today

Mr. Bloom (my husband, not my son!) needs some new specs so we popped in at the local Warby Parker shop. Hayes Street in SF is always fun... and as a treat before heading home, we stopped in at Miette Confiserie (yay!)

sunday :: sf

 

My parents had a one-day stop over in SF on a cruise from LA to Vancouver (the ship they're on started in Florida, went through the Panama Canal and has sailed up the coast of  Mexico -- they are catching the last leg of cruise).  What a day to attempt a rendez-vous at the Ferry Building! Between a baseball game at ATT Park and the Bay to Breakers Race, traffic was fierce.  But a Pink Moon CD in the car kept us happy, seeing people in costumes from the Bay to Breakers made us happier, plus coffee from Blue Bottle and all headaches vanish to the ether.

And my boys got to see their grandparents for a few hours today.  Could I have asked for any more?

japanese tea garden

Some childhood friends of Mr. Bloom's blew into town yesterday for a whirlwind visit.  This morning, suddenly and unexpectedly, I found myself packed into the car with Mr. Bloom & wee Bloom on our way to the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park to meet up with our visitors from Ann Arbor.

The weather was foggy and cold, but the company was good.  The garden was beautiful, the cookies were sweet, the tea was hot and there were many paths down which little feet could run and explore...

A very happy adventure, all around.  Have you been on any unexpected adventures lately?

Toll Bridge, Troll Bridge

Back in January, I wrote a post about verified gnome-sightings in a city local to me.  Now there have been verified troll-sightings (spotted beneath a local bridge -- where else would a troll be seen?)

The troll first appeared following the Loma-Prieta earthquake in 1989, after repairs were made to a section of the bridge which had collapsed. It is thought that the troll took up residence to bring good luck and protect the bridge from further disaster.  There is also theory that, when the new bridge was being built, the project was plagued with problems due to the impending demolition of the old bridge span (which is home to the troll.)

If you like, you can read more about it here, here and here.

Cinderella

Saturday night Mr. Bloom and I went to the ballet.  Not just any ballet... a new production of Cinderella co-produced by SF Ballet and The Dutch National Ballet.   It took a bit of arranging, but I managed to have a dear friend babysit my boys, and Oh! It was magnificent, I'm so glad we could go...

Maybe you also like ballet, or maybe you don't... but this ballet... There are not enough over the top adjectives to describe it. Stunning. Gorgeous.  It was perfect.  Classical ballet but also very modern, hilariously funny moments, serious and romantic in all the right places.  The story line melded Grimm's version of Cinderella with the Perrault version, and while there was no fairy godmother, there was a magic tree, sprung from the tears Cinderella shed over the grave of her mother.  Yes, perfect.

This review from Huffington Post was very nice and above you can see a trailer from the Dutch National Ballet.

Here is the choreographer speaking about the ballet. If you are fretting because the rest of the performances are sold out, fret no more.  SF Ballet will be performing it again next year (tickets are already available to subscribers.)

 Just for fun... one last video about the costumes.  Yes, perfect.

 

Monsters in the Bookshelf

Yesterday we had the most wonderful adventure.  After school we scurried over to USF to see an exhibit called Monsters in the Bookshelves.  This exhibit displays work by eight illustrators who have banded together under the name Studio 5.  You can read more about each of the illustrators on the Studio 5 website here or, if you happen to be in San Francisco between now and December 16th you can see a bounty of their original work displayed beautifully in the Thacher Gallery (and much of the artwork is hung low so that children can view it easily!)  You may have missed the opening event yesterday but there will be exhibit-related activities on October 15th!

The highlight of our visit was, of course, getting to say hello to Marilyn Scott-Waters.  Her work is so imaginative and playful -- it was lovely for me to finally meet, face-to-face, the exuberant, joy-inspiring person behind the toys.  If you are not familiar with Marilyn's books you can find out more on her website here. And just a quick FYI -- Marilyn's website is a wonderful place to get lost for hours reading stories and printing out free toys.  This website is a place to revel in some serious whimsy and magic!

And thank you so very much to the artists of Studio 5 for sharing your marvelous & inspirational work at the Thacher Gallery!

A Golden Gate Park Adventure

Despite the fact that today was little Mr. B's first day of school (and he was exhausted), we ventured out to Golden Gate Park to spend time with cousins who were visiting all the way from Boston (Oh, the joy of meeting my cousin's nearly 3-year-old daughter for the first time!)

 First stop, the carousel...

 

Where our wee Bloom had his first ever ride...  Round and round we went, ensconced in the luxury of a winged swan chariot.

 Then we did some high-in-the-sky climbing...

 And explored the sand box where lurks a creepy, mosaic sea-monster.

 Watch out tasty little baby!  Crawl away fast... that creepy sea-monster has his eye on you!

After a stint on the swings we had dinner at our all time favorite restaurant: Park Chow.  Next time you're in San Francisco it's worth a visit if only to try their warm ginger cake with pumpkin ice cream and caramel sauce (are you hungry yet?)

But my favorite part of the day?  The winged swan chariot (of course!)

Yum Yum Dim Sum

Today we're having dim sum.
Look, there's the rolling cart!
Papa says that dim sum means
"A little bit of heart..."

Why, oh why, my little siu mai,
Why do I love you so?
What treasure hides, jing cha siu bao,
Pillowed in your dough?

I love this little board book about dim sum. It's very funny, and better yet, part of a series. The other titles in the series are First Book of Sushi, Hola! Jalapeno, Mangia Mangia!, Chaat and Sweets, Let's Nosh!, and A Little Bit of Soul Food. Have you ever had dim sum? It's a traditional Chinese brunch -- the waiters roll little carts through the restaurant and when the cart comes by your table, they lift the lids off the small, round bamboo steam boxes so you can have a peek inside at the dumplings. If they look good to you, the server sets the bamboo steam box on your table. Then everyone grabs their chopsticks & plucks up the dumplings. My favorites are the Shanghai dumplings filled with soup. It was such a mystery to me the first time I had them. How did they get soup inside the dumplings? I finally figured it out, but it's a secret. Maybe I'll tell, and maybe I won't.

So, this is what we did for my birthday -- we went out to my favorite restaurant for dim sum!

Little Mr. B. worked very hard trying to use his chopsticks, and finally... success!

Then we swung by my favorite tide pools. Oh, it was windy and cold, cold, cold! We said hello to sea anemones & starfish, the limpets, wee periwinkle snails and hermit crabs. We waved at the soulful-eyed sea lions bobbing in the water only 30 feet away from where we stood, and Little Mr. B., with his sharp eyes, spotted the tiniest funny fish in one of the pools.

It was a marvelous birthday, made even better by all the kind wishes and greetings I received on Saturdays post. Thank you, thank you one and all!

A Visit to the Museum: Part 3 (and the Mondrian Cake!)

My husband trained as a commercial photographer, and up until 12 years ago, when he transitioned to another career, he worked as a photographer. So, he was very interested in seeing the exhibit Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera since 1870 at SFMOMA in San Francisco.

We set off to visit SFMOMA a few days before the start of the new year. When we arrived at the museum, we went right up to the third floor and were greeted by signs stating clearly: This exhibit contains photographs which some people might find offensive and which may not be appropriate for children. oops... I wish this statement about the exhibit had been featured on the SFMOMA website. Among other things, the exhibit contained photos taken by journalists of famous assassinations & executions, photos taken of celebrities by paparazzi and photos which could be considered pornographic by artists such as Robert Mapplethorpe. No, definitely not appropriate, so the children and I were exiled to the third floor foyer (along with other small groups of parents & children...)

We did have a nice time as a family looking at a large exhibit of photos by Henri Cartier-Bresson, but the best part of the day was when we visited the new Rooftop Coffee Bar and Sculpture Garden.

At the cafe, we shared a slice of Mondrian cake. Also on the dessert menu: Wayne Thiebaud Cake, Katharina Fritsch Ice Cream Sandwiches, Jeff Koons White Hot Chocolate, Frida Kahlo Mexican Wedding Cookies and Diebenkorn Trifle (I'm not joking -- you can see the SFMOMA dessert gallery here...)

Except for the pesky Robert Mapplethorpe photos, we had a lovely time, and that Mondrian cake made it all worthwhile.

A Visit to the Museum: Part 2 -- Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay

In early December a friend and I decided we would take our children (an eight year old, a seven year old, a six year old, a two year old and a 5 month old, collectively) on an excursion to see an exhibit at the DeYoung Museum -- The exhibit was titled Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and Beyond: Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay. In addition to paintings by Van Gogh, Gauguin & Cezanne, there were paintings by Degas, Monet, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, the Nabis Pierre Bonnard,Vuillard & Rousseau. This is the only time these paintings will be shown as a collection in the United States.

Bold intrepid mamas! It was quite an adventure. In we trooped, a happy little parade, skipping through the endless security barriers... and out we trooped again three (3!) times for restroom visits. We sorely tested the patience of the security guards (but secretly, inside, I'm sure they were amused.)

My friend and her daughters loved the joyful paintings by Renoir...

My seven year old son loved the mysterious paintings by Rousseau...

And seeing this little painting by Degas called Dancers Climbing the Stairs made me cry... It was hard for me to understand, at the time, why I had such a strong emotional response. I think it was the experience of seeing these original works of art, hanging on the walls only 2 or 3 feet in front of me. The paintings, in person, were so very different from viewing photographs of them in books. The photos in books and reproduction posters are flat. It's impossible to see the textures and layers of paint, and the textures and layers are what brings them to life. I felt like I could sense the breath & brush strokes of the artist... it felt that close and intimate...

We made it about 3/4 of the way through the exhibit when the children themselves were inspired to create art, so out came the paper and pencils I keep stashed in my bag. Sprawled across the elegant, shining parquet floors of the exhibit hall, the children set themselves to work while the well-heeled museum patrons stepped lightly over and around them. I expected a museum guard to march over and grump at us, but the guards only nodded and smiled indulgently. The museum goers, themselves, paused between viewing paintings by Vuillard and Rousseau to admire the work of the children and offer compliments.

After we were done in the museum, we went out into the cold, dusky twilight to play in the fallen leaves...

And run around...

and around...

And around...


And around, once again, the big fountain in the center of the beautiful Golden Gate Park Music Concourse...

It was a wonderful day.