August 10th, 2026

Dear Friends,

     At different points in my life, I have spent time in the city of San Francisco. The first time was in 1967 while I was living in Fresno, California in a Peace Core training program. Occasionally I would take the long bus through a very dry and hot valley region before eventually, reaching the city by the sea. The song, "Sitting by the Dock of the Bay" by Otis Reading was constantly playing on the radio. It was a time of innocence. Then, in 1971 I drove 10,000 miles zigzagging across America and drove the entire coast from Olympia, WA to Los Angeles with a couple of nights in San Francisco. It was a time of adventure.  Then, throughout the late 90s into the early 2000s Julie and I traveled here on several guitar buying expeditions and to visit Rose after her first move here. Now that Rose and Jose have accepted wonderful jobs in the city we will probably be visiting quite often….I’m good with that.

      San Francisco is the second most densely populated city in the United States next to New York City with over 18,000 inhabitants per square mile… that’s nearly as many people in all of Yates County, NY!  But people here seem to have a kindness to them not seen in larger, colder cities. It is not only in their demeanor but in their love for and movement around the city. People watch out for each other. Many streets are designated as "slow streets", where pedestrians and cars are encouraged to share the space. We have met several people while we here were here and we’re impressed with the kindness that people use in approaching each other. Even the panhandlers were kind…it must be something that’s in the water left over from the 1960s. At any rate, our guides, Rose and Jose, have been absolutely fantastic and took us to places outside of town where we were able to visit some old friends. We will spend the rest of this week with them and come back to the East Coast on Friday.

   Our first visit was with my old high school football buddy, Michael Meteyer. He moved west shortly after graduation from the University of Rochester and has been a part of the fabric of the West Coast for most of his life. He has not made a trip back to Rochester in quite some time as his wife Kate has been struggling with Parkinson’s disease. They put out a wonderful little brunch for us as we sat in their charmingly rustic backyard. I held Kate‘s hand. She was once "teacher of the year" in California and is such a beautiful person. It is difficult for her to communicate at this point, but these two people exude so much love that I could’ve stayed there all day. However we had places to go and things to see and Talia with us.

   The second stop we made was to Amazing Grace Music, an iconic store in Marin County that has been a gathering spot for musicians for 50 years. We spent time with the owner, John Pedersen, and we were amazed with the ways that our lives had flirted around each other for so long. John was in the legendary old time of string band, "Swamp Root" which played in the area of Rochester, NY for many years. This was the music that got me involved with old banjos in the first place.  John was instrumental in starting the iconic Dr Deadfrets in Toronto. We had so many friends in common. He asked me if I had ever heard of a group called the Henrie Brothers and I told him, of course,  they played at our wedding and I have known the family for many years. He then showed me a banjo that he has been playing for fifty years (he even has a YouTube channel that plays 50 songs from 50 years on the same banjo). He said, "have you ever hear of Richard Newman, this is his first banjo". I said, I’ve known Richard Newman for 50 years! I told him that Julie and I now live in the village of Penn Yan. He said, "That’s near Keuka Lake right?  I actually lived in Branchport." , which I have mentioned many times, and is the site of our camp only 10 miles from Penn Yan. So two old guys hit it off and traded memories. It was a very, very special time and I hope to get back there again soon.

   But the most special part of this visit has been spending time with my beautiful granddaughter Talia Rose Barocio….She is just a little wonder and I hope she will remember me……

     I have included several other photos from the past few days with captions as we have been on a whirlwind tour with Jose and Rose….I’m looking forward to the days ahead.

With peace,

John Bernunzio.

The view from our bedroom window when the clouds are not encompassing everything

Flea market

Park entrance 

View from the observation deck of the deYoung museum

Noe Valley