The Bay Area is doing all it can to keep me completely and totally enamored. And it is most definitely succeeding. I met up with a good friend Rachel on the University of California, Berkeley campus and together we bussed over to San Francisco to cruise Chinatown:) After becoming all but overwhelmed by the amount of energy and general stuff available, we needed a break. Poof! Free tea tasting! Perfectly timed, we sat down and filled up on various lovely, hot, fragrant tea before heading back to Berkeley.
After parting ways, I thought I would just be heading home to sit in for a quiet evening. Silly me;) As I wandered down Shattuck Ave a man gestured to me from a park bench. I smiled. He waved and said, "Come on now, you can't just walk on by. You need to take a moment to sit and enjoy the evening." (All of you cynics out there are holding your breath right now, I know. Just trust me for a moment, people are so fabulous.) So I joined this man, Olvan, and had a lovely conversation about his travels through life, what he does now, how we both happen to love being where we are right now... then a group of people came and performed a movement/dance piece to the sound of the city streets, right in front of us... enormous white flowers wafted in the breeze... small children smiled, giggled, teased one another... a woman handed out packets of wildflower seeds...
Park(ing) Day.
Basically, once a year, people gather together and "rent out" a section of metered parking spots. They then build a park there for the day. September 18th happened to be Park(ing) Day. The park I had stumbled upon had enormous flowers created from old plastic bags. It is an effort to remind people that we should cherish the beauty of parks, whether permanent or transient:)
And the fun doesn't end there! Life is made of "old friends I still gotta meet" (ahem, if you don't know that quote, go listen to some Rachael Davis... she's good for the soul) and I met one of them this evening back in San Francisco. Emerson is a charismatic captain. Literally (more on that later, I promise). We downed some yummy local beer and I, yet again, showed how terrible I am at playing pool. The fun's in playing, not winning... says the loser...
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That was the most fantastic description of an urban scene I have ever read- with the random street performers. Wow- you are such an amazing writer, Maggie. And I do really agree with you and totally trust your judgment- people ARE so fabulous!
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