Serious postage variety

All in a day's mail: stamps from the UK, the Netherlands, and Taiwan!  

These kinds of stamp collages are a sign that my pen friends are rather SERIOUS about their mail.

Note that the Taiwan stamp on the right excited me too much, because it's a fruit I haven't tried.  The translated name appears to be "Thai wax apple," which is a specialty of Taiwan, but I haven't seen one in real life yet.  

Sunday afternoon, looking east from Lake Merced

Northeast more than east, I suppose.  The hills in the background include (left to right): Golden Gate Heights, Forest Hill, Twin Peaks (marked by red and white striped Sutro Tower to the left of its range; the peaks are hidden in trees), Diamond Heights (probably), and Mount Davidson (with a concrete cross on it).  There are other hills in the foreground, but they don't all have names - our city is too hilly for that outside of real estate listings.

Soft, muted shore

We are so lucky to have a large, natural lake here in San Francisco...  

It is such a shame that it is surrounded by cars.  On the east side in particular, cars operate at nearly freeway speeds, and you can see the worried look of parents on the shared sidewalk/bike path as their kids wobble beside cars zooming past...  

Sunday gold

It's exciting to see the yellow version of this!!  I think it is some type of crocosmia cross, but I don't know with what - it is longer than the crocosmia I usually see.  

Recent Netherlands stamps from a friend

I should share more images of the lovely stamps my pen friends use...  Since I write a lot of postcards and letters, and have a few friends who write back, I've got some nice international stamps going back to...  1984?  The Postcard stamps from Postcrossing are especially nice, and I should show more of those off here.  

Holiday lights

I am easily mesmerized by the color-cycling light show these put on...  *happy sigh*

Spider plants on the march

Warm glow

This was satisfying.  The sun sets every day, but it was wonderful to take some time to really appreciate it, and pay attention to it.

Sinking sun

It's hard to read the sun as it loses its edge.  My eyes kept showing me a line through it, as if it was sinking behind a fence...  It also looked strangely flat on top, for no apparent reason.  Here you can see that it looks like it is penetrating the horizon line in a way that doesn't merely look reflective...  Fun with optics!

Strolling along the shore

It's nice to see people at a safe distance through some means OTHER THAN ZOOM.  Also, it's nice to see people having fun, and clearly enjoying being outdoors.

At the beach

It has been cold in the mornings (in the 40s Fahrenheit), but the afternoons have been lovely, and lure us out with their brightness.

Light through the eucalyptus trees

We're so lucky to have such a fantastic collection of outdoor parks and natural spaces in our dense little City.  

Lakeshore

There has been a TON of hard work in weeding and clearing trash that has blown or sunk or otherwise turned up along the Lake Merced Basin, and I admire the effort that went into it.  (Below the bottom edge of this photo are garbage bags, part of an old row boat, and other debris...)  It feels like this view of this particular grove is completely new.

So yellow

Plants are cheerful in their perfection...

Wednesday watercolors (watercolor crayons)

I like to draw with crayons.  Grown-up crayons.  Water soluble Swiss crayons.  Sometimes touched up with watercolor pencils.  (Also grown-up, and in this case also Swiss.)

I'm warming up to another project, one based on things representing reality, but this is RELAXING.  I need to relax so much more than I do.

Presidio in November Sunshine

I was going to set up a photo gallery for my walk with my hiking pod today, but my photos are just so much of the same old same old...  

Sands, but not of time

Yes, I do like the patterns that wind and water make.

Autumn on my mind

Autumn manifests in subtle and lovely ways here in San Francisco...

Orange glow, tiny screen

SO HALLOWEEN, this sky.

Salt-avoiding Cypress

This looks like one I might draw...