Now showing

The week in review

Monday:

Tuesday:

Wednesday (pi day):

Thursday:

Friday:

Saturday:

The flight back on Thursday was a riot - the flight attendant was a comedian:  "The flight attendants will be coming around to make sure your seat belts are fastened, your shoes and socks match, and your fly is zipped."    "Secure your oxygen mask first before helping a child.  If you have more than one child, well, start with the one with the most potential and work your way down from there."   When you leave the house at 6am and aren't getting home until 9pm, things like this make your day. 

Here's the flight over:

And the sunset on the way back:

The nice thing about the late flights back in the awesome sunsets.

Sunday in The City

So they're doing this thing now called City Streets where they shut down some streets to cars and make it bikes, skates, pedestrians only.  Sounds great on the surface.  Only problem is that a large percentage of the population is unfamiliar with the concept of "keep right."  Also, some folks thought it a great opportunity to swerve all over the place.  In short: Brownian Motion.  I did see one moment that looked like a post-collision type of thing.  Unsurprising.  As I have commuted on a bicycle for years and thus done a lot of dodging, I was able to thread the needle through the chaos and get in a good ride, but I think for future Sundays I'll either pass or enjoy the entertainment that goes on on the side as a pedestrian. 

There were several bands set up (one on the back of a cart being pulled by a bicycle) and when  I got back to my turn off I stopped to enjoy the music.  This set included a washboard and some folks swing and line dancing:

Then it was back to sorting through paperwork so I can itemize my taxes.

Pacemakers OK

Another flight to Glendale.  I love how airline folks find these great ways to tell you to turn your electronics off.  This time it was: "If it has electricity flowing through it, unless it's a pacemaker, it needs to be turned off."  Here's some scenes from the plane, the airport, the next plane, BART and then Cal Train home Friday night:

Today was market day, and lunch at Plant Organic.  Good people watching as always.

Oh, and President of Israel visited Dreamworks.  Glad I wasn't in Glendale that day; I hear it was crazy with Secret Service and cops everywhere.  Not to mention they served lunch late.  But he did speak for a short while to the company about dreams and the American Dream.  Quite touching.  People who've never been outside the U.S. don't realize how nice their lives are.

Another beautiful day

I think every last resident of San Francisco was out today.  It was 70-something and gorgeous. I rode around the Embarcadero to the bridge and enjoyed the fresh air and view.  I did some sketches - soaking the top one so badly I think the sketchbook wanted to get up and walk away.  The paper is tough though, and survived even if the sketch isn't that great.  The bottom one came out much better!

And then a photo just because it's so impressive to stand below that bridge on a gorgeous day.

Angel Island

Stunningly gorgeous day today, so after I got my groceries at the Farmer's Market, I hopped on a ferry to Sausalito.  I love the view of Angel Island, and sketched it on the way over.  Then I walked down to a little park, and sat by the water watching the moon rise over it.  Plenty of other folks doing the same thing. 

On the ferry ride back we were booking and the tide was coming in, so standing on the upper deck in the stern and sketching was quite a challenge, but loads of fun.  Sun, sketching, Sausalito, yeah baby.  Nope, I don't miss Seattle!

Tomorrow is supposed to be equally gorgeous, so I might skip house-hunting and ride my bike instead!

Oh, and I got the webcam up and running:  http://o-berry.com/OCam/

Here's some train people from various angles - and my new bike.  Yes, a different bike.  The Diamondback had it's problems, so I returned it. Shops still don't have that many bikes in stock, but I found a GT mountain bike that I liked the ride of.  It's a monster weight-wise, but it's great for riding over rotten roads and railroad tracks.  Hopefully I can get in some real off-road riding this weekend.

Then it was back to the life room - I do this so infrequently that my drawings are all warm-ups.  This time I also tried painting some silhouettes, and those aren't too awful.

Then it's back to the train.  Here's a few days worth of sketches - it was cold as you can tell by the parkas.  There was also a donut patrol on duty one day.  Odd how there are fewer high school students hanging out at the train station when the cops are there.