FOUND!!!!

my beloved safari hat with its ornaments

from many trips! found once again!

After many months of searching without success, and many months of poking around here and there in my unsettling life anew in the Bay Area, where I live among boxes and bags of my stuff... some from Spain two years ago... others from Eugene... almost a year ago... I have finally rediscovered my floppy safari hat!

Yeaaaa, you're wondering: what a big deal for nothing! It seems that way until you realize that we all have some piece of whatever that we really identify with. It may be something soft like a piece of clothing, or a treasured gift given to us by friends, family or the such. In my case, this is a soft khaki-type safari bucket-type hat that I purchased while in Morocco which I simply could not find anywhere in my part of Spain. So, I wore this on hiking trips, on foto excursions and of course, anytime I thought the sun would be beating down on my aging skin.

My hat and I have been a lot of places... We have seen clouds and miles of flying bugs in southern Germany, worn for a few brief days of ~ unbelievably ~ sun in southern Sweden. I've of course worn it often in and throughout Andalucia, and in my few trips with groups and friends in Morocco. I've taken it with me to Vietnam and Phuket, Hong Kong and Bangkok, and on several foto trips through the USA. When I moved from Spain to Eugene, I wore it a few days but the northwest weather just didn't support use of such a hat. Being a soft-brim hat and not rigid, I can wear the hat not only to protect my head and skin BUT have the capability to still use my camera without having to remove the hat, or flip it around as in the use of baseball caps!

When I moved to San Francisco, summer was just ending and I last saw it in the back of my car.... I always suspected where it had crawled by itself to hide from me all these months, but I just couldn't figure out its whereabouts.... my things from Spain and Eugene just filled every nook and cranny. If I searched, I would have to lift and look through layers and boxes of stuff!

With summer's last roar upon us these past days, I intensified my search for this beloved partner in crime, and today, told to me by a passing pelican, I decided again to search a spot after all, there I saw my "lost" Real Madrid scarf all comfortable and waiting for its discovery too.

So as I type this in the chill the fog has slipped into my little room, but I don't care because I finally have my treasured hat again!!! yaaaaaay!!!

Now the hot sol will probably disappear for the next few months!!! During the last few wekeends when I needed it, it was intense at the street festivals visited throughout the Bay Area. One weekend Palo Alto, the next Mountain View. The other day in Millbrae and what about that one in Los Altos? Oftentimes the very same exhibitors as in others, but a few ones I haven't seen before. I enjoy talking to the artists and photographers.... to get their insight on photography, the chore of setting up, etc.

So, what's your favorite item that you cannot live without?

I just had to add this glorious scene of sunbeams and clouds from last night, seen from I-80 westbound before reaching the toll plaza of the Bay Bridge. Enjoy!