Going …
Going …
Gone!
May 21, 2009
May 15, 2009
May 4, 2009
Photos earlier today
We have another visitor down at P29 — not as big a ship as the cruise ship earlier this week. This is the Golden Bear, belonging to the California Maritime Academy in Vallejo.
(For Don’s benefit, note the fog covering Treasure Island and Berkeley beyond …)
A lovely sight — watching the fog ebb and flow across Treasure Island and Yerba Buena.
And then ebb. Flow. Back again.
It’s dark out now and we don’t see the fog. We only see the lights on the islands get blotted out and then come back into view. Yerba Buena is almost clear now.
For a while. …
(n.b. The planes from SFO are taking off to the north. Our short flurry of rains is over for the nonce.)
May 2, 2009
A visit from Carnival Splendor
[Blogger wasn't FTPing nicely this afternoon so this post was delayed. ...]
Carl Nolte writes, Flu outbreak diverts Mexico’s cruises to S.F.
The Mariner of the Seas (>1K’ long — displaces 137,276 tons) berthed early this morning at Pier 35.
<PALIN> We can see it from our bedroom window! </PALIN>
(yeah, yeah, yeah. I know that was SNL and not Palin.)
Just now, [well, sometime after lunch] the Carnival Splendor (952′) came into Pier 29 and I took a mess of photographs. Together the two ships have ~ 6800 passengers aboard.
I feel kind of :-((( for the passengers because the weather was grey and drippy today. Rainy a bit and then not a bit and then rainy again. MUCH chillier than the folks on the cruise (who had signed up for Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco, &c.) were dressed for. We thought, boy, those folks down by the wharf are probably upping the prices on their fleece jackets and umbrellas.
Seems we’ll have more of the same (cruise ships, that is) for a while now. …
I imagine Butterfly restaurant down at Pier 33 is not the place to go for lunch. Not that we had any plans to do so. We have [had] a Cinco party down at Mercedes – Hair of the Dog Cantina starting at 6p.
[The Cinco was terrific. We walked down (con paraguas), stopping off at the bank to drop off a rent check. Got to the cantina a bit early. No prob. Met some new folks, old friends. Mariachis out front. Folks who weren’t invited to the par-tay were sitting on the benches in the alley enjoying. Music (after the mariachis were done) by Carlos Godinez and his sidemen. We were seated RIGHT THERE. (Literally. We chatted across to them between songs.) Godinez played some Jobim, which made me happy.(Jobim? Cinco music? No, not really, but made me happy.) The spread was terrif. (Munchies followed by buffet. All you can drink vino blanco o rojo, margaritas o Dos Equis o whatever you wish.) I heartily endorse Mercedes – Hair of the Dog Cantina. Owner/staff were swell. We had a good time.]
(and then hoofed it home — sin paraguas … ~2mi total RT)
We got home to find the cruise ship nestled, all snug in its berth …
The Mariner of the Seas leaves in a half hour or so, but I think the Carnival ship won’t leave until morning. …
April 19, 2009
Fog photos
I was making pancakes for breakfast for our overnight guest and we were discussing the fog which wunderground.com hadn’t mentioned. … The unexpected fog had settled in close to the water but was starting to lift. Hark! Sunshine in Oakland! Shipping cranes silhouetted in the distance.
And behind Treasure Island a surreal light enveloped Berkeley.
Our guest, someone his nibs has known for forty years, headed off to the airport and home. We frittered time and the fog burnt off for a glorious day.
This afternoon I was settled into my comfy chair, working on a Sudoku, when I heard fog horns. Deep horn from the main channel. Medium horn from a ship. Lighter echo from the bridge.
The afternoon fog was creeping in and slouching over to Berkeley.
A shot before Berkeley succumbed. (The fog tendrils have reached the Campanile as I type this at about 6:45P. The sun is still shining here. But not there. …)
April 14, 2009
April 13, 2009
A road trip home
We were in the Central Valley this weekend for a memorial service for my cousin.
We spent the night in Lost Hills and took the long way home, through the Bitterwater Valley and on to Parkfield, then up 101 and a jog here and another there and finally home.
More photos to follow. Maybe.
Parkfield
