A thousand years or more ago, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and I was young, I attended San Domenico School. The school is not so much larger in terms of students, but my oh my the opportunities for those kids! The lower school is now co-ed, tho the high school is, for a while longer, still all girls (I think there are plans to change that in time, and I’m OK with it!). I’ve been able to donate my piddly little donation every year, while Mom was able to endow a music scholarship for the outstanding classical music program; in another time and era, mom probably would have loved to be a professional musician, but as a child of the Depression, earning a living came first and foremost. All photos in this post are clickable to view larger in a new window.

Sure wish I’d been that talented back then and then had the next 30+ years to improve on that foundation!

On my recent trip to California (by the time this publishes on the blog, I’ll be back for the last one, to get mom moved to Maine!), Mom and I were able to attend the Virtuoso Program concert. In the Faith France Lobby next to the auditorium, there is always a wonderful art display, this time by the students of the Upper School (high school). I am always so amazed…. and wish I could take the classes with them! I think the photo above, of the pomegranates, and the one below of the tree are my favorites:

Here’s a picture of mom with the two girls who currently hold her scholarship…one is a violinist and I think the other is a cellist:

Then here is more of the art:

Near Fort Cronkhite, on the south end of the beach, is Point Bonita. The point juts out into the water forming a corner of sorts between the bottom of the headlands, which head east to the Golden Gate, and the northward turn of the coast which goes beyond Fort Cronkhite up the coast to Point Reyes and more. When they started to develop the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, they opened up parts of the headlands that had previously been forbidden territory housing missiles and (later) falling down bunkers. On the headlands, there is the Point Bonita lighthouse (trust me…it’s out there….also, these photos are click-able to become larger).

At a certain point, the road becomes a one-way, narrow, twisty, white-knuckle driving experience of breathtaking beauty with the sunlight nearly blinding you reflecting on the water. Luckily, there was no one behind me, so I was able to snap these photos through the windshield…with emergency brake ON! The first part of the one-way road is a VERY steep downhill; as you look over the hood of the car, all you see is the guard rail and the ocean beneath…the drop-off is SO steep that you couldn’t even see grasses!

And to offset the sheer magnificent beauty of this scene, was this sign near the roadway that crossed the lagoon:

There was a lunar eclipse on Wednesday night at a reasonable hour (10 ish), and fortunately my husband remembered! I saw him hustling the kids down the stairs late –after having woken Eli up– and asked what was up… the eclipse they chorused. So I grabbed my camera. This was a first attempt:

Then I got smart and ran inside for the tripod, and got these shots… the one is remarkably sharp given my skill, camera and COLD conditions (probably about 8 degrees outside). I used my Panasonic FZ30 which has a 12x optical zoom, so I was happy!

For the most part, I try to stay away from politics on this blog, but I’m about to break that self-imposed sorta-rule. To give away my leanings at the start, here is a wonderful YouTube clip, which I saw on Deb Lacativa’s blog, and she had seen it on Terri Grant’s blog….:

“A Woman’s place is in the House, and the Senate.”

Back then, it was still a radical concept…I’m pretty sure the only women senators were either widows of sitting Senators who died in office or Nancy Landon Kassebaum, daughter of Alf Landon and heir to his political legacy. There were a few women in the house, but FEW.

The other t-shirt read “God Bless Chocolate City and its Vanilla Suburbs” with a picture of an ice cream cone with one scoop of chocolate and two scoops of vanilla. There were still burned-out buildings down in the H-street downtown area from the race riots that scorched our country in 1968. I was stunned–as a middle class white girl from California–when on the bus from Dulles Airport to downtown DC the black bus driver announced “now you smokers, you got to sit at the back where I used to have to sit.” I had never encountered overt racism in my life, and here was someone who had lived it, and fairly recently.

So I have to confess, I am bursting with pride. We have not one, but TWO non-white-middle-aged-male candidates who are the leading contenders for the Democratic nomination for President. Who would have thought than in 33 years from the time I arrived in DC for college, it could happen. Of course our country still has a long way to go, but my how far we have travelled!

I had uncharacteristically thought of writing to Obama….but instead I’ll write here what I would have written to him….

I am happy that the three leading contenders for the presidency at this point are all honorable people who have chosen to serve their country. Although my politics differ markedly from those of Senator McCain, I respect him and his dedication to our nation: he could easily have chosen a different path, but instead he served in the military, survived years in a North Vietnamese prison and triumphed over those years, and has continued to serve the people of the United States. So I give him my thanks and respect.

Senator Clinton served this country in her role as First Lady, first of Arkansas and then in the White House. Although it is an unpaid position, there is no question about how much is asked of the First Lady (or First Gentleman, one of these days), and that it is a position which serves the people of the United States. She then went on to fulfill some of her own political ambitions. If she becomes the Democratic nominee, I will be happy to vote for her.

But I really want to vote for you in November, I want to vote for someone that I truly believe can LEAD, can inspire, can bring us together. Presidents are always held to a higher standard, and being who you are, who will likely be held to an even higher standard. I believe and hope that you can not only meet those standards, but exceed them. As with any administration, there will be the inevitable errors and stumbles, but I want to vote for someone who can lead, inspire, and help restore our country to a position of respect in the international community. I want to be able to speak of my President with pride, not shame and disgrace for what the incumbent has done to destroy our economy, our pride, and our international standing. I believe that you are the person who can best do this, so I’m looking forward to voting for you, and to having a small part in a sea-change in the course of our country. You embody the saying “be the change you want to see.” Thank you!

The sad news is that my lovely shells and brick project (blogged here) didn’t fit the criteria for the World Beach Project (click here to see a map of where the projects were made and here for the “lightbox”), but the note I received from the V&A staff was SO kind and thoughtful! I honestly didn’t realize the emphasis was on art made from stones. I had wanted to do more anyway, so when I was out visiting Mom, I asked if we could go to Fort Cronkhite (previous post) for one more visit. While there, Mother waited in the car while I trotted down to the beach with the goal of looking for carnelians and making another piece for the beach project.

Last minute update…the V&A has added my project to their project, here!

Alas, Cronkhite beach is much more nearly-sand and much less pebble-y than when I was a child, and I didn’t see a single carnelian (tho honestly I didn’t really have time to look much). I quickly set about gathering stones….. and started making swirls. There was a ladybug who flew in to check what I was doing, so I encouraged her to crawl up on my hand and help me:

I added more, and the swirls became a tree of life.

Finally, I added a single piece of beachglass to catch the light at the center-top to complete it:

And here’s a view of the stone art looking across the beach to the south. Bird Rock and Point Bonita: