Musings

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….

Posted at 11:00 PM | Comments Off on Change of perspective

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….

Posted at 10:33 PM | Comments Off on Divided road

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….

Posted at 7:41 PM | 2 Comments »

Between sunrise in Iowa…

…and sunset in Wyoming….

…we found a sculpture garden in a field, including a massive bull’s head (I assume bull(?)) and carefully propped up horse.

And, with her back to the Missouri River at Chamberlain SD, we found “Dignity: of Earth & Sky” (by Dale Lamphere), an even more massive presence at some fifty feet in height.

In the late afternoon light, the star quilt pattern was magnificent viewed from behind as the sunlight came through the blue panels. Most visitors never look at the back, and when you notice the armature (is that what it is?) on the facing side, it becomes clear you are meant to also walk around the back of the figure. I think, given that today was the 24th of December, that her alternate name should be Madonna of the Missouri.

Quite a different kind of sculpture: the giant round hay bales.

And I’m tired. Carry on.

Posted at 10:51 PM | Comments Off on I lost my sense of scale

Been hearing more than I want to about a wall, lately. This one I like! …and it cheered me on my walk as I was buffeted by a cold wind (cold for here) as I stepped around un-evaporating puddles.

Posted at 7:34 PM | Comments Off on Rubbish weather (damp, cold)

These cormorants are waiting for whatever cormorants wait for. Food? More than food? These rocks were under many more feet of water for decades in a huge mill pond.

Downstream of the cormorants, some of the later mill buildings survive, most repurposed as river-front apartments now that the dams are gone and the water is white, as it was through the early 1800s. This is the Chattahoochee at the Fall Line in Columbus.

Now, venturesome people in funky short kayaks dare the once-again fast-flowing river to overpower them. [This guy was just fine; this moment looks scary, however.]

Posted at 9:25 PM | Comments Off on River stories

Does historic/human time loop like this staircase? Not quite repeating, but similar to repeating? Or is it just the wheel of life rotating in variations on a theme?

Posted at 6:14 PM | Comments Off on Outside staircase

When I was a kid and first encountered the term “horsefeathers” in a book, I could not fathom what they might be, since I knew what horses looked like. For unknown reasons, I next thought of horsetails. Horsetails did not help. Our Universal Friend Goooooo likens horsefeathers to hen’s teeth, but of course OUFG was nonexistent when I was a tad.

Keeping with the repeating visuals theme: institutional small glass tiles. Pretty pretty.

Posted at 7:46 PM | Comments Off on True misc

Our cozy living room….

An artsy shot of one side of the log playhouse…sized for kids.

Veggies fresh from the neighbors’ garden, and headed for our dinner table: kale, tomatoes, maize. Yum.

Posted at 6:52 PM | Comments Off on Diary using photos

Been missing the sunset light. We also don’t have the sunrise light here, but I’m not always up for it…. And in the UP, we see the sunset sky, but not the actual sunset. Unless we walk over the hill. Which we sometimes do.

These days, we have the option of sending up Droney!

Posted at 9:29 PM | Comments Off on Yay for devices!