A Step Backward - December 4, 2011

By this time I had hoped to do a post with photos of our newly renovated front yard.  Unfortunately, we've hit a snag.  We had noticed that our downspouts were not draining well, with the water just running out rather than going underground.  So we thought we'd have the system cleaned out.  It turns out that there isn't any system to clean out.  So we've had to put in a dry well and leach line in the front yard. 

About twenty plants had to be dug up and moved.  Then the trenching started.

This is the west side of the house.

This is the east side of the house, where my clothes line was.

Then the mini backhoe arrived.  One section of our new fence had to be removed.

Today the backhoe is gone but the mess remains.  The inspector is coming tomorrow, after which all the trenches can be filled.

Home - November 10, 2011

We arrived home at about 2:30 in the afternoon to find not only a new tree in front that we had our landscape guy Sean plant, but also a new fence that Jeff and Ben had erected.  It looks great.  When we went inside, we found that we also had our new kitchen countertops.  We hadn't expected these to be completed until after we returned.  The countertops are Formica and we have a new cast iron enameled sink, as well as a nifty new faucet.  I think we really are finished with the house for now, except for some gravel and mulch in the front.

Downtown S.F. - November 9, 2011

We decided to spend our last day downtown.  After checking out of our hotel but leaving our bags there, we took the street car again and got off at Montgomery and Market.  We managed to spend several hours in the Westfield Mall, which is huge and has several floors of mostly upscale stores.  We had lunch there and then left the mall to walk to Union Square.  We did some window shopping, but the streets were being torn up and it was pretty noisy and messy.  For years I've wanted to see what happened to the old City of Paris store with it's beautiful stained glass dome.  As a child I loved to visit the store every Christmas because they put up a huge tree in the middle that went up through several floors.  The store was taken over by Neiman Marcus.  They dismantled the dome, sent it back east to be cleaned and restored, and then installed it in their new store just 100 feet away from where it originally was. They've done a nice job of recreating the old City of Paris feel.

At that point we felt we'd had enough shopping and decided to try to walk back to the hotel.  We walked up Stockton Street, which goes over a hill but has a convenient tunnel.  Happily, we walked past the Victoria Pastry Company, which has the world's best cannolis.  My father used to bring home a box of them as a special treat when he worked in San Francisco.  We bought one and took it back to share at our nearby Starbuck's (which we visited often enough that they actually remembered what kind of tea David drank!)  We spent several leisurely hours hanging out in Starbuck's until it was time to meet Dan and Liz for dinner.  We had a delicious meal at Albona, complete with their yummy sauerkraut soup.  It's an Istrian restaurant and has some very unusual food.  By the time we finished it was time to head for the Amtrak bus back to Emeryville.  The train was about an hour and twenty minutes late, but we finally got on and immediately went to sleep.

Another Museum - November 8, 2011

We started our day with a walk past Fisherman's Wharf, through the Marina district and out to Fort Point, which is the southern connecting point of the Golden Gate Bridge.

We had hoped to continue our walk around the point to the ocean, but the area is now closed for security reasons.  So we walked back to the Marina and caught a bus to take us to the Palace of the Legion of Honor.
We got off on Union Street, where we had lunch at the Brixton, then back on the bus.  The Palace of the Legion of Honor is a beautiful art museum in an amazing setting, high above the city and the ocean, with views in all directions.   

The featured exhibit was 'Pissaro's People,' which was very nice, with lots of paintings of his family and local workers.  There was also an exhibit called 'The Mourners,' which were statues about 18" tall which were placed around tombs of royalty to represent people mourning.  They were fascinating.

After another bus trip back to the hotel, we chose to have dinner at No. 9 Fisherman's Grotto.   It proved to be an unfortunate choice.  The food wasn't bad, but the service was really terrible.  I guess its main business is the tourist crowd, and they obviously don't go out of their way to impress them.

Sausalito - November 7, 2011

This morning we walked to the Ferry Building and took a ferry to Sausalito.  It's about a half hour trip.

Sausalito is a small town with a huge marina and interesting homes on the hillside.

This is the city park downtown.

After lunch we returned on the ferry.  This time we passed very close to Alcatraz for some great views.

In the evening we enjoyed a delicious dinner at Cafe Pescatore, a couple of blocks from our hotel.

Museum Day - November 6, 2011

Today we took the bus to Golden Gate Park, where we visited the deYoung Museum. The featured exhibit was called 'Masters of Venice.'  It was in impressive exhibit of Renaissance paintings, mostly portraits and religious works.  After lunch there we viewed some of the permanent exhibits, which are always interesting.  We got back on the bus to head for home, but decided to see if we could find one of our favorite tea places, Samovar, on Sanchez.  There are two other locations, but we didn't know where they were.  As we rode along Page Street, we spotted a Samovar and quickly pulled the cord and got off.  After a really nice tea (including scones with jam and cream!) we walked down to Market Street, where we caught one of the old street cars.  San Francisco has added a bunch of old restored street cars from all over the world.  Ours was from 1928 Venice.

We rode all the way to Fisherman's Wharf, where it ended.

That evening we opted for a light supper at Hot Spud, just down the street from our hotel.

Wedding - November 5, 2011

After several days of beautiful but cool weather, the evening of the wedding was miserable.  We rode the bus and fortunately had just a couple of blocks to walk.

The house the wedding was held in was beautiful.  It's a large Victorian with lovely interiors.

Some of the guests:

Proud parents of the groom, with grandson Daniel.

Cindy and Stephen, Liz's mother and stepfather.

Dave and Marna.

Nancy, Sandy and Daniel.

Chris and Tom.

Liz's niece Robin was the flower girl and her sister Gwendolyn was the junior bridesmaid.  Liz's sister Gabby was bridesmaid.  The procession came down the stairs.

Vows.

Hors d'oeuvres were served after the ceremony, followed by a delicious dinner downstairs.

Cutting the cake.  The figures represent their Wii characters. 

Market Day - November 5, 2011

After breakfast at Starbuck's just a block away we headed out on foot for the Saturday farmers' market at the Ferry Building.  We'd heard it was a really good one and we wanted to see it.  It was amazing.  There were somewhere around 80 vendors with everything from fruits and vegetables to mushrooms to olive oil.  There were some vendors inside the Ferry Building, but most were outside, both in front and in back. 

 

It was frustrating not being able to buy anything, but what a joy to see it.

We walked back along Columbus Street, where we visited the City Lights Book Store and had a pizza for lunch.  We spent a leisurely afternoon resting up for the wedding.

Trip to S.F. - November 4, 2011

We left Salem at about 3:30 in the afternoon on Thursday aboard the Coast Starlight, arriving in Emeryville the following morning at about 8:30.  We took the Amtrak bus to Fisherman's Wharf and walked to our hotel, the San Remo.  It's an old European-style hotel, having been built in 1906 following the earthquake.  It was a fun and inexpensive place to stay, in a great location.

Our room was small but comfortable.

We were not able to check in until early afternoon, so we dropped off our bags and headed out on foot.  We walked through Fisherman's Wharf and over to the Marina, where we had lunch.

In the evening we went with Dan and Liz to dinner at the Hyde Street Bistro.  Also there were Dan's friend Aaron, Liz's sister Gabby, and her cousin Jessica.  Liz's parents had planned to be there as well, but her mother was sick, so they decided to stay in and rest up for Saturday.  We had a wonderful dinner and drank lots of wine.

Another Tree Gone - October 22, 2011

We decided to remove the pine tree from the front yard.  It really served no purpose, not providing any privacy and blocking a lot of light, and it had really been mutilated. So it's gone.  We hardly notice it's missing except that the living room is a lot brighter now.  We're now researching small trees to find something to put out there. 

Plants!! - October 8, 2011

We've finally had a break in the rain and we've been able to get most of the new plants in.  I added a couple in the back, but lots in the front.

The back is now kind of woodsy.  We discovered that when you have just roses and lilies and other ornamentals, you don't attract any birds.  So we've put in lots of natives under and around the two Douglas firs in the back.  We had lunch on the deck (probably the last outdoor meal of the year) and enjoyed the company of scrub jays and squirrels.

The front yard is all drought-tolerant plants.  Once we have the fence up in front, I'll plant the rest of the grasses along it.

The Hedge is Gone - September 20, 2011

We've finally had the hedge in front of the house removed, as well as the pine tree on the right side of the driveway.  Even though it's just dirt and rocks now, it looks better.  Here's what it looked like before.

And here's the new cleaned up version.

 

Yes, the cat is still here.  We were hoping he'd find some place else to hang out.  

I've spent the last couple of days hunting for the plants I want for the yard.  I'm almost there.  Next we'll bring in lots of compost and get planting. 

All the Things We Love - September 13, 2011

The house is finished so here is a look at some of the things we've had done that we really love.

This is the thermostat for our new furnace.  It was a free upgrade (worth $300!)  Boy, is it neat!  It has forecasts, radar maps, humidity, even a place to put in a card with photos.

I bought these laundry drying racks at IKEA, my new favorite store.

We had pull-outs installed in the pantry.

The boys made me two new bread boards, which are really pretty.

All the closets were redone.  This is the one in the guest room.

We have cellular shades on all the windows.  They are such good insulators that we are actually getting a tax credit for installing them.

There's a vertical one for the sliding door in the dining room.