Play-Doh Bedroom + Post Street Parklet

When I arrived to visit on Friday afternoon Mabel Watson Payne decided Play-Doh was our best first option (after hugs and greetings and kisses and exclamations). We made a long tubular Lowly Worm, then a bed and pillows for Lowly Worm and several spheres and cubes in purple, yellow & green as bedroom decor. Mabel's talking could now be described as "non-stop" and her long complicated opinions and directions have become increasingly intelligible. Daddy's understanding of his daughter's speech being perfect and complete, he could interpret for me when I occasionally failed to grasp what was expected of the grandpa-as-playmate.

When snack-time came we all went around the block to one of San Francisco's new streetside parklets – more than a hundred of them have sprung into existence in the past couple of years. My first reason for endorsing this phenomenon is that Mabel approves – because it gives her a greater number of  interesting outdoor places to play. My second reasons is the same reason that some people hate them – the parklet movement is undeniably hostile to cars (just like me), permanently eliminating two or three parking spaces on streets that were already nearly impossible to park on. Of course I would eliminate ALL parking spaces and ban privately-owned cars from San Francisco streets entirely – if I had the power – so the parklets are definitely a step in this desirable direction.