i fled the house to get away from the bloodcurdling screams of my two-year-old. seems he wanted a tic tac.

now i'm at cafe francisco, scene of the massive flood of lower powell street last week. it really was remarkable. it started storming really hard -- monsoon style. then the standing water started to rise when the water main in the middle of the street blew and a geyser of water shot up, five-feet high. people began to get uneasy and several stepped out into the downpour to shoot photos from their phones. the water was centimeters from flowing over the threshold. the man beside me suggested we leave. the spanish-speaking ladies who were running the cafe were brandishing mops and barking orders at each other.

i called the water department, reported the broken water main,  then gathered my things. i stepped off the sidewalk into two feet of cold water. head down, trudging to my car, at times i was up to my knees in water. my silver ballet flats will never be the same.

***

great weekend. went to see steely dan at the masonic with joe mud. amazing show and great to see so many of my colleagues from my previous life as a bartender at the fillmore/warfield. it was like coming home, if your family had moved while you were gone.

also, so great to be there with such a diehard fan like joe. he was wearing a t-shirt that he'd made that said, "technicolor motorhome." for the two percent that get it. our seats weren't great, so vince walked us up to some empties in the front. guess i still have some juice...

saturday was the preschool halloween party. we dressed as bees. the whole fam. roman was a fat little bee with a stinger on his bottom. much fun was had. that was followed by the farewell party for our tenants, nairem and deepti. it will be sad to see them go, but the party was a blast. such a multi-culti crew with much musical talent. the kids we're enthralled and stayed up late watching the jam session and hitting the pinata in the back garden.

aaaahhhh, the end of an era on shrader street. the groovy girls are moving on. new tenants, who seem really cool also, move in this week. an organic farmer, art student, and silkscreener/italian teacher.

in honor of the lovely and excruciatingly talented deirdre defranceaux, i donned my best interpretation of a gypsy punk rock outfit and headed out to the newly refurbished fox theater in oaktown, to celebrate her birthday.

it's been a while since i dressed up for a rock show. shit, it's been a while since i've been to a rock show (hardly strictly bluegrass doesn't count) and i must give myself props for my stevie-nicks-meets-nancy-spungen get-up.  it even had to go from day to night as i worked all day yesterday.

let me describe. for the gogol bordello show, i wore an asymmetrically-cut black gathered skirt, fishnets, red doc martins (ok, knock-offs but expensive), bold gypsy jewelry (i hit forever 21 at lunch for silver cuff bracelets and chandelier earrings with lots of shimmery movable parts), a black bolero hat,  a lacy crocheted top,  deep red viva glam lipstick, and a bindi. i had it going on.

the show was amazing. gogol is like a cross between frank zappa and borat, with chris robinson's sinuous moves. sexy ugly, if you will. they rocked the house. it was a high energy ska-punk-ukranian-gypsy stage extravaganza with accordions, violins, cymbals, drums, guitars, and scantily clad dancers.

darrell, jules and the gang picked me up south of market in darrell's vw eurovan stocked with two deep dish pizzas, beer, sangria, and a crudite (nice touch, jules). i felt like a high school kid without a curfew.

happy birthday, deige. you are a true original.

check out is in a half hour, i don't ever want to leave! we're in room three at the mountain home inn in mill valley, a tiny but perfect little room with a patio overlooking frisco bay from the side of mount tamalpais.

yesterday was our sixth anniversary. we pawned the kids off at mette and dirk's in bolinas yesterday and have enjoyed the past 24 hours in each others company. cheeseburgers at smiley's, a beautiful lapis pendant from kaliedescope in bobo, an impromptu hike all over slide ranch -- which is totally amazing and i'd love organize some event there sometime -- a drink at the pelican inn, then to the mhi where we had a picnic of smoked salmon, coppa, salami, red hawk and parrano cheeses, fruit, nuts, bread, and a bottle of veuve.

the inn was the location of a wedding last night, but the bride wasn't wearing white -- the brides, plural, wore tuxes. how very frisco.

i love this place. we've been here so many times i can't even count. it's definitely become one of our "spots." and a sweet one, it is. we usually get the mack daddy of rooms, on the side with a jacuzzi and fireplace. but i really like this one, it's cozy and the view is to die. we even had parker here as a baby in a pack n play. we brought a baby monitor to listen for her while we dined upstairs. dan does the photography for the owner, susan cunnigham, in exchange for lodging.

now, off to hike up lady tam, the slumbering maiden.

it's magical here.

the weekend is within spitting distance. i need a haircut, some highlights, a pedicure, and my eyebrows tinted. i don't see that happening, though. maybe i can squeeze in the pedi.

dan is picking me up from work in an hour to go do a shoot in menlo park of berke breathed, the bloom county illustrator  from way back. then out to dinner with the kids somewhere down the peninsula.

we're going to an arsty engagement party tomorrow in bernal heights for jules and darrell, then we leave early on sunday where we will pawn off our offspring with mette  in bolinas for our anniversary night. we're staying at the mountain home inn on top of mt. tamalpais, one of my favorite places. i don't plan to do much blogging...

i booked parker's fifth birthday party at acrosports for next month. good ole, acrosports. it fell out of favor with our friends (and us) in the last year, but we're back because it is close, inexpensive, and the kids love it.

when granada, the adorable latino muppet of a gymnastic coach that the kids followed like a piper,  left under weird managerial circumstances leaving us with the austere and spooky dharam and her cultish-looking head wrap, it seemed like time to move on. but earlier this year when roman started using the loveseat as a vaulting horse, i realized it was time to re-register.

so, there we are. every wednesday morning. it's good. and less crowded. shitty economy and all.

it is definitely in need of a high-pressure wash and some upgrades, but i like the funky, old gymnasium feel with the enormously high ceilings and light streaming through above.

plus, there are few things as cute as a two-year-old on a trapeze.

i just booked tix for a weekend in nyc with to see my cousin and celebrate our mutual birthdays.

woooeffenhooo!

i haven't been to new york since roman was conceived in brooklyn almost three years ago.

spent a little time at hardly strictly bluegrass this weekend with the fam. anyone who knows me knows that bluegrass is perhaps my least favorite music genre. it's right up there with the irish deedleeedeedleede and just behind klezmer.  but since by virtue of its name, this festival promised more than just front-porch twang, i decided to check it out with dan and the kids.

it was way crowded (free) but we listened to a nice jazz vocalist called pamela rose with the wild women -- or something like that. the bigger acts were untouchable but aimee mann played, world party, the knitters, steve martin on his banjo, lyle lovett, steve earle, and mc hammer did some kind of gospel set. there were lots more, but i didn't see any of them. still, it was a lovely day in golden gate park with music.