Monument in Mission Dolores cemetery to a San Francisco firefighter who perished in the line of duty back around the time of the Gold Rush. Much of the city would periodically burn down in early days according to the history books. It must have been a high-risk environment. Clusters of small wooden buildings where all the cooking (and all the laundry) could only be done on wood-burning stoves. (Occasionally – like this morning – I feel slightly martyred having to slog all my own laundry over to Star Wash two blocks away, since Spencer Alley is too antiquated and run-down to accommodate washer/dryer arrangements of its own. But then I encourage myself to think about what washing clothes would have involved in this same city on this same plot of land during the Gold Rush.)