Hot mess
Monday, 15 April 2019
The Île de la Cité will never be the same. The gargoyles are still coughing (I’m pretty sure).
Musings
Tranquil Sunday
Sunday, 3 March 2019
I left earlier than usual, having heard the meteorologists say: rain later! I set off on a typical wander, looking for photo potential. Mmmm, maple “helicopters.” Perhaps for red maples? haha
Mmmm, a lion detail on a planter…. Hmmm? where’s the traffic?
Oh. Foot race. Hence, streets closed off, so, hmmm, an especially traffic free neighborhood, even for a Sunday!
Tranquil until the thunderstorm! Which now has passed. Whew. All is well. Wet, yes, but well.
Jux stah…
Monday, 25 February 2019
It’s all about juxtaposition.
It’s all about shadows and shadow-makers. And orange cones? Wha?
It’s all about bathroom interior decoration…light fixture/ceiling…dare I say?…juxtaposition.
Suuuuuuhnee day
Monday, 18 February 2019
I liked the shadows, and the shapes of the leaves/vegetation that made them, juxtaposed with the warm browns of the wall stone.
For those craving flowers, here’s a deciduous magnolia…
…and forsythia—outdoor forsythia, somehow mixed with a holly. Seem to be strange phyto-bedfellows to me.
Full sun = vitamin D
Wednesday, 13 February 2019
Japanese magnolia bud. They were open on another tree, but this one was all bud.
Golden crocus. Croci.
Silver fireplug with two columnar friends. Buds?
White fences
Saturday, 26 January 2019
Finials are not newels, but may be atop newels.
Round finial.
Knurled finial.
RTT has ended
Tuesday, 15 January 2019
Coming into Atlanta from the west, the interstate passes by a major amusement park just before it descends to cross the Chattahoochee River.
At night, the view of the city is…twinkly.
With this post, I report the end of the Rainbow Triangle Trip. Accomplished all goals, foremost among them seeing loved ones. Fun trip; and, simultaneously happy to be home.
Change of perspective
Thursday, 10 January 2019
I think this morning we drove under the last of the dense cloud layers that we’re likely to see in Cali. I enjoyed seeing the sun on the flanks of the hills…
…and ahead of us as we climbed into the visible humidity.
We even found at least two large herds of mechanical dragons.
Then, we crossed a pass, and, zip, no more clouds.
And into the city, the giant metro area. This species is the city flower. A showy choice as you’d expect for LA.
Here’s the City Hall tower; you’ve seen it in many movies and TV shows.
And, in the busy train station, a for-real shoeshine stand.
Here’s the busy corridor that crosses under the tracks, allowing access to each of the tracks above. Cops arrived in the golf cart; the fine is at least $1500 for going up to the tracks without a valid ticket, the sign said. We just didn’t get caught. Heh.
BTW, this city traffic, wow, exhausting. Sleepy-time for this blahger….
Divided road
Tuesday, 8 January 2019
Isn’t that the cutest low-profile lighthouse? Cali-cute!
And there’s the Mar Pacifico—today not terribly pacifico. You can’t see the wind and blowing rain. Elegant, enduring seastacks….
Love the marching swells cut below by the long shallow sea-edge profile.
NoCal tourism touts the elk herds. Here’s one. Grazing and resting. Classic elk-life, when carnivores are not threatening.
Coastal NoCal also hosts trees—not only the giant redwoods pictured here.
During the rainy season, the trees and clouds may merge. This shot is from a high-elevation meadow called in these parts a prairie. [Note: this use of “prairie” is not a Boontling term.]
We took our walk in a section of the 🎶redwood forest🎶 we had not walked in before. I remember almost always seeing lone trees, or perhaps pairs. Here’s a circle of relative newbie trees. I did not find out if they are clones of the dead stump in the center, or if the rotting stump provided a hospitable microenvironment for whatever seeds were at its base to germinate.
For contrast: lichen growth on twists of redwood bark at a tree base.
Post title refers to a Cali term we kept encountering on road signs…which seemed to have been a pet term by some transportation engineers, rather than a road situation of great distinction for drivers. The first we encountered had a small curb between the two lanes that otherwise seemed like a regular two-lane road; another had merely a marked off paved area about a foot wide between the two directions—no elevation change whatsoever—and two lanes each way. Diversity in them thar divided roads….
Unlocked
Wednesday, 2 January 2019
We always enjoy our visit to the locks in the Ballard neighborhood, NW Seattle. The official name of this waterway is Salmon Bay; it’s the seaward link for the waters of Lake Washington, which flow into the Shilshole (say: shill-shoal) Bay of Puget Sound. The passage is also called the Lake Washington Ship Canal. When they’re migrating upriver, visitors can see salmon jumping in the fish ladder; not today.
However, we did visit these statues, which mimic wave curls. They’re by Paul Sorey, and called “Salmon Waves” (2001).
This is the Salmon Bay Railroad Bridge across the Bay/Ship Canal. It’s a bascule bridge; it is due to be replaced with a vertical-lift bridge very soon, which means today was probably our last chance to see it….