Antique Collecting San Francisco

Art in the Afternoon: Treasures of the Pharaohs at the De Young Museum

Collective Medicine Circle | Mindfulness & Community

The Collective Medicine Circle is a monthly mindfulness circle rooted in nature, seasonal rhythms, and nervous system regulation, held in Orinda, CA. This in-person gathering offers a steady, supportive space to slow down, ground, and reconnect — with yourself, with others, and with the natural cycles that shape our lives. Guided by mindfulness practices and nature-based reflection, each circle is gently shaped by the season we are in. Together we explore grounding tools, nervous system regulation practices, and shared inquiry that support presence, resilience, and a sense of belonging. This is not a class to perform or perfect — it is a circle to arrive, exhale, and be human. The Collective Medicine Circle is ideal for those seeking stress relief, mindfulness in community, and a consistent monthly ritual for nervous system support. No prior experience with meditation or mindfulness is needed. All are welcome to come exactly as they are. This is a scent-free, trauma-informed space that honors accessibility, inclusivity, and the wisdom of moving at the pace of nature. Facilitated by Erica Skone-Rees Founder of Mind Body Sound Collective, Erica is a mindfulness teacher, nervous system regulation guide, and integrative health coach. Her work weaves mindfulness, nature-based wisdom, and trauma-informed practices to support grounding, resilience, and meaningful connection. Erica has been facilitating circles, retreats, and group experiences for over 15 years, creating spaces where people can slow down and reconnect at a human pace. Learn more: [https://www.mindbodysoundcollective.com]( https://www.mindbodysoundcollective.com Cancel) Alycia Tumlin Alycia is a women’s circle facilitator and nature-based guide who supports reconnection to inner wisdom through seasonal awareness, embodiment, and community. Her work is rooted in deep listening, presence, and honoring the rhythms of the natural world as a pathway to grounding and belonging.

The Liberty-Hill/Southwest Mission Victorians, & SF Earthquake History Tour

**\*Don't be a no-show. *See the Group's no-show policy below.*** Don't be a no-show and lose your membership in the Group. Attendance is always taken and no-shows recorded. As we do these tours it's nice to see and learn about the Victorian houses and SF history. But it's always kind of sad that we can't see the fabulous interiors many of the houses have. And in most cases see how sturdily they were built. But a special day is coming. On **Sunday, October 18th** the Victorian Alliance of SF will be holding an open house tour in this neighborhood. Let me know if you are interested in being a volunteer docent and I can hook you up. But reserve Oct. 18th and see the interiors. Something new has been added to the tour as we discover another facet of the 20th St. fireline history. *A neighbor advised us that the 1900 block of Lexington St. suffered partial burning in the 06' fires. Evidence remains and we will take a look.* We'll visit the *"Golden Fire Hydrant"* and walk the 20th St. Fire Line where fire-fighters and citizens held the line and saved the Mission from going up in flames. Actually the north side of 20th St. starting at Dolores St. was demolished to create a fire break. The difference between the north and south side of 20th St. here is startling. [3755-20th St. is on our tour today. It is a beautiful 1889 Victorian. These interior photos show some of the beautiful interior details typical of a Victorian of this era.](https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Francisco/3755-20th-St-94110/home/713440) [Here is a link to detailed histories of seven Victorians East of Noe Valley.](https://archive.org/details/victorianallianc1093unse/page/n19/mode/2up?view=theater) We'll see some of these and many others on today's tour. [Another link to one of the oldest houses on today's tour.](https://noehill.com/sf/landmarks/sf136.asp) [Here's a simple link that will allow you to support the Meetup and add a thank you.](https://www.paypal.com/donate/?business=TJ8W6VVEGJ6BS&no_recurring=1&item_name=%0AIt%27s+very+nice+of+you+to+respond+and+give+support.%0AThank+you%2C%0AJordan&currency_code=USD) One of our go to restaurants after the tour has been Udupi Palace for Indian vegetarian food at 21st & Valencia. Also across the street is Ritual Coffee Roasters. Tartine Bakery is four blocks away at 18th and Guerreo. And there is always Park Coffee at 18th & Dolores with Bi-rite ice cream across the street. *The information below is provided if you are interested in more details about SF Victorian architecture.* **Looking at a San Francisco Victorian, what to look for:** *(There are five Styles)* * Flat front Italianate- (earliest Victorians). (French 2nd Empire appear) * Italianate with slanted bay windows. * San Francisco Stick Style (also called East Lake). Simpler square bay windows now used. Overall much more elaborate decoration, ornament and gingerbread used. * Queen Anne Tower House&Witches Cap, with angled or rounded bay windows & front gable * Queen Anne Row House, 1, 1-1/2 or two stories. Large front gable. Possible moongate entry. Features & "Gingerbread" Type of Entry & Doorway(maybe a rounded or partial Moongate entry)- Decorative Ironwork- Floral Decor-Garlands (one of many types of decorations known as \*"Gingerbread") Fish scale&Diamond shingles- Towers & Witch's Cap- Stained Glass or Beveled Glass- Carvings of grotesque faces- Sunbursts- often painted gold color, half or full. Gables (Queen Anne's) in a variety of material- (mainly redwood) Newel Posts and Finials on Tower tops and roof peaks- Fernando Nelson built thousands of homes in SF. Over many, many decades. We'll also see clusters (2 to 17) of Victorian homes systematically built for the average working person by a development company, "The Real Estate Assoc." THEA, from 1870 to 1880. Not quite magnificent but many still standing. Development of woodworking mills South of Market provided the ornaments with which to add the "gingerbread" to the Victorian houses There was an Old English custom using fancy cutouts of gingerbread to decorate wedding cakes. The term gingerbread was subsequently used for the decorating of Victorian houses. The secret ingredient was redwood. It could be carved, sawn, or turned, or soaked and press molded into almost any design *Periods* **1860 - 1870s *Italianate*:** Buildings were vertical in emphasis with rounded classical detail. Earliest had flat windows & flat roofs with false roof fronts. **1880s *Stick Style* (also called East Lake):** The early buildings in this genre relied heavily on plane vertical board decorations. Squared off bay windows appear. **Late 1880s and 1890s *Queen Anne*** : Gingerbread would be applied to both the Stick and Queen Ann styles in San Francisco. Sloping roofs appear. Gables and towers. In Queen Ann surfaces are covered in a variety of patterns with fish scale and diamond shingles, lap siding and masonry, sometimes all in the same building. Victorians Around Dolores Park Explored, and Houses Burned in the 1906 EQ/Fire*Rooflines in the Queen Anne were irregular, combining the witches hat roof on a rounded or octagonal tower,* sometimes decorated with a spool work of gable braces. Frieze bands of foliated patterns wrapped around towers and tall chimneys. Horizontal proportions prevailed over the general vertical emphasis of the previous styles. [If you would like a scholarly and detailed explanation with photos, click.](https://sfplanning.org/sites/default/files/documents/preserv/bulletins/HistPres_Bulletin_18.PDF) After the 06' earthquake apartments in substantial buildings became popular with well-to-do San Franciscans. [To check for a possible, for sale/open house tour, click this link.](https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/Mission-District_San-Francisco_CA/type-single-family-home/show-open-house)

Electric Intimacy - create chemistry through Tantra singles & couples SF

**To RSVP here on Meet Up is not sufficient; you need to get your ticket through Eventbrite, here is the link: [https://www.eventbrite.com/e/electric-intimacy-create-chemistry-through-tantra-singles-couples-sf-tickets-1992963506497?aff=BA](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/electric-intimacy-create-chemistry-through-tantra-singles-couples-sf-tickets-1992963506497?aff=BA)** Join us in SF for a juicy evening workshop + party for singles & couples - learn practices & socialize with like minded people! What if you could flirt without saying a word… and send waves of sensation through someone's body without even touching them? Welcome to Electric Intimacy — a bold, playful, deeply embodied Tantra workshop for singles and couples ready to unlock next-level chemistry. Led by Alicia & Erwan Davon, the San Francisco Bay Area's leading Tantra teachers, this experience is designed for everyone—singles can enjoy exercises solo or meet like-minded people, while couples can share the journey together. Through guided practices, you'll activate the subtle body — the energetic layer behind electric connection. Whether you're igniting new attraction or reigniting long-term passion, you'll learn to turn your own body into a tuning fork for pleasure, presence, and erotic charge. You'll learn how to: ⚡️ Sense and play with energetic frequencies in your body and others' ⚡️ Break through the blocks that shut down intimacy and vitality ⚡️ Use subtle energy to amplify flirting, sex, and long-term spark ⚡️ Access the link between electric intimacy and lasting aliveness This will be an evening combining meditation, lecture/discussion/Q&A, and safe, accessible partnered exercises that can be done with a partner you come with, a partner you meet there, or independently. The practices can be adapted for same sex pairs, all are welcome and everyone will find a perfect way to participate. There will be no explicit sexual activity on the part of the facilitators or the participants. And… the workshop will transition into a COCKTAIL PARTY so we can all socialize in an informal way, enjoying the vibe of a fantastic evening! Come light your body up from the inside out — and learn to create chemistry that lasts. **To RSVP here on Meet Up is not sufficient; you need to get your ticket through Eventbrite, here is the link: [https://www.eventbrite.com/e/electric-intimacy-create-chemistry-through-tantra-singles-couples-sf-tickets-1992963506497?aff=BA](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/electric-intimacy-create-chemistry-through-tantra-singles-couples-sf-tickets-1992963506497?aff=BA)**

In Focus, a Bay Area survey of photography exhibition opening party

Lunchtime Yoga in the Park: Willard Park Yoga Collective

Join the Willard Park Yoga Collective every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday at Willard Park in Berkeley! Friday online! Integrated Hatha Flow classes are based on classical Hatha, mixed with the specializations of each teacher. We flow thoughtfully through poses taking time to notice the nuances, and match movement with breath. Chrissy, Carmen, and Jess integrate somatic modalities and the eight limbs into the yoga practice to increase body and breath awareness, and regulate the nervous system. Finding all of this in the present moment, we aim to foster agency, gratitude, peace, and joy. Teaching outside further deepens the practice by connecting to Nature and the elements. All levels are welcome and will be accommodated, judgement free. *"We are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness"* **Thich Nhat Hanh** \*We work on a donation-basis, making yoga more accessible to all. Come as you are, pay what you can. Your teachers: Mondays 12:30pm Jess Tuesdays 12:30pm Carmen Wednesdays 12:30pm Chrissy Thursdays 12:30pm Carmen Fridays 5:30pm Chrissy (Online in the late fall-winter. Got to event for link) Sundays 10:00am Chrissy **Meet Chrissy:** Chrissy is a 500HR-RYT, Yoga Therapist, and Thai Yoga Massage Therapist. She came to teaching yoga with a 25+ year personal practice in vinyasa and kundalini, and training in modern dance, music, and theater. She also holds certification in ECE(12unit) and Social/Emotional Learning Facilitation. Her classes are integrated Hatha flow, influenced deeply by yoga philosophy and functional strength. With an emphasis on breath and accessing the present moment, she delights in walking the line between play and prayer. Chrissy strives to honor the origins of yoga while making it accessible to every body. She acknowledges her position as white, able-bodied, and cisgendered, aiming to be inclusive and trauma informed. Her classes are donation based with no one turned away for lack of funds. Private clients are sliding scale. In lieu of a studio, Chrissy teaches on line and outside in parks on the sovereign land of the Lisjan Ohlone. *Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu* May all beings be happy, healthy, and free. May we contribute to that. [https://chrissyyoga.com/](https://chrissyyoga.com/#home) **Meet Jess:** Jess is an artist and an athlete. At the beginning of her ceramics trajectory, working as a studio tech at a college clay studio, she realized she needed to be strong to load kilns and make large batches of clay. The physicality of her art became a driving reason to care for her body and its functional strength and mobility. Strength, agility, balance, flexibility and injury prevention (and recovery) were all things she found her personal yoga practice improved. In 2015 she became a certified 200 HR-RYT through Core Power and in 2021 she received a second 200 HR-RYT from Purusha Yoga. Jess guides a vinyasa flow based practice, with an emphasis on linking breath to movement and being in the present during practice. Jess teaches yoga in Willard Park and on the SF Bay on stand up paddle boards. She owns her own stand up paddleboard company, 510-Waterline, in Richmond, CA. [https://www.510waterline.com/](https://www.510waterline.com/). And she currently makes pots at her home studio in Berkeley, CA. teaches adult ceramic classes, workshops and has exhibited her work internationally. What she says in her artist statement about her pots also applies to her yoga practice “Strength lies in the fluidity of opposites – of line and mass, contraction and relaxation, tension and softness, push and pull. Ultimately, I want my pots to be graceful, elegant, and straightforward. It’s all about strength and beauty.”[ https://www.jesspots.com/](https://www.jesspots.com/) **Meet Carmen:** Yoga teacher and integrative somatic therapist Carmen Casado has long believed in the body's innate wisdom and capacity for resilience. She brings over two decades of yoga, dance, and mindfulness practices to her teaching, and is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and ongoing student of Peter Levine. She weaves this body of work into her classes, both covertly and overtly, often teaching about our neurobiology as relates to the eight limbs of Raja Yoga. Her mission as a yoga teacher is to create a safe and supportive environment for her students to explore the eight limbs, while cultivating resiliency and a deeper connection to self. Carmen also co-facilitates wellness retreats, and works individually with clients offering integrative somatic therapy sessions. She is a registered E-RYT 500, SEP, and former practicing attorney in NY and CA. [https://carmencasado.com/](https://carmencasado.com/)

East Bay Women's Book Club August Meetup: Yesteryear

Hello, fellow female readers -- The book for the August Meetup is Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke For those of you who are new, I will send out the address to my house by Monday, August 17. Looking forward to gathering together and discussing the book. Bonnie

Chess at Alamo Square Park ♟️☀️

Friendly, regular chess and exciting Bughouse (2 v 2) chess available. We’ll be at the picnic tables. Please RSVP and bring a board 😎

Victorians in Pacific Hts.-SF Tour-Alta Plaza Park to Lafayette Park

**\*Don't be a no-show. *See the Group's no-show policy below.*** Don't be a no-show and lose your membership in the Group. Attendance is always taken and no-shows recorded. *Paraphrasing William Faulkner from Requiem for a Nun, "The past isn't gone , it's not even past."* At least it looks that way in parts of Pacific Heights. There is available free **parking** around the neighborhood, be prepared to drive around a little bit, but it is early morning and there are no restrictions on weekends. (Don't park by a meter like those on Fillmore.) Restrooms are located at the top of Alta Plaza Park behind the kid's playground. About 2/3s of the way through the tour we'll stop for a break atop Lafayette Park. For restrooms and views and describe the surrounding houses and the saga of Samuel Holladay and his mansion, questionably located atop Lafayette Park. *(Afterwards one of my go to's for brunch is La Mediterranean Cafe at Sacramento and Fillmore. Great food, drinks and service in a cute little iconic SF restaurant. Also Mayflower Market has great picnic items to go, to take over to Alta Plaza.)* Pacific Heights is one of the most affluent neighborhoods in San Francisco. This tour highlights the Victorian architecture, and the architects, builders and people who owned and built, occupied and maintained these grand properties. About 30 of which will be on our tour with a few sentences of information about each property. The walking tour is 2.5-3.5 miles. With some typical SF hills for short distances. **Looking at a San Francisco Victorian, what to look for:** *(There are five Styles)* 1. Flat front Italianate- (earliest Victorians). 2. Italianate with slanted bay windows. 3. San Francisco Stick Style (also called East Lake). Simpler square bay windows now used. Overall more elaborate decoration. 4. Queen Anne Tower House&Witches Cap, with angled or rounded bay windows & front gable 5. Queen Anne Row House"Cottage", 1, 1-1/2 or two stories. Large front gable. Possible moon-gate entry. * Features & "Gingerbread" * Floral Decor-Garlands (one of many types of decorations known as \*"Gingerbread") * Fish scale&Diamond shingles- * Towers & Witch's Cap- * Stained Glass or Beveled Glass- * Carvings of grotesque faces- * Sunbursts- often painted gold color, half or full. * Gables (Queen Anne's) in a variety of material- (mainly redwood) * Newel Posts and Finials on Tower tops and roof peaks- We'll see clusters of Victorian homes systematically built for the average working person by a development company, "The Real Estate Assoc." THEA, in business from 1870 to 1880. Not quite magnificent but many still standing. *Periods* **1860 - 1870s *Italianate*:** Buildings were vertical in emphasis with rounded classical detail. Earliest had flat windows, with false roof fronts. **1880s *Stick Style* (also called East Lake):** Squared off bay windows appear. **Late 1880s and 1890s *Queen Anne*** : Gingerbread would be applied to both the Stick and Queen Ann styles in San Francisco. Sloping roofs appear. With gables and towers. *Rooflines in the Queen Anne were irregular, combining the witches hat rooftop on a rounded or octagonal tower*. [If you would like a scholarly and detailed explanation with photos, click.](https://sfplanning.org/sites/default/files/documents/preserv/bulletins/HistPres_Bulletin_18.PDF)

Aug.2026,Full Moonrise Over PacificHts.,via Mansions&VictoriansTour

Will Beauty Save the World?

Why can beauty move us so deeply, sometimes almost like pain? In this meetup, we’ll explore beauty not simply as a property of things, but as an experience that reveals something intimate about ourselves. Together, we’ll talk about joy, memory, ordinary rituals, and whether beauty can help us rediscover meaning in a world that often feels indifferent. The discussion will be based on [this short essay](https://www.micheleriva.it/writings/on-beauty-and-the-world-at-six-in-the-morning). **No philosophy background needed. Come curious.** Original material: *[On Beauty and the World at Six in the Morning](https://www.micheleriva.it/writings/on-beauty-and-the-world-at-six-in-the-morning)*. [Join the event on Luma too](https://luma.com/the-h2wv)!

Photo Book Talk - Bookshop West Portal