There's such a short distance from the Murphy Windmill to the Beach Chalet to the Wilhelmina Windmill, and they're all worth seeing!  The Murphy Windmill is said to be the largest of its kind in the world, and  "The Murphy Windmill and Dutch Windmill were said to have pumped up to 1.5 million gallons of water every day, transforming the existing sand dunes into a green oasis," reports the write up at this link:

https://noehill.com/sf/landmarks/sf210.asp#:~:text=The%20Murphy%20Windmill%20is%20commonly,dunes%20into%20a%20green%20oasis.

The AFT 2121 Retirees Chapter went to all three this past Friday, August 25, 2023.

 

 Sundown Cinema at Dolores Park last night was a feel-good affair, especially if you weren't intent on seeing the movie being shown, MAMMA MIA. It was truly shown but seen by only a few thousand because of the masses passing by trying to find a spot and the many funny diversions. Some did sing-along, and it was nice to hear and see people in harmony!

The mood was bright, and so was San Francisco. Both the screen and the city glowed. Erika, Sandra, and I were visited by a beautiful white dog. People were lined up the way people line up for rock concert tickets, but it turned out to be the porta potties they were seeking!

 

My fascination for driverless cars turned to concern when I heard about their interfering with first responders when they stall and have to be rescued by human beings ("unexpected vehicle retrieval events"), as was the case for Cruise 177 times between January 1st and July 18. We don't need more cars on our street. There are over 100,000 human ride-hail drivers in SF. We need to support public transit!

I found out about this rally from the new head of Transit Justice, Shaya French, who spoke at the rally today. I spoke too after a self-declared communists I recognized from the defense of the ArnautauffMurals at Washington High School.

Unfortunately, after the rally this morning and 5 or 6 hours of comments, the California Public Utilities Commission voted to give driverless cars more berth.

On the positive side, demonstrations are good meeting places, and I saw Elaine and Phil Pasquini and met Martha Hubert, who was artfully writing messages in chalk.

"What the city urgently needs is a modern, frequent and efficient public transportation system and fewer cars." - Phil Pasquini

I've been taking Muni in SF since 1966--all over the city--and most of my experiences have been positive ones.

On Friday after visiting Jonathan Carver Moore's Gallery in the Line Building on Market near Turk Street, we went through the Tenderheart Restaurant on the ground floor--before they were officially open-- to the roof in search of one of those public spaces. After peering down on the roof of the Golden Gate Theater, we had some taste treats at the Rise over Run Bar and took in the view of downtown SF--beauty, opulence, and misery. (No misery shown here. You can find it on your own.)

 

 

Thanks to an article by Tony Bravo, I learned about Jonathan Carver Moore's Gallery in time to suggest it as part of a birthday for a friend, Leslie Simon, who co-created the Museums Study course at City College of SF.  Jonathan Carver Moore is very charming and even offered us a glass of prosecco.  I'd made an appointment to be sure it would be opened this past Friday, but maybe it would have been anyone.  Among those coming in while we were there was Abram Jackson, the de Young Museum's new director of interpretation.  Leslie had read his article on "Words Matter."

https://www.famsf.org/stories/words-matter

Here, too, is the article by Tony Bravo.

https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/art-exhibits/jonathan-carver-moore-gallery-18195644

 

Lily Janiak's article on theaters in this area, "Creative pivot eyed as subscriptions plummet," appeared in today's paper.  

https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/theater/bay-area-theater-subscription-18197863

 I wrote to her to thank her for this.

Dear Lily Janiak,

Your article on the SF Playhouse as an outlier in the sense of their having kept their subscriptions steady between July 2019 and this past July really resonated with me, a subscriber.  I love their "Empathy Gym" words in the room we go in an hour before performances, and it's fun to make fools of ourselves posing with the life-size chorus line or whatever they have there to represent the present show.

For years the staff has been very responsive to special needs.  The person I subscribe with needs an aisle seat, and they never make us feel that any special request like that is annoying.  They really do have that "special sauce" someone refers to in your article, and they exude warmth.  Bill English also writes very thoughtful pieces for the playbill, and the person who introduces each performance (maybe you know her name; I can't remember) does it with humor while reminding us how important it is to support live theater.   

I have to admit that when I get the survey asking, among other things, whether the play added to my understanding of people who are different from me, I sometimes check no, but many times the plays do add that dimension.  

A former head of the Theater Department at CCSF (a department now decimated, I think) said that the SF Playhouse was his favorite one in the area.  It's mine too.

Thank you for caring about theaters whether they're my favorite or not!  The SF Chronicle is very lucky to have you.

Tina Martin 

 

This morning I went to the spot on Sanchez and 19th to take a look at the "crime scene," where a stolen car came barreling over a guardrail, tumbled down the hill, knocking down trees, landed upside down, and then those inside stepped out and got away

https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/video-car-plummets-over-sanchez-street-stairs-in-san-francisco/