It is probably good for every 64 year-old to have their schedule totally disrupted.  I write from Alex's new apartment on the sixth floor looking out the window a Alamo Square and hills to the south and west.  From another window of t his corner apartment we can see the towers of the Golden Gate bridge and the hills to the north.  

Alex has moved and we are furnishing the apartment while making doctors' and therapists appointments and preparing meals with limited provisions.  Provisions are getting better after a third trip to Bed, Bath, and Beyond today.  Carpets are coming tomorrow.  A set of dishes is also to be delivered over the next few days.  We bought two plates so as to have four in time for Anne's arrival on Thursday.

That was the second big event of the week.  The move was certainly the main event, but indentured as I am to the needs of our son, I was in much need of a conjugal visit.  I grocery shopped in the morning of the day of her arrival to buy coffee and India pale ale beer.  The walk to the supermarket is easy and about ten minutes.  The walk back is much more difficult and about fifteen minutes with rest breaks.  If you wonder how that can be, remember we are in San Francisco.  I walked back with two long-strapped handle bags over my shoulders and my backpack filled with heavier items.  Urban living!

Anne took a shuttle from the airport (since Alex has no car and she had brought a large bag for an extended stay.)  She called upon reaching the building and I slipped on shoes and took the elevator to the lobbey to find that the manager had let her in.  Anne is clearly not an intruder.  We hugged grandly and I took her into Alex's new and lovely home.  She brings "a woman's touch" so much help in home-making.  The apartment immediately became more civilized.  She had demands too and the apartment now has a coffee-maker and butter dish.  Alex thought that a funnel and a bowl were perfectly adequate for these uses.  I told him they were not.  His mother simply told him to buy them.

Alex is doing well in our presence.  The doctors appear to be making some progress in diagnosis (though it is still indefinite) and hand therapy is now scheduled.  Alex is religiously doing contrast baths, massage, and exercise.  He is taking vitamins C and D as recommended (necessary or not - I don't know.)  His mother will stay after I return at the end of this week to take care of business at home.  She has no return ticket.  That makes me sad, but we will work our way through this.  I can come back, of course, if necessary.  

We're making the best of it.  San Francisco is fascinating.  Anne and I made a walk this morning to Buena Vista Park.  We passed lovely town houses along Alamo Sqiuare, heard parrakeets, and admired palms and tree ferns adorning the small but elegant front yards.  We followed a route to minimize our climbs and descents, and found ourselves in a half mile at the hilltop that is the park.  There Monterey Pine and Cypress and Eucalyptus trees above and shrubbery below create bird habitat.  The vegetation also provides habitat for the uppity homeless that inhabit San Francisco.  We largely ignored the ho-bo's in their sleeping  bags while enjoying the Steller's and Scrub Jays, Red-tailed hawks, Califronia Towhees, and Pigmy Nuthatches that also inhabit the park.  At the lookout on top we scanned the Golden Gate and San Francisco Bay.  Fog hid Mt. Tamalpais this morning.  A spectacularly beautiful joggess arrived and paused to call someone on her cell-phone as we tarried there.  

Returning we passed down Divisidaro Street with its stores, bars, and restaurants and found a (Sunday only) farmers' market at Grove Street.  The produce was lovely and the prices not unreasonable (by San Fran standards).  We brought Alex there later on our way to shop carpets, but he was too interested in seeking rugs to shop groceries, carry them back to the apartment, and then go out again.  Anne will go to the market next week.  I, alas, return home on Thursday.  I told Alex that the market would be a great place to flirt.  As a new resident of the community he can chat up a storm.  I for one am glad Anne arrived.  Too many tempations for a single man here

Well, enough for now.  I glance out the window.  The sun is shining.  Various folks in sweats are scattered about the "dog free zone" of Alamo Square.  The sky is blue above but puffy clouds are  formed in a line blowing west to east over the central north south ridge on top of which I sit on the sixth floor.  The air is restless as usual and is thoroughly exercising the palms and leafy trees about the townhouses below.  I go to humor Alex and flirt with Anne.  Sunday afternoon and time to relax.

Chuckj