San Francisco, CA - Life on the Wild Side

Well, time to clean the RV and I’m probably not going to do it with my arm the way it is. Yes, I am taking some pain pills but I don’t think that cleaning the RV is what I should be doing. Here’s my solution:

Pretty clever, huh?

But, I can take a walk in the afternoon - as long as I have my sling on. There are miles of trails around here, lots of bikers, lots of walkers, lots of people getting to and from the ferry for work in SF, lots of people shopping within walking distance. And, there are lots of trails to accommodate them. We certainly could like to live in this area but - we checked the price of a nice town home - very like the town home we had in West Des Moines - but the price was very NOT like the price in Des Moines. $699,000. I can only wish that we could have sold ours for that price.

And, speaking of housing, we have driven by this new apartment complex several times in our travels here. People certainly fought it when it was being proposed: too big with 180 units and will put a real burden on the roads, the schools, the water system and all the infrastructure. It’s also too tall and many think too ugly. Here it is, somewhat bland in paint until you look at the end unit on the right and the top end unit on the left. Interesting color scheme And, there’s more of that gold and that yellow in other spots. Gary and I checked out the prices for these: an 850 sq. ft unit is $3000 a month. Get a 1000 sq. ft unit for $3050 a month. Which means, according to the materials from the apartment lessor, that you must have a household income of $136,000 to be able to afford one of these. Now tell me, how do the service people: the cashiers in the grocery stores, the waitresses in the restaurants, the people in the car washes, the clerks in Nordstrom's - how do these people afford to live here?

Well, they don’t - they live over the bridge in Richmond or other towns - a long ways away. They drive 30 minutes or more just for a $10.00 an hour job. And, the traffic here - don’t even mention it.

Now, on to more pleasant subjects. We walked along a canal and met an older woman weeding her garden in back of her house. Well, not just any older person, this is Mary (not her real name), who is 107 years old and is still out in her lawn working. She told us that no one cared about her age until she got to be 100 and now everyone cares. She gets a birthday cake from the City Council, she gets freebies everywhere and has even been featured in the latest issue of Popular Science. She lost her copy and went to Barnes and Noble to buy another one. Several young kids in her neighborhood bring her treats in their red wagon. When she got to the clerk, she pointed out her picture and the clerk gave her the magazine for free. Quite spunky this 107 year old. She loves the attention but sometimes, it does get to be a bit much.

I asked if I could take her picture and she posed. I actually looked her up on Google using her name, her age and her town and, sure enough, there she is - several stories about her on line. By the way she hates that new apartment building.

She asked where we lived and we told her about the RV and she said she envied us. Oh, she said, I would love to do that. One of her nieces is doing this also and she thinks it sounds like a great way of life.

Love these flowers along the canal side.

Now. here’s an interesting house. We found this along the trail and marveled at the art work around it.

And that was our walk for the day. But such an interesting one.

“Happiness is waking up, looking at the clock and finding that you still have two hours left to sleep.”
                        Charles M. Schulz