Hiding

My friend Anna calls her periodic retreats from the world, usually to concentrate on her doctoral dissertation, "going underground." This week Cris and I have gone underground in a slightly different way, borrowing the house of our friends Sara and Martha while part of our house is being painted. This week the work on our house -- which we have undertaken for some reason despite being quite broke -- happened to coincide with their trip out of town to the east coast.

Sara is one of my best friends, and I've been over to their house many times in the last ten years, often with a group of friends to watch "The Sopranos." It's a large two-story house in the heart of the Mission District, with an enormous, beautiful garden. And much quieter, as our house is near busy Cesar Chavez Street. It's a wonderful retreat. We should switch houses more often -- only our house is about 65% the size of this one.