Wherever your red shoes take you.

Hey lady, he calls to me from his seat on the bench. He squints in the morning sun. I like your shoes.

I look down at my filthy red sneaks and say thanks.

I hope wherever your red shoes take you, you have a great day, he exclaims confidently. Then he sees my camera.

And that you get some great photos today!

How did he know I already had?

***

I usually wake up between 5:30 and 6:30 in the morning. Even though I don't have a job to go to at present, old habits die hard.

I used to try to leave the house early before work so I could take a few photos before the boring grind of the office day began. Just spending even a half-hour outside the office felt like a very important time, even if I only got one good shot out of it. I felt like I had accomplished something important just for me.

So it dawned on me yesterday that I am literally wasting dawns. I could be up and using that amazing morning light and instead I'm lazing around.

So this morning I decided to change all that.

At 6:30am, I took the 71 Haight-Noriega all the way down Haight Street to Fillmore. Got off at Fillmore, walked to Oak to Laguna and then walked all the way back Oak, to Masonic, to Haight and through the park.

And here's what I saw. All that before the day began, and was I glad.

Early morning on an empty bus but still uneasy neighbors.

Thanks for the ride, 71.

I love the thinking about how many mornings these old houses have seen.

No one will steal your trike if you park it over your door.

This one's shy.

But now they're having a bit of a chat.

I loved the yellow bee man and his matching goldenrod taxi speeding by.

I call this the Dog House. This is the first time I've gotten a good shot of who's guarding the stoop.

I like that Tom Johnson, Sr. used so many tacks to keep his name on.

This is one of my i live here: SF postcards, which I stealthily leave around town. No one's contacted me yet, but I keep pretending they're like Golden Tickets in Wonka Bars, and someday someone will say they found my postcard lying around and thought it would be fun to see what my project's all about.

I wonder where she went.

Life is UR canvas. U R the artist.
As seen in Golden Gate Park.

Wherever your red shoes take you.

***

Red shoes or not, I hope your feet took you somewhere interesting today.

Out with the girls

Robin of Bird Tweets taking photos in Clarion Alley in the Mission.

***

I went almost immediately from days of darkness inside the Castro Theatre to full-on sunshine and hot temperatures (especially for San Francisco).

Robin and Relyn are still visiting our fair city and this is Day Two of our SF: Tangobaby style marathon. Yesterday we spent half the day in the Mission and the other half in Chinatown, by way of The Castro, the Palace Hotel and the Lower Haight. (And yes, that is a lot.)

We had Salvadorean papusas and plantains on 24th Street, dim sum on Stockton and sausages from Rosamunde's (yay!). We rode a cable car, a bus, the N-Judah and BART. And we walked. Boy did we walk. And we got much needed accupressure foot massages in Chinatown. We ate the grilled sausages at my place and watched Vertigo on the big movie screen, so they could see parts of the city we saw today (Mission Dolores and downtown) and parts of the city we will have to save for next time. We couldn't decide who was crazier: Jimmy Stewart or Kim Novak.

Today is Telegraph Hill (hoping for wild parrots), the Filbert Stairs and North Beach in general, SF MOMA to see Robert Frank and Richard Avedon, and who knows what else while we still have feet.

I'm just beside myself to see what photos Robin will get with her big camera. She has been so generous in trying to figure out how to help me use my little baby one. I'm inspired to save money and get a real SLR and lenses like hers (but first, a job must come). I have this feeling of anticipation in having a photographer friend I so admire take photos of the places I've come to love so much, and then see them through her eyes. I know her work is going to be incredible and cannot wait to see it.

Relyn has a perfect little camera but I have a feeling she'll be getting a bigger one soon! We've got to have some sort of camera fever that is contagious.

Both of them are more wonderful to hang out with than you might even imagine. Robin is fearless and strong with her camera. I really admire her passion and pursuit of the image and how generous she is to share her enthusiasm and her wealth of knowledge. Relyn is bubbling over with humor and laughter and pure enjoyment where ever she is. She wants to do and see everything, and appreciates all she sees. I am enjoying them both tremendously.

***

I had more fun watching them take photos of the places I love, but here are a few images I took yesterday that I like.

playing the hand you're dealt in Chinatown

waiting for mama to finish the laundry in the Mission

the last picture show, in the Mission

their tiny master, Chinatown

Okay, time to prepare for another day.

xoxo

Why I Love the Mission

From Free Friday.
(Gosh, was it only yesterday?)