Mount Tam With Hopie

{In Which We Reclaim Our Sanity in the Redwoods}

Greetings from San Francisco, the best place on earth for Catching Up on Sisterly Hijinks. Seriously, we should all pack up our Scamps and head straight to SF (although Scampers beware; the actual towing and parking of a Scamp on the vertiginous streets of San Francisco is another matter). I love you Brooklyn, but you don't have redwoods, Four Barrel Coffee, sidewalk succulent gardens, Tomales Bay oysters or, most importantly, my sister Hopie. 

Let's back up a sec. The past two weeks have been pure crazytown with a show opening, a few all-nighters (low point: sleeping under my desk on a pile of Belgian linen), a quick trip to Florida for a wedding, an MFA program fundraiser, and a slew of meetings, studio visits, critiques and one sleep-deprived, over-caffeinated verbal explosion directed at a drunk frat boy who picked the wrong Xena Warrior Princess to harass on the 2nd Ave subway station. Homeboi got SERVED. So praise Krishna that NYU's spring break rolled around just in time; on Friday I boarded a plane to SF to spend some much-needed time with my sister Hopie, who promised the following in an email:

"...we shall share in general merriment over fresh, seasonal, locally-sourced, sustainable, farm-to-table, vintage, solar-powered, socially-minded, childhood-obesity-fighting, community-building, TED-talked, fixie-riding, DIY'd, handmade, microfinanced, hanging-succulented, San Franciscan foodstuffs."

And how can you say no to THAT.

Pictures above from our sick-nasty Land Before Time seven mile hike on Mount Tam (route here; can't recommend this hike highly enough). Highlights included a carpet of fetid adder's tongue (in the lily family, high five!), pink shocks of calypso orchids scattered like confetti over the mossy understory, and a drumlin of early lupines so profuse, so dewy, Hopie and I had to sigh and exclaim and invoke the spirit of Miss Rumphius. (Self-portrait taken in Bootjack Trailhead public bathroom, because I just couldn't resist all that red.) Expect SF posts for the rest of the week, one of which may or may not feature a palomino unicorn. xo.