We were driving around Stow Lake at Golden Gate Park looking for wildlife when we found it. I was hollering “whoa” and Lastech was muttering something about a gagglef@&k of birds. 🙂
Of course, the Mary Poppins song “Feed the Birds” came to mind, but Hitchcock memories overruled. At least we weren’t at Bodega Bay for this one.
It is summer in San Francisco, meaning lots of fog and cool temperatures. We returned to Twin Peaks to check out the view and this is what we saw.
Later, we went to McLaren Park to visit the duck pond. That’s when I saw the naked ladies. No, not the porn variety. The flower variety. 🙂 They are popping up all over the city and providing a wonderful splash of color against the summer browns and golds that prevail at this time of year.
Also at the duck pond…
I don’t want to forget the big birds. I could hear the hawk having a conversation of sorts with another one that I couldn’t locate. The crow was just being a crow and posed nicely for me.
Time for the boys to shine.
Yesterday I posted an owl photo I took at the Palace of Fine Arts. We returned this morning before The City woke up and this time I managed to catch two barn owls with my camera.
We set out early this morning to experiment with night shots, once again getting more than we bargained for, by sheer luck.
Walking around one of our favorite locations, San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts, we heard the characteristic screech of an owl.
Looking up, we realized we had upset it by walking directly under its nest atop a colonnade.
The following shots reminded us of a scene out of “Blade Runner”. Enjoy…
Hiding in the upper left corner of the photo was this.
Time for the boys to shine.
This is the city. I carry a badge. Okay, a holographic access badge, and I work nights. Many of my ‘encounters’ involve wildlife, raccoons, skunks, possums and feral cats, beasties whom I’ve grown fond of…
I love my job. At night, ‘laser eyes’ stare back at me as I throw scraps of food at them. I never knew raccoons ate yogurt, but there you go. My apologies, I digress…
The area I work in covers about 10 square miles, and my favorite corner is ruled by a black cat I call Mack, as in Mack The Knife. Mackie Messer.
I have no idea how old Mackie is, that mildly scruffy black cat with his entourage: Pirate Jenny, another black cat which I assume is female, Jack, a young raccoon who backs down every time Mack stares at him, and Paulie, the nervous skunk.
Yes, I feed them, but not in such a way as to make them dependent on my visits. I do enjoy the look of recognition from Mackie and respect the pecking order he has created.The shots show Mackie alone, then approached by Jack, and finally Mackie alone after Jack backed off, as I dispensed food….
Curious about Mackie..? here is the original video from “Three penny opera”.
Here is the Pirate Jenny song as done by Marianne Faithfull. The original is great, but this is also well done.
I have posted my photos of the Conservatory of Flowers and now it’s time for some of Lastech’s photos. Follow along for a few really nice pics.
As I mentioned before, I have been sorting Lastech’s photos and uploading them to Flickr. I came across these. It’s usually sunny or rainy. Clouds like this are not as common. It’s beautiful when it happens though.
Lastech’s clouds need a bit of music. I found this piano piece and I think it goes very well with the clouds. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Two years ago today, Lastech and I made an important decision. We quit smoking. I had wanted to quit, but Lastech wasn’t there yet and I wasn’t going to bug him. I brought home a book from the library. It was called The Easy Way To Stop Smoking by Allen Carr, and it was a short and easy read. Lastech started reading it while I was cooking. I read it the next day. The day after that, we had our last smoke. We have had two years of freedom and no intention of ever lighting up again. 🙂 Hooray for us. If you wish to read the book, your library will probably have it. Most of them do. The price at Amazon is fairly cheap, as hardcovers go (see link). While the method in the book is cold turkey, it doesn’t matter. It’s a very good read even with nic replacement. In the end, it doesn’t matter how you quit.
I wouldn’t remember the day we quit smoking except that the day before (August 1st) was my mom’s birthday. She is now an octogenarian. Happy birthday to mom!
Now for some humor to celebrate the day.
This is what can happen to the human tin opener.
Gotta have a dog in here.
Last, but not least is a wonderful but strange video about sheep.
Lastech has managed to come home with some very nice pictures lately. Here are two of my favorites.
