San Francisco yesterday was gloriously sunny and gorgeous. I spent my Friday accompanying my clay friend, Donna to the Legion of Honor museum to view an exhibit on Pompeii and the food habits of its citizens. But Donna wanted lunch first and said she knew the best deli in South San Francisco. Gosh was she right. My mortadella sandwich was so delicious that I didn't even pause to take a picture of it. I ate it without cheese but yes to everything and that garlic mayo on that soft Italian bread. Even though the deli is literally a hole in the wall of a bakery called Raymond's, Patrick the proprietor does not use Raymond's bread in his sandwiches, he orders it fresh daily from another artisan bakery. You can tell too that his chili is scratch made in house according to Donna. 
Crocodylus below however creeped me out though it did evoke for me images of satyrs and centaurs, and I'm tempted to make half mortal, half animal sculptures. The figure below does look a bit to me like the creature from the black lagoon.
And then we hurried into the museum as we were late for our 12:45 reservation. Inside the museum I kept finding myself drawn to ceramics that were food related or porcine in nature. 
The frescoes were interesting, but I’d never had any interest in making the effort to travel to Pompeii or Naples even though I remember as a child being entranced by a short story about a mummified dog with bread in its mouth, found underneath the volcanic ashes. But really my favorite viewing is always of the Rodin sculptures and other ceramic art we encounter. And there was even more of the fabulous Afrofuturist, feminist, binary-disruptive sculptures, which were so intriguingly juxtaposed to patriarchal, neoclassical, colonialist works. 
And the drive to San Francisco was gorgeous because Donna drove from Highway 280 the less trafficked back streets around Lake Merced, Sunset, Ocean, and around the Richmond district to get to the museum, which entailed a stretch near the Great Highway. I reminisced about living in the area and of walking Ocean Beach to get a cocktail or breakfast at the Cliff House.
And the views from the museum were equally spectacular. But more on that later. Donna and I were transfixed right away by sculptures in the courtyard.
And even more impressive than the Shavasana sculptures was Mama Ray.
Donna and I were kind of underwhelmed by the Pompeii exhibit, but I did very much like this mosaic of tiny, tiny tesserae depicting an epic battle between kraken and crustacean.
But my absolute favorite of the exhibit was of this fierce and powerful merwoman.
And then we played sightseers and just enjoyed strolling through Fort Miley and Lands End. 
The views were stunning, and we were so glad not crowded with tourists.
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