It's confusing enough getting oriented in a new city...and even more confusing when the city is far from new...and one's memories are far from accurate. South of Market Area. Being Americans, we even have an acronym.  SOMA used to have a reliably post-industrial identity, but not now. These days parts of it have given over to designer warehouses. And the part where I was just yesterday has given over to software developers and New Age health consultants and my massage guy, Tony. Following our appointment Read more [...]

After my morning's labors are concluded...and they are, in one sense, substantial, consisting of physical therapy...I get on with the next challenge, my emotions. For reasons that are unknown, this often requires a brief escape from the premises. One need not go far. Destination Bakery, so aptly named, is only 100 meters down the hill. Not that I can get out the door without a bit of additional work, vis-à-vis dealing with the past. The recent past, that is, in the form of Ken, our contractor. Together, Read more [...]

Schedules...10 a.m. here, noon there...was it always thus? Yet from another perspective, I cannot account for the day. I seem to recall...and stress the word 'seem'...that human existence was much simpler. Perhaps this was the phase called childhood. I have discovered through one friend that another lives directly across the street from my new San Francisco home. So what to do? Well, here it must be conceded, the disability rears its human head. I cannot knock on Dick's door, which is up several Read more [...]

'I said I wasn't feeling well,' Spike Milligan's famous epitaph...are words to live by. There's always something hanging over one's head, isn't there? In my case, it's backing into the garage. I may feel that I've got the driving thing down, somehow, post-holiday, but this is a different matter. So I wasn't exactly overjoyed when Jane mentioned that our former contractor was going to be in the neighborhood and had offered...generously, one must add...to help me back in my van. At the heart Read more [...]

Can a mild cold hang on like a limpet for weeks? Apparently. Also apparently, it could be much worse. Jane returned from the friendly skies with laryngitis. This, whatever I have, is much more unobtrusive. Mostly, it pops up in the morning. A reminder, if I needed one, that my aging body has gone through some stress in the last weeks. Stress, schmess. The move to San Francisco has given me a whole new lease, not to mention perspective, on life. How much is there of the latter? This matter weighs Read more [...]

You know your holiday is over when you stare in dismay at credit card bills that accrued in just a few days...in one of the world's most expensive cities. Should've known better, you tell yourself. Better stay home now. Maybe forever. Turn to less expensive pastimes. Like growing lettuce. Or taking naps. Or watching the fog. The San Francisco low-cloud phenomenon is legendary, and for good reason. The urban backdrop keeps changing. Glen Park just happens to be a meteorological borderland. In the Read more [...]