A Walk to Paint and Berries

So I got my dates mixed up and the free theater that I thought was on Saturday is actually today (Sunday). So that meant I had a free day with nothing to do. So I did the usual grocery shopping, cleaning, reading -- free day fill-ins. But that only filled up half the day and I decided I hadn't been up Bernal Heights in a while.While walking up to the hill, I walked into a tagging contest. Hundreds of kids with spray cans painting walls of wood in this little park. I took as many photos as I could before the asphyxiation set in, and I had to leave. How these kids were hanging out for hours working on these I have no idea. A few had masks, but most were just painting. Some of the work was just names, and very boring if you ask me, but some of it was really, really beautiful.Continuing on the walk, I remembered as I turned up to the park, that there are hundreds of blackberry bushes that should be ripe by now. I was helped with this thought by a woman walking ahead of me with her colander. I, of course, was unprepared. So I went on my little hike. On the other side of the hill there were bags for dog owners who forgot a bag and I stole one. O.k. I stole the only one left, but I doubt a dog owner would rely on that and they are very friendly people, so you can always borrow a bag from someone else.
Tips on Blackberry Picking on Public Lands
1. Wear long sleeves and long pants that are not loose (I was wearing short sleeves and a loose skirt -- I did have tall socks on).
2. Move to the area as far away from the path as possible -- this will be less picked over.
3. Be prepared to be scratched (the colander woman was there longer than me and had about half of the berries I picked and that was directly related to her desire to not get scratched -- I now have hundreds of little surface scratches).
4. Only pick blackberries that are totally black -- they should just fall off the bush basically.
5. Don't eat while you pick -- this will limit your haul.

The beauty of berry picking on public lands is that they are free! The negative is that they are not in nice rows that make it easy to pick, they are all bunched up together. I now have a few new holes and some berry stains on my cute brown skirt from Sri Lanka. Oh well.

I baked muffins.

Neglegent Writer

It has been a month since I wrote a blog. I promise I'm going to try to be better.

So what has happened since I last wrote. Hmm, well San Francisco celebrated Gay Pride with a week of festivities that culminated in a parade. I was having friends over for dinner that night so I didn't get to stay for the entire thing. Since I showed up right as it was starting I didn't have a great view, and thus my photos are less than exciting. So I won't be showing them here.

Some co-workers and I headed over the badlands for a night hike on the full moon. It was lovely and we've decided to do it again next month. I will be sure to take a tripod with me next time because there are some awesome shots to be had if you can just hold your camera still.

I feel I did get a couple of good shots, however, when the sun was setting.

Then my mom came to visit. She came for a week and it was really fun having her here. We did all the stereotypical San Francisco tourist things since she had never been here before. I only had my camera for one day, but I love how the fog was hiding the Golden Gate Bridge.
The sun chose to come out while we were at the Botanical Gardens.

As an added bonus, a pretty hummingbird decided he would sit around be photographed for several minutes.
And while I'm rambling, I have a few words on bicycle commuting in San Francisco. It is funny, my big complaint isn't with the crazy drivers (in fact, the drivers are much better here than in DC -- that isn't to say that they aren't bad drivers on occasion), but the other cyclists. There seems to be a great need to be in the front of the biking pack. Now I'm a very competitive person (if you have ever played cards with me, you know this is true), but I don't understand the need to be the lead from one stop light to the next. So I'm not riding to be that lead biker. That said, I can not abide the people who push themselves to get in front of another cyclist and then go back to their normal pace, thus causing the other cyclist to have to pull back. Augh! If you aren't going to stay at the pace you were going to pass me, then you shouldn't pass me. It is so frustrating.