need some link practice

toxic plastics
this is a link to some scary yet good to know information my sister-in-law
suling
sent to me. miles and i had some somewhat solo time today. we went to see miles' friends big jonah who lives on a great little street, dearborne, in the mission near 18th, Bi-Rite, etc. i took a 15-minute walk alone to get a bagel and could almost feel my mind expanding into a new place just by walking on an unfamiliar street alone. remains of a party weekend were strewn around but the pace here is slower and calmer and a little healthier. no one smoking around these parts.
i walked down albion where my friend
nat bletter
grafted branches from several different fruit trees onto a nice little street tree, but i couldn't find the tree. when i returned to jonah's home i could hear the boys from a block away, screaming and yelling in ecstasy as they chased each other up and down the sidewalk with hula hoops. playing on the sidewalk, really even running on the sidewalk isn't much of an option on my block. a truck pulled out and miles said "that looks like someone i know, that looks like dr. becker" and out stepped our pediatrician from day one at ucsf, a man my son lies down and presents his ears for willingly
dr david becker
the boys love each other but inevitably within a 2 hour visit find time to hate each other. this happened inside with a giant robot arm dispute so gabriel and i took our angry offspring to
dolores park
to work out their feelings through gross motor activity. this park has some distant memories for me including playing and singing old tokin white boy (and oh how i wish there was a link to my first and most loved band and that i could travel that link to 1991 delaware just for a little while), so happy to be back together with my soul sister
cassie
gabriel tells me that he and jonah and now maybe elizabeth and baby orion are going to
burning man
this year. i have so many amazing memories from this little annual utopia, many enhanced but many not, but for some reason the memory that leaps out is a mellow part of a hot afternoon, biking around the playa in a sexy dress and pink cowgirl hot, dusty, with my little boombox bungiied to the back of my bike, playing a tape with sun ra on one side and
rudy ray moore
on the other, rudy's voice booming out into the desert air as i bike by camps and art and happy freaky people. it is hard to imagine being there, but maybe it is so because there is a lot of tension in our house just trying to raise 2 kids in a comfy apartment. maybe we would love it, or maybe we would be yelling at each other in our little rv while maya pounded at the door during a dust storm and miles begged for another video. we need to think about this one, though i know the kids would like so many things--the terrordome, the bean bath, the wooden and hay bale castles, the pool in the desert, the rides on crazy bike carts you can just hop on, the trampolines, the crazy swings. hmmmm, maybe we should go...
schools came up in our conversation and i am feeling a little more optimistic about kindergarten as i slowly meet more happy parents.
i mention the
parents for public schools

and one more link, just because i have wanted to include it for a while
berkeley parents network.
i get their online newsletter, it is prolific and hard not to read. full of advice wanted and advice given from bay area parents of all types, it helps me feel less alone.

the links are kind of a pain, but it is fun to type in a name or place and find it online. kind of a community, kinda sorta.
gotta go