about phern: July 2011

Summer of Picasso and Gertrude Stein...San Francisco hotspot for unbelievable happenings

As you may remember, I reported here that I thoroughly enjoyed the Stein Collection at the SF MOMA. It is a fantastic show of early Picasso and Matisse and other budding artists living in and around Paris in the '20s and '30s that Gertrude made famous by convincing the world that this was where art was going, the know-it-all. The museum has huge photos of Gertrude and Alice's home with all the art hung as well as some of their furniture, so you have a feeling of what is was like being in their home-museum. Read a review:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/20/DD6K1JHR08.DTL.

Going to Seeing Gertrude Stein: Five Stories | Contemporary Jewish Museum was also a blast, a wealth of riches and entry into the most famous lesbian historical figure's life. I had recently seen Woody Allen's ‘Midnight in Paris,’ a Historical View - NYTimes.com, and thought that living in San Francisco and feeling like you are in Paris in the 20s was just a coincidence. The DeYoung Museum opened Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris | de Young Museum, which I haven't seen yet...but intend to...one has to.

Then, two weeks ago a guy walked in to the Weinstein art gallery in downtown SF and stole a Picasso drawing...see 37 second video here:

Read the story here: Dangerous Minds | Stolen Picasso drawing recovered by San Francisco police, an only in San Francisco story. A private detective (Dashiell Hammett/Humphrey Bogart) who works as a bartender at Lefty O'Doul's bar (restaurant and lounge) http://www.leftyodouls.biz/ thought the bar's security camera might have him on it...since he had to walk by the bar, being located next door to the gallery. Someone in the gallery noticed that a suspicious person wearing loafers and no socks walked out, and bingo, they found him on the video. I think this former sommelier is pleading Not Guilty...maybe due to insanity, who knows?
More on the theft: http://gamma.dnainfo.com/20110715/upper-east-side/alleged-picasso-thief-caught-with-more-stolen-paintings-his-apartment-reports-say. Read the above article for the recovery of the art in Napa...and more theft in NYC. Even more: http://www.nj.com/hobokennow/index.ssf/2011/07/mark_lugos_hoboken_apartment_s.html

The icing on the coincidental cake is this story, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/19/BA7N1KBVVI.DTL&tsp=1, about a lesbian couple visiting the Seeing Gertrude Stein show being told by a security guard that they cannot hold hands in the museum and were asked to leave...at the Gertrude Stein show...in San Francisco!

Another summer week at Stinson Beach

Having booked our beach cottage for the week of July 8-15 a couple of months ago, I worried a little about the weather...but knew whatever it was we would still be happy. We're at Stinson Beach!...and the Bolinas lagoon!...and Pt. Reyes National Seashore!...we know we love it. But it was the foggiest week of summer that I have seen in the Bay Area. For some strange weather reason Stinson pretty much escaped the dreariness, and the sun shined at least a part of every day, if not all day a couple of times. I cannot tell you how happy this made me.

The path from our cottage to the beach....just 200 steps from the house.

Here is our cottage at 2 Francisco Patio, Stinson Beach. Two bedrooms, fully equipped kitchen...loved it! The garden was in full bloom and it was so relaxing to hang out here and catch rays.

Grace has been coming to Stinson every summer for the last 6 years, Mina the last 5. They know their way around...the lagoon, the seals, the birds, the tides, Pt. Reyes Station, the town, and the National Seashore. Being teenagers, they like to stay up late and sleep in...I said, "Do that at home next summer...not when we're renting a cottage at the beach!...Let's get outdoors!"

Grace and Mina on an early evening beach walk.

Mina doing a back flip.

The resting seals in the Bolinas lagoon.

Surf's up! Grace and Mina went boogie boarding 5 days in a row. I went three days. This is made possible by wetsuits only.

Leaving Stinson we take a photo from high on a cliff. You can see the town of Stinson Beach and beach houses, the further down the Bolinas lagoon, and at the end the town of Bolinas.

Egret in the lagoon.

Last photos of Stinson...goodbye.

The End.

The Pond

I put the final touches on my pond this week...the fountain. This pond has been through so much in the past five years, you wouldn't believe it. This is it's third incarnation. The reason for this is raccoons.

(This photo is not from my pond, but from Google images.)

The original pond had a pond liner and koi. Raccoons dug their pointy little nails into the liner and we had to replace it. Then we replaced the second liner. Then I said, "No more liners!" A few months ago we came up with the idea of getting very sturdy tubs that the raccoons could not possibly destroy and surrounding them with rocks and plants. We have small goldfish in the back pond and plants (see the water lily blooming) and a fountain in the front pond. Raccoons still come and want to destroy it, but at least for the present moment I have a beautiful pond. The answer is complicated: the tub/pond has to be deep enough so that raccoons don't want to get in. You cannot make it easy for them to step in by keeping rocks or plants in the pond that are stepping stones for them. And, most importantly, you need to create the illusion that their worst predator is nearby: immitation coyote urine powder!...surrounding the pond. And you have to be constantly vigilant.