we're very very close now to the move. the kitchen's nearly stacked up to the ceiling with boxes. moving truck will be here on saturday morning. we're exhausted but also somewhat giddy with anticipation. which is a confusing state of mind, but it works fine for us.

and now:

reasons i'll miss laurel heights

laurel heights (or presidio heights if you'd rather) wasn't the most boomtastic & bodyrockin' of San Francisco neighborhoods, but our stay there included a variety of simple pleasures and a few ongoing dividends that that deserve their props. including:

• right around the corner: the bravehearted firefighters of SFFD Station 10, some of whom maintain the San Francisco Department Museum. even though their firetrucks often woke us up as they roared out to some five-alarm whatever in the middle of the night, i always had fond feelings for the men and women of Station 10. many evenings you can spot them around dinnertime out by the side door to the station, barbecuing dinner and chatting. and on sunday mornings the firetrucks are parked out front and they're going through routine exercises in full gear. and the museum is a fascinating and specialized collection of San Franciscian history, stocked full of interesting artifacts, tales of heroism. it's worth a visit if you haven't discovered it already.
  
  
• around the corner and up the street: the Presidio. features great walking & running trails, beautiful hidden glens, funky decomissioned military housing, and the best damn bowling alley in the city.
  
  
• on the other side of the presidio: the restored beaches and marshes of Crissy Field National Park. it's a nice place to go for a run, or just hang back and watch all the dogs as they play in the surf.
  
  
• on days when i'd work from home, i'd sometimes walk over to the Laurel Village shopping center for a starbucks coffee, which was invariably full of mommies and their kids. Laurel Heights is positively overrun with kids: babies in strollers, toddlers bouncing around like excited mollecules, and awkward clumps of preteens (older kids with any sense of excitement generally head elsewhere for fun). sometimes it was nice, seeing all these kids--when we moved here my first thought was: "oh, so this is where they've been hiding them." it was a strange reversal from my previous life in the upper haight, where the only kids you saw tended to be homeless gutterpunks begging for change.
  
  
• Miz Brown's Feedbag. okay, i'm kidding. but i love the fact that there's an establishment with a name like that in a hoity-toity neighborhood like this.
  
  
• ella's for brunch. despised by the local go-getters for its interminably long table waits, yet somehow beloved enough to appear on top 100 restaurant lists year after year. we didn't care, we were two blocks away. we could put our name on the list and come back a half hour later, just in time for our table. and then the amazing thing started happening: the guy who manages the waitlist started showing us to our table as soon as we showed up, before we could even get our names on the list. we'd just walk in the door, he'd look up at us & smile, & say "oh, your table's ready, follow me." this went on for a year, and we never asked why, afraid, maybe of jinxing it. maybe it was all the times he'd see me walk by the place with flowers for molls. i dunno. and for all you young "keepin' it real" types--i still think greasy spoons and places like boogaloos are great for brunch, but ella's, man, it hit the spot just fine. and it was two blocks away. 'nuff said.
  
  
• being walking distance from green apple books. aw.
  
  
• andl last but most signficant: we'll miss living next door to Mr. Butter. that's his real last name, and he is, no kidding, a professional pastry chef. he's also an intellectual booster of all that is excellent in music, literature and cinema; the moderator of my book club; a zen master; and a kind, generous, stand-up guy. and he loved to take care of our cats. few friends have been as selflessly dedicated to our feline companions as Mr. Butter. you, too, can taste the culinary genius of Mr. Butter by treating yourself to a slice of his incredible cheesecake at The MeetingHouse or by snacking on his x-large supertasty chocochip cookies at The Hotel Utah Saloon. Mr. Butter, we salute you. you'll always be welcome at our new pad.