San Francisco, etc.

This is something I wrote to myself during a recent visit to the city, September 26, 2007:

I stopped by my storage unit briefly, thinking I could maybe find my camera. It was depressing so I left before it ruined my day. There's so much crap in there I don't even know where to start. I walked back to Mission street, past the junkies crinkling in the harsh noon sun, and got on the 22 Fillmore. Saw a t-shirt that made me miss San Francisco. It was on a middle-aged bearded guy and it said "Dip me in honey and throw me to the bears!". Hee hee. Bears. We don't have those where I live now. That brightened a moment of my otherwise sucky busride. I was squished against the window on the hot side of the coach by a large Muni driver in his woolen uniform, and there was a drunken freak making a ruckus up front - whining loudly about getting a seat before literally falling into one. It's strange. I really can't tell if it's my city anymore, or if I even want it to be.

Funny things happen that make me realize that I will always be connected to San Francisco. Yes I weep everytime I hear "I Left my Heart...". It's really embarassing. And that thing they show on Channel 9 that's Tony Bennett crooning over all the footage of the city and [my old friend Pamela] hula dancing? Forget it - I'm a blubbering mess. But that's not even what I'm talking about. Sometimes it's as simple as picking up the newspaper. Like a couple weeks ago seeing my friend Bucky's face beaming from the cover of the pink section (10/21/07). Or this crazy thing here, a picture of a band I've never heard of (Wooden Shjips) with the very bass cabinet that I hauled around countless times while roadieing for the bands Bomb, Hickey, and Towel. You can read more of it's story on my friend Michael's blog stinkfight.

Halloween in the country is very cute. Sunday the 28th my mom and I went to an event on a farm where people and their horses were in costume. As I said in an earlier post, there is a parade in Kelseyville of little kids in costumes that comes down Main Street at 9am on the 31st. It was worth dragging myself out of bed for. The high school band led it off playing overtures from Star Wars. There were tons of those "Scream" masks, some with fake blood whooshing around on the surface. Total cop-out costume, like the multitudes of identical store bought fairy-princesses. I know that sounds harsh cause they're just little kids, but I was just as snobby and judgemental about the costumes when I was little. So there. My favorite costumes in Kelseyville were Angus Young, complete with real Gibson SG (sans strings and pickups though), and the cardboard box robot from Flight of the Conchords.

Then at 12:30 we have the same parade in Lakeport, but of only 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders. And the marching band is from Clearlake High School. They were playing the Addams Family theme song followed by an old marching band favorite, "Sir Duke", the Stevie Wonder hit. Some of their trombones were way off, but they did have the accompaniment of the escorting police car's chirping, which I thought was funny. Unfortunately I did not have the camera for the Kelseyville parade, but I did bring it to Lakeport and got a shot of the popcorn,

a tiny Elvis,

and a spectator who happened to be a teacup pomeranian puppy! I thought it was a kitten until I saw its face. Totally redonk. Yes, it was drinking water out of that bottlecap in the foreground. (No, those are not my fingernails!) I asked the person who had it if I could take a picture and she said "yeah, of couse, I just got it yesterday and that's all I've been doing!"

My favorite project update: I am at a standstill in the middle of segment #5 until I get some more yarn. I completed segment #4 and sewed it on, but I'm not going to show the whole thing again until it's done. In the meantime here are some previews:

Thanks, Sarah, for tracking me down and making my week!