Don't Litter

This sign is in the Presidio on a garbage can, outside the former Archaeology lab, a building slated to be leveled with the completion of Doyle Drive. The Presidio, as an Army base, always permitted the public to enter. The public littered... The local suggestion for this strategy to prevent litterbugs from befouling an open army base was this: Shoulders should be training, not collecting trash! Good point. In fact, why is it anyone's job to pick up everyone else's litter? 

Soldiers Should be Training, San Francisco, 2011.

Polypody

O, Polypody fern...thou art persistent.

You poke through the cracks, emerald green.

Also living under the cypress where little else can. 

Your rootstock is in the earth below. You are paved over,

But vigorously, you surface. You find light. Or have your  spores

Ventured on their own into these cracks and sprung forth colonies anew?

You greet me as I emerge from the subway (finding light) and remind me nature is near.

Already ancient pteridophyte, you will survive us.

Polypodium californicum, Civic Center BART, 2011,

Mini Castle of Brick

This small replica of the Army Corps of Engineers logo stands at Fort Scott in the Presidio of San Francisco. I sometimes walk by it on the way to/from the bus stop at the Golden Gate Bridge. In addition to being charming and small, it is also apparently a salute (no pun intended) to the Army Corps of Engineers logo (see below). 

ACOE Insignia in Brick, San Francisco, 2011.

 They aren't exactly the same as eachother, but you have to appreciate the creative use of masonry. This may be one of those "only in San Francisco" things. Where else would someone go through the trouble? And where could it be honored enough to be preserved this long? I have heard that the Army Corps once occupied the building this stands in front of, but the Corps has been gone for at least a couple of decades -- I will try to find out from our historian when they left .

Upon googling "army corps engineers logo replica," I did come up with this -- a tombstone monument resembling the Corps logo dating back to Gettysburg (scroll down about 1/4 of the page to see it - or hit Ctrl-F and type 'unique monument').

Digging deeper, it seems the largest replica of the insignia is found at the entrance gateway to Point Park, Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, a battlefield designed by the Corps. This large structure was built in 1905 and still stands today.

A brief history of the Army Corps of Engineers is here. 

I miss biking

The best way to get around any city, even the hilliest city in the country (reference needed) is by bicycle, hands down. 

Beachrunner, Fell St., 2011.

Let's go over the benefits.

• They permit you not to walk (unless on a hike or birding, I generally despise the walk option).
• They can be faster than cars.
• They are always faster than buses.
• If the buses happen to be running faster, they can be taken on buses.
• They go on roads.
• They go off roads. 
• Most of the time, the things that go wrong with them are easy to fix. 
• No emissions; a smooth and silent ride.
•  A grease chain ring tattoo on the inner right calf is sexy. 
• The built-in exercise they give you can make you feel good. 
• If you don't want to have the exercise benefit, just slow down and you won't: simple as that. Or vice versa.
• You can put bells and horns on them, and disc brakes. And a kickstand.
• A cyclist becomes part of a generally helpful and friendly community of other cyclists when on road or trail.
• ... and more and more. 

I miss biking because since Sept 2, my shoulder surgery date, I've been riding the bus or finding other ways to get to work. A bus trip takes me about 1:15 door-to-door, versus about 35 minutes. Bus riding has its own list of merits, but it also has a long list of faults. The good news is, I only have about a month left until I'm pedaling again.

Pictured is my city cruiser/bar bike.It was a dumpster dive-salvage bike that Ira helped me fix up.   I still owe him lots of beer for that.

Pavement Rising

An artist using asphalt as paint and streets as his canvas, an abstract artist with a day job and a conservation bent, has done some work in this city. Here is one such work: Park Presidio Pavement Rises as a Result of Global Warming.

Pavement High Tide, San Francisco, 2011.

On display now through 2033 at Park Presidio Blvd. and Lake Street, San Francisco. On loan from Dallas DPW.

Travel, pelican flight

This image has been in my head for the last week. I have been wanting to post it but haven't found the time to sit down, locate it on my hard drive, and write a short blurb about it to post  here. In the past week, I've taken a boat trip out to the Farallon Islands, flown to Albuquerque, taken a tram up Sandia Peak while there, and flown back to San Francisco. It's been a busy travel week! Best of all, I've gotten to share this with others close to me.

Brown pelican formation, Salt Point, 2011.

I photo'd these brown pelicans last spring as they patrolled the coastline at Salt Point State Park. They came over a crest where I sat, then swooped down to the water's surface, where they flew into the distance low over the water they way they do, taking advantage of the aerodynamics of flying low on the water. I marvel at how their wingtips miss the water's surface. 

The pelican is an amazing animal, but I'm not the first to recognize it (thanks for the poem, Dad):

THE PLIGHT OF THE PELICAN

Ogden Nash
A wonderful bird is the pelican,
His bill will hold more than his belican;
He takes in his beak enough food for a week,
But I'm damned if I see how the helican.

Da bridge, and a few birds.

Yes, I know it's the most photographed object in the City, maybe even in the West Coast, but it does have a tendency to look really cool. Maybe it looks cooler because of its iconic status stemming from the mystique that California, and San Francisco in particular, hold. 

Here the bridge (which turns 75 in 2012) seems to be supported by fog. I took this in late October during the bird walk that I lead monthly. It had been a foggy morning, uneventful for birds, but as 9:00am approached, this was the view. Elegant terns were streaming over the bridge, above the fog, providing by far the most interesting sight we saw all morning. The usual song sparrows, white-crowned sparrows, house finches, and Anna's hummingbirds were present. Amazingly, we didn't even see any yellow-rumped warblers, which have been around in large numbers this fall/winter as usual.

About 20 minutes after this shot was taken, the fog was reduced to a small blob right on the water. And we all went off our separate ways, having shared in the experiences of birdwatching mid-cloud, the drone of fog horns, and the awakening effect of fog burnoff.

GGB, 8:30am in Late October, 2011.

The crew.

Green-winged Teal at Lloyd Lake

Amidst a sea of mallards and mostly gulls, a gem was hidden in the crowd of birds begging the woman with a loaf of bread. The green-winged teal pictured below (the smallest North American duck, per Sibley) attracted the attention of me and my new birding companion for a day (so far), Pete. We had just become acquainted through a mutual friend and spent an afternoon birding in the City.

Green-winged Teal, Lloyd Lake, 11/9/2011.

After garnering inspiration from the film in one of my recent posts, Pete is attempting a Big Year of his own, of sorts. He's going to make an effort to see lots of birds and record them, but he's not competing against anyone. This is my kind of birder. We started in Golden Gate Park, then drove to the Presidio and birded both inland and on the coast there.

We stopped at Lloyd Lake rather on a whim, but found, mixed in with common city birds, the following: mew gull, American wigeon, hooded merganser, wood duck (male and female, both stunningly beautiful), and a few unsightly Muscovy ducks. We even stopped for a moment to admire the plumage of mallards.

NOISSIW

Something about this doesn't look right. But this is how you spell Noissiw Street, is it not?

NOISSIW, San Francisco, 2011.

Battery Cranston Fennel

Battery Cranston Fennel, 2011.

17 batteries along the coast at the Presidio once held enormous guns that were capable of firing shells to the sea and air to defend our West coastline. Today, only one battery still has its gun (open today and each first Sunday of the month to the public for demonstrations), and what remains are the concrete formations that once held them. This, I think, is Battery Cranston. To take this photo, I was standing about where the gentleman with his arms crossed behind his back is standing in the photo here. 

Although these batteries were never used in unfriendly fire, they sadly did not prevent the Enemy from infiltrating. Exotic plants, such as the fennel growing here, as if right at home in a display, now exist in many places in the Presidio. We are working to keep them confined to areas where they won't impact the biodiversity of our restored and remnant natural areas.

America, the Beautiful

All of America, 2011

This is from the side of a camper that often parks near my house.  From the era of the epic road trip, I'm guessing this vehicle has seen it all. 

I like the way the decals are peeling, state-by-state. The Great Lakes got their own color. And the "eautiful" in Beautiful is kind of falling off. Or maybe the B is just cocked back. 

 

Haunted Hospital

SFGH Gate, 2011.

This is a picture of the entry gate to the old San Francisco Hospital. According to the Department of Public Health's website, it is the largest acute inpatient and rehabilitation hospital for psychiatric patients in the City. It has stood on this site since 1872. Coupling these facts with its ER and behavioral health facility, this place has to be haunted, right?

The place looks pretty creepy. Parts of the building even sport gargoyles. The City could balance its budget if it created a haunted house here.

Creepy Tree

Creepy Dead Tree, Presidio, 2011.

In honor of Halloween, here's a shot of  a creepy dead tree in the Presidio. This is a few steps from the front door of our office. Though devoid of life, it hosted a nesting pygmy nuthatch two summers ago; it's also a frequent perch for western bluebirds. 

Fort Scott is changing dramatically this fall: people are departing; the bright yellow chairs that brightened it for a year are now gone; and someday this tree will be removed because it is, by many standards, unsightly. 

But,even fog as thick as this will burn off someday.

 

 

From the Balloon Fiesta!

I had a chance to visit Kev, Kim, Esme, and Baby Girl in Albuquerque a few weeks ago. The visit coincided nicely with the 39th-annual Balloon Fiesta, a rather amazing spectacle of nylon and hot gases, at which, incredibly, visitors can walk right among the balloons. We arrived pre-dawn to catch, we hoped, the Dawn Patrol. This is the pre-dawn spectacle, in which a few expert ballooners drift through the still dark sky.

Esme explains ballooning.

Taking advantage of a secret, free parking spot near Balloon Fiesta Park (yes, the event has its own park (that perhaps doubles as a driving range the rest of the year) and its own museum, we arrived to buy some strong coffee that came with a free donut sample. I imagine that if we didn't have 3 1/2 year-old Esme with us, Kev and I would have probably devoured 5 to 10 of these delicious morsels each. 

One lone balloon was being observed in the darkness. Photographers flocked to create choruses of shutter-slaps each time the ballooners blasted the huge torch. It roared to form a beautiful glow in the grounded balloon.  

But Dawn Patrol was not happening; one seasoned (as evidenced by his jacket, covered with patches from worldwide balloon events in years past) member of the crew explained to those who had gathered that the winds were gnarly up high. I can't remember his exact wording, but it sounded like conditions were dangerous a few hundred feet up, and there was no way any balloons would launch that day. He was helpful and friendly, but his tone reflected the serious concern for safety beneath the colorful, fun surface of the event.

Luckily, we did catch the Special Shapes Rodeo. Balloons were still grounded, but operators filled them for the crowd. A voice over the loudspeaker informed us of the widespread origins of many balloon teams: there were a few from Europe, one from Brazil, and of course all over the US. Shapes included this creepy turtle, Smokey Bear, a Darth Vader head, a two-faced clown, a happy saguaro cactus...to name but a few. I'd like to make this a yearly visit.

Watch a few of these videos to grasp the amazing amount of activity at the Fiesta.

Huge Grabby Turtle Balloon, Balloon Fiesta, 2011.

The Big Year

I saw the movie The Big Year yesterday and recommend it very highly for anyone who is a birder or has ever known one. Although it has its moments of Hollywood ridiculousness, I found myself connecting to it on many levels. 

Three different characters all find themselves in pursuit of the same goal -- seeing as many birds as possible in the course of a year in North America. Competition ensues, relationships are tested, and epiphanies are experienced. 

Fractional Roads, Minnesota, 2005.

The relation to the film and this photo? I've never attempted a Big Year, and likely never will; I really just enjoy observing birds and their amazing quirks and adaptations. But I have found myself in some pretty weird places while on the hunt for birds. One of the locations mentioned briefly in the film is the Sax-Zim bog. This is a slam-dunk birding spot to see lots of cool boreal species if you are in the Duluth/Iron Range area. After hearing about the upcoming owl invasion slated to hit the area in '05, I convinced my bosses to send me to a prescribed fire training nearby so that I could bird here. 

At the Duluth airport, I got my first ever snowy owl. I spent some time in the streets of Duluth searching out a Boreal owl, to no avail. Near Sax-Zim were great grey owl (amazing), northern goshawk, northern hawk owl, and a few others. I had also seen some of these birds on a trip two years prior with the Chicago Ornithological Society.

I didn't get any good pictures of birds (someday). But, in a lull of birds, I took this picture, chuckling to myself at the sheer ridiculousness of the street names out here. I was hoping to share that chuckle with someone -- so now I have. Thanks for reading.

Gross Gum Patterns

Spending time in nature leads you to wonder about lots of things. And it leads you to observe patterns, or designs. Cities don't leave much to wonder about. Some of this is intentional -- who wants to wonder how they'll eat next, or where to dispose of waste? I admit that I do spend lots of time wondering when the next bus will come, but this isn't the kind of wondering that's very good for the spirit. 


So it made me happy when I started to notice this unintended pattern in the city. It's pretty yucky, though. (I've been spending time with my 3-year-old niece, can you tell?) 

Gum Pattern at 26th and South Van Ness, SF, 2011.

Sidewalks near convenience stores seem to show the pattern the strongest: gum blobs dropped near the entrance and blackened on the street. The black dots are more dense near the door. Now, it makes me wonder: is this from cigarette smokers who are nearing the entrance of the store, where they will get their fix? Or is it from the store operators themselves, who chew gum to pass the time, then bolt outside and flick their gum for a quick smoke? Or - people leaving the store, just having bought some Ho-Hos and anxious for that first delicious bite?


I've also noticed these patterns around trees that have been planted on the street. People with bad aim, I guess; also the bad judgement to assume that their chewing gum will just naturally incorporate back into the soil at the base of the tree. Isn't it supposed to take seven years to break down in your stomach (citation needed)? It must take even longer just on the street, with no stomach acids to battle.


The study of these patterns, which is clearly needed, should analyze not only the demographics of the gum-tosser, but also the flavor of the discarded gum. Bubble gum or mint? Juicy Fruit? If mint, spear or pepper, or Double? Big League Chew? Not unless you're close to a baseball diamond. 

American Eagle 3

Rincon Annex Eagle, San Francisco, 2011.

This Eagle is one of two greeting visitors to the Rincon Annex. This beautiful 1939 building lies a few minute walk from the Embarcadero. Once built as a Post Office Annex (in what is called the last great WPA project), it's now been redeveloped into a mixed-use residential, commercial, and retail complex. 

The building is well known in the city for its mural depicting 29 historical California scenes. They were created by Russian painter Anton Refregier from 1941-48. Also of interest inside the building is a really cool old phone booth (which, of course, no longer has a phone). I thought I'd gotten a pic of that too, but I think I ran out of film. I guess I'll have to go back. Going further inside this building, you'll find a Chinese restaurant and rather enormous -- maybe 8 stories high? -- indoor waterfall. It falls from the center of the atrium and is more of a sculpture than a natural feature. Water falls from a glass lens, suspended like a cloud, mid-atrium. I feel like usually when I find things like this, I arrive on them 10 years after the water has been shut off because peoples' practicality has overwhelmed their appreciation for the need of art. Not so here, thank goodness.

Really Pointless Sidewalk

Sidewalk Ends, Brownsville TX, ca. 1999.

I took this in Brownsville, Texas, in about 1999. My caption, written on the back of the printed photo (below), is "? Wheelchair-accessible lawn."

The quality leaves much to be desired, since it's a scan.

P.S. Happy National Coffee Day! Please just remember to use a reusable mug and buy shade-grown, organic, fair trade whenever possible. Also, support your local roaster =)

Mr. Yuk Ghost

Mr. Yuk/Pac Man Ghost, SF, 2011.

This graffiti ghost reminds me of a cross between Mr. Yuk and one of the Pac-Man ghosts (Inky, Pinky, Blinky, and Clyde). His sour expression is perhaps a reaction to the foul smell of the water treatment plant next to which he resides. Even the smell of fennel in the foreground isn't enough to overpower the smell of treated water going back into the Bay. He floats on an I-280 freeway piling at the Channel Pump Station at the head of Mission Creek -- well, actually, the Mission Bay Canal -- in San Francisco. 

The Channel Pump Station itself has some pretty cool tile work (although the phrase "lipstick on a pig" comes to mind). Click to zoom...

Channel Pump Station, 2011.

Initiating the Weekend Mode

The Cocktails Concept, Bruno's SF, 2011.

 Whether "Cocktails" are your thing or not, Friday is a good day to initiate your own weekend mode. Take a longer route home. Read. Touch the Earth with your hands or feet. Drink in some sun. Get a massage. Pet an animal. Get a haircut. Check out surf reports. Play sports. Watch sports. See live music.  Cook something new and don't fear failure. Do a crossword. Contact an old friend. Spend time with family. Make a new acquaintance. Follow one of your established routines, but break another.

Get outside and try to observe something that's changed since last time you were in a park. Or go to a park and make a focused observation that you'll notice is different next time you return. Share it with someone, or log it in your journal. You will be happy that you did! (I promise)

In addition to the concept behind the word, I feel like the festive font used here is worth sharing. This word appears on the façade of Bruno's, a Mission nightclub that seems to have been a fixture here since cursive was invented. Their website claims that they are SF's "most unique nightclub", which seems hard to back up. But, they have been around for over 60 years, and apparently they still have what it takes to bring Kiefer Sutherland in the door for his movie premieres.

USA Shed, Rural Illinois

I took this on the way to my friends Brian and Diana's wedding in Peoria, IL, a few years ago. I was to be usher. I was in a bit of a hurry -- enough that I got a speeding ticket on the way -- but luckily not enough of a hurry to pass this shed without a photo-op. ("Photo of a run-down shed for your blog? Priceless.")

I spent about 45 minutes early this morning trying to find where it is in Google maps. I scrolled through miles of aerial photographs of highway, to no avail. But, it's more about the journey than the destination, right? While attempting to locate this barn, I found lots of cool patterns in corn and soybean fields. I saw lots of shadows cast by billboards. I found a dump in Tonica, Illinois. I found what I think is a cell or radio tower near Oglesby. 

But I should have taken notes. I don't know where this shed is. I wonder how often the owner re-paints his or her tribute to Old Glory on the tin roof of this dilapidated structure.

USA Shed, rural Illinois, 2008.

Arctostaphylos!!

'Just wanted to give props to my coworker Shelley, whose pictures of the Franciscan manzanita made it to the NYT Green Blog three days ago!

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/franciscan-manzanita/

Take 9 minutes to watch this video.

And while you're inspired, comment on the US Fish and Wildlife Service's proposal to list the Franciscan manzanita as a federally endangered species. The 60-day public comment period began on September 7.

Here's a pic I took of the Raven's manzanita, also extremely rare and federally endangered, that grows in the Presidio and is also tended to by Shelley.

Raven's manzanita, April 2010.

Taking it Too Seriously # 2

Fort McDowell Light Switch, Angel Island, 2011.

You don't need to physically remove the entire light switch. Just turn off the lights when not in use.

I would love to expand on this, citing research about when the energy conservation movement began in the US; how perhaps it began on Army bases like this one; especially Army bases on self-contained islands. But I am not in much of a condition to do more surfing and type it all here, so I will save this for another time. 

This is in an abandoned Army building on Angel Island. It's a pretty cool place to wander through, although all the stairs to the upper floors have been obliterated for public safety concerns.

Self-timer fun on bike

Cross Marin Self-Portrait, 2011.

Believe it or not, I appear in this photograph. I'm the faint ghost of a blur that runs parallel to the path and above it. I really just appear as an off-color smudge across the frame. Using a signpost as a tripod, I set the camera's self-timer to go off after a delay of 15 seconds, then biked away from the camera, and back in the camera's direction for an 8-second exposure. I turned on my bike light for an additional trail, but it didn't really come through. The aperture was all the way down to f22 and light was very low, so with 400 ASA film I was able to get rich colors without much grain. I'm really happy with the color -- so many shades of green. 

This is along the Cross Marin Trail, which is kind of self-explanatory -- it runs across Marin County. Wait, except it doesn't! It's just over 5.3 miles long. Hm, so I don't really get the name. But as is evident when riding it, it is the bed of a former railway parallel to Sawmill Creek. 

I took this two weekends ago, while on a bike camping trip to Samuel P. Taylor State Park, a last biking hurrah before undergoing shoulder surgery last week.

Worthwhile Graffiti .

Treasure Island "Boobies," 2011.

If you can't properly illustrate something great* that inspires you, you might as well write about it. I applaud this artist's brevity.

This appears on an abandoned building on Treasure Island, an island created out of bay dredge in the late 1930s. If you live in SF, I strongly encourage you to take the bus out there sometime and explore for a few hours. It's kind of a modern marvel. The overall feel of the place is very deserted, especially mid-day on a weekday. 

The Wiki entry for Treasure Island has all the info you need. It's interesting to see how much has been filmed there. 

*in this case, the inspiration is obvious.

Charred Split Rail Fence, Angel Island, 2011.

 On October 12, 2008, a campfire-caused wildfire raged on Angel Island, burning about 250 acres, or a third of the island. The fire created a glow that I remember seeing when I was on the way to see a friend play a gig. I looked west on Van Ness Avenue and saw only this yellow glow, unable to see over a hill to the Bay. I thought it strange that so late on a Sunday evening, some event in the distance was creating a glow bright enough to be seen from afar. I couldn't tell where it was coming from -- but normally, night events generating lots of light also generate lots of noise.

I found out the next day that it was this wildfire. Having only been in SF for a month then, I was missing out on prescribed fire season happening for my old coworkers in Chicago. So somehow I felt almost like I'd missed out twice.

Upon visiting Angel Island a few weeks ago, I looked for clues of fire across the landscape. I don't know enough about the vegetative ecology of the site before this fire, so I couldn't pick up on much. Mostly charred bark on the downwind sides of trees and still black, gnarled branches of coyote brush. But this one was pretty clear. I found it interesting how the fire had burned this split rail fence enough to destroy the supporting portion of a few horizontal pieces, making them fall out of the slots in the vertical posts. 

Since the State Park budget is in the tank, this fence may remain in this forlorn state for a while. Maybe it's not forlorn as long as it still tells a story. In fact, it tells a better story than it did when it was new.

Definitely no Rollerskating

Rules of the Dock, Angel Island SP, 2011.

Upon visiting Angel Island State Park via ferry, visitors are informed by this sign that rollerskating on this dock is prohibited. (No dogs either.) I am pretty sure this is the first time I've ever seen a "No Rollerskating" sign. I guess this has been a problem here. 


It makes me wonder where else rollerskating is such a problem.

It looks like a great place to set up an outdoor bowling alley, which I may attempt on my next visit -- it doesn't seem to be against the rules here.

Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden "Ecstasy", Hayes Valley SF, 2011.

This amazing sculpture made of chains and other scrap metal stands about 25 feet tall in Hayes Valley, San Francisco. I feel compelled to call her the Iron Maiden, as a salute to the titans of metal, but the true name is Ecstasy by Dan Das Mann and Karen Cusolito. The figure originally stood at Burning Man as part of a piece called Crude Awakening. Ecstasy joined seven other figures in various gestures of "worship, prostration, and exaltation" in response to the 99-foot oil derrick they surrounded. Wow.

It gets more intense. They burned the wooden derrick in a massive explosion set off by 400 gallons of jet fuel mixed with 300 gallons of gasoline. Collectively it all represents our dependence on oil... they've done the math, and the carbon consumption per person who viewed the display goes down, by their logic, each day, moment, that someone appreciates the piece. I'm not sure if I agree with all this justification, but it's right here.

Coincidentally, I met one of the artists who worked on this project earlier this evening at a gallery opening/open studio that photographer and long-time friend Toni Gentilli told me about.

This post dedicated to Jay and Aaron. I think you'd dig this sculpture (hair made of chains).

Gas for Sale, Sunset District, 2011.

I just like the way this sign looks. It's designed to be a highway-side beacon advertising gas to drivers by from either direction -- not a dramatically backlit beacon of gas prices. I have taken a few versions of this pic. I first got a picture on my camera phone. Sometimes I do this to remind myself to return somewhere with my real camera to get a real pic. Next, I took a picture on my Pentax Optio point and shoot -- and, that night, lost that camera (which I loved). I nervously let some time pass before finally capturing it with a film camera, the Nikon 8008s that is now my default. I was nervous because I was afraid this sign might disappear. Someone might realize it's using double the lights needed to illuminate it. Somehow, its glory would disappear. 

This concern is so irrational, isn't it? It's a sign. Why would it change? It's probably been here, like this, for years. I am interested to know what things have appealed to other people in this way. What mundane details of the world are special to you, that if they disappeared, you would especially miss? And I don't mean the Statue of Liberty or Half Dome -- I mean the mundane stuff. 

49-Mile Drive

49-Mile Drive Sign, The Presidio, 2010.

Raise your hand if you love this sign! If you're hand is up, keep it raised if you know what they mean. If not, read on. All may lower their hands now, and pat yourself on the back for already knowing the answer, if you did.

If you've lived here for more than a few months, chances are you're pretty familiar with this sign. It's all over the city. The charming gull design is by Rex May, who won a 1955 contest by the City. The 49-Mile Drive dates back to 1938, and was originally marked with a different sign, whose design I couldn't find.

I really like this design; it pleases the eye, and hence I enjoy seeing the signs. But what I find strange about these signs, when I encounter them, is that, first, they are spaced far enough apart that there's no continuity (probably due to theft). Second, there's no organization or online support materials (save for Wikipedia) that will give you an overview of the route and the things that you're supposed to see along it.*

Seeing this sign might just make you even more lost than you were.

The Bill Murray film Quick Change pays homage to these signs, or maybe to their lack of guidance. In this scene (cue to 8:45), the trio in the car has just robbed a Manhattan bank and desperately needs to get to Kennedy Airport.

By the way, keep watching, because one of the funniest things I have ever seen comes next, when they ask a silent and solemn stranger for assistance.

In case you can't find it, the next clip is here. If you keep watching, Phil Hartman appears! Then, all hands are raised. (Ahh, it's a dumb attempt at a riddle - you'll see what I mean.)

*However, there is a 2001 printed guidebook that is probably very helpful.

Green Roof

In one of my previous posts, I gave props to cities that are adding natural and artistic elements to their grey palettes. I didn't include the High Line in New York, which is only partially complete but already amazing. I am also not going to write about that today. But, some cities, as upon Chicago's City Hall, have encouraged the use of plants as roofing materials. Why? Many reasons -- insulation, cooling cities in the summer (plants photosynthesizing UV rays instead of the rays baking rooftops and adding to the urban heat island effect), rainwater utilization and flood prevention, keeping pollinators happy, keeping people happy, to name a few. It's all the rage these days in the sustainability world.

404 Washington Green Roof, San Francisco, 2010.

This is a green roof on a structure that was probably constructed in the late 1800s. Although people like me (ok, maybe just I alone) jest and say "Here at the the Presidio, we've been into the sustainability thing longer than anyone!", such is not really the case (Although we do have our own green building guidelines that precede the creation of LEED).The weeds on this roof are either just that: weeds on the roof of an abandoned building; or they were grown there to make the structure slightly less visible to bombers. I guess that is also a form of sustainability.

Another time I will talk about distractions, and how they dictate my days at times. I just went to do a tiny bit of research on when this structure would have been constructed. I noticed a misspelling on the NPS website; this led me to m-w.com to verify the error; m-w.com had a vocab quiz to take. The perfect match of my love for vocab and competition... it took me two tries, but I got 3660 points the second time. yesss...a worthy distraction.

Transplant, Don't Bury

Transplant, Don't Bury, Texas, 1997.

I think the bumpersticker on this probably relates to being an organ donor.

I like the idea of "transplanting" car parts rather than burying them. Of course, they usually get compacted and melted down as scrap metal, not buried, but you get the point.

This car was apparently bulldozed into a slope as a method of erosion control, somewhere in Texas. It may have had the double function of reinforcing the fence that it's next to. I don't remember exactly where I saw this, but it was adjacent to a tract of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. I wish I'd taken a shot of the overall scene, but alas.

Coast Buckwheat

Coast Buckwheat, Crissy Field, 2010.

Coast buckwheat (Eriogonum latifolium) is a crucial plant for many butterfly species. It's a member of the knotweed family. Butterflies in the Lycaenidae family, which includes the Acmon blue and green hairstreak (both residents of the Presidio of SF), rely on two plant familes: knotweed and pea. The relationship between these two plant families is not totally understood, but the formula works. 

There's satisfaction in learning about nature, but even more in learning about mysteries that still exist today.

Intersection

Choose wisely, motorist; someone worked hard on this sign.

Options, San Francisco, 2011.

Whatever you do, do not block the intersection while trying to figure out the sign. 

I have always liked these. I just took another picture of one today. I'll add it when I develop the roll. Here's one I took in Milwaukee (Canon Rebel) in about 2002. 

Clybourn Options, Milwaukee, circa 2002.

Beauty in Dark Corners

59th Street/Lexington Subway Stop, New York, 2010.

Subway art.

Subway music (watch).

Subway music (listen).

City art. 

City life.

In art is life.

Color in a sometimes bleak and lonely place.

In life is art.

59th Street/Lexington Subway Stop, New York, 2010.

Thank you, to some cities, for appreciating the human need for beauty.

These photos are part of a mural entitled "Blooming" by Elizabeth Murray. More here.


P.S. I changed the template back to its simpler design today... I think it was a bit too busy...