Month: March 2019

  

How to Commemorate St. Patrick

On Sunday March 17^th, many Irish people and their friends celebrated St. Patrick’s Day.  But how many? I had no idea that according to the U.S. Census, there are 34.5 million Americans who list their heritage as either primarily or partially Irish. That number is seven times larger than the population of Ireland itself (4,784,000). Irish is the second most common ancestry among Americans, falling just behind German. I found this information in an article from “The Washington Post” dated March 17, 2013. The reason for my quest has to do with the work for my next photo-story book, “42 Encounters with Pairs in San Francisco”. Though I have enough images to finish the book, last week I decided to go to Downtown to photograph the St. Patrick’s Parade, just in case I could capture some new images. I usually take the Muni train at West Portal, down the street from our house, but it was a weekend and I did not want to leave Elfa and Max at home, despite the fact that when I photograph, I prefer to be by myself, but this would go against the Kaizen of our relationship. Driving by car became an issue when as we approached Civic Center, where the Parade ended. The traffic was at a complete stop. Our solution was to turn into the Hayes Valley area. We were lucky to find parking and blended into the crowd of young people, who were there to have a good time. In spite of the proximity to Civic Center, I did not see many green shirts or any other signs pertaining to the event.

In his San Francisco Chronicle column on Sunday March 17, 2019, our former mayor Willie Brown wrote about the Triple I, the Irish-Israeli-Italian Social Club. Over the last fifty-three years, the group has been celebrating major holidays together (like St. Patrick’s Day). San Francisco’s population  is well known for being a melting pot.

  

Where to Find Peace of Mind

There were at least two reasons why I decided to write about the subject of peace of mind on the night of our return from The Sea Ranch. After downloading close to nine hundred images and deleting hundreds of them, while selecting a few to share with you, I realized that there are more than eight images that you have seen in the last two weeks, that might give you the desire to visit The Sea Ranch. It was a famous photographer Ansel Adams who said, “Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop”. Since he did not have a digital camera or processing software, worked exclusively in Black and White photography, and was known as a true Master, this statement makes perfect sense. For me, if I can choose twelve images from a three day trip, it was time well spent. This leads me to the second reason for this story – peace of mind.

Most of us live very stressful lives, which affect our body and behavior. Before adopting our dog Max, I tried to meditate regularly in the mornings. Now I have replaced it with a walking meditation. It probably helps, since stress is part of every loan transaction in my line of work. Though I try to stay “cool”, I am sure it sneaks in anyway. Therefore, short vacations like a trip to The Sea Ranch are not a luxury, but a necessity. But why drive for three hours on a windy road if there are so many locations that are closer in the Bay Area, like Sonoma or Napa or further up in Monterey or Carmel? Those are beautiful places too, and have a lot to offer. But personally, they have not been particularly helpful for finding peace of mind, as I have experienced in The Sea Ranch. For me, it starts during the journey there. From 101 North, we take the Old Pengrove exit, which takes us into the countryside, with cows grazing in the fields. While I drive, I notice the beauty of the open space. It takes us about two hours to reach Jenner. This is where Russian River connects with the ocean. We usually take a break to have our lunch in the local café where they serve great salads, sandwiches and very good hot chocolate. We consume our food while watching the flow of the river. The next 27 miles take us an hour to drive through the winding and twisting road with beautiful views of the ocean, which remind me of my travels in Greece. When we reach The Sea Ranch and come out of the car, my head starts to spin from the fresh ocean air. After unpacking, we take our first stroll along the ocean, and I take my first photos. We usually arrive here on a Friday and leave on a Monday. During those three days, we do not read or watch any news, do not check emails and minimize use of the phone. I usually just walk, sleep, read, photograph and write. Though my wife Elfa packs the food for the journey, we visit local supermarkets for missing items, and local café for afternoon indulgences. There are also a number of very good photo galleries. One of them is owned by Jim Alinder, who has an incredible collection of works of Ansel Adams and other great photographers. I invite you to follow my footsteps.

  

What Is Kaizen?

As we were packing for our trip to The Sea Ranch last Friday, which I wrote about last week, Max had a lot of questions in his eyes. He obviously did not know what was going on. After we picked up his “sister” Alona in Tiburon, he was excited and settled on her lap during most of the journey. When we got there, unexpected thing happened.  There was a huge meadow in front of our house. When I opened the door, Max ran out the deck.  This did not concern me. However, when he saw a family of deer eating grass nearby, he started to chase after them. We in turn started running after him yelling his name and begging him to come back. After he chased the deer away, he saw a flock of birds, and now they had to be sent away as well. Meanwhile, Alona and I tried to get him back – running through the wet grass under the drizzling rain.  Finally, after getting exhausted, he came back to Alona.  Over the next three days, we did not let him out off-leash.  Though I thought that he learned the recall command, one thing is for sure – a dogs’ wild nature can be challenging to overcome. There are two places we take him in San Francisco where he can run off-leash. When we go to Fort Funston, Max likes to run around the sandy hills; however, he always comes back when called.  At Stern Grove, where we play a lot of fetch with a ball, he always brings it back.

I am a firm believer in the Japanese Kaizen Productivity Philosophy.  The word “kaizen” translates roughly to “good change”, which means “constant, continuous improvement”, and is a mindset you can apply anywhere, at any job.  I practice it all the time.  In our business we have weekly staff meetings where we learn about new loan programs from different lenders (I share some of these tools every Wednesday in the Money Solutions emails you receive.), and we also share our various work experiences with each other.  When it comes to writing, I constantly learn from books and the internet.  As a photographer, I photograph daily, and I take excursions on the weekends with my camera, to add more images for the forthcoming books and to share them with you, here.  I am currently writing “42 Encounters with Pairs in San Francisco”, which is going to be available in the Fall.  But I am also going to attend two week long workshops taught by well-known photographers.  (You will read about this experience in due time).  I also buy photography books from other authors.  During our trip to The Sea Ranch, I was reading “How to take Great Photographs” while photographing with three of my cameras with different lenses. If you wonder how I manage to accomplish so many tasks and still have time to sleep, my answer is – I focus on Kaizen.

  

What is Your Favorite Place to Visit?

After visiting New York, Paris, London and Berlin a number of times, I do not miss those places.  Meanwhile, there is a place only three hours drive North of San Francisco on Highway 1, where we visit again and again, and every time we leave there, we ask the same question – when will be the next time we visit?  I am talking about The Sea Ranch.

Next to The Sea Ranch, there is a small commercial center called Gualala. There are two supermarkets, restaurants, art galleries, a variety of stores and cafés. We have also visited other places in the area. A few times we drove for an hour to Mendocino. The area offers so much to see and to experience.  But most important – it is a great opportunity to relax. If you decide to have a trip here (which I strongly recommend), give me a call.

  

Where to Eat in San Francisco

Last week we were invited to an unusual birthday party. Zuni Café celebrated their 40^th birthday.  It was packed with about 600 appreciative guests.

We had our first meal at Zuni about thirty years ago.  Our office was not far from the restaurant and we discovered a place which always serves good food.  The restaurant was founded in 1979, however, when in 1987 the influential chef Judy Rogers took over it, she shifted the menu from Southwestern (the restaurant is named after the Zuni tribe in New Mexico), and turned it into one of the historic landmarks of California cuisine.

At the same time, many restaurants cannot survive.  This happens for various reasons; some of which were mentioned in the article “Why San Francisco Restaurants are Closing”. Therefore, I was surprised to find online “The Oldest Restaurants in San Francisco”. The list is of eight restaurants, which go back to 1849, and are still serving customers today. What’s remarkable is their locations. From Tadich Grill on California Street, which is one of the most authentic San Franciscan restaurants in the city, which served hungry gold diggers, to the Old Clam House on the Bayshore Boulevard, which has been serving local workers since 1861. It is difficult to imagine, but Bayshore Boulevard actually was on a bayshore, and there was a two-mile long wooden plank road from downtown. The Cliff House, which was established in 1863, continues to delight its guests with stunning views of the ocean. Fior D’Italia,was established in 1886, making it the oldest Italian restaurant in the entire the United States.

Having Max in our lives has changed our eating out habits.  We do not go out that often.  When we go to eat with Max, we prefer restaurants with outdoor seating.  But we still go to Zuni Café whenever we can.