Seester Sara I miss you already!

After a short recovery week from pride weekend, it was time for my favorite sister to head west for a visit. We had a wonderful time showing her the Haight where we shopped till we dropped. We showed her many delicious restaurants like Cha Cha Cha's, Herbivore, Squat and Gobble, and last but certainly not even close to least, Bacar. We wined and dined ourselves until we closed the place down and made a few friends in the process. Bacar had such a wonderful atmosphere and menu to boot. In addition to an excellent server that urged us to try different things so we could all share (which we did gladly) we enjoyed the experience of a wine server (?) who not only presented our wine in proper fashion, she also knew about the region the wine was from and other such detail. Impressive! She even had an excellent accent when pronouncing the wines that we asked her origins. It turns out she's from England but lived in Paris for a year and a half. She has been in the bay area for sometime now, but ironically is dating a girl from, get this, Austin, Texas! Har!

We filled Sara's visit with trips to Armstrong State Natural Reserve as well as the Petaluma Farmer's Market, filled with more than just fresh vegetables grown around the region. We entertained her with some live music and a bar-b-que in the Mission overlooking the city and all the illegal fireworks visible through the fog. We also had a day at the river, where we relaxed from the hot day in the cold water. We saw some kids make a bee line across the way and queried to thier mission. Turns out there is a boulder you can jump off, so of coarse we had to check that out. Although we all jumped, Sara definitely wins the most jumps award! :)

On our way back from the farmer's market, we had the pleasure of meeting a neighbor couple down the street (that also have a greyhound) that recently started a garden. This was our first conversation longer than "hello, how are you?" and it was held due to enormous zucchini! They had them coming out of their ears and asked if would like any. One or two, I thought, instead, they handed over 5 huge suckers! They told us to come by anytime to get some greens (chard, kale etc) which we will as soon as we run out of our market's stash. The squash is store bought and for size comparison. :~)

Over all a wonderful time was had by all. Alas, my friends, my eyes are growing weary and it's back to work for me in the wee hours of the morn so I leave you with lots of love heading your way.

Bleep...blip...blip...Back on the radar again!

The following broadcast brought to you in part by a good romp around the neighborhood with the canines and Pinot Noir ...

Hello Friends!

Well! Have I been busy! The past few weeks have been chock full of a march, a parade and a visit from my seester!

Gay Pride weekend was amazing! We started the weekend at a "party" where one of the cast members of the L Word was to attend. The journey to this party was quite an adventure. We had to find this new part of the city and after many turns and u-turns and references of the map, we did. (I added miles to my mental map that weekend). We arrived to the party and it was different than I expected, but we still had a good time. A good warm up for the things to come.

The next day we ascended upon the Dolores Park just in time for the Dyke March. {Quite possibly the highlight of the weekend. } We began the journey in the line for the What is bathroom or port-o-potty rather. A never ending row of them and there was still a wicked long line! Eh, well, what do you expect when you are in a huge group of women. Then, hark! that I hear in the distance? Why it's the Dykes on Bikes revving their engines letting us know it is time to get this show on the road...Hooray! Crystal and I walked alongside the hordes of lovely lesbians towards the noise, each of us struggling to watch the bikers rumble by. Once the last bike rolled by, ladies left and right just started falling into line, and thus the Dyke March began. I have never been in a march of any sort before but I must say...hell yeah!! It was like a reverse parade. As we all wove through the streets of San Francisco in mass, people (also in mass) lined up the on the sidewalks to cheer and entertain the marchers. There was even this one group that would throw confetti and yell/sing LESBIANS! The reactions they received were so amazing that we stopped behind them for a bit and watched the show. The march wound its way over to Market and Castro where a huge block party ensued.

Crystal and I took a break back to our car to eat some pasta salad we had in the cooler. I wish I could say it was a short and breezy walk back to the car, but this is San Francisco and we are not well versed on the lay of the land, which lead us to the Dirty Sanchez, as we have now coined the road. This road was so steep it had my legs shaking. Great way to end a march (!) through the city! Even despite our fatigue, we mustered up the courage to continue back to the block party. And I am glad we did! Every corner had a different DJ with non stop gay fun everywhere! The killer of the whole the was, at the end of the night, we headed back to our car with our friend Cody (who has a much better grasp of the city than we) and directed us to a ridiculously shorter, less steep route back the Fit. Live and learn.

As exhausted as we were, we still dragged ourselves out of bed to make it back to the city for the parade that began at 1030 am. Luckily, our friend Cyndi let us crash at her pad with all of our canines. :) The parade was the most beautiful and enthusiastic site I have had the pleasure to experience. Although the 4 hour parade tested my endurance, it was so entertaining, I didn't notice until much later when I finally settled down for the night to get back to the grind the next day. The parade started with the now familiar (and exhilarating) sounds of a large mass of motorcycles seated by lesbians grumble to a start. The amount of motorcycles (and a few scooters) that turned up in force for the parade both astounded and exhausted me. Exhausted? Yes, because I had to let every one of them know how much I loved them by screaming my head off! :~P I swear they went on for miles. The rest of the parade was just as exciting and invoked tears of joy on more than one occasion. The was so much love present on the streets that weekend it is difficult to express. Hopefully you will come and see for yourselves one day. :)