Happy April 1st! (At least, it's still april 1st here.)

I'll always think of April 1st as my niece's [inlink]twisted,171[/inlink] birthday. She's 6 today (as she very proudly told me on the phone).

She was too young to know we all missed her first birthday - we being my sister & brother-in-law (her parents), my Dad and I - because we were in Germany for my great Aunt and Uncle's 60th wedding anniversary. Dad and Jean are there again this year for their 65th wedding anniversary.


Catherine's first Easter

Missing Image ;(

Tante Anni and Onkel Hinrich on their 60th wedding anniversary

Pix from 65th wedding anniversary:
Be sure to check out the Pissoir im Bahnhof.

INDULGENCE IN THE PARK

This perennially controversial alt-Easter celebration features performances by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Kitten on the Keys, Trauma Flintstone, the Ethel Mermen Experience and Polkacide. Easter bonnet contest (1 p.m.) and Hunky Jesus (3:15 p.m.) contest winners collect $100 each. Festivities begin at 11:30 a.m. with an egg hunt and cake walk for kids. Free. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. at Dolores Park, Dolores and Church streets, San Francisco.

I don't think Alameda is ready for that.

This[inlink]news,597[/inlink]is why I could never be a parent. There is no way I could deal with the possibility of seeing someone/thing I love get messed up beyond recognition and have to sit by helpless. I totally give you parents out there credit. I am a coward when it comes to that.

Ok, I know it's only a website. But oh-- golly... gee... damn!!!



Luckily everything turned out ok. This time.

"This" mostly happened while I was out chalking [search]chalk[/search] the sidewalks of Alameda for

e:west

/ alamedalink. I decided to concentrate on places where people have to pause for a moment - bus stops, newspapers stands, crosswalks (people actually wait for the pedestrian light here - it's so cute), laundromats, mailboxes, pay phones, casual carpool pick-up spots (talk about ad-hoc community), bike racks, ferry terminal, dog parks. I've got to conserve my minimal resources right now. I might get more creative later. I'm only one person fer cryin' out loud.

(e:uncutsaniflush) - that house[inlink]uncutsaniflush,28[/inlink] is gorgeous! I hope it works out. My experience has been that any acquisition with a past - be it a house or a significant other - will have some undesirable baggage. But it can be worth it. You will know the answer. From that picture alone (if it weren't for the snow) I'd be ready to buy it myself, sight unseen! I hope the inspection goes well. If not, better to walk away. Remember, you are in the driver's seat. If it goes well (which I hope it does) I wish you much happiness there!

I looked at a house across the street from the César Chávez Elementary School in the sunny Mission district today. I love the way they like to decorate everything in the Mission. I like to decorate stuff too.







The raised beds are part of a program at the school known as "Natural Perspectives."

Funded by the Center for Ecoliteracy since 1996, Natural Perspectives works toward an integrated curriculum at the school, while it gives students a hands-on way to learn science in a natural setting.

I would definitely have to brush up on my Spanish if I moved there.

Pot clinics just keep growing

There are 44 McDonald's in all of Manhattan -- more than any location in the world -- and we have 37 marijuana dispensaries in San Francisco

Now there's an interesting statistic for you.


Might seem unrelated, but this is from the same article:

Birds of a feather: Biologist Mark Rauzon argues that those $550,000 perches for double crested cormorants on the new Bay Bridge eastern span represent taxpayer money well spent.

Rauzon, who designed the "corm condos,'' tells us that without the replacement perches that we told you about last Sunday, the old Bay Bridge cormorants might choose to relocate to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, where a cormorant colony is already perched.

But no matter what we might think, the fact is the birds are covered by the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act -- which requires nesting birds get new perches.