It’s that time of year. Personally, I like tourists. Most are pleasant and I’m even guilty of deliberately looking like one on occasion. Tourism helps keep my fair city going.
Lastech is wonderful and patient. The poor guy is used to me yelling I NEED A PICTURE! The last time I yelled, we were near Lombard Street. He patiently dropped me off and waited.
Standing where ocean meets earth, lighthouses hold a certain meaning for anyone I think. My wife loves the architecture and scientific aspects of Fresnel lenses, weather patterns, geology and wildlife. I like to let my imagination play with the same, especially when I picture these places after dark. I’ll give you two guesses at who fixes stuff around the house, like the sink or the toilet.
The lighthouse at Point Bonita holds its charms in a very dramatic and beautiful setting, accessed via a tunnel carved through rock and a narrow bridge over a steep drop.
Continue reading “Point Bonita lighthouse: at land’s end”
Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park is home to a vast number of turtles. Most are red-eared sliders. My love for them is mixed. They are not native to the area and quite invasive.
If you have turtles or frogs or any other animal as a pet, do NOT release them into the wild! Non native species can be very destructive.
Now that I’ve said that, enjoy. 🙂
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
― Søren Kierkegaard
There’s a look on Titanescu’s face that sometimes brings to mind a tortured but not defeated soul. Perhaps a Russian writer after ten winters in a gulag, lasting twelve months each.
The enigma of cats, who do not judge but reflect: a throw back without absorption, and a convoluted intro to three shots I took at the Strybing arboretum. I really liked them, which is what I want to share…
The butterfly counts not months,
but in moments and has time enough. ~Author Unknown~
The Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park has a lovely exhibit of called Butterflies and Blooms. The exhibit will run until October 20, 2013.
Yesterday, we made the first of several trips to see the butterflies.
Continue reading “Of winged flowers and transformation”
Recently, I wrote a post about aging gracefully (or not). Today is a bit of show and tell, with lots of photos to share what Dad and I saw when we ventured in the great, hot and flat outdoors… Follow us beyond the fold, because as Pinhead says, “I have such sights to show you…”
Continue reading “My field day with Dad in the desert”
I remember mom telling me to act my age. It was really silly as she said that when I was two, five, ten and so on. The fact is, I WAS acting my age. 🙂 Now, not so much. There comes an age where we have to be responsible adults and that’s understood. I see absolutely no reason to leave childhood joys behind though. If I had one, I could still entertain myself for hours with an Erector Set.
Men (and women) do not quit playing because they grow old; they grow old because they quit playing ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes
My dad, for one, has never lost his joy of playtime. He’s had to adjust a bit over the years and his toys have changed, but he still finds time to play. I had that confirmed when I went back home to the desert for a visit recently.
Continue reading “Aging gracefully? Hahahahaha &$#@ that!”
In the Netherlands, Koninginnedag is a national celebration to honor the birthday of the Queen. Although Queen Beatrix was born on Jan. 31, she kept the April date in honor of her mother, Juliana. In January, Queen Beatrix announced her abdication on April 30, 2013 in favor of her son. Willem-Alexander will become King of the Netherlands on April 30, 2013. As a result, the celebration in 2014 will be called King’s day.
Why do I write this? Well, our Dutch Windmill was built in 1902 and had fallen into disrepair. In 1980 a campaign to save the windmill began and the Wilhelmina Tulip Gardens were created next to it. The top of our windmill was sent to the Netherlands for restoration. The windmill and the gardens are now a beautiful place to visit in Golden Gate Park. A celebration at the Windmill is held in honor of Koninginnedag. I got lucky to be at the gardens at the right time this year and got to see the tulips before it was too late.
We have been busy preparing for an upcoming trip and neglected the blog for a few days, but I wanted to post something else about our city.
The one thing I really dislike about San Francisco is the traffic. It’s dense, aggressive and plenty rude. But then, since I chose to work nights, I get to enjoy it a lot more. I took these pictures at work with my phone, which explains the poor quality of some shots. But if you can get past that you might enjoy some of what I see every night.
Now, the photo below shows Forbes Island with its mock-lighthouse (center left) and the silhouette of the WWII ship Jeremiah O’Brien in the distance on the right. Forbes Island is a restaurant, built by Forbes Kiddoo in Sausalito, which can only be accessed by boat.
This next and last shot is disappointingly blurry but it has elements to it that I really liked, so there it is:
It was one of those WTF moments. We sat on a bench on a hill to enjoy the view. Then we looked up. 🙂
The bottle wasn’t the only thing in the tree. Lastech spotted this one.
