Good Pix of Madison

Stephanie Kittredge — my first wife, the mother of my two eldest children — lies seriously ill in a San Diego hospital.   In May, when last I saw her, her COPD was so far advanced she needed supplemental oxygen and wheelchair.    After a 3-week trip to NYC to visit Molly in late May,…

We live adjacent to downtown San Jose, in a new townhouse/condo development called Mariani Square.   It is part of the Japantown district — so named owing to the, ahem, concentration of Japanese people living here in the 20th century (and still today). Even though this is “brownfield” urban land, I’m amazed at the flowers…

San Francisco has recently created a walking tour of the downtown area, the Barbary Coast Trail ™, bringing tourists and others face to face with the history of our town. It was modeled on Boston’s Freedom Trail, and gives the adventurous pedestrian an efficient and annotated path thru areas where the Gold Rush started, where…

The Guadalupe River runs thru downtown San Jose, north to the San Francisco Bay.  Several years ago, there was an effort to reclaim a rather trashed and squalid riverfront and turn it into a combination park and flood control zone.   We enjoy the park frequently, as it runs close to our home and into the…

I watched the movie, Secretariat, last night. It was OK. Only OK. Watching the actual horse Secretariat, when he was running in 1973, was much better. This ESPN show from a decade ago really captures the story (in 5 short segments on YouTube). Interviews with all the players — owner, trainer, jockey, others — and…