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Published: October 17th 2012
The fall in the San Francisco Bay Area has been gorgeous. Blue, sunny skies, with the occasional morning and late afternoon fog rolling in through the Golden Gate. September and October are really the Area's loveliest months. It can be a bit chilly in the morning and the evenings, but people are still going around in cotton,f lip-flops and Bermuda shorts during the day.
I've already posted a few photos on Facebook , but I thought you'd enjoy some other ones related to my activities here, esp. if you don't "do" Facebook. In a week or two, I'll post some other ones—this time of Tom's and my trip "back east" to Washington D.C. and Virginia, followed by those of my son Eric and his fiancée Pati's wedding in Portland, Oregon in early November. (Congratulations Eric and Patti!)
In a nutshell, I've been keeping very busy. In fact, "never a dull moment," as they say. Here's my news: I'm still taking storytelling and playwriting classes at Stagebridge Senior Performing Arts Center in Oakland, and am now also enrolled there in a beginning acting class. I absolutely love the activities and people there. In Berkeley, some gals and I meet weekly
for a memoir-writing group, I belong to a storytelling support group and to two book clubs, and I've started volunteering once a week as a WriterCoach at Berkeley High School. From time to time, I tell stories at public venues and also help out at a seniors' center in a program called "Time Slips" that uses a special technique for evoking stories and memories among patients suffering from various stages of dementia. And once a week I go into San Francisco and give an English lesson to a French executive who works for Bank of the West. As for sports, I go swimming twice a week (in an outdoor pool!), work out in the gym at the "Y" whenever I can, and play tennis on the Friday mornings when I don't have a book club meeting.
Excursions and other activities included a weekend camping trip to Echo Lake in the Sierras in late August and a wedding in Healdsburg (Sonoma wine country) over Labor Day weekend. Then, I spent my birthday at the Hearst Castle down in San Simeon (between SF and LA). For those of you who have never heard of it, it was built by William Randolph
Writer Coach Connection stand
at Solano Stroll street fair in BerkeleyHearst and was designed by Julia Morgan (about whom I do a story). Orson Welles used it as an inspiration for Xanadu in "Citizen Kane." Have enjoyed two street fairs in Berkeley, as well as "opera in the park" at SF ballpark and opera at the SF Opera House.
It's only a few more weeks until the elections. Locally, people are voting not only for the president but also for many local officers and for or against certain "propositions". As you can imagine, Berkeley is a "liberal" town, and most people are for Obama. Unfortunately, it's in the "swing states" that the die will be cast. It'll be interesting to see the atmosphere in Washington while we're there.
I hope you enjoy the photos and captions. There are 32 photos in all. (Please keep scrolling down to see them all.)
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Paris Tannish
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hilary, you are AMAZING! i just want you to know again what an inspiration you are!! i am so greatful that we had that rendezvous just a couple of months ago in paris and only wish i had been feeling better to join you for dinner...anyway, i look forward to our next get together....i have been in d.c. with my sister for two months but have finally convinced her to move to florida so we are heading there in just a few days...take good care and keep posting...i love it!!! xo paris