Ukulele Rebellion at Equinox Celebration at the Greens!!!!

SF Uke Rebellion at the Greens, a place that means so much to me, filled with magic...
Sue and Dave came all the way from Sacramento!  You guys were so awesome for coming to this last minute. Fred came from San Rafael...

What a beautiful, perfect day for the SF Ukulele Rebellion to join in on festivities celebrating the Equinox and and the renovation to a tiny part of Golden Gate Park many know as the Kezar Triangle, but for us kids who played there every day, it's forever the Greens. how could I not feel emotional as I walked down Arguello St. where I'd managed to find a parking spot after dashing away from my writing workshop early... Sometimes changes can be scary, but the transformation of this magical place blew me away! A sidewalk and benches and a beautiful garden, the grass lush and green...yes, it's true! The Greens has come back to life in the best way ever!!!! 

My favorite tree, the one I'd climb as a kid to "escape" or to spy on everyone! luckily it's one of the few trees from back in the day that survived - the "Big Bush" right next to it was torn down in the 80's because of the homeless issue in the Park...and some of the eucalyptus trees that lined the Greens are gone now too...

I can still hear it. "Let's go to the Greens!" that's what at least one of us kids in the neighborhood would say every single day... the Greens had become a sort of "pass through" for people who'd walk through to get from one place to another for many years. the magic and the memories always remained whenever I'd drive or walk by...but NOW everyone can feel the magic again and it warms my heart.

Wow check out the beautiful sidewalks. I thought I'd be freaked out by the changes, but I really dig the way this looks! and those little trees will no doubt grow into lush bushes and little trees!

I walked past my favorite tree...a group of my uke playing friends were sitting on a bench. We were greeted by Sam who in my mind spearheaded this whole project, feeling a bit of the magic and mojo of hte Greens himself I'm sure. We set up on the grass and played for about 35 minutes before the speeches and the grand opening...our first song, "If You're going to San Francisco be sure to wear some flowers in your hair! more and more people gathered, many brought colorful blankets, some stood around... kids ran and played and a couple of them flew kites. The wind blew our music around -- I had forgotten how windy it got at the Greens, a perfect place for flying a kite. It was windy in this little area, a triangular patch of land surrounded by the hustle and bustle of San Francisco... We flew kites all the time and a lot of them got stuck in the eucalyptus trees which we couldn't climb.

We played music and sang and I felt the magic...

Bubbles!!! sooo magical and beautiful!

 we ended with Hey Jude

San Francisco Uke Rebellion goes wild at the Greens! How special to play and sing in one of my favorite places in the world!

 and then the speeches began...we found out that the landscaping project happened because of private donations from people who believed in the Greens... people coming together to make it happen. 

Native American blessings!

There were some Native American blessings honoring who originally lived on the land...beautiful celebration and ribbon cutting, and the bubbles continued to float by...music played, now a live band...Rusty Stringfield...people danced. This is how it's supposed to be. A few of us made it over to the other side of the Greens for a little more uke jamming before going our separate ways..yes, the magic is still there.

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