Created: 2012-06-23 23:31 | Updated: 2012-06-24 06:02 | Source: mobile.iphone
Spent the day in the mission and at Dolores Park. It just so happened that Trans Fest was happening today and they set up their starting point in the park. There were more kids with two Moms than usual. Some of them were wearing shirts that had funny saying about gay marriage like "Marriage is [gay]." The playground had been upgraded and we wanted to show it to our kids. Lots of kids were playing and expressing tons of joy on the new structure. We took a break and walked down to Valencia street to have lunch. We found an Argentine cafe that served excellent skirt steak sandwiches. It was kind of strange on the inside, not the decor, but the customers. It was a beautiful day and these people were inside on their laptops. 8 out of 10 people had laptops and were buried nose deep in the screens. I has the pastrami and a Stella. Heidi had a salad and basil limeade. Lulu had an empanada. After lunch we went next door to a vintage toy store. That had toys from the forties alongside Eco doll houses with solar panels and compost bins. Since when did the energy source and waste disposal system of a doll house become a thing to play with? We told Kareem it was time to leave and that he should pick his toy now. He loved the music toys and decided to settle on a little music box that played twinkle twinkle little star. We found a nice Charlie Harper ABC book for Lulu.
As we headed back down the Valencia, a group of girls stopped and one of them started filming the other with her iPhone. She was flapping her wings and making goofy sounds. Kareem was so entranced with her. So was I, but only because I knew my kids were watching and curious about it. I didn't realize that the girl began pointing her phone at me (or Kareem in the stroller). I laughed in front of the camera. They said hi to Kareem and he said hi back.
I reminded Heidi that I wanted to get some pastries from the new cafe next to the toy store, so we headed back to get some. The place inside looked like a minimalist museum. Polished cement lined the floors and the walls. Their croissants, scones and cookies were placed on the counter under glass as if their were couture fashion. Their cakes looked like Wedgwood ceramics. We bought three slices to take home. As we were leaving Heidi mentioned that the cafe is literally a couple of days old.
"We can still be hipsters when we try. We can tell our friends that we just dropped into the Mission to check out the new playground and a couple of new cafes."
As we walked back tot the park, we saw more and more of the pilgrims coming to celebrate Trans Fest. They were filled with elation, trying to reach the inner sanctum, the holy of holies, the hard core of followers near the DJ. Getting there meant that you had to shed your clothes, sprout wings and flutter, shimmy and shake to the trance. We discussed the irony of our discovering a new cafe amidst our lack of awareness of the major event in support of transsexual awareness. We walked around the park to get back to our car. I volunteered to push the stroller up the hill for fear of a female attack on my misogynist character. I made a comment about how the whole event felt like a religious pilgrimage, to which Heidi quickly disagreed.
"These people aren't religious and neither are you, so you can't say that." I tried to convince her, but she wouldn't buy it. I began to pant as I tried to talk and push the stroller uphill.
"It's fun arguing with you while your out of breath," said Heidi.
I laughed. "Don't interrupt me," I said sarcastically. "I'm trying to push this stroller uphill and I'm not winning." She got it immediately. I really felt that my new found interest in noting the irony of a situation or find wordplay in everything has spiced up our conversation. She changed the subject once we arrived at the top of the hill. She wanted to admire the architecture of a house whose front facade consisted entirely of glass. I have to admit it was pretty nice. "How to they ever stay out of the sun? Where are the blinds?" She pointed out the internal contraptions that shaded the rooms, but I couldn't really see them.