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The "Crookedest Street"
The “Crookedest Street” in America, so nicknamed because there are eight switchbacks to slow traffic is Lombard Street, located in San Francisco. It is a beautiful winding road in the charming Russian Hill neighborhood in San Francisco, CA that has become a major tourist attraction. Can you begin to imagine what it must be like to see seventeen thousand cars driving down your street at a speed of five miles per hour every day?? Fortunately, it’s one-way downhill. The idea originated as a safety precaution, not a tourist site. The grade is twenty-seven percent, which is too steep for most vehicles, so Carl Henry, a property owner of one of the gorgeous mansions along the street, recognized the need, and spearheaded the construction of the curvy road built in 1922.
This little bit of trivia was a gigantic surprise for me too – Lombard is NOT the crookedest street in America! The real honorific is Vermont Street between 20th and 22nd Streets in the Potrero Hill neighborhood. Lombard Street is simply more scenic, paved with red bricks, adorned with gorgeous plants and hedges, and the breath-taking views are beyond imagination and so, it’s a destination site for tourists.
Our lives may feel like The “Crookedest Street” in America, curving this way and that, requiring that we slow down to get things accomplished. What helps to curb the “yin and yang” of now, not then. “This is important, and we must do this NOW!!!” How do you step back, slow down, and say, “No. This is important, and this is what I will do to slow down.” Connecting with ourselves, recognizing that we need some down time, is a self- care ritual.
Open the book you have been wanting to read, open up your craft bag and continue to work on one of your enjoyable projects; for me it’s my knitting, or go into the kitchen and whip up a delicious meal or treat. The house will smell delicious and bring a smile to your face and a hunger for the next meal. Needing to get outside for a much-needed break might find you commiserating with your untended plants; get down and dirty working in your garden. A brisk walk is a great way to slow down the script running through your mind galloping along with “I must do, I should do, I will do!” Enjoy the moment by swinging your arms and listening to the sounds around you. You might enjoy taking your journal and jotting down a few affirmations or thoughts or moments of joy you want to recall.
Take some deep, slow breaths as you sit on a park bench and savor the moment.
Leisure by William Henry Davies (1871-1940)
Published in 1911
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
Says it all really.
I took some liberty and added these last lines:
We must make time to stand and stare
To care for ourselves and our loved ones dear.