Driftwood Horses

I just took these shots yesterday while I was walking around with my tiny camera.  They're sculptures in the courtyard of an office building on Market Street in San Francisco.  I had a great time on this trip, even if I was traveling solo.  I met up with a bunch of new friends down in San Francisco and spent a lot of time with them, so that was fun.  The only bad thing about not having an actual traveling companion was that when I was out walking around by myself, I didn't feel as comfortable taking pictures.  I like to have someone with me when I do that.  For safety purposes, mostly.  I don't want to be so engrossed in taking a picture that I lose track of what else is going on around me, out of the frame.  So I apologize for not having more pictures of my trip...but maybe next time I'll do a better job.  

Thanks again to Mom and Dad and Ann--your birthday generosity partially funded this excursion and I'm very grateful!

 
 
 

Looking Up in Chinatown

Street level is chaotic and crowded, but things are much calmer above.

 
 
 

Aging Chinatown Signage

 
 

Give San Francisco A Hand

Some hands I saw in and around Chinatown.

 
 

Other North Beach Favorites

I didn't get to these places on this trip.  Close, but no (Mario's Bohemian) cigar...

 
 
 
 

San Francisco

North Beach goodness (and only a few doors down from each other).  Il Pollaio was my first stop on Friday afternoon for lunch, and L'Osteria was my last stop on Sunday afternoon for lunch.  So delicious.

 
 

Barbarians At The Gate

Last Saturday morning, I poured myself a cup of coffee and looked out one of our kitchen doors, when I saw two raccoons in our side yard.  I thought that once they saw me, they'd scamper off.  Not so!  Instead, the brave one came right up to the door and stood up as if "begging" like a dog for food.  Not happy with only having his mugshot taken, they turned around and left...

 
 

Belated Mother's Day

Sunday I went for a long walk with my camera and took tons of pictures of neighborhood flowers. It reminded me of the Mother's Day that Kim and I went through town with a brown paper bag and cut one flower out of each yard we passed and nonchalantly tossed it in the bag. (I remember justifying it to ourselves by saying it was just one flower. People probably wouldn't even notice.) We went home and (I think--made a cake) and arranged all of "our" flowers and waited for mom to get back home from sailing so we could give her her Mother's Day present--our beautiful bouquet of stolen blooms.

But now, I've given up my stem snipping ways and just take pictures of them instead. (Far less risk of angering the neighborhood gardeners.)

So Happy Mother's Day Mom.

This was my favorite shot of the day:

In Mid-Air

This tuft got caught in a spider's web near our bbq.  From a distance it really looked like it was just floating in mid air, suspended from nothing.  I thought I'd better get a picture of it before the next bout of rain/wind hit and took the wonder right out of it.

 

Leaves I Couldn't Leave Behind

These leaves were lying on the sidewalk on my way home the other day.  I picked them up and brought them home so I could take some pictures of them:

 
 
 

April 11th, 2009

Kim came over and we went to visit Granny.  We took her some flowers from my yard (for her birthday), and two blue Peeps (for Easter).  

We miss you, Gran.  (We also decided that next time, we're bringing some lawn chairs and the fixin's for some cocktails so that we can have happy hour with you and Mick.)

 

Olive Oil Almond Cake

(In harsh sunlight.)  This was our Easter dessert--and it was delicious.

 

Orange Cauliflower

Do not adjust your monitors.  This really is orange cauliflower.  I chopped up a head of it, tossed it with a smidge of vegetable oil, some curry powder and salt and roasted it in the oven.  (As you can see, its color didn't change much during roasting.)

 
 
 

Light and Shadow:  Living Room

It was a cold and clear week.  Sunny most afternoons.  And with daylight savings time, the sun actually made an appearance in our living room.  I had to snap a couple of pictures of this phenomenon.

 
 

The Way Home

These are two shots of scenes I pass every day on my way home from the bus stop.  

 
 

Pike Place Market

Yesterday was a lovely day, relatively warm and sunny and I had planned on taking my camera and doing some serious picture-taking.  However, I ended up getting a very late start and ended up at Pike Place in the afternoon.  It was filled with tourists.  Uggh.  Slow-walking, super-gawking and my least favorite attribute of all, their insistence on walking three or four abreast.  (Were you hoping to get around us, Seattleite who knows where you're going?  Well, it's not going to happen.  Just stand behind us until we figure out where those guys are who throw the fish.)  Let me reiterate in the form of an equation: Sun + Weekend = Crowd at the market.  Winter is over.  The tourists are here.  

On the bright side--since it was so crowded with people taking pictures of everything that anyone who's ever gone to the market takes pictures of (produce, flowers, Pike Place Market sign), I ended up taking shots of some of the utilitarian things that make the market work.  I think I'm going to try do some more of these.

 

Lights near newsstand:
 

Gears over Mee Sum Pastry: