The Great Escape (and Goodnight Moose)

In less than 24 hours I’ll be hightailing it out of the US for several months. While I am happily anticipating putting some distance between me and the US news, it also feels strange to be leaving my life and friends and house behind for so long. Therefore, I like to make an extra effort to enjoy all that I love about the Bay Area before I leave each summer.

Last year, my goodbye activity was a solo one-day Bay Area Blitz in San Francisco walking from the sea lion extravaganza that was happening at Pier 39 (2000 sea lions) over the hill to North Beach where I ran into an Italian street fair, among other things.

This year, I have been trying to fit in as many cultural activities, friends, and pickleball as I can these past couple weeks before departure. I’ve been to the Paul McCartney Photographs exhibit at the DeYoung and the Wayne Theibaud retrospective at the Legion of Honor, both very worthwhile. While at the Legion of Honor looking at the paintings downstairs, music suddenly filled the entire museum. I’d inadvertently timed my visit to coincide with the weekly organ concert. Standing under the dome near the entry was entrancing as most of the pipes are hidden up in the dome and the sound is truly incredible. Highly recommended: 4pm every Saturday!

Movies “The Friend” and “The Wedding Banquet” were excellent and I hosted a sendoff party for myself in order to see many of my women friends before I depart. I even made it to the Hunky Jesus contest in Dolores Park on Easter which is about the most San Francisco thing I can think of.

While I’m soaking in the culture here in the Bay, John is up in Canada where our sweet chocolate lab, Moose, has been weakening from an aggressive cancer (he lives with John’s first wife and their son Anders in Vernon, BC, for most of the year). His euthanasia appointment with the vet is tomorrow at 11am. I wrote a Marvelous Moose blog two summers ago that described what a great guy he is and what I learned from being around him. John and I will be so sad not to have him with us this summer. I give him a lot of credit for helping us to meet people on Galiano as he was everyone’s favorite and it will be hard not to have him to take on hikes, one of our main island activities. It’s difficult to imagine any future dog having as sweet and calm a disposition, but with just the right touch of naughtiness. Goodbye Moose!

Before heading to our house on Galiano Island in June, we will be in Europe for 6 weeks. First, I will make a stop in London for a few days to visit my friend Susan. After London, she and I will train down to the medieval town of Sandwich in Kent where she and her husband have renovated a very old, architecturally protected house on the High Street named “The Apple Tree.” Last time I was in Sandwich, we walked to the beach where I saw an inflatable boat that had been abandoned by people illegally entering the UK. While we hear a lot about illegal immigration in this country, this was the first time I had actually witnessed the scene of a boat landing, though I missed seeing its passengers.

After my few days in the UK, I will head to Copenhagen to meet up with John where our 6 week adventure begins. We are spending so long in Copenhagen because it is a city we enjoy and John has a lot of family members there as his mother was the eldest sibling in a large Danish family. I trust that I will have enough interesting experiences to write some fun and scintillating blogs so stay tuned!