Exhibition

Here is a fab little exhibition I "stumbled" across when I thought I was going to the Golden Gate Bridge Park, but was actually going to Presidio Park!

During WWII (yes it had to involve the war) Chaplain Frederick McDonald collected shards of broken stained glass windows throughout Europe. A group of artists have now made twenty five "windows" and works of art that memoralize the places the glass was found. Some of the work is fantastic and all of it has words engraved somewhere on the art work - often describing peoples impressions of the war. I was well impressed by the whole thing.

Presidio Park itself is interesting too. Originally it was where the native Ohlone people lived. No surprises, the Ohlone people were ousted ..... by the spanish, then it fell under Mexican rule until the US Army took it over in 1846, making it into a military post. It's all now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and still has some of the original buildings on it, including barracks and officers mess. When I was there a marching team was practicing on the "parade ground" - which is now a car park - which did bring a slight cringe (girl outta the military but not the military outta the girl!). Presidio also has the San Francisco National War cemetary, softball fields, play grounds and walking tracks. Getting there involved walking through very upmarket San Fran - the price of cafe coffee and food, of course, went up progressively as I drifted further from my humble lodgings into the more salubrious neighbourhoods. Still I did feel prompted to pick up a pamphlet about becoming a "parks volunteer" - yes I do need to get a day job!