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30 September 2007
	The kids' Hebrew School is doing a Tikkun Olam ("repairing the world") public-service event in Golden Gate Park. We're assembling care packages for a women's shelter. Each age group is doing what it can: putting soaps and toothbrushes and soap into baggies, knitting blankets, wrapping toys for kids, etc. Isaac takes a break and takes me for an exploring walk through the park. Lila and the Rabbi work on decorating packages. It's Isaac's wish that we go to Fisherman's Wharf afterward. So we head through the Presidio, down Lombard Street. Here's the top part of the curvy block. Lila has been entranced by Russian matroshkia (those nesting dolls). This store is in the Cannery. As we stroll by the Bushman we see one of the tours for $10 per person. Rose isn't feeling so well, so she sends the three of us. (This is us leaving; we're the last two aboard.) On San Francisco Bay, nearing the Golden Gate Bridge, all is reduced to salt spray and laughter. It helps that there's a half-dozen kids in the bow of the boat. Under the Golden Gate Bridge. Alcatraz Island, on a perfectly sunny and warm day. If we had more time we'd do a tour - the kids have never been - but someone tells me that they're booking several months out. Really?
29 September 2007
	Isaac is playing a game at the Sunset Fair, while Lila and I prepare for the Hapkido demonstration team performance.
28 September 2007
	We're heading over to the East Bay to celebrate Sukkot with our friends. This is the kids' sukkah, built on their porch. It fulfills the major points of a sukkah: the stars can be seen through the roof, it's been decorated, and people can go inside. That's Rocky and Jeddy. "once there lived a boy named David. he took good care of his sheep. once war came to David's land David went to his border and won." The adults' sukkah. Not too dissimilar. Here's the adults' sukkah, occupied with grown-ups and kids alike. That evening Isaac reviews these photos. I think he likes what he sees.
27 September 2007
	It's Thursday, and the Running Club is in full force at the kids' elementary school. Here Carson, Lila, and Sebastian clown around in line as Coach Drew makes note of the laps run. For every mile the kids get a plastic token (which they all hang from a bathub-type chain). Isaac & Eugenia at lunch, in the bungalow. He gets quite the variety of treats from her, and she gets a variety of organic stuff from us. Those two do a lot of playing together, and a lot of laughing. Here the kids are doing the running club. (Isaac's face is distorted by his speed in front of the iPhone camera.) The monkey bars on the old play structure are so integral to the kids' childhood it's scary. The modern lawyer-friendly play structures are so boring in comparison. At a party I find a quick-and-tasty version of Marsala Chai: Celestial Seasonings Teahouse Cinnamon Spice Chai.
26 September 2007
	During lunchtime on Clement (at 6th Avenue) this guy does a hit-and-run a block away, races down Clement, loses control here, and slams into this corner pole (around which a gaggle of pedestrians and bus-waiters are standing; only one is hit). The police were not impressed. It's library day, and Isaac is picking out a "just right" book (one whose words he can mostly read, with only a few to be figured out). Because his reading level is so high, it's hard to stump him. Thank goodness we don't have TV at our house.
25 September 2007
	Isaac and Paris, being pals in the parking structure. They groove on each other :-) A San Francisco sunset, as seen from our Hapkido dojang, on Taraval at 16th Avenue.
24 September 2007
	In a house full of mirrors there's always a lot to do for a post-shower princess.
23 September 2007
	The kids' Hebrew school sukkah, in the middle of decorating. You can't see the misty rain that drove everyone away.... Dziadziu and Isaac at Kiki, about to enjoy sushi. (Dad likes the cooked or fried stuff, his doctor's advice notwithstanding.) Lila and Rose, cuddling over a bowl of miso.
21 September 2007
	Isaac, BMOC (Big Man on Campus), with my iPhone. Last week someone brought what they thought was a walking stick to Rose, because the kids had educated them about non-native species. They brought it over to the Randall Museum and were told it was a khaki praying mantis (which they kept, and placed into an exhibit). Today someone brought over a green praying mantis, which is native but not needed by the museum, so we're letting him go in our front yard. Here's an employee of Naan 'n Curry, another happy iPhone user. Here's a very happy Isaac, treed, late at night (his favorite time of all).