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.

Clarion Alley Murals of the Moment (alien dj)(1 Sept 2024)

 

Previously an Elbo (1 Sept 2024)

 

Mission Street Skeleton (1 Sept 2024)

 

Hawk At Work (1 Sept 2024)

I had to look up what the hawk version of a falconer is, since it isn't a hawker. (It should have been, but that word took a weird turn... You expected me to make a tern joke there, but I'm not going to!... Oh, wait...) 

It's an "austringer."  (Which also took a turn, because most of the results are video-game-weapon-related.  I searched for 'is there a hawk equivalent of a falconer' and got to the right word that way). 

Our local BART system (regional electric trains) employs austringers to clear stations of pigeons, and it works.  I asked the austringer directly, and it takes a while for the pigeons to take a hint.  You can see a 'hawks at work' sign in the distance in the upper right corner of the photo, which I think helps commuters not ask silly questions about why austringers are wandering through the stations. Also, there is a BART anime mascot addressing this topic. (No, really.)

This particular austringer is (a) very handsome and (b) also has a hawk on his right arm in a stunningly gorgeous tattoo in the style of a Japanese painting.  (I don't post photos of other people's tattoos without their permission, but I made giddy sounds when I reviewed the photo later. Such. Amazing. Ink.)

  

Bowl with light (31 August 2024)

So glad this art (from the SF Women Artists gallery) survived many years and two moves! The shape and glazes are so gorgeous.

Rhapsody in Many Colors, Really

There is a tunnel between concourses B and C in Chicago O'Hare, where Rhapsody in Blue usually plays, and where the tunnel has been turned into a rather successful art installation.  I sent these images to friends who have been to O'Hare, but have never passed through.  It is quite an installation.

Did I mention Chicago (27 August)

I've passed through Chicago, but have never really spent time there.  This is still true, but at least I've been out and about a little bit in downtown.

In Praise of Virgin Hotel Chicago's Design Elements

I was at the Virgin Hotel in Chicago, which took over an older building and preserved its details while adding Virgin's own style.  And that shade of red they love so much.

It was easy to find my room: I just had to look for my ceramic dog.

I was advised to brace myself before entering the bathroom, but she should have told me to brace myself for brightness and delight.  It is a very fashionable yet low-budget strategy!  (And the bathroom remained immaculate.)

Here is a detail from the ceiling.  I think they had new pieces cast, as they were very clean.

There were many other nice details I didn't photograph, but the environment was enjoyable.

 

What Feels Like Giant Owl's Clover

Wikipedia tells me it is White Clover, trifolium repens, of some sort.  So huge! So happy in front of my local library, where volunteers are keeping it happy in its pot.

Larger Moth Family

So bright and lovely...  The orchids that came from the office in sympathy for a death in my family bloom gloriously again. 

Fresh mural (11 August 2024)

 Nicely done!

Muni in Aggregate (11 August 2024)

When I was a child, I could read from a very young age, but still assumed the MUNI logo was an abstract symbol.  I am not ashamed of this - I mean, look at it!

Nice job on embedding this in concrete.   

Canna (10 August 2024)

I remembered its name when I photographed it, but forgot it until today.   

Free Palestine (Valencia Wall)(11 August 2024)

 

The Ahhhh in Dahlia (10 August 2024)

Golden Gate Park's Dahlia Garden (just east of the Conservatory of Flowers) is in its full glory right now.  I had the pleasure of taking friends there, one of whom had never known it was there.  The colors! The variety of forms! The shapes!  I'm just choose three similar forms for this collage, but it is floral glory right now.