LAND'S END, a San Francisco walk

 Some people go really nuts over this hike ;¬)!  Endorphins at work.

 Pictured are three of those good looking, athletic, young women that San Francisco seems to have a whole lot of.  These girls were doing their workout by running up and down a steep incline with a stop in between each run for core work and more cardio at the scenic overlook.  They were just as adorable in person as they appear to be here.

When the trail turns inland for a bit, it is equally beautiful.

The long view.

Friendly dog on the dog friendly trail.

 The south west view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

 Where the former Cliff House sat.

A last day walk with friend and neighbor, Susie, on the dog friendly Lands End Trail.

The trail starts at 32nd and Del Mar and goes along the shore of the bay out to the ocean.

It ends at the site of the once opulent and celebrated Cliff House.  ( you can see the ruins on the above).

It was a blustery day but not a terribly cold one and all in all it was a perfect walk and day to celebrate friendship and nature and a special city.

interesting reading and pictures of the Cliff House:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_House,_San_Francisco

HOME SWEET HOME

It is always good to get home.
While there is still a great deal of snow in the mountains and, as you see here, just to the north, the yard is clear and the garden is beginning to wake up.  There are still snow showers off and on but the plane landed in a window of sun and calm offering me a glimpse of the blessed days to come.
It is still very much off season and, while the sense of quiet small western town is merely a precursor to the bustle of June, July and August,  I do love this.

THANK YOU EARTH

The park walks for the pooch have been particularly rewarding.   I saw, in the last months, so much snow - a lot of it spectacular - and more recently the precursor to springtime in northwestern Wyoming, mud.  Trees so full that the produce shade and roses, day lilies, Queen Anne's lace and little irises make my heart smile.

WYOMING DOG CONSIDERS A PEDI

SATURDAY MORNING MARKET AT THE FERRY BUILDING

 The Saturday morning market inside and outside the Ferry Building is always a crush but more so
in front of the Blue Bottle Coffee Shop.

 It is as if this were the only decent coffee left on the planet.  People are willing to stand in line for a very long time.

 Being a tea drinker i find Imperial Tea Shop much more interesting....all sorts of teas and all sorts of tea steeping and serving vessels.  I am keen to try out Jasmine pearls and the little cups called Gaiwans that are, I was told, are the " old Chinese way of drinking tea." ( dont know whether that refers to former years or elders but figure I qualify for both.)

 And then there are the wine drinkers who get started really, really early in the morning.  A California thing?

EASTER MORNING AT RODEO BEACH

 Wyoming Dog meets the sea!

UNION STREET'S ANNUAL EASTER PARADE

HAPPY EASTER FROM WHOLE FOODS

A trip to Whole Foods this morning was nothing short of an attack of brilliance.
Can these people who leave and shop here possibly appreciate what they have before their eyes?
True, they have to pay for it in more ways than one. No denying it can be expensive. AND they have to either walk home with their stash a longish distance or they have to manage to find - there is formidable competition almost all the time - and then squeeze in to the provided parking place.  Neither is a particularly small thing.  I did both looking for all the world like I was an experience WF parker  while coaching myself out loud with You Can Do This and Atta Girls.  But oh the reward to this Albertson's Shopper.

To take home:
huge sack of farro
huge sack of white quinoa
packages of naan bread
and
Meyer lemons ( love, love)

WYOMING DOG SCOPES CAGED CHILDREN

GOODNIGHT SUN.

INTIMATE IMPRESSIONISTS AT THE LEGION OF HONOR

 A very kind lady offered to take a picture of me and my friend Susie this morning outside The Legion of Honor.  it was a brilliant, blue sky day as you can see in the upper left hand corner.

 Susie.

The Thinker. ( and thebrilliant blue sky day)

 Inside the exhibit Intimate Impressionists, unlike the Matisse Gallery only next door, photos - as long as they were, without flash - were allowed.  We could not figure out the difference in policy but there were no photos at all allowed in the adjacent room.

I particularly liked this picture.  it is of the inside of the artist's studio where his model appears to be deep in concentration before a painting.  Sadly, I cannot remember the artist - Vuillard perhaps? - and, in truth, the painting doesnt look like much here but in what i perceived in standing before it was an intense sense of something going on, an energy, despite the absolute stillness.  Even in photography that is not an easy thing to capture.