Small Stone: January 24, 2014

An artist’s collective here in the Mission has two store-front windows that are given over each month to local artists to display their work, create an installation or make a statement. The Author Is, actually reads The Author Is Out ─ I did not aim the camera well. But, I rather like “is”. We get to see the work table, copies of the most recent book and we can guess what the author might be like from the other objects. Actually, that is an incomprehensibly tidy desk! This author, me, has never had such a neat space.

Small Stone; January 23, 2014

The photo has nothing to do with the post. Just a cute thing I saw at a neighbor's sidewalk sale.

After a visit to the Dr.’s office, I was waiting for a prescription in the on-site pharmacy. The building also has the pediatric clinic. A tiny girl, maybe 3 or 4, at most, was telling her mother what the pediatrician’s instructions were about care for her ailment. “He said that we should have every kind of ice cream. But, chocolate will be enough.” Indeed, chocolate will be enough!

Small Stone: January 22, 2014

So often people write or talk about urban isolation and separateness. I find a lot of smiles and interactions on the street, in shops and in nature, as it appears in my City. We have a small phenomenon of parklets in San Francisco. A business or resident takes over a parking space and makes a public park space for all to enjoy. That seems to me the antithesis of separate. The photos above are from a delightful parklet in front of a Victorian home on a busy nearby street. It is fun, it is bright and it is friendly. Here is a link: http://deeplet.org/

Small Stone: January 21, 2014

A local bookstore has a street display of used books…bins for perusing and inspiration. One of them today was filled with children’s books. I was taken decades back  to the time when I was given the incredible gift of reading. Reading was always central in our house. Well, that and programs on the big Philco radio. But, every day there were books and magazines and time for reading. I am filled with gratitude each time I see a child literally immersed in a story in a book. 

Small Stone: January 20, 2014

I did not take a photo of the little girl with the iguana.

I woke up feeling out of sorts today. I simply needed to snap out of it. First, a beautiful cloud reflection of the sunrise just beyond one of my favorite trees down the block. Then, I went for a happy walk ─ looking for only things that were upbeat. They were everywhere. A young Latina was sitting on her front stoop in the sun holding her iguana. Both totally content. I had never noticed an outrageous plaster pig on a balcony. I laughed. A beautiful street-side planter filled with succulents was in bloom with a marvelous yellow flower. And, then turning the corner by the playground, I heard a chorus: cheerily cheer-up cheerio….the song of the American Robin. A flock was enjoying the last rays of sun on this very warm day…and singing to me. And, their song cheerily cheer-up cheerio is exactly the message I was looking for today.

Small Stone: January 19, 2014

I simply chose a cloud picture from my files for today. To document the interaction with a photo would have been invasive, or beside the point.

As I walked along the edge of the park this afternoon, two very young gay men were walking ahead of me. They were obviously enjoying being together and one reached for the other’s hand ─ such a common show of affection. There was a moment of embarrassed hesitation. What was so clear is how both did not know if it was ok to for two men to make an innocuous public statement. It was disconcerting and painful to see. I have thought for some hours now about how we are socialized to withhold the expression of even the most basic and loving gestures. And, how standards of disapproval and rejection sometimes underlie fulfillment in human interaction.

Small Stone: January 18, 2014

The artist gives us a Madonna and child figure, but perhaps in a burqa? An anti-war statement with the halo framed with “no war”. And, a tear in the eye of the Madonna figure. This message meant so much to the artist that she has attached this large painting to the front of her house for all to consider. Very powerful and enigmatic. Still dealing with the enigma, but thinking of what issues would prompt me to make such a public statement. It would not have been a question in my youth!