South Bernal Tree Planting 6.18.11: A Photo Diary

On Saturday morning, Cole and I met a bunch of other Bernal Heights residents and volunteers at a house just off of Cortland for the big South Bernal Tree Planting, arranged by Friends of the Urban Forest.  This is such an awesome nonprofit organization!  It facilitates San Francisco tree planting by getting the community members involved and teaching about tree planting and care along the way.  This weekend, 35 trees were planted in our neighborhood, and the crew that Cole and I were on did 5 of those, including one in front of our building.

We all gathered at 8 am for some breakfast goodies and to meet each other.  A bunch of crews went out to deliver the trees, while some of us stayed behind to put together stakes and cross braces for each tree.  When everyone was back, the FUF executive director, Dan, got up to say a few words.

Since 1981, FUF has planted over 45,000 trees in the city.  That's so amazing!  Dan told us to Google "Bullit car chase" to see how treeless San Francisco looked when that movie was shot.  I just watched it, and it's bad!  You can definitely see the tree deficit--check it out for yourself.

Our new friends Brian and Ashley helping to add FUF stickers to the cross braces for each tree.

Although the true cost of each tree is around $425, FUF is able to offer a tree to a homeowner or renter for $75.  Anyone who gets a tree in a tree box in front of their home pledges to give it 15 gallons of water a week and provide maintenance and care for its lifetime.  As part of the $75, FUF comes out two or three times while the tree is small to ensure that it's doing well and to recommend pruning.  One interesting tidbit I learned:  tree topping (the severe maiming of tree branches) carries a $1500 fine here!  So anyone who's going to prune better know what they're doing.

This is our planting leader, Glen, at our first planting.  He was a really seasoned volunteer who's been doing this for years, and you can tell.  He instructed us on every step of the planting, from properly removing the tree from its bucket to calculating the proper planting depth to finally adding stake ties so that the tree can get exercise.  In this photo Glen was shaving off roots from the sides of the root ball.

Here we're still at the first planting and the homeowner, Amy, is driving a stake into the ground (hard work!).  She chose a flowering red gum tree for the front of her house, which is located a few blocks up from our place on Crescent.  Following this photo, we added the rest of the stakes, hammered on the cross braces, and tied the tree to the stakes.  We then moved on to plant 3 more trees at addresses south of Crescent before heading over to our place.  I'm telling you, planting trees is hard work!

This is Cole checking out our tree, a purple peppermint willow, before it went into the ground.  We chose a fast-growing but wind resistant tree with long, slender purple leaves that smell like peppermint when crushed between your fingers.

More planting action in front of our place--you can see most of our group here.  Glen is once again shaving roots from the tree's root ball before we placed it in the ground.  This helps the roots to grow outward once in the soil instead of curling up as they do in the bucket.

After we got the planting depth right and the tree in the hole, we added a watering tube filled with gravel.  This allows a clear stream of water to head directly to the tree's roots, giving it a better chance of survival and health.

Here's Kevin, Cole, and Glen adding stakes to the tree.  Generally FUF uses two stakes on the sidewalk side to help protect the tree from car doors and one stake on the other side.

Me with our planted tree!  We're planning to add a wood barrier around the sides of the box and want to plant something at the base of the tree--maybe annuals, or some jade, or a fragrant bush.  And the barrier will (ostensibly) help to prevent wayward dogs from using the box as a toilet.

After we finished planting our trees, we headed back up the hill to a potluck for all of the South Bernal planters.  Everyone brought great food and it was so much fun to get to know our neighbors and compare notes on our planting experiences.  People chose a very wide variety of trees and I think we'll have to take a walk soon to see all of the trees now that they've been planted.

Being involved in this was so much fun that I want to keep volunteering.  I was really inspired by a planting leader who has only missed one neighborhood planting since 1981.  This guy is not an FUF employee--he's just a volunteer and San Francisco resident who really enjoys helping out.  Wish I'd gotten a photo of him!

Treasure Island Flea Market

{Looking towards SF with a decrepit pier in the foreground}

There's a new flea market in town, and it's located on very beautiful Treasure Island, just a short hop across the Bay Bridge from San Francisco.  The island, which was built for an exposition in the 1930s, was later turned over to the Navy, which decommissioned it years ago.  Now the City of San Francisco owns it and has plans to redevelop it and add quite a bit of housing and other amenities.  I'd live there just for the SF views alone!

The flea itself was pretty good, especially for a first-time venture.  It was a mix of antique and vintage goods along with new wares and crafts, plants, and food.  I think we enjoyed exploring the island more than the market--we drove around the perimeter taking in the views and then also checked out the plethora of defunct Navy buildings that still pepper the island.  Now I wish I would've taken more photos of those buildings, especially a very old bowling center with an awesome faded but stylish sign.  Next time.

{Looking toward the Bay Bridge where it meets Yerba Buena Island}

{A sculpture at the parade grounds.  The flea market was held just to the right of this grassy area.}

{One of the old Navy dorms--you know I'm a sucker for defunct buildings}

{Ditto}

Style Rivalry: May 2011

You may notice that we're down one sister in this month's post--Karie has been under the weather and also quite busy between caring for Charlee, working, and traveling.  So it's up to Sam and me to represent.

Samantha, inspired by Anthropologie’s March catalog, paired a chunky necklace with a vintage bathing suit for an afternoon spent studying by the pool.  Patriotic colors entirely incidental to holiday.

{Cole Haan aviators, Jantzen bathing suit, Dillards necklace, waves courtesy of a good hair day}

Headed to the first-ever Treasure Island Flea Market on Sunday morning, I wanted to dress for style, warmth and comfort.  My boots allowed me to scamper along the water's edge as well as check out some of the more promising wares at the flea.  Leggings and a denim jacket kept me warm when the ocean breeze kicked up.  After the market, I enjoyed a delicious lunch at Piccino, scored an awesome vintage dresser on the street that we're now refinishing, and made homemade lemon bars.

{Fabulous views courtesy of the Bay Bridge and San Francisco skyline}

{INC dress, Anthropologie belt, Target leggings, Forever 21 cardigan, Gap jacket, Frye boots, Fossil purse, Ray Ban sunglasses}

SF: Corner Store by Corner Store

Check out this article in the Bold Italic about the corner stores of the Western Addition, our old neighborhood.  The photo above is the store that we used to hit at least a couple of times a week--it stocked organic and health foods, as well as more mundane requirements like ice cream and beer.  It was right across the street from our apartment, which was so nice and convenient. 

Note the older gentleman on the right side of the photo--he is the usual fixture in that store, and one of the most crotchety figures I've ever come across!  I think it took almost a year of visiting that store before he did anything but frown in our general direction.  Strangely enough, I kind of miss his frosty ways.

I was also happy to see Sam (above) and his store featured (why did we think he was Russian?!).  This market was even closer to our old apartment and stocked a more limited selection of food but more wine, beer, liquor, and ice cream.  Sam helped us pick out wine on more than one occasion.  But most importantly to me, Sam was my knight in shining armor one afternoon when I got locked out of the new apartment, not long after moving in, and had no spare key, no money, no wallet, no phone.  He let me use his cell phone and phone book to call the property management company, lent me $20 for a cab to go retrieve a spare key, and even came out to the curb to hail a cab for me.  He'll always have a place in my heart because of that.

{Both photos from the article.}

Tradeoffs

{photo via}

Having worked at Google for almost a month now, I feel qualified to state the advantages and disadvantages to working in Mountain View versus San Francisco.  Working outside of San Francisco was always a sticking point for me whenever I was offered a project on the Peninsula or in Silicon Valley--we only have the one car now, and I loathe driving anyway.  I'm not a good commuter.  I have a touch of road rage.  Not to mention the environmental consequences of driving that much each day.

I doubt I'd have accepted the Google gig had it not been for the shuttle.  Every morning and evening, I board a posh tour bus, settle in with my book, laptop, or iPod, and get about an hour of downtime while traveling on the 101.  The ride can seem lightning-fast if I have something good to distract me.  When I don't, and when the driver punctuates the journey by slamming on the brakes, the ride eeks by while I look around for a barf bag.

There are things I unequivocally love about Google:  the (free, abundant, high quality, delicious) food and snacks; the bikes we use to get around campus; the weekly happy hours; the laid back work environment; the type of people who work here; and the great gyms.  Often when I'm riding between buildings, especially on a cool morning like we had today, I feel like I could be back in college at NAU--a strange but ultimately nice feeling.

The one obvious drawback to all of this is that I'm not in San Francisco.  I suppose I'd been taking working in the Financial District for granted these past two years.  No matter where I was working, I was within a stone's throw of tons of great restaurants, coffee shops, drug stores, boutiques, parks, and mass transit options.  That, in hindsight, was really nice.

Now, at Google, I have most of what I need at any given moment, but not all.  I can't casually stroll across the street to Walgreen's if I need something (even if it's more of a want--like a trashy celebrity magazine).  If I ever wanted or needed to leave early, I'm not sure how I'd get home, short of imposing upon a coworker to drive me back to the city (my shuttle doesn't leave until 4:45 pm).  And I can't take care of errands or go to appointments during the day anymore.  This definitely saves money, but isn't necessarily an efficient use of my time (and you know efficiency is always at the top of my list...that's the Shira way).

For now, Google still comes out on top and I'm quite pleased to be working here.  But now when I'm in San Francisco, I feel even more grateful to live in and experience all that it offers.

Neighborhood Improvements

First, I forgot to share the highly exciting news that we're getting a tree for the front of our building! When we first moved into our building, the square tree planter directly in front of it was an empty plot of soil, its tree having perished in a huge November 2009 storm.  (You can see the now-deceased tree in this antiquated Google Streeview photo of our building.)  According to our downstairs neighbors, during the storm the tree plunged through their living room windows, prompting the landlord to replace the windows throughout their apartment (lucky!).  But while the building got an upgrade, the planter sat idle.  (To be fair, last year this plot of soil did bear potatoes, thanks to another enterprising neighbor, Jaime.  I'm just not sure if I'd eat street potatoes.)

Last summer, I looked into what it would require to plant a new tree in the planter.  Turns out we'd have to get permits, contact the owner of the building, blah blah blah--not to mention find a way to get a tree home in the Volvo.  A local nonprofit, Friends of the Urban Forest, facilitates some of the paperwork and provides the actual trees for a modest fee, but will only work on a neighborhood scale -- they want at least 20 residents to be involved before they'll sign onto a neighborhood planting.

So I temporarily gave up on my quest for a tree and instead we planted this cordyline, which has flourished.

But!  A local blog that I read recently announced that a FUF South Bernal Tree Planting was in the works!  Within a day we'd obtained permission and signatures from our landlord and are all set to receive a tree for our building.  Cole is going to the first planting meeting tomorrow evening and we even get to lodge our first and second choices for the type of tree we'd like.  We'll also be helping with other plantings throughout the neighborhood -- it's a team effort.  Personally, I'm dreaming of a magnolia.  And don't worry--our trusty cordyline will be relocated to a large planter somewhere in the vicinity of our entryway.

Second, I've just read my first review of the newly-renovated and under-new-ownership St. Mary's Pub.  This place is about seven or eight blocks from our place, and I've always admired the sign.  More importantly, the new owners are our neighbors across the street.  Cole met them at last fall's block party, which I missed.  Now that I can see from the photos that some of the walls inside this joint appear to be painted the same color as my kitchen, I really feel the need to stop in for a drink.

Yes sirree--exciting things are afoot in SoBe.

New Favorite Sub Shop

If you know me (and my sisters), you know that we're fairly obsessed with subs.

This past weekend, I had a particularly strong hankering for one.  My craving was not satisfied on Saturday, so on Sunday, in the midst of an epic walk from our place in Bernal Heights to Union Square (~6 miles when all was said and done), we were on the lookout for a sub shop.

As luck would have it, we found Miller's East Coast Deli on Polk Street.  And boy, did it satisfy my craving.

{Not the best pic of me, but you get an idea of the sandwich.}

I got a roast beef sub on a hoagie roll.  The roast beef was house-cooked and the roll was super soft and buttery.  Fixings included dill havarti, shredded lettuce, onions, tomatoes, mustard, and mayonnaise.  A nice big pickle came on the side, along with coleslaw.

Cole got half a tuna sandwich with potato salad and a cup of borscht.  Yum!

The sub was so huge--it could easily be shared by two people.  This is definitely a place I'd take visitors to.