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Monday 31 July 2006
	The kids love playing with my digital cameras. Many of the photos are unusable, but many of them clearly show a kid's object of interest. Here's Isaac's "heart and soul" (as he's been saying): BART. Late at night Lila decides to practice jiu-jitsu with the stuffed orca.
Sunday 30 July 2006
	We're heading out to the East Bay to spend time with Felicia and family. We stop at Ikea, Emeryville. (We would have made it for breakfast save the traffic tie-ups caused by the S. F. Marathon; Swedish meatballs instead.) Here's Lila in one of the kid room mock-ups holding a yellow shopping bag with a stuffed orca inside. She and Isaac decided that was the purchase du jour. After hanging out at the garage sale they're doing, we head to the Alameda Wine & Food Fair. Here's Felicia treating the kids to kettle corn (a sweet popcorn). Shortly thereafter some of the crowd stopped at the Speisekammer booth for good German beer; moments later we were in the restaurant, lunching on the glorious cuisine. Cousin Ziggy loves his car racing. On Park Street, Alameda, one can rent time on a track for a few dollars. From left it's Ziggy, Isaac, Lila, and Dziadziu. It's really late at night, and it's hard to describe how tired everyone is. It's been a long day of hot sun, good food, fun play, and fierce competition.
Saturday 29 July 2006
	We like starting our weekend off with a Hapkido class. Here's "Mr. M" (Marco Magsaysay) encouraging Isaac to kick, kick, kick! Sometimes the classes don't pair up easily. I often volunteer to pick up the slack, working with the wee ones (something many older kids and adults don't enjoy, or for which they don't have an aptitude). Here I am terrorizing Lila with a gentle side kick, but she doesn't look scared. Lila shows me a round kick. Ouch! Warm-up done, we go through a routine of stretching. This is the last thing we do, after back rolls, side falls, ki extension lifts, and straddles. I'm still Lila's partner. Here we're going down the line doing stepping side kick. Now Lila gets paired with a peer. They're practicing deflecting an attacker, in this case by taking their ki and gently maneuvering them to one side. Don't ask. I don't know why, but here's Lila's "angry face" and fist of doom, or something.
Friday 28 July 2006
	It's sparring day at Hapkido. Here Lila carries the bag with both our gear into the dojang (in the background, newly remodeled). Isaac will be able to spar when he gets his orange belt, hopefully at the end of the month.
Thursday 27 July 2006
	Twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays, the kids enjoy the Excelsior circus arts class. "Clowning around", I guess you could say.
Wednesday 26 July 2006
	This afternoon Lila and I went for a walk around our neighborhood, the Castro. At the corner of 17th and Noe we encountered this incredibly poorly-parked car. The yellow F-line historic MUNI trolley couldn't pass. The supervisor (light blue) and the two police officers (dark blue) were incredulous. Not only did this brilliant driver park over the dotted line showing the necessary clearance, she parked in a red zone and in front of a fire hydrant. The tickets were written, the tow truck dispatched, and the trolley backed up and re-routed to the right. Then the young woman ran up to us all, explaining to the officer "but I only parked it here for a short time, like twenty minutes...." I thought he was going to read her the riot act for gumming up MUNI and car traffic but he was enchanted by her feminine wiles and didn't even tow her car. Wow.
Tuesday 25 July 2006
	Here's Isaac spinning a plate on a stick at his circus arts class. It's a close-up, digitally enhanced, so I apologize for the lack of detail. I really wanted to highlight spinning boy :-)
Monday 24 July 2006
	Another day, another playground. Here's Lila on Isaac's old favorites: the rings and the monkey-bars. Isaac, below, is pretending to be a BART train. He's got the patter down.
Saturday 22 July 2006
	Assistant Hapkidoka Miles Ceralde lines up the white/yellow-belt class by height. I can't remember why. We get together with our Burning Man 2006 co-RVers, Leori and Jessica, at Benihana (in Japantown). It was the kids' choice; all enjoyed the show and the food. It's time, once again, for the annual Obon festival. Here we are, dancing around the Peace Plaza, imitating the kimono-clad ladies on the central platform. Time for a self-portrait, standing beneath the pagoda. It was a hot and sunny day, and my Ranger hat and glacier-glasses came in very handy. Tucked into both sides of the hat are the fans lent to us for the Obon dances. It's clean-up time. Isaac is helping by scooping up the lamp balls which have been rolled away by the winds. Yes, his face *is* covered by chocolate; it was Pooky sticks in the goodie-bags distributed to the children who danced. Isaac gives a small lecture about the geography and history of San Francisco to an audience of Jessica and Lila.
Thursday 20 July 2006
	It's another Spare the Air day, and we're taking advantage of the free mass transit rides. Here's San Francisco as seen from the Oakland-Alameda ferry. Isaac's favorite: the Amtrak California powering through Jack London Square, Oakland. Isaac's second favorite: the AC Transit bus from Jack London Square to BART. On our return to the city we wind up at the Montgomery stop, from which we head south to the playground at Yerba Buena Gardens (atop the Moscone Convention Center). Next door is an ice rink, and, after playing for a good long time on the extra-long slides we duck inside to watch some hockey and cool off.
Wednesday 19 July 2006
	It's another mid-week kids program at Sigmund Stern Grove. I love these because the kids are exposed to, and can participate in, all sorts of music and dance. Here's Lila on stage. In the evening we're back at the Parkside branch of the San Francisco Public Library for a most excellent shadow-puppet show. The kids roared with pleasure at the tale of a raven who connived to get plums from the tree (at right).