Today I was able to get in a late afternoon walk at Joaquin Miller Park and it was therapeutic. The days have been so short lately that I miss my sunset walks.
I did so much walking in 2020. Since then, it has become part of my regular routine. I forgot how much it relaxes me. And everything is so green right now because of the rain. I do not take green for granted.
On the family tree home front, a genealogist on Twitter asked us what our goals were for 2025? I wrote, “as a fourth-generation SF Bay native, to visit all the places my ancestors lived.” So, I have been collecting addresses on old census records. But honestly, any address with family history will do, residential or not. Starting with the East Bay locations closest to me.
Great Grandma Katie’s Obituary
The John Cox Piedmont Memorial Chapel is now a CVS Pharmacy and I’ve already been there. But I will check out St. Augustin’s Church, which is still standing today.
You know you’re old when you’re watching a show called “The Masked Dancer” and you don’t know who any of the “celebrities” behind the masks are. They’re all “Tik-Tok”ers. Not that I don’t enjoy a good Tik Tok, but I don’t have all day to follow these people. Although, I must say, I do like that social media has leveled the playing field for performers who are truly talented- they can get exposure all on their own without jumping through show business hoops, and that is empowering.
But I still don’t know who they are.
Anyway– today was a beautiful day. The birds were chirping, the sun was shining and the squirrels were running amok. Meanwhile, I continue to pray for Texas. They are experiencing a deadly and record breaking winter storm. Don’t tell me climate change isn’t real.
After working from home, I made an effort to get out to Joaquin Miller Park to walk the Sunset Trail. I looked up and saw:
When the clouds show off like this, you can bet the sunset will be epic. So I walked along the trail for about a half hour until I reached Look Out Point and:
YESSSSSSS. I took way too many pictures for about 20 minutes before heading back to my car. For the full sunset evolution, see my slideshow.
I woke up to cloudy skies, which makes it hard to wake up at all. If I don’t have the sunshine beaming through my window, is it really morning at all?
As I went on my walk, I hustled at a quicker pace than normal. I had to make it to the halfway point before 10am because that’s when I would be calling in on a zoom meeting (just to listen though) and zoom has a way of disabling the video camera on my phone and rendering me useless in regards to me making my home-made squirrel movies. In other words- there is a “squirrel hot spot” where I get most of my funny videos every morning, but I had to be there before 10am today or I wouldn’t be able to use the video feature on my phone.
So I hustled, shot videos of cute squirrels, then called in to my meeting as I walked through the dog park, hoping my phone being set to speaker, wasn’t too annoying to the people around me. Sure I could listen with headphones in, but as a single woman by herself, I will never walk through a neighborhood with my ears clogged up, completely deaf to my surroundings. Even in broad daylight – nope.
The clouds stayed with us for most of the day and in the late afternoon I had decided there probably wasn’t going to be much of a sunset, so I opted to walk down to the lake early to take a few “before sunset” pics. That would have to be good enough.
Before Sunset
“Not bad,” I thought as I walked away and headed to Trader Joe’s.
After exiting the store with a paper bag filled with groceries, I looked up at the sky and the clouds seemed to be breaking up. Dang it, we just might have a sunset after all and I am not going to make it in time if I don’t, again, HUSTLE. So I walked briskly up the hill with my groceries, dumped them off, got into my car and drove to higher ground..
From Higher Ground
I got there just in time for the sky to burst forth with a pastel palette of pinks and purples or as my friend Cynthia called it “lilac and violet – the sun is setting through a red wine filter“.
Today was my last free Sunday before my next solo performance class starts up again next week. What was I to do with all this extra free time?
I cleaned. I know. So boring, but hey, when will I get a chance to do that again? Then I realized that I hadn’t visited a hiking trail in awhile due to the shorter winter days, all the rain storms, and well, I just haven’t been motivated. So today I high tailed it back up to there yonder mountains. And by “mountains”, I mean, “Mountain Boulevard”, and then make a left on Joaquin Miller Road, then make another left into the Joaquin Miller Park parking lot.
I followed Sunset Trail to Sinawik Trail to Lookout Point. A fairly easy hike. I always try to time it with the sunset, but I arrived a little early tonight and had to wait. And boy was it worth it.
The subtle evolution of a beautiful sunset:
I just never know when the sky is going to show off. I have had way more nights where nothing happens, so this was a treat. If I had a better camera I would have taken even more pictures as the sunset was fading, but it was too dark for my little Samsung Galaxy S10+ (in case anyone was wondering about my phone).
Then I walked back to my car thankful for this evening’s sunset- knowing tomorrow night, it’s supposed to rain.
“Just have fun with it,” my teacher tells me today during my online solo performance class.
I squirm and clutch my face in my uncomfortableness. I am not off book, I have half written notes everywhere, and it’s just a hot mess.
“There you go” he says approvingly regarding my unintentional funny body language.
I muddle my way through it. I only have the first page memorized, so I grab the script early on while trying to juggle various props at various times.
Surprisingly it turns out better than I thought it would. Or as my teacher says, “I sucked less” than I did last week. And when we “suck less” while rehearsing towards a goal, it propels us to keep going.
Deep. Deep thoughts.
After class I visited Pearl, the cat, one last time before her mom comes home tomorrow. Then I went for another walk on a trail I discovered in her neighborhood this past week. I realized that if I loop back from the trail in a nearby residential neighborhood, if I time it just right, I can catch the sunset.
When I’m given an extra paid day off like today, I want to be as productive with that day as possible. But….
I did okay. I took a morning walk, did some laundry, went over my lines of my script, visited the cat I am cat-sitting for, went on an afternoon walk, washed some dishes, wrote out some Christmas cards and yet, I feel like I didn’t do enough. I’m tuckered out.
I did manage to get some sunset pics today though, towards the end of my afternoon walk from the Oakmore neighborhood of Oakland. I had never visited this neighborhood before, which is crazy since I have lived in Oakland for years now.
And now, I’m watching an episode of Dateline. Good night.
Theresa Donahoe 