It is a bad, rude, wicked world

We are apartment hunting.  We have steps, lots of steps. Steps in the house, steps up to the street, steps to the parking pad, steps down to the back of the house.  STEPS! We have bad knees and bad feet.  We have aging hips.  These do not go with steps. So a need to move.

I have been on Craigslist every day, several times a day for weeks.  I send emails asking to view, no response.  I call managers, listing agents, and owners, the majority don't respond.  Rude, Miss Manners would have something to say about them. 

The pictures in the listing will be lovely, then you google the address. When you zoom in, you can see the bars on the windows and doors. Tough neighborhoods.  Not an area a nice chicken hearted senior citizen would last in.  I would have to give the kids on the corner my lunch money.

I did get quick responses back from a few listings.  Nice area, square footage I want, in our price range.  The emails would tell me the owner was working overseas in England, Germany, Ireland, South Africa for the next 5 years.  They had moved and accidentally brought the keys with them.  If I would send them 3 months rent, the security deposit, my social security number, and a picture; they would send me the keys and the apartment was mine.  Well, you just know Marty and I couldn't get the money in the mail fast enough. The sad truth is people are falling for this scam.  I have received emails back more than once with the very same message.

Some of the listings are so funny. Sidebar:  Oakland is on the San Francisco Bay.  Most view homes are up in the hills.  We call the water views South Bay, North Bay, Golden Gate View.  Downtown Oakland has some lovely apartments, that start at 500 square feet and are very expensive, say starting at $2200 a month.   Downtown Oakland is in the flats, not up in the hills.  So there is a listing that says 

$925  2 br 2 ba, Italian palace   1250 square feet   Intercoastal views. Gorgeous pictures were posted of every room.  It then gave a street address.

Too cheap for the size and area. The pictures for sure came from Architectural Digest. That street listed, no way you could see the Bay from there. Guess what, we don't use the term intercoastal here, that is more Florida, South Carolina, or Georgia.  It did make me laugh out loud.

I will continue to search for a new home. 

URBAN PLUNGE

Today we had a very special church service. Every year our youth and some dedicated adults go to Tijuana, Mexico to build a house for a family. This year because of drug war violence and the H1N1 virus they could not go to Mexico. Our church is very mission oriented. What would they do?

They came to Oakland. The town where Marty and I live. Oakland is about 20 minutes from our church in Concord. They came to the First Christian Church in Oakland and made that their home base. Then they worked in the city to help the poor, the needy, and the homeless. They did repairs and clean up at the church. They went to St. Vincent de Paul and served close to 1000 meals a day. They planted trees in the inner city to combat pollution. These young people talked to the poorest of the poor and listened and learned that you can work hard and still be poor and/or homeless.

As we listened to these young people talk about their journey to help at an area so close to home; I could tell they were really moved by the experience. One young woman had realized she goes to school with friends who live in the poorest area of Oakland. She was so upset to learn that area has a 15 year shorter life expectancy. The area has no major grocery stores. They pay more for food and it is harder to get than for Marty and me. They all were stunned to realize poverty, bad water, bad air, and a really bad life was so close to their safe suburban homes.

And after seeing all this up close and personal . . . They plan to go back and plant more trees. They plan to do this mission trip and hopefully go to Mexico also next summer.

I can not begin to tell you how proud I am of these young people and the adults who gave so much to Oakland. Thank you to them and the people who supported them and made the week long trip possible.

WE HAVE PICTURES

None of the pictures from the Winchester House came out. This was a digital camera, we looked at them. Home, no pictures. I guess the spirits didn't want us to have pictures.

We do have some from a few other places. It seems we had so much fun, we forgot to take many pictures. So maybe that is a good thing, not so many as the trip to Kentucky.

Remember to see a larger picture, just click on the picture.

Little Brother and me. Someone asked if we were twins. There is a family resemblance. We are in the Tower at the top of the de Young Museum.

Ann, me, and Marty in the tower. Sounds like we have been confined to the Tower of London.

Ann and me in the tower. Behind us all is a map of the parts of San Francisco you can see from the tower.

View of Academy of Sciences, part of Golden Gate park, and part of San Francisco from the tower.

Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. Remember, it was closed when we went.

Marty and me at the fountain at the Embarcadero in San Francisco. We all walked through the fountain.

It was wet and slippery on the walkway. We walked through the part in the back against the wall, which was wet. You have huge stepping squares to walk on. There was just enough space between them to make me nervous. Some met at an angle, which was hard for those of us with short legs. But no one fell in.

This is part of a bicycle race through Oakland on Sunday. We just lucked into a spot to see it.

We had such a fun week with Hank and Ann. Lots of laughing, lots of wine, and really a lot of great food. I told them I wished we all lived closer to each other. And they said something profound. If we lived in the same city, we wouldn't spend as much concentrated time together. We would be so busy with our lives we would just see each other at a dinner every now and then. They are probably correct. It is hard to be apart, but the time together is golden.

THOUGHTS OF WIND

The wind: do you like it, hate it, are you scared of it?

I am sometimes just a little afraid of the wind. We live in the Oakland Hills, wind is not our friend. Especially when it is the Diablo winds coming from inland and not from the sea. This wind is strong, hot, and dry. You can feel your skin drying out, your mouth is dry, and you feel anxious. And this is when we get the raging fires. So we are all a little nervous with the winds. The last two nights I have often waked up from the noise of the wind and from the sounds of the house. Things pop that don't usually, branches hit the house, and the security light keeps coming on. Is someone on the driveway, is it an animal, or did the wind blow things in front of the security beam?

Sometimes the wind is great. At night when the house is warm and we have the windows open, a gentle breeze will fill the house with cool fresh air. Even though it is summer time, we sleep under a down comforter, the breeze blowing over the bed.

The wind blowing long grass on a hillside looks like the sea. Petals blowing from fruit trees in a gentle wind looks like a snow storm. But it is spring in California.

The wind blowing leaves in the fall is good. The sounds of the dry leaves, the leaves swirling in the air, the color of the leaves piled against the fence, that is fall.

My favorite wind, Randy Strong's glass art. http://www.rstrong.com/ Check out the gallery and look at the Wind series and the Sonoma Breeze art.

Wind is usually good. Wind is scary right now. We are the lucky ones this time in Northern California, no fires, yet. Southern California has the fires this time. Our crews are there fighting fires.

The wind is calm right now. Hopefully the front has moved through and we will go back to off shore breezes. Keep your fingers crossed.