The one good thing about Kensington Hilltop school is that it is, in fact, as its name implies, on the top of a hill… so I get to throw in some photos of San Francisco in the distance…
I took my daughter, Mollie, up to see my old school. We met my friend, Andy, up there, and the plan was to fly some kites. If the wind is just right, I am convinced you could fly a kite all the way out to the Golden Gate bridge. But the wind died, so I have no pictures of our kite flying… because they didn’t.
But it is always fun to visit the school you went to when you were a kid. Everything is so small.
Just so you know, that cool climbing structure was not there when I was little. We had a basic metal jungle gym. And a metal slide and some swings. And we didn’t have soft rubber mats under any of those things. Kids were tougher in those days. We got hurt and our parents didn’t sue the school.
One cool thing about this school is that when I used to walk home, I could stop and listen to Creedence Clearwater Revival practicing in their garage.
I like the new paint job. When I was young, all the schools I went to were painted this horrible, dull yellow color… the same color as San Quentin prison over across the bay. We were convinced that they used the same paint. There is something weird about going to a school that is the same color as a famous prison.
That is a much more cheerful color.
Man, life was so simple in those days.
Pouring My Art Out 
None of my schools every looked this good! Of course, we had to build our schools strong to withstand the nuclear bomb attacks during the Cold War & they also couldn’t be light & airy because we have a little thing called winter up here which takes up most of the school year.
We could see some minute man missile silos on the next row of hills over.
Wait! What? “I could stop and listen to Creedence Clearwater Revival practicing in their garage.” Are you kidding me? That is probably the coolest thing I have ever heard. Yep, your cool factor just quadrupled for me.
Really, even the fact that I know Les Claypool from Primus, the guys who did the theme song for South Park, or that I know the guys in Metallica, and met Whoopi Goldberg, and am followed on Twitter by Dana Carvey from Saturday Night Live and got Tweets from Eric Idle and William Shatner, and that is what impresses you?
CCR in there garage? Seriously cool.
It was, but I didn’t know it yet
I like your school! Now I am going to find pictures of my many, many, MANY elementary schools. I moved around a lot.
Can’t wait…
And now you can’t just walk in the front door and go down to the kids classrooms and visit with their teacher or stop by and visit them on the playground without a pass from the office and access to the prison exercise yard. Buzz in at the camera, wait for the mag lock to let you in and a guard to escort you to the office where you show your ID and they will contact that teacher and…so much simpler and civilized back then. Damn terrorists and nut cases. And it is NOT about gun control. It’s about mental health and impulse control. A bomb is not a gun. A knife is not a gun. A car is not a gun. A ball bat is not a gun. A hand are not a gun. An attack dog is not a gun. A school bully is not a gun. A child committing suicide is not a gun. MALADJUSTED PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT, CONTROL, AND TREATMENT IS THE NEW GUN CONTROL. PLAIN AND NOT SO SIMPLE. But what do I know I’m just an ashamed
American and Republican, a union member and closet liberal who happens to be a religious conservative too. Also plain and not so simple. No Rodney, apparently we can’t all just get along even all these years later. Thanks for the suggestion though. “Thus endeth the lesson.”-Connery and Costner.
I opened up a can of worms…
not true, I care.
yay
Thanks for the Bay Area photos and sharing your journey. I have some very similar views too, including annoying telephone wires. My favorite views! SF is my favorite city.
I love that city… I was actually born there.
I actually lived there. I miss it everyday.
I know exactly what you mean
sigh.
HA!
Everything must look small at your height, it must be like walking round a model village back at the school 😉
I am freakin’ Godzilla
😀 That is CRYING out for a photoshop series!
yeah it is