While much of the country is keeping warm indoors, we're fortunate to be able to enjoy being out and about (much to Tanner's delight as well as ours.)Playing in the bay at Crissy Field is Tanner's first choice for a great outing, and we enjoyed doing just that a couple of days ago.However, on New Year's Eve day we enjoyed a 5-mile walk through Golden Gate Park, out to Ocean Beach near the Cliff House and meandered back to our car.This is one reason we pay the big bucks to live here! Our houses tend to be small, and very expensive -- but we don't stay inside much -- we have the coastal hills, and beaches, and mountains and parks as our backyard.(Tanner and I both look like we had already partied!)(The golden light of late afternoon streaming through the eucalyptus--magic!) 01/01/2018

Many of the blogs originally published on Active Rain by fellow agents are enlightening and informative, especially when highlighting local attractions or destinations. For example, Myrl Jeffcoat often writes about places to visit within a day trip from her home in Rancho Cordova, because she's no stranger to jumping into her car and hitting the road. Same thing with San Franciscan Lottie Kendall, who posted a blog a while back about the Flower Piano experience annually held in July at a place I had not visted in Golden Gate Park. While this Sacramento Realtor and her husband were a few months late for the Flower Piano last weekend, we nevertheless discovered a magical place we can visit again and again from Sacramento and probably never see it all. You can see all the photographs -- an... 10/17/2017

Flower Piano is back for it's third yearThis joyful event, a collaboration between Sunset Pianos and the San Francisco Botanical Garden, celebrates music, nature and creativity and is FREE to San Francisco residents, with a nominal $8.00 charge for entrance to the Botanical Garden for other visitors.Dates in 2017 are July 13 - 24. For a full schedule of planned concerts and more information, click on Flower Piano and scroll toward the bottom.Wander through the beautiful gardens of the San Francisco Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park and discover where 12 pianos have been tucked into picturesque spots in beautiful garden settings. Strands of music in the air will lead you to one piano after another. Stroll from spot to spot, enjoying the music, and create your own. The pianos are there... 07/11/2017

In addition to fireworks in the evening, and various towns up and down the Peninsula hosting pancake breakfasts, fun runs, and parades of various kinds, here's a great and FREE activity to enjoy in San Francisco...The Golden Gate Park Band will once again be playing patriotic and American music in celebration of Independence Day. Date: Tuesday, July 4, 2017 Time: 1:00 PM - 2:30/2:45 PMWhere: Music Concourse band shell, Golden Gate Park (between Academy of Sciences and the deYoung MuseumBring a picnic or patronize a nearby vendor, and relax and enjoy. This video clip was taken at their special Labor Day performance in 2016.Wishing you a safe and happy Independence Day 2017!  07/03/2017

Crossing the strait of the Golden Gate from San Francisco to the Marin headlands for 1.7 miles is the world-renowned Golden Gate Bridge, easily identified by its International Orange color. Opened in 1937, the bridge was built at a cost of $35 million in principal and $39 million in interest and 11 workers’ lives. The single-suspension span is anchored by twin towers that reach skyward 746 feet, and was once taller than any building in San Francisco. To support the suspended roadway, two cables, each more than 7,000 feet in length and both containing 80,000 miles of wire stretch over the top of the towers and are rooted in concrete anchorages on shore. More than10 years in planning due to formidable opposition, but only four years in actual construction, the Golden Gate Bridge brought t... 12/25/2016

Yesterday, Labor Day 2016, I was reading my online newspaper while enjoying my first cup(s) of coffee when I chanced upon a pleasant, informative article about musician unions in San Francisco. One of the unionized groups mentioned was the Golden Gate Park Band, which puts on free concerts most Sunday afternoons in the summer and fall. Apparently they always put on a special concert on Labor Day featuring American musical numbers, opening with Aaron Copeland's 'Fanfare to the Common Man' and moving on to folk songs, jazz, medleys from musicals and movies, and ending with a stirring Sousa march.The day was sunny and warm, and a free outdoor concert at lunchtime sounded like the perfect activity, so off we went, walking into Golden Gate Park via the rose garden, where the scent of roses p... 09/05/2016

That's right, Flower Piano has returned to the San Francisco Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park for the second year. For 12 days only, July 7 through 18, 2016 the Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park is hosting Flower Piano. Visitors can seek out 12 pianos tucked away in various spots in the gardens, perhaps on the great meadow, or in a quiet glen amongst a bower of flowers. These pianos await your discovery. What to do when you stumble across one - unleash the musician in your soul, be it Chop Sticks or Chopin, Happy Birthday or Hayden. Or perhaps you'll hear music and follow the sound to enjoy another musician playing. Flower Piano is a project of the "piano ninjas" Mauro Ffortissimo and Dean Mermell, who have expanded this social and musical experiment since 2013, when ffortissimo,... 07/08/2016