they live in the same neighborhood.  Who am I to question Howard's facts?

The group photo following lunch on one of the batteries doesn't begin to suggest what lies within some of us.

In the midst of the hike, a woman whose name tag says, 'Heather' asks me if I'd like to go for drinks and dinner in North Beach with herself and another woman.  "Sure," I reply.  "Okay if Mary comes along?" "Of course!" Heather says, "But it's girls night out only."  "Uh? Okay."  Debbie asks, "Are you going to Mike's Pizza?"  "I don't know. Somewhere in North Beach. Since you're a woman, I'm sure you're welcome to come along."

Little did the evening and North Beach know what was in store for the neighborhood. Take five women who know nothing about each other, mix them together with a couple carafes of red wine and yummy food after a day of hiking in the cold fog for five hours, riding a bus for thirty minutes and then walking another mile to North Beach.... and there is no predicting what the outcome will be.

Here we are... a 40 something, three 50 somethings, and a 68 year old together for the first time. An IT software engineer, a medical doctor, a nurse (the North Beach local), a medical transcriptionist, and a gypsy. Cafe Deluva for wine and appetizers, then across the street to Soto Mare for prawns, salmon and scallops with steamed brocollini and more wine.  Delicioso!  My face still hurts from laughing.

After dinner our local North Beacher took us to Specs to meet the artist who makes $270 a night selling painted cocktail napkins.  To inebriated tourists I'm sure. One must think creatively these days. And yes, we bought some. Well, the doc bought one for each of us as a memento.

I must admit seeing it on the table this morning made me laugh out loud as it reminded me of Heather speaking Spanish to the Italian waitress whose face clearly portrayed what her training would not allow her to speak to a  customer, 'WTF is wrong with you woman'.

And Heather did this after attempting earlier in the day to speak Arabic to a Persian woman who finally replied in perfect English that she didn't understand a word Heather was speaking. They're both"you had to be there" moments of tears and laughter but I strongly suspect that Heather who has amazing dialect abilities probably speaks neither Spanish nor Arabic.

How is it that five women who know nothing about each other can have such a spontaneously combustive and amazing experience together? Perhaps the very fact that we know nothing about each other allows us to simply relate to that which is the same within each of us. Who knows? Who really cares? It was a hoot and reminds me how much I love the unplanned opportunities I have to meet incredible and wonderful wild women everywhere I travel.

Just a Walk to the Park

The blog becomes more challenging to write these days. So many personal shifts and changes taking place as I acclimate to city living. Each feels monumental to me personally in the moment but rarely are the actual events of my daily life interesting enough to put into words.

I pause briefly from time to time to wonder at the flow of my interests over these last ten+ years which have run the gamut from fire walking, reiki, and hypnotherapy to singing kirtan to painting to writing poetry, then prose, then the travel blog and sharing photos, and now to ????.  As I reflect on it all, the one consistent thread for me besides my continual personal evolution has been my love of walking.

My life in San Francisco right now is all about walking. When one walks everywhere, there isn't time for much of anything else. I walk to the grocery. I walk to Walgreens. I walk to the bank. I walk to the library to take out books and to participate in Tai Chi which is free on Wednesday afternoons. (By the way, Betty, you have my utmost admiration right about now for being good enough at Tai Chi to be an instructor.) I walk to Old Navy. I walk to the Walking Company in my never ending search for the most comfortable walking shoes. I walk to the wonderful reflexologist and Chinese Medicine Massage Man in Chinatown. I stop at different coffee shops and restaurants while I walk because it's a pleasant break. I walk home from the theater because it's easier and probably safer than wandering the streets after dark in search of the correct bus stop. I walk home from dinner because it's faster than the 29 minute wait for the bus. My body is getting stronger and stronger and I feel amazingly healthy and alive.

I don't miss my car and have no desire to drive anywhere right now. I pause from time to time to wonder at myself  because after all I am  the 'Queen of the Road Trip' and have been known to drive without a destination just for the sake of driving. Now I am compelled to walk just for the sake of walking! So it feels entirely appropriate to join the meetup group called Walking San Francisco for Health and History.

I'm the one in the orange sweater. The group numbers 4,900 but this is probably the usual number of participants for each outing.







Yesterday, we walked seven miles across the peninsula - from the Embarcadero to Land's End Park. The 'history' amounted to walking past Danielle Steele's house and Robin Williams' ex-wife's house.




The architecture of San Francisco lifts me up as much as the natural beauty of the Mendocino Headlands.

Following the group walk yesterday I indulged in a thoroughly nostalgic meal of Gegrillte Nürnberger Bratwurst mit Sauerkraut und Kartoffelbrei at Suppenkuche in Hayes Valley with Vicky and Jim, two other crazy folk who just enjoy walking the streets of San Francisco.