Cultural Uplift

It’s Day 5 of the Grandkids in San Francisco visit and I’m happy to report that all is wonderful. For starters, we were blessed with three days of perfect weather before Karl the Fog made his appearance yesterday (and again today). Then the timing was such that 8-year old Malik could join my daughter Talia’s fabulous Golden Gate Park Camp in company with 19 other wonderful kids from The San Francisco School. He’s in Camp Heaven and we’re thrilled to know he’s so happily engaged every day from 9 to 3. I briefly joined the camp twice to lead a music activity and play cornhole with them and that was fun 

 

The general plan for all such visits these days is threefold:

 

1)    Games, games, games. Card games like Rummy 500, Kings Corner, Trash, word games like Bananagrams and Taboo, math games like Othello and Rummikub group games like Charades and Salad Bowl (a word game/ charades combination). Both Zadie and Malik are great game players and the competition is fierce!

2)    Get out of the house! Hiking (sometimes disguised as “walking”), biking, basketball, paddleball, cornhole, city walks. We’ve done it all in this visit and especially happy to do so with the great weather. Both kids are great hikers and bikers. 

 

3)   Cultural uplift. I take my responsibility to introduce them to what I consider good culture seriously and they’re generally trusting to both my wife’s and my choices. While also being open to what’s contemporary and on the kids’ radar. 

 

On this trip, I take Zadie to her first Jazz Club—Keys Jazz Bistro to see the fabulous Hogan Brothers (minus one brother who had Covid). Karen, daughter Kerala, Zadie and I went to see an astounding magician last night (Kevin Blake) while Talia and Malik went to a 3-D seat-shaking water-spraying movie Inside Out 2. While Zadie had a sleepover at Talia’s, the rest of us watched the Marx Brothers A Night at the Opera. Tonight I’m taking Malik to see Dear San Francisco, a circus-type show with great reviews, at Club Fugazi. After camp yesterday, Karen took Malik to the Academy Sciences to see Claude the White Alligator and go to the earthquake exhibit.

Zadie has been impressively disciplined working on an Eminem piano version of Hush Little Baby that she taught herself from a Youtube piano video. I helped her through it and then taught her the left hand to Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer (she remembered the right hand I had already taught her). Zadie also went to the park one day with Karen to sketch together. 

 

It has been a most marvelous visit with no emotional explosions or fights (knock on wood!). Two more days before I head off to New Orleans and Kerala and the kids return to Portland the next day. I’ll see them all again in August and Michigan. 

 

Have I mentioned I love being a grandparent?