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shannon_aHospital Day 3. I have a leisurely morning and am able to bike out to Pill Hill just in advance of the rain. Well, it sprinkles here and there, but the further I get toward Oakland the more that lets up.
I visit with Kimberly around 11am.
It's weird seeing Kimberly in little snapshots like this. Last night she was bright and cheery and more vibrant and animated than anytime since the surgery. This morning she is groggy and keeps fading into almost sleep as I talk with her. The difference is in the oxycontin. In both cases, she's last had pain pills around 8.30am, but last night that was almost 12 hours previous and this time it's just a couple.
As she increasingly fades, I head out.
The great plan for the day was this: visit Kimberly; get in to San Francisco to renew/replace my San Francisco Library card; do some stairway walks; return to see Kimberly; and then head home a bit earlier than on the previous days.
The library card is something that I really wanted to do before leaving California, so it's good to find a time for it. he rest is just filling the day before I come back to see Kimberly, but sounds fun. I like exploring.
Let's see how that works out.
The stop at the library is easy. My old account has actually been deleted due to non-use, but *poof* I have a new one with a short form.
I wouldn't be able to do this in a month, when I have a new permanent residence, so it was now or never, and so I have California library privileges for four final years.
Muni now offers all-day passes over their Muni app for $5, so I've picked up one of those to make my day of exploring San Francisco easy, like I was in a European city that had reasonable public transit. (SF is actually pretty good, even if most of the transit is buses, and $5 for the day is relatively reasonable.)
From the Library, I take the 21 up to Divisadero. My goal there: Popeye's. Maybe I should have tried the chicken sandwich that people are murdering each other over, but instead I went for my old standby: popcorn shrimp.
We used to have a book of stairway walks in San Francisco, but it's either packed or given away. (Who knows which!? It'll be like Christmas when we're reopening all of our book boxes ... sometime in 2020.)
So instead I was Googling for stairway walks. And, I didn't really find any good walks online, but I did find a few lists of the best stairways in San Francisco, some of them linked to Google Maps for easy access.
And I decided for my first stop to go visit two newer stairways (or at least recently decorated stairways) that probably weren't in that book: The Hidden Garden Steps and The 16th Avenue Tiled Steps (aka "Mosaic Stairway"), both in the Inner Sunset, beneath Grandview Park.
All powerful with my all-day MUNI pass, I walked a few blocks over to the 6, and took it west.
At this point, one should perhaps address the rain. It's been raining most of December and after a bit of letup yesterday, the rain was predicted to come back today before noon.
It was sprinkling a bit when I was on Divisadero, then again when I hopped off the 6 below Grandview Park. But as I started to climb up the Hidden Garden Steps I was actually able to put my umbrella away, because the light rain was dissipating and/or being held back by trees.
Keep that in mind as I ascend.
The Hidden Garden Steps are the more recent steps, with the mosaic completed in 2013. And, they're utterly amazing. Mosaic tiles cover the risers of the 148 steps, creating a picture that can be seen as you scan the ascending steps. A moth, a snail, a dragonfly, and other garden critters can be seen, as well as a variety of plants, including a notably beautiful golden poppy.
The art is very representational and quite beautiful, and intertwined with it all are the names and memories of the community members who had these mosaics built.
And apparently this stairway remains pretty unknown, despite the fact that I actually think it's prettier than its earlier brethren.
Up at the top of the Hidden Garden Steps is a neighborhood with a little park rising up above it: Grandview Park. I can really hear the wind whipping up at the top of the park, under gray, gray skies. It's actually a bit intimidating because the wind sounds so fearsome. But there's just a bit of drizzle again, so what harm can a little wind cause?
This is the adventurous part of the trip that has been foreshadowed: I start climbing the (plain stone) steps to Grandview Park, and the rain suddenly starts coming down. I get up to the top of the stairs, and look up at the dirt path leading the rest of the way up, and I'm not sure what to do. Because the rain has become a torrent, and there's a river flowing down the dirt.
But I figure I'm here, right, and when am I ever going to be back?
And there's some other guy up there already, so it can't be that bad.
So I walk up into the torrent, and the wind is whipping my wimpy little umbrella around, and there's no cover. So I'm getting really wet.
Up at the top, I huddle as close as I can under a tree, which doesn't really stop more than 10% of the rain, but that's something. I enjoy seeing the gray clouds lying over the city, but I don't enjoy the whipping winds and rain that are just drenching me. So I don't stay for long. (Mysterious guy up atop the hill has already had the good sense to move on.)
There's a wood staircase going down the opposite side, again undecorated, and I actually wonder if I can make it down in the wind and rain. I do, though my umbrella whirls me around a few times in the wind, without really giving me much protection. And then I'm down on a street, still with no cover, and still with this really heavy rain coming down, now at an angle of about 45 degrees.
I decide to take cover under the eaves in front of someone's garage, and just stand there for 10 or 15 minutes, watching some of the heaviest rain that I've ever seen, thinking that I'm trapped out on a hill who knows how far from the closest bus, who knows how far from home.
Yeah, I could call an Uber or a Lyft, but surely I'm not really stranded out here, in what's starting to feel like a natural disaster. Am I?
Apparently not, because after 10 or 15 minutes the rain turns from torrent to storm, and I can actually walk around with an umbrella again without getting drenched. Well, actually, I'm already drenched, my pants and overshirt both pretty soaked. But not more drenched.
And I'm just a few hundred feet from the 16th Avenue Tile Steps, which I take back down.
Turns out that walking up them is the way to go, not down. But I stop at every landing and look at the tiles above me.
The 16th Avenue Tiled Steps are several years older than the Hidden Garden Steps, completed in 2005. They were the inspiration for the nearby Hidden Garden Steps and have become a bit of a tourist attraction, but not today. Oh, I meet a couple coming up who are enjoying the steps, and down at the bottom, where it's started raining somewhat heavily again, there's another couple who leap out of a car, take three pictures, then leap back in. But the rain is mostly keeping folks away, which I guess means it was a good day to visit.
In fact, I've seen pictures of the 16th Avenue Tile Steps before, because they generated quite a few local news articles for their innovation, and that's probably what's led to the tourism. But despite seeing pictures, it's still amazing to see these steps in person.
The 16th Avenue Tile Steps have an amazing overall vision: a river that goes all the way up to the top where there's a moon and a sun. And apparently some of the tiles are reflective and glow in the moonlight. So that overall vision is pretty awesome. But there's nothing as individually beautiful as some of the critters and plants at the other steps. So, yeah, keep the tourists over here.
I'd been planning more steps. And maybe visiting Union Square after dark to see the Christmas lights.
But the rain is still heavy, and I decide I want to head home, and get changed before heading back to Kimberly. And I definitely want to get out of this heavy rain.
Even moreso, as I walk across a number of streets that have pretty much become rivers. Because there's so much water coming down that the gutters and drains can't keep up.
At one point I do see a city worker desperately trying to get a drain clean. He must have had a cold and tiring day.
So I walk down to Judah, and I stand on the platform which like most of the N-Judah platforms has no cover. And there's a woman there too, and we both just stand there in the pouring rain. But thankfully the N-Judah comes pretty quickly.
(Because MUNI ain't AC Transit.)
There's one last surprise. The N-Judah stops short of Market, just before it enters the subway ... because the subway is flooded.
After a bit the driver tells us that trains are slowly entering the subway, so it'll be five minutes.
And then a few minutes later she tells us she has no idea how long it'll be.
I get out and start walking to Market, and see all the subway cars totally stopped just before the tunnel. A bit further on, the MUNI subway entrances are all closed.
Apparently that going-slowly-into-the-flood bit didn't work too well.
As I continue walking, heading toward BART, I see several Santas. I've been seeing Santas all day in huge numbers.
I later learn it's "SantaCon", when people dress up like Santa, and then go barhopping. It's apparently a big enough problem that some local eateries have banned Santas today, because of problems like "Santa vomiting on a five-year old child" and "Santa punching out a patron".
I don't even know what to say about that.
After an extended time in an N-Judah bus, then more time in a BART car, I'm feeling dry by the time I get to MacArthur BART.
That's really not the right word, but I'm not dripping wet any more, so I decide to hop off, and go visit Kimberly on the way home after all, as originally planned.
In fact, it's not even raining in Oaklnd. I get to bike back to Pill Hill, since I'd left my bike here, at MacArthur BART.
Kimberly's had a bad day. The understaffing problems at Summit are apparently particularly bad on weekends. And/or there were some type of party (a holiday party one suspects) and an emergency, which made things worse. So she's had problems getting help that she needs all day.
And her body is slowly waking up again, which is bringing its own share of problems.
So she's not the happiest camper when I arrive.
I convince her to order things she needs like blankets and pain pills, and fortunately the hospital seems to be running better post-party and post-emergency.
We visit for a while, then she kicks me out so that she can maybe get some rest because it's been a hard and tiring day.
I'm pretty tired too when I get home, but I have some dinner, and then a shower to get warmed back up, as I still have some clammy clothes.
And then I'm writing like I'm running out of time.
Pretty tired now.
My arms are particularly weak, which I've figured out is probably from fighting with an umbrella in really high winds. (I need to start using my arm weights, but not before we move, and in any case they're getting packed up in 9 days.)
Kimberly asked if I was going for a walk tomorrow, and I said maybe, because it's supposed to be drier.
But I think I just need to kick back tomorrow.
Other than visiting Kimberly. And starting on our disclosures form for the house. And answering some questions for Bitmark.
But some degree of resting, really.
The rains sounds like it started pouring down again just now as I finished drafting this.
I visit with Kimberly around 11am.
It's weird seeing Kimberly in little snapshots like this. Last night she was bright and cheery and more vibrant and animated than anytime since the surgery. This morning she is groggy and keeps fading into almost sleep as I talk with her. The difference is in the oxycontin. In both cases, she's last had pain pills around 8.30am, but last night that was almost 12 hours previous and this time it's just a couple.
As she increasingly fades, I head out.
The great plan for the day was this: visit Kimberly; get in to San Francisco to renew/replace my San Francisco Library card; do some stairway walks; return to see Kimberly; and then head home a bit earlier than on the previous days.
The library card is something that I really wanted to do before leaving California, so it's good to find a time for it. he rest is just filling the day before I come back to see Kimberly, but sounds fun. I like exploring.
Let's see how that works out.
The stop at the library is easy. My old account has actually been deleted due to non-use, but *poof* I have a new one with a short form.
I wouldn't be able to do this in a month, when I have a new permanent residence, so it was now or never, and so I have California library privileges for four final years.
Muni now offers all-day passes over their Muni app for $5, so I've picked up one of those to make my day of exploring San Francisco easy, like I was in a European city that had reasonable public transit. (SF is actually pretty good, even if most of the transit is buses, and $5 for the day is relatively reasonable.)
From the Library, I take the 21 up to Divisadero. My goal there: Popeye's. Maybe I should have tried the chicken sandwich that people are murdering each other over, but instead I went for my old standby: popcorn shrimp.
We used to have a book of stairway walks in San Francisco, but it's either packed or given away. (Who knows which!? It'll be like Christmas when we're reopening all of our book boxes ... sometime in 2020.)
So instead I was Googling for stairway walks. And, I didn't really find any good walks online, but I did find a few lists of the best stairways in San Francisco, some of them linked to Google Maps for easy access.
And I decided for my first stop to go visit two newer stairways (or at least recently decorated stairways) that probably weren't in that book: The Hidden Garden Steps and The 16th Avenue Tiled Steps (aka "Mosaic Stairway"), both in the Inner Sunset, beneath Grandview Park.
All powerful with my all-day MUNI pass, I walked a few blocks over to the 6, and took it west.
At this point, one should perhaps address the rain. It's been raining most of December and after a bit of letup yesterday, the rain was predicted to come back today before noon.
It was sprinkling a bit when I was on Divisadero, then again when I hopped off the 6 below Grandview Park. But as I started to climb up the Hidden Garden Steps I was actually able to put my umbrella away, because the light rain was dissipating and/or being held back by trees.
Keep that in mind as I ascend.
The Hidden Garden Steps are the more recent steps, with the mosaic completed in 2013. And, they're utterly amazing. Mosaic tiles cover the risers of the 148 steps, creating a picture that can be seen as you scan the ascending steps. A moth, a snail, a dragonfly, and other garden critters can be seen, as well as a variety of plants, including a notably beautiful golden poppy.
The art is very representational and quite beautiful, and intertwined with it all are the names and memories of the community members who had these mosaics built.
And apparently this stairway remains pretty unknown, despite the fact that I actually think it's prettier than its earlier brethren.
Up at the top of the Hidden Garden Steps is a neighborhood with a little park rising up above it: Grandview Park. I can really hear the wind whipping up at the top of the park, under gray, gray skies. It's actually a bit intimidating because the wind sounds so fearsome. But there's just a bit of drizzle again, so what harm can a little wind cause?
This is the adventurous part of the trip that has been foreshadowed: I start climbing the (plain stone) steps to Grandview Park, and the rain suddenly starts coming down. I get up to the top of the stairs, and look up at the dirt path leading the rest of the way up, and I'm not sure what to do. Because the rain has become a torrent, and there's a river flowing down the dirt.
But I figure I'm here, right, and when am I ever going to be back?
And there's some other guy up there already, so it can't be that bad.
So I walk up into the torrent, and the wind is whipping my wimpy little umbrella around, and there's no cover. So I'm getting really wet.
Up at the top, I huddle as close as I can under a tree, which doesn't really stop more than 10% of the rain, but that's something. I enjoy seeing the gray clouds lying over the city, but I don't enjoy the whipping winds and rain that are just drenching me. So I don't stay for long. (Mysterious guy up atop the hill has already had the good sense to move on.)
There's a wood staircase going down the opposite side, again undecorated, and I actually wonder if I can make it down in the wind and rain. I do, though my umbrella whirls me around a few times in the wind, without really giving me much protection. And then I'm down on a street, still with no cover, and still with this really heavy rain coming down, now at an angle of about 45 degrees.
I decide to take cover under the eaves in front of someone's garage, and just stand there for 10 or 15 minutes, watching some of the heaviest rain that I've ever seen, thinking that I'm trapped out on a hill who knows how far from the closest bus, who knows how far from home.
Yeah, I could call an Uber or a Lyft, but surely I'm not really stranded out here, in what's starting to feel like a natural disaster. Am I?
Apparently not, because after 10 or 15 minutes the rain turns from torrent to storm, and I can actually walk around with an umbrella again without getting drenched. Well, actually, I'm already drenched, my pants and overshirt both pretty soaked. But not more drenched.
And I'm just a few hundred feet from the 16th Avenue Tile Steps, which I take back down.
Turns out that walking up them is the way to go, not down. But I stop at every landing and look at the tiles above me.
The 16th Avenue Tiled Steps are several years older than the Hidden Garden Steps, completed in 2005. They were the inspiration for the nearby Hidden Garden Steps and have become a bit of a tourist attraction, but not today. Oh, I meet a couple coming up who are enjoying the steps, and down at the bottom, where it's started raining somewhat heavily again, there's another couple who leap out of a car, take three pictures, then leap back in. But the rain is mostly keeping folks away, which I guess means it was a good day to visit.
In fact, I've seen pictures of the 16th Avenue Tile Steps before, because they generated quite a few local news articles for their innovation, and that's probably what's led to the tourism. But despite seeing pictures, it's still amazing to see these steps in person.
The 16th Avenue Tile Steps have an amazing overall vision: a river that goes all the way up to the top where there's a moon and a sun. And apparently some of the tiles are reflective and glow in the moonlight. So that overall vision is pretty awesome. But there's nothing as individually beautiful as some of the critters and plants at the other steps. So, yeah, keep the tourists over here.
I'd been planning more steps. And maybe visiting Union Square after dark to see the Christmas lights.
But the rain is still heavy, and I decide I want to head home, and get changed before heading back to Kimberly. And I definitely want to get out of this heavy rain.
Even moreso, as I walk across a number of streets that have pretty much become rivers. Because there's so much water coming down that the gutters and drains can't keep up.
At one point I do see a city worker desperately trying to get a drain clean. He must have had a cold and tiring day.
So I walk down to Judah, and I stand on the platform which like most of the N-Judah platforms has no cover. And there's a woman there too, and we both just stand there in the pouring rain. But thankfully the N-Judah comes pretty quickly.
(Because MUNI ain't AC Transit.)
There's one last surprise. The N-Judah stops short of Market, just before it enters the subway ... because the subway is flooded.
After a bit the driver tells us that trains are slowly entering the subway, so it'll be five minutes.
And then a few minutes later she tells us she has no idea how long it'll be.
I get out and start walking to Market, and see all the subway cars totally stopped just before the tunnel. A bit further on, the MUNI subway entrances are all closed.
Apparently that going-slowly-into-the-flood bit didn't work too well.
As I continue walking, heading toward BART, I see several Santas. I've been seeing Santas all day in huge numbers.
I later learn it's "SantaCon", when people dress up like Santa, and then go barhopping. It's apparently a big enough problem that some local eateries have banned Santas today, because of problems like "Santa vomiting on a five-year old child" and "Santa punching out a patron".
I don't even know what to say about that.
After an extended time in an N-Judah bus, then more time in a BART car, I'm feeling dry by the time I get to MacArthur BART.
That's really not the right word, but I'm not dripping wet any more, so I decide to hop off, and go visit Kimberly on the way home after all, as originally planned.
In fact, it's not even raining in Oaklnd. I get to bike back to Pill Hill, since I'd left my bike here, at MacArthur BART.
Kimberly's had a bad day. The understaffing problems at Summit are apparently particularly bad on weekends. And/or there were some type of party (a holiday party one suspects) and an emergency, which made things worse. So she's had problems getting help that she needs all day.
And her body is slowly waking up again, which is bringing its own share of problems.
So she's not the happiest camper when I arrive.
I convince her to order things she needs like blankets and pain pills, and fortunately the hospital seems to be running better post-party and post-emergency.
We visit for a while, then she kicks me out so that she can maybe get some rest because it's been a hard and tiring day.
I'm pretty tired too when I get home, but I have some dinner, and then a shower to get warmed back up, as I still have some clammy clothes.
And then I'm writing like I'm running out of time.
Pretty tired now.
My arms are particularly weak, which I've figured out is probably from fighting with an umbrella in really high winds. (I need to start using my arm weights, but not before we move, and in any case they're getting packed up in 9 days.)
Kimberly asked if I was going for a walk tomorrow, and I said maybe, because it's supposed to be drier.
But I think I just need to kick back tomorrow.
Other than visiting Kimberly. And starting on our disclosures form for the house. And answering some questions for Bitmark.
But some degree of resting, really.
The rains sounds like it started pouring down again just now as I finished drafting this.