Morning after a storm

I call it "The Take Back the Neighborhood" walk

For the past several weeks, neighbors from Mokelumne Ridge have been gathering at 10am on Saturday morning on a certain corner. Then, like a small critical mass, we set off in one direction or another, chatting, calling out to new neighbors we meet, and sometimes picking up trash. The trash pick up was Benn's idea today, something I've done in the past and then got tired of. Benn is the one who started an email list, then a Yahoo Group ("Mokeridge") so that we could all become aware of problems in the neighborhood. There have been a number of brazen burglaries,and we need to know who lives where, who does or doesn't belong. Today, Steve and Chiye, Benn, a schoolteacher named Steven, Renato and son Mahal, were along, and me and Yuki of course. We saw Kamala driving to work; we talked to someone on Simson who was unloading some black bamboo from his truck; and we "auditioned" a man who lives on Simson. He wanted to sing us a song he is going to perform for a TV talent show. He is convinced he's going to win, so he's looking for a substitute roommate while he's off in LA becoming famous.

Today I learned about the new chihuahua movie

I always learn something from neighbor Fred, with his female chihuahua Shelby who is a friend of Yuki. We parallelled our walks for about a half a block. I now know that a chihuahua is kidnapped in this movie....can't wait to hear the whole plot after Fred takes his daughter to the movie this afternoon....

Quality Donuts

Everyone who lives in Millsmont should know about Quality Donuts. This is the only shop within walking distance except for Seminary Gas. It's a stop for people going to work on 73rd Street/Hegenberger, and for a while there, it was a daily stop for Roxanne and I and Yuki. Since it's on the opposite side of the neighborhood, it makes a good goal (except for the calories part). On this day, we had Elizabeth and Yuki's boyfriend, Henry. Notice Henry waited patiently for us to emerge with a donut scrap, and Yuki is captured here in full bark mode. It took a few weeks, but now she also will wait patiently for me to emerge from the shop and give her a crumb of my favorite, a plain old-fashioned. In my opinion, that's the only thing to order here, but Roxanne enjoyed chocolate covered and buttermilk donuts. The last time I stopped in, the dear lady behind the counter asked after "my friend." She sent warm wishes back with me.

Dogwalking University, Missing companion

These days I walk with my iPod and listen to NPR Technology, Bill Moyers, To the Point (a radio show from Santa Monica), a lecture series on psychology at the U. of Wash., and recently found a new series on veganism, a podcast from compassionatecook.com by Colleen. That doesn't mean I'm turning vegan, yet. But today I needed to pay attention. Almost got jumped by the "white wolf," a dog who lives on Simpson and sometimes gets out of his yard. He actually hides behind a fence, then comes out and bares his teeth at my dog. I retreat and turn the other way. It was a bad day for loose dogs. A black pitbull (well cared for, not starving) was sniffing around in front of my house today, and I had to wait till he went around the corner, to slip in my gate safely, with Yuki close beside me. We had a staring match for a few minutes, before he lost interest. I still haven't gotten in the habit of carrying a big stick (like others I've seen!). 

For two months, I walked and talked everyday with my neighbor around 9am. All the experiences I blogged about and wanted to blog about (but really didn't have time) were experiences I had with her. She hasn't left her house now since mid-August. Her illness has returned and now we visit her with food or just company. I put all the pictures I took on our walks onto a giant poster that I framed and gave her for her birthday recently.  She was so weak that she looked at it once and I don't think ever again. I realize the pictures are for me now.  Someday I'll manage to get them on here, and try to remember what I was thinking when I took the pictures. Some of them are blooming plants that she especially loved, and I planned to take the pictures to a nursery to identify them. I have many good memories of those walks, but they are bittersweet.

The mysterious pyramids

For months, we've been noticing a growing number of mysterious pyramids outside of the cute house on Delmont, home of the "creative couple" as I now think of them, who grow succulents and vegetables on their rooftop. The female half is a graphic designer; her black puppy and my golden dog played together a couple of years ago in her front yard. The pyramids have been hatching at a slow rate, maybe two a month. They are made of a concrete-like material and have rebar as an armature. They also have squarish holes through the upper part. Finally today, we met the creator. Seven of them, when completed, will be installed at Temescal Park, with telescopes inside them, aimed at "faux" creatures made of bronze, parked at various locations within the park, for kids and other curious ones, to spot. It relates to the idea of the "faux" stream that they created at the park, a stream which had been undergrounded, but is now pumped to run over the ground.

Yuki and Jazz

The house with 13 cats on Mokelumne Avenue includes this cat who likes my dog. Her chase instinct turns off when he comes around. Most of the time Yuki now ignores him, but on this day, my dog decided to be polite. At this season, late spring, in the early morning, the sun shines directly into our eyes as we are walking down Mokelumne. Next time I will be sure to include a picture of the "munchkins," the unusual cats with extra short legs.