So, Anne has arrived.  I am glad.  She and Alex are off to physical therapy this morning.  Progress is being made, but Alex has to be coaxed to slowly but steadily remobilize the hand.  That is not so easy when fear of painful relapse and swelling is so strong and may in itself increase sensitivity of the limb.  Rehab is further complicated by today's programming of medicine and the complications of coordinating among various providers who may not entirely agree.  Then too is the cost.

I think we cheer him up and can even baby him a bit as he deals with the very real problems of setting up a new apartment and managing his general affairs while undergoing various examinations and treatments.  It is hard to juggle when your dominant hand is out of commission.

San Francisco and his apartment are lovely.  The fabulous views are cheering always.  Last evening we made a short stroll at sunset across Alamo Square with its grand views of adjoining townhouses including the famous "painted ladies" and the downtown and business districts.  Passerbys sit on the lawn there in the evening to watch the lights on the tall buildings below shine in the clear coastal air.  On this evening, however, a rather frigid wind wouild discourage such activity.

Yesterday morning Anne and I jogged among the hills to the south reaching the crest of Corona Heights with its own fabulous vistas and along the Randall Museum with its lovely landscaping.  We discovered the "Grand Slickenside" there.  A slickenside is a smoothly polished surface caused by frictional movement between rocks along two sides of a fault.  As you may guess, this is a good area in which to find slickensides.  This one forms a vertical wall between a tony residential neighborhoos and the hilltop park.  

Then we fed Alex who when off to therapy while we conducted a major grocery expedition to a local supermarket, Lucky's, we found only five relatively flat blocks west of the apartment.  We brought a backpack and four long-strapped tote bags.  These were filled with among other things, a twelve pack of beer, a half gallon of milk, orange juice, bleach, and Lysol.  The return walk took ten minutes and was hard on the shoulders, but the apartment is now largely provisioned with groceries, cleaning supplies and the like.  

In the afternoon Anne and Alex went out and I stayed to receive two lovely carpets, one for the bedroom and one for the living room.  Smaller Bed Bath and Beyond carpets already lined the hall way.  One disappointment is that one of the new carpets has a deposit or stain that may be removable but should be addressed by the merchant before we fully accept it.  Too bad we didn't notice this in the shop or when it was being unrolled here.  There is a lot to see on an 8 x 10 foot carpet.  A one inch mark is not so conspicuous until one becomes more intimate with the surface.

This morning Anne and I birded Buena Vista Park in search of resident Hutton's Vireo.  This species has eluded us so far, but the park is a joy.  This morning was clear and we took in grand views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, the northern (Knob and Telegraph) hills, and Fort Mason with its old earthworks at the mouth of the bay.  The common here but special treats for us in the park are the California Towhee, the Scrub Jay, and the Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Pigmy Nuthatch, and Bushtit.  Male Anna Hummingbirds stand guard on a high shrub at every opening.  Park workers provide maintenance as homeless emerge from the shrubbery to begin their day.

Well, I must start several small chores.  There is still a bit of unpacking and Alex's huge rustic dresser needs a touch of sanding and a patch repair.  It would not fit in the elevator and lost the corners of upper and lower protruding prominences by saw on moving day.  They cannot go back on unless it stays here forever.  A chip will be remounted.  The now angular corners will be sanded, stained, and sealed.  It will be as good as ever.