a stolen idea

la bellete rouge writes a great blog, and one of her latest ideas is so good, i'm snaking it away and putting my local version together. she's a bit resentful she's living in southern california, but is putting together a long list of reasons it "doesn't suck to live there". her attitude charms and amuses, plus has the advantage of being funny.

100 reasons why living in the san francisco bay area is a pretty good deal:


reasons 90-100

100) it's possible to be outside every day of the year, and while it might be raining, bitterly cold, or searingly hot, we're still talking a range of 40-80 degrees f.

99) not too many "spare the air" days. some, though. sadly, the days we can't light a fire, or barbeque usually turn out to be the days you really would like a fire, or to throw some flank steak on the barbie. anyway, not too many, not yet.

98) there is only gentle pressure to get rid of wood-burning fireplaces, like banners across the road into and out of towns, for example. no actual banning.

97) the beach at crissy field allows dog off-leash. they just have to be under voice control, which seems so civilized.

96) the beach at crissy field also draws some great-looking dogs and fun people watching and talking.

95) plus you get to watch the windsurfers using the beach to launch from.

94) and you can walk to the warming shack at the end of the road for hot chocolate or coffee or tea, when it's open.

93) all the while, you will be staring up at the golden gate bridge above, and really, could life get any better than that?

92) fort mason, where you can go to the italian museum, the mexican museum, greens restaurant, (the best vegetarian restaurant in the city), the museum of modern art's artists' original works store, the sf main library's used book shop, etc., and also listen to the gulls screaming around like they own the place.

91) once you are dazzled by the spectacular floral arrangement as you enter greens restaurant, you might want to detour past the take-out counter, 10-4 pm. their chocolate cherry cookies and their fruit tartletts, well, beggar belief.

90) and still, there's more! you get to walk out past the sailboats in their berths, looping around the cove and catching the sting of sea air as you breathe it all in. and all of this is really crissy field and environs.

90)

91)

93)

a new year now

time to get started on the promise to stand in and accept all emotions, staying true to the premise that recognizing what is possible to control and doing that, while assessing what can't be controlled, and accepting that, is our best human accomplishment. i can be such a scaredy cat about sadness or fear, and find myself going to great effort to avoid those nasty feelings. but truly, it is altogether a different experience to just face them, allow them, and observe as they dissipate. why is it that doing this each time somehow doesn't readily come to mind? i'm constantly having to remind myself, and still so often automatically resort to the usual remedies, lacking though they always are.

i'm already doing better, however, and plan to practice, practice.