seemingly everywhere under the sun on a saturday

 we were up early to visit the local green market just a few blocks away before taking chanda to ballet class.

 the alemany green market has been around since 1947.

 we bought a bowl of avocadoes for $2,

 and two baskets of strawberries for $5 (and a bowl of lemons for $2).

 we were very pleased with our purchases! everything was much better priced than in the supermarkets.

 after dropping the produce off at the house, we drove chanda to her ballet class. here we're passing a chair placed just so, in case someone may need a rest while walking.

i took this picture because of the succulent plant in the bin. 

just a random pretty window . .

at sage cafe where greg had a coffee and i a green tea . . 

i keep hearing what i call "california music," which is music i first heard in southern california in the san fernando valley when i was 8 in 1969, when i was 12 in 1973 and when i was 16 in 1977 (which is also when the first star wars movie came out and which i remember seeing so very clearly!). there are probably other years in there since my family made quite a number of cross country trips to see my mom's sister:

easy, the commodores (1977)
sweet caroline, neil diamond (1969)
(and any neil diamond song . . i think only california played neil diamond! i don't ever remember hearing him played on my local rock radio station on long island!)

drift away, written by mentor williams (1970), recorded by john henry kurtz (1972)
dancin' in the moonlight, king harvest (1973)
midnight at the oasis, maria muldaur (1973)
smoke from a distant fire, sanford townsend band (1977)
do you know the way to san jose, dionne warwick (1967)
proud mary, creedance clearwater revival (1969)
ma cherie amour, stevie wonder (1969)
you've made me so very happy, blood, sweat and tears (1969)
groovin', the young rascals (1967)
up, up and away, the fifth dimension (1967)

 and then we were off for our morning walk . .

 union square . . the monument above was erected in 1898 to commorate the victory of the american navy over the spanish during the spanish american war. 

 the heart is by anthony k. hall, jr, winter sunset, and is part of san francisco's annual fundraiser for their general hospital.

 a hotel greg once stayed at when in san francisco on business . .

 chinatown . . 

there were so many lovely window displays. later i asked chanda if nyc's chinatown has as many pretty things for sale . . she wasn't sure. i guess we just don't pay attention when walking through our chinatown.

 statues like this always make us think of jack . . 

 such cute perfume bottles!

 stuffed totoro toys . . 

 korrina says these are dried shrimp . . 

 sponges and seaweed, i think (some of the sponges look like butter cookies in this photo).

we walked through chinatown to get to jack kerouac way, which leads to . . 

(the last time we were in this alley together was thirty two years ago . . )

. . city lights bookstore.

 we walked out with two books: carson mcculler's ballad of the sad cafe and the member of the wedding, and luigi pirandello's the late mattia pascal, and then walked to an italian cafe greg had eaten at when on a prior work trip.

 (beautiful church we passed on the way to the cafe.)

 puccini cafe . . 

where they played . . puccini, of course.

afterwards, we walked along the border of nob hill and russian hill to pacific heights and then walked along franklin street to the ballet school to meet chanda.

the street that leads to the office building where greg has been working.

 beautiful indian laurel fig trees along van ness avenue.

 they are so large that i think they must be quite old . . 

 an olive tree . . 

 the first unitarian church of san francisco which began meeting in 1850 and is the oldest unitarian congregation west of st. louis. this is their third church building which was dedicated in 1889, restored after the earthquake of 1906 and renovated with seismic, accessibility and aesthetic improvements in 1968.

a pepper tree . . 

 waiting for the bus to take us to golden gate park and the japanese tea garden.

 inside the wonderfully green and wild golden gate park which also has an art museum and a science museum.

 eucalyptus trees in the park . . 

 the japanese tea garden . .

where chanda and i had tea while greg read his book on a bench and waited for us . . (he had a snack which was going to be a pretzel but which turned out to be . . i think . . a vegetable pancake . . )

 the pancake on the right is filled with red bean paste.

 i'm not sure what trees these are in the last two pics . .

 the entrance to a pagoda.

 in the zen garden . . 

 i think these are young redwood trees . .

 japanese maple trees . .

 cute cat pitchers in the gift shop . .

 dinner at a thai restaurant before the evening's performance . .

shrimp pad thai?

 chanda was given two free tickets to see the ethnic dance festival.

i picked up an extra one so we could all go.

 inside san francisco's opera house . .

 so "san francisco!" they make sure to have their recycling and compost containers even in their fancy performance venue.

 the outdoor patio . .

 which overlooks van ness avenue and city hall.

 it was truly an amazing and inspiring concert. when leaving our seats i overheard a man say to his wife, "we're so lucky to live here." i think san franciscans are very dedicated to their city!

the performers were:

ballet afsaneh (persia/iran)
yaoyong dance (mongolia and beijing)
ballet folklorico méxico danza (chihuahua, mexico)
gurus of dance (mumbai, india)
la tania (cadiz, spain)
theatre flamenco of san francisco (sevilla, spain and san francisco)
natya at berkeley (tamil nadu, india)
BITEZO BIA KONGO (republic of congo)
mahealani uchiyama & zena carlota (southern and west africa)
te mana O te ra (tahiti)

it was a fun and exhausting day!