Wednesday, April 11, 2007

SF Ballet



In typical BAYA fashion, the beginnings of an event fell into play at about 4:45pm today when I received a voicemail about 4 San Francisco Ballet tickets for tonight's 7:30 performance. Our friend, Ruth, is a cellist for the SF Ballet Company and has mentioned before that she gets complimentary tickets for shows, but we have never been able to go in the past. Within 30 minutes we had organized and planned to meet for dinner and the ballet! Thank goodness for cell phones!

We arrived at the entrance and the bell chimed, telling us to hurry up and scarf down the dinner burritos because they were closing the doors. Soon we were seated in the balcony watching dancers gracefully glide across the stage and point their toes in a manner that didn't look humanly possible! (see photo)

This was the perfect ballet performance for me to watch because there were three ballets in one! The first one was a jazzy little ballet with great music and choreography titled Elemental Brubeck. The second was Concordia, in its World Premiere, which I think is a big deal because the dancers were given these huge bouquets of flowers when they took their final bows. This ballet had contemporary dancing contrasted with the traditional ballet which was very cool to watch together. The third, and most AMAZING, was Symphony in C choreographed by George Balanchine. This ballet seemed to have every dancer from the company on stage dancing their buns off. What a unexpected and wonderful evening in San Francisco! Thanks, Ruth!

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

BYOBW Race 2007!




What do these two things have in common? Well, they came together on a beautiful, sunny, warm City afternoon this Easter in the form of a RACE! The 7th Annual Bring Your Own Big Wheel Race down Lombard Street in San Francisco was a sight to see. Lombard Street is the crookedest street in the world and one of the many tourist attractions here in the City.

Skippy and I were there as BAYA representatives to scout it out in order to make this a BAYA Annual Easter Event. It was so entertaining! Hundreds of Big Wheels and other random plastic toys, including a recycling bin, lined up at the entrance to the famous crookedest street at approximately 4pm. We maneuvered our way to the midway point of the curvy street and settled in behind a cement wall (for our protection) while the last of the tourist cars drove down. The race began with some excellent skaters (skateboards, not ice) flying down to "clear the path" then came the Big Wheelers. They wore helmets, knee pads, and face masks. Most wore some sort of costume like Mario and Luigi , the Easter Bunny, a couple of Beekers , Lego Man, or just something random found at the Salvation Army. For this race, like other famous races here in SF, the goal is not to win, but just to get to the bottom/finish in one piece.

I have to say, in the past 6 years I've lived here in San Francisco, this ranks on the top of my list of things to see. If you are planning a trip to the Bay around Easter Sunday, be sure to catch this Race! So, BAYA members, 2008 here we come! For a video of BYOBW click here. - Look closely in the first 25 sec, and you'll see even Jesus was there!

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Eggs! Eggs!


Eggs!
Originally uploaded by ginelledds.
Colorful eggs from our Annual Easter Egg Hunt (5th year running). BAYA coordinated the event, which was a rousing success (in my book) with approximately 80 people including 50 egg-hunting children ages 12 and under.

Based on conversations with the Easter Bunny, over 350 eggs were found and only 20-30 remain hidden around the church grounds. I guess we'll find those next year.

Thank you to everyone who helped run and coordinate this fun event.