Further On With Father

Dad with my stepmother~2007

If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants

Sir Isaac Newton

Today is my father's birthday. He was thrust into that role soon after he could get into a bar legally. Although quite young, he did his best to adhere to this somewhat sudden responsibility.

My parents marriage lasted about nine years. When they divorced, brother and I were whisked away to Appleton, Wisconsin with my mother. Her mother and family were there, and we lived there for the next five years. Until my mother decided we should return to San Francisco. Appleton was nothing like the city of my birth. It was, however, an idyllic little intermission in my childhood. There were cousins. And cozy neighborhoods. And catholics.

Anyway, we returned to San Francisco. Which meant we got to see our dad frequently. He had the sailboat then, and we spent many hours sailing on the bay and beyond or working on that boat. As a child, I thought I had the coolest dad ever. I still do. He married my step mom in 1994, after shacking up for about a decade. It's a match.

Losing my mom in 1981 radically altered the course of my young life. My surviving parent has guided me through many changes since then. Nothing about our history has been conventional. The one exception to that is the mutual love and respect we share. An example of the non-convention: When I was very young, he decided that we should call him father.* Not dad or daddy. Father sounded cooler to him. So we complied. I recall that my neighborhood pals wondered if our dad was a priest. Nobody else called their dad father.

* Nowadays, he answers to (most) anything.

Then

January 1975~San Francisco

I was home for a holiday visit from San Diego, where I attempted to attend college. Seventeen and a few months. As I recall, I came home late from seeing friends, and decided to take a serious(?) self-portrait. Was I really ever so young, so sweet? (Shit. Now I sound like Kathleen Turner on Larry King last night.)

The picture wall behind me was in the kitchen at my Mom's. I put it together about a year before, when I still lived at home. Naturally, I remember every photo behind me. I love the one in the lower left corner. That's of my grandfather Malcolm at the Sausalito Yacht Harbor. He kept his sailboat, "Baby Grand" there. My father kept his boat there too. ("Serenade") They were both 38' Dasher Class. Wood, not fiberglass. I posted of a photo of us sailing here.

Sadly, I don't know where the photo of Malcolm is today. Maybe dad has a copy. Other shots include: My baby brother, my step-sister, and my great-aunt Gert.


"I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
So the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're going through"

Bowie

My Fair City, Again

Another beauty-of-a-shot, courtesy of Aiko Jim. He got to go on a boat trip to the Farallon Islands last week with the California Academy Of Sciences. Lucky! The building at the edge of the water with the reddish roof is the St. Francis Yacht Club, where I once celebrated my 16th birthday. Fort Mason is in the far left of the photo---those beige buildings. That's where Greens is. This has been your San Francisco nostalgia moment of the week.

goin' where the wind don't blow so strange...

what do you think of my pet theory that people act stranger when it's
windy out there? i like to believe that it could be true. i've always sort of liked the wind, even when my asthma does not. it feels like the earth has a thing or two to say. oh, and it was great for sailing, the wind. sailing is a favorite memory of mine.

today my love and i came home from work to a welcome phone message. kp made it through his bypass procedure, and is in recovery. whew. we are so relieved, and thankful. the tough part lies ahead, i have no doubt. but he will have help, lucky for him. we talked to him on the phone last night, and i told him i would come as close to praying for him as i could, and i did. and that IS saying something, for this recovering catholic girl! my eyes kept getting teary, all day long. i love my friends.

more welcome news... the republicans lost more than they won today, in regard to the judicial nominations, and the monkey king's ratings continue to plummet. i also saw a
a report that californian's driving habits have not changed in the least, even though gas costs roughly 3 bucks a gallon. not surprising, since cars and driving are practically a religion in this state and elsewhere. but to be NOT modifying your gas usage habits in any way seems beyond selfish. i am so weary of selfishness, glutony, greed, and all the denial it requires to live in that way. hey, but at least they support the troops. deep sigh.

elder daughter called me on her cell phone from where the web cam is today, on campus. that was too cute. she will be done with finals on wednesday, and may just try to fit everything in her car and head home. she has most everything packed in boxes already. it would appear she is in a bit of a hurry to be gone-ya think? she will be glad to be back here, until the sheer boredom sets in, that is! younger daughter had her pal bing over after school today. cool kid, and a great jazz drummer as well. younger daughter is going to help me learn more about building my blog this weekend, thankfully. links and photos are coming soon. until then there is only my boring chatter.

it should prove to be a very unique summer around these parts. my 23 year old son is
wanting to come up here from santa cruz and spend a few weeks to a month, and get a job here in town, and save more money for his relocation effort to berkeley or oakland. he is considering giving notice at his current job in the next few weeks. i am so incredibly thrilled about this news. what's that? i must be nuts?...our shack is so small with just the 2 adults and 1 child. add the college kid AND the son and wow---not much room. especially with just one little bathroom. it will require patience, that is true. but it would be incredible to have our little family ALL together again. when the son left to live with his father in 1997, the girls were 5 and 11.(he was 15) they all missed out on a lot together. it was almost like a death, when he moved away. painful to recall, but we all made it through. and he is an amazing man. weird to call him that. i love my kids.

another day on the planet. glad that kp is still with us. and that my aiko brutha quit cigs! keep on visualizing the downfall of baby bush...it's working! check out the new willie nelson "album"...it's reggae, with toots (toots and the maytals) on it, among other folks.