Spring has sprung in our backyard

This is a peony at full bloom.

Yellow roses bloom near Quan Yin.

These tomatoes have been in the veggie bed for 2 weeks: Early Girl, Stupice, and San Francisco Fog (thriving today).

Homage to our neighborhood: Bernal Heights

Bernal Heights Shadows, a painting by Anthony Montanino.

A view from the west. This photo was probably taken on top of Diamond Heights.

Twilight at the top of the hill.

Late afternoon sun on the western slope.

Painting of Bernal Hill by Einar Finstad.

1937: Bernal Hill, looking West at Alabama and Waltham Streets.

Our own Precita Park.

Bernal Heights History

Bernal had its origin in an 1839 land grant to Don Jose Cornelio Bernal (September 7, 1796 - 1842), who grazed his cattle on what he called Rancho Rincon de las Salinas y Potrero Viejo. By 1860, the land belonged to French merchant Francois Pioche (1818 - May 2, 1872), who subdivided it into smaller lots.
Bernal remained undeveloped, though, until the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Built atop bedrock, the hill's structures survived the temblor, and the sparseness of the development saved much of Bernal from the ravages of the firestorm that followed. The commercial corridor of Cortland Avenue filled in with shops as the pastureland on the hilltop was developed for workers' homes during the rapid rebuilding of the city. Some of the tiny earthquake cottages -- that the city built to house quake refugees -- survive to this day, including three which were moved up to Bernal Heights. During World War II, the area saw another population surge including many African American families thanks to its proximity to the San Francisco Naval Shipyard at Hunters Point. During the Vietnam War, the neighborhood was known as "Red Hill" for the anti-war activists in shared households and collectives who moved in among the working class families.
By the 1990s, Bernal's pleasant microclimate, small houses (some with traditional Victorian or Edwardian architecture) and freeway access to the peninsula and Silicon Valley led to a third wave of migration. Bernal has not gentrified to the extent of its neighbor Noe Valley, but gentrification and property values are increasing as urban professionals replace working-class home owners and renters. Bernal is a haven for young families (especially famous for the concentration of lesbian families) and is teeming with their children. For this reason Bernal Heights sometimes goes by the nickname "Maternal Heights."

See "Claiming the Title: Gay Olympics on Trial

My friend Marta Wohl edited this film. "Claiming the Title: Gay Olympics on Trial," was produced by Jonathan Joiner and Robert Martin, and co-produced by Beth Pielert. It is screening at the 33rd Frameline Film Festival on Sunday, June 21, 2009 at 3:30 pm at the Castro Theater. This half-hour film tells the story of the San Francisco athletic group that tried to hold a "Gay Olympics," instigating a battle at the nation's highest court and a challenge over the place of gays and lesbians in American society. It's screening with "Training Rules," a documentary film by Dee Mossbacher and Fawn Yacker, which examines homophobic practices in women's collegiate sports. www.trainingrules.com. Advance tickets for the screening go on sale to Frameline Members Friday, May 22nd. Tickets for the general public go on sale Friday, May 29th. You can find the listing under the program "Training Rules.""Claiming the Title" is one chapter of the feature film Jonathan and Robert plan to produce, revealing the behind-the-scenes actions of the Supreme Court over its 50-year history of tackling gay rights issues.

2009 Spring Concert at Alice Fong Yu

Here are some of the girls in the clarinet section, from left: Alicia, Maelin, Grace and Dania.

May 3rd, 2009: Grace plugged in

Listening to Beyonce's 'At Last', 'If I Were A Boy'; other favorite tunes: 'Disturbia', 'Pokerface', and 'Just Dance'.

She's plugged in...to iTunes, to Neopets; she's IMing and emailing; she's been using a mouse since she was 3 years old: using the computer long before she could read...I guess you could say she started to read on a computer. She also doesn't seem to mind that I have documented her life on this blog. (I do try to runmost things by her first.)

Sitting here for 15-30 minutes is actually the longest time that she sits still. These days she stands on her hands about 2-3 times and hour.

April weekend in Calistoga

Here is the Calistoga Village Inn and Spa...our vacation home. Sorry no actual photos of us...too busy soaking and swimming in the pools; plus, it was raining on and off. Lucky for us, the rain never bothers us here...it's all water anyway.