Some people lose hearts here, but recently, I found my mind. Can you hear Tony Bennett crooning that as you read? I discovered it in a small room on Divisadero Street. I completed a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction class at Osher Center. I am now a mindfulness junkie. Based on ... Read More
To celebrate our anniversary, my husband, Peter, surprised me with a fun nighttime cruise around San Francisco Bay. Dining under the shadowy Golden Gate Bridge, then dancing while cruising past the dramatically lit rock that is Alcatraz, we reminisced about that amusing time nine... Read More
Smashing all precedent, I kept a secret and managed to produce a January surprise party for my husband’s 40th birthday. The friend who facilitated that surprise is the man who introduced me to Peter 15 years ago in New York City. In 1998, I’d settled into a hit Broadw... Read More
Here’s a dog story, San Francisco, but not a shaggy one, I hope – though it may be a bit long, this punch line has a point. My 13-year-old dachshund Sally was paralyzed by an injury over the holidays, but she’s fine now, thanks to our in-house doggie doctor. But... Read More
Time marches inexorably onward, and here we are in this fresh part of it called 2013. I begin my third year in this city, where time flies by — it truly does when you’re having fun — and other things do as well: the graceful fog, the busy people, the bicycles we... Read More
Two years ago, we moved here from a place I thought I’d never move from, and we have not regretted it. San Francisco has given us much, not only enriching us with new friends and experiences, but giving us a place in its complex history – a history consistent with our... Read More
As happy as I am in this city, some things do ruffle my equanimity. Those ear-shredding Blue Angels flew over again last month (for my feelings about those heavenly bodies, see my November 2011 column, “My Blue Angel blues”), and the weekend traffic around Golden Gate Par... Read More
Do your readers know about Sally?” an East Coast reader recently wrote. “I hope so, and if not, they need to know about her. Good things need to be shared.” This reader, a longtime friend, knew Sally almost as long I did. So, though I thought this month’s column w... Read More
I wish they all could be California girls,” rhapsodized the Beach Boys in 1965. My brown hair and less-than-hard body notwithstanding, they got their wish as far as I’m concerned, because now I am one. And I remain awed by the California glow the Beach Boys sang of. Most... Read More
At first, I thought I was seeing things. Or rather, not seeing things. When we first moved here, I walked out of our Lombard Street building to mail a stack of cards telling people of our new location, and found no mailbox on my corner. This surprised me, because in NYC thereR... Read More