Musings

Gulls/Terns and surfers under the marine layer. Here on this SoCal beach, lifeguards use red pickups.

Police? Surveyors? close one side of a bridge (out of frame, right)…fortunately for us, not our direction. (Yay!)

Random rooftop critters. Extra points if you noticed the pigeon before this mention.

Note: lawn bowling is not bocce or pétanque.

This sample suggests that redwoods are not an urban species, or just a NoCal species that does not like SoCal.

Dramatic green lighting on this SoCal Episcopal church. So Cali.

Apologies: too fried to do more than extended captions. Luvya.

Posted at 12:31 AM | Comments Off on No rain today

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

More rain as we continued our drive. For a while, with vineyards.

With rain rain rain, comes swollen rivers, irrigation canals, and ditches.

Dry in this tunnel. Named to honor Robin Williams.

Wow! Big bridge! Clearing sky!

Little boxes. North of Daly City.

Computers! A whole museum of them! I give you just one: a 1951 Whirlwind rack, MIT (the label said; I assume it’s correct!).

The giant, new Apple doughnut-building, side view. No entrance for civilians.

Instead, we can visit the roof of this “visitor center” aka Apple Store +. Note that the fancy white stone flooring (manufactured, polished quartz?) around the VC under the wide overhang, which is good for controlling sunlight/sun-heat, that stone paving is slippery when wet. Like today. On the order of a dozen security/employees were stationed outdoors under the overhang to remind people to be careful. Since I took my daily 30-minute walk circling the building over and over, I was reminded several times, then took to walking on the pebbly surface (not slippery) under the shrubby trees, as the rain was slacking off…. [I think the shrubby trees are Russian olives….] I’m all about form, function, and aesthetics, and the VC building was lovely. But. Slippery flooring? Hrrrumph. Also, the glass sandwiches making the railing for the rooftop viewing area: made in Dubai, and whoops in the Cali weather they expanded and had to be heated/dried (!!!) before they could fit together and be assembled properly. Heh.

Fine sunset over strawberry fields. They fumigate (gas) under the plastic; not at all green or friendly to Ma Earth…a good reason to buy organic berries. We saw two rainbows today…no photos of one, lousy ones of the other. Imagine.

Posted at 11:49 PM | Comments Off on Rain, some broken clouds

What a difference a day makes! Loving the sun all day! First appearance since arriving….

Even the birds were celebrating the glorious light….

Proof the light lasted to sunset….

Posted at 11:37 PM | Comments Off on Full sun

After dawn, it was clear and lovely, and I found this droplet on a Pieris out front.

Later…surprise!…the ground fog blanketed us. Nice to walk in, though. Ghostly, one fellow we encountered while walking called it.

Posted at 7:13 PM | Comments Off on Yes: ghostly

We were rolling along in a fine version of open skies/open road…then…airborne white stuff that was instantly clingy. Not good given the high pass ahead of us. Sure enough: to cross the pass, vehicles must have “traction tires”—wha? Not us. What to do?

We checked the obvious alternate routes via internet info (especially highway department webpages)—same traction tires problem. So, we checked a less likely choice a bit farther away…and traction tires were recommended, not required, and the temp was a bit higher. Meaning snow, but not a frozen road surface. And, as you can see, a salt truck ahead of us. Safety first!

Then, we descended further, and rain. Rain! And more rain! Nonstop rain. Followed by a traffic jam, negotiated deftly by the Guru. Followed by safe arrival! In time for cocktails and dinner. Yay!

Posted at 11:58 PM | Comments Off on Success

We started out in sunshine, but we could see a cloud bank the way we were headed. This had the makings of a day of “Drive on, and watch the light and weather conditions change!” Yup. Eventually, we climbed into the clouds.

At some point the splat of the raindrops changed to lack homogeneity, indicating frozen elements, which soon transitioned into actual flakes of w____ stuff. But temps well above freezing—whew!

Another hour down the road: full sunshine again.

Followed by a colorful sunset etched with industrial and artistic elements.

Later, a modern “peaky” bridge…. Not much light for the camera to work with…yet excellent effect, ¿no?

Posted at 11:35 PM | Comments Off on Drive on

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)

Proof we got serious cold (for the Deep South) last night. Poor camellia. NB: no black ice in this neighborhood….

Chairs waiting for kings? None arrived when I was there….

Late-day light was stunning.

Posted at 6:41 PM | Comments Off on One three one

When it became clear that the winter weather in northeast Georgia had a wet, white zone where the day’s rising temperature meant there was snow but not icy roads…especially if you picked a gravel road. So, we headed toward a pocket like that. Here’s the highest elevation we got to—or near here. We drove in a cloud!

We got out and walked in the icy snow-crystals, while the high branches dripped ice-melt on us. I am intrigued by the linear fracture lines in the twig-wrap ice.

Alternate title: Celebration of our 29th anniversary

Posted at 7:35 PM | 1 Comment »