Coneflower

Such a lovely color.  Part of me is trying to justify buying more paint, but I can mix this yellow... 

Red and Gold

Glowing festively beneath cloudy skies. 

Somerset (8 October 2024)

I hadn't realized this ship had a Flight 93 tribute on it...  This is the USS Somerset.  And yes, it is SF Fleet Week. 

Reflections (during a heat wave)

Such a pretty morning.  Such decorative clouds.  You know how I am about clouds.

 

Reflections of a Tawny Sky

This reminds me of Van Dyke Brown printing over Cyanotype... 

Another Tuesday, Also Before Sunrise

Oh, this Bay Bridge, this fishing pier, these early mornings... 

Tuesday at Sunrise

What a gorgeous morning.

Every morning we wake up is special (because we are lucky enough to wake up), but some mornings also LOOK and FEEL special.

 

The Blackpool Streetcar (23 Sept 2024)

San Francisco has an antique streetcar collection (of course it does!), and the boat-shaped streetcar from England is SPECIAL. 

Slow, and special.  It only runs on Sundays and Mondays (currently).  I've been turned away from its final trip back to the barn (where the streetcars sleep), because it is a bit slow, and to prevent from slowing down the modern streetcars, the operators take it across town without making passenger stops.

But I saw it coming at the Ferry Building, and optimistically waited.  A group of tourists needed to get off, and so the operators let some of us random passengers board.  And stay on.  Not just to Castro Street, but all the way back to the barn at Balboa Park!!  

So I got to ride the boat all the way across town!  It has been years since I rode it, and this was SPECIAL.  

People WAVED to us.  (We waved back.). People took photos.  People smiled.  It was... charming.

I can't think of a more special form of public transit to take home on a gorgeous day.

Blooming in September

Favorites (without the pianos) from the botanical garden today.  I LIKE plants.

P.S.  Oh, I didn't name the plants. Here are my best guesses:

Top row

-Dark red upper left is Leycesteria formosa (Pheasant berry)(Google lens helped!)

-Brumansia sanguinea (trumpet vine)

-Kahili ginger

Center: 

-Pineapple lily

Bottom:

-Haemanthus (blood flower)

-my search for "collinsia but hairy" didn't turn up a match

-protea!!  We all love protea! 

Flower Piano (with real flowers)

This weekend and next, talented pianists are playing piano in the botanical garden.  Also: there are plants! 

At the Petal Center

Such loveliness... 

Valley Lights

 

The Neon Museum of Las Vegas, Nevada (5 Sept 2024)

I have friends who are very dear to me who go to Las Vegas to party.  I adore them, but won't go, because I don't enjoy being dressed up and drunk.

I found the Neon Museum, and it is so much more interesting than drinking!

The small piece of land filled with oversized signs contains both neon signs and other historic signs of Las Vegas, often from leased signage that was reclaimed by sign companies prior to the demolition and replacement of old casinos.

Shapely letters, so many bulbs.

Oh!

What a great S.

This required some interpretation, but it used to be part of the Flamingo sign.  

Sea horses very much seem to be alien life forms - I'm unsure how they wind up posing as ordinary sea creatures of earth.  This sign puts them in this alien context.

If my clothes ever emote this much, it's a sign I've had too much espresso, and need to stay home from work.

I enjoyed my visit to this museum very much, and appreciated the patio with misters, which helped those of us who were walking around in high 90s temperatures a chance to almost cool off.

 

A ridge engulfing a different sort of ridge (3 Sept 2024)

 Geology surprise in Nevada.

Crop Circles, no, the other kind (3 Sept 2024)

So bizarre, the kind of thing that would alarm us if we observed it on another planet. 

South Bay Salt (3 Sept 2024)

How can muddy pools be SO INTERESTING!?

Auto Body Wall (1 Sept 2024)

 I like the column details, too, which unify the series of garage door pieces.

Clarion Alley Murals of the Moment (Together)(1 Sept 2024)

 

Clarion Alley Murals of the Moment (415)(1 Sept 2024)

Our City motto is in Spanish: Oro en Paz, Fierro en Guerra: gold in peace, iron in war.  

415 is our traditional telephone area code.

And yes, it is funny that there are entire states who only have enough people for one area code.  No, they shouldn't have electoral college votes out of proportion to their population.  

Clarion Alley Murals of the Moment (Freedom for Iran)(1 Sept 2024)

 The gate is symbolic of their imprisonment.