Old Borges Ranch - Walnut Creek, CA

It was a perfect Fall day yesterday so we took a little journey to Borges Ranch, located in the Shell Ridge Open Space above Walnut Creek. I have never been here in my entire life and it was a treat. It's a historic site with farm animals, lots of old farm equipment, water pumps, a blacksmith shop and a restored farmhouse for tours and classes.

A very scenic and historic place but I wouldn't hike around here in the summer. Not enough shade. Perfect for Spring and Fall though. We noted the volunteer-run quail habitat project on our hike, and Jackson got to visit with a lot of sheep, chickens, roosters and pygmy goats (my favorites).


Jackson's photo of the dinner bell.

Looking Up

Japanese Tea Garden, San Francisco

The Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park is a little hilly space nestled beside the hulking new de Young Museum building. It's been there for seemingly ever and used to be 50 cents to get in. Now it's seven dollars (unless you're a resident--$5, or you visit between 9 and 10 a.m.--those are retro-priced free hours).

This day was clear and sunny so I thought I'd revisit this small artificially created world. Looks good! Not as expansive and meditative as the Portland Japanese Garden, but still quite nice to stroll through, weaving around tourists with baby strollers. You can purchase relatively inexpensive tea service too. I got a mochi cake for $2.50. That's crazy high-priced, but I had to have that green mochi cake. Most places I visit don't carry it.

My favorite tree there. Artfully pruned and shaped over the decades.

I always thought the tall red pagoda was over-done. You're not really in Japan, Golden Gate Park! Kind of Disneylandish to my eye, so I obscured it with shrubbery.
This giant Buddha has always impressed me. Unfortunately, I didn't hold up a pencil or pose someone in front of it to give it scale. So just enjoy the lovely bamboo growing alongside.

Views from the de Young Museum tower - Golden Gate Park

I had never been in this tower until last week. I don't know why I missed this delightful trip in the sky. A super-clear day made it that much better. Bonus: lots of great Van Goghs too.

Ruth Bancroft Garden

It's hard to take a bad photo at the Ruth Bancroft Garden. It's like a combination dry garden/sculpture yard. Ruth Bancroft who's still going strong in her 90s, started collecting succulents in the 1950s and her interest blossomed into this three-acre wonderworld of rock and tough, drought-tolerant beauty. Plants from all over the dry world are thriving here within beautifully thought-out natural clusters.

Indian Summer

(camera phone still works)

Five best places to enjoy trees (from SFGate)

Decent list by Jill K. Robinson includes California and Washington State trees of wonder.

Park Furniture Design - the Mad Men years

I walk by this little grove of rocks and trees most days at Heather Farm Park but I barely noticed these concrete benches and table sets. But on this day I did. And they're really weird, aren't they? Someone's attempt at modern style, most likely from the late 60s.

There's a really unfortunate community center next door with a low awning that makes me mentally duck down every time I walk under it (and I'm barely 5'4"). Another attempt at modern design, but low buildings tend to look like cost-cutting measures unless they're made of interesting materials--like sod.

So be it. Hail to dated modernism. At least they're indestructible, though as you can imagine, they're not comfortable for any length of time--a loitering discouragement device.

Aquatic Park - San Francisco

I took Jackson on a whirlwind public-transportation tour of San Francisco for his last day of summer vacation. He loves public transportation and the beach, so we got going via BART, then a street car to meet dad for lunch down town. Then we braved a congested cable car experience with dozens of very tall European tourists, and finally: the beach. Ninety-degree weather made it especially summery. And there were several pelicans, dive-bombing the water. Whenever they dropped straight down into the waves, you could hear people on the beach go, "Ohhh!" in awe and admiration. Pelicans are strange, ancient-looking birds. I was glad to see them.



The creature rising from the sea in the second photo is either a Dolphin-club swimmer's arm, or Nessie the Aquatic Park Monster.

Blue Heron just barely

A nice couple pointed out this blue heron while walking along the path last night. They were thrilled and whispering and pointing--THAT'S that proper approach to bird watching, people. None of this tromping around and exclaiming, "WHAT? A HERON you SAY? WHERE?" So, thank you, nice couple.

I was able to shoot off a bunch of shots in a dark canal while this colorful guy hunted bugs. He was a stealthy (and hungry) little thing so many photos came out blurry. And guess what? Herons look like cats when they hunt. Very still, then aiming toward the prey, then LUNGE, SNATCH! Bug in the beak. He caught at least three big grasshopper-looking things as it got progressively darker and I had to eventually give up. The bugs were eating me at that point anyway.

Two views with two different camera settings. Nothing fancy, just a Canon Powershot, so I'll take what I can get.

Rock City and Wind Caves - Mt. Diablo

Rock City is well named and the wind caves are sandy and made from wind (and graffiti).

It's getting darker earlier

Soon I'll have to start tagging posts for "Fall." My evening walks will begin earlier and the alarm clock will wake us all too early. On the bright side: cardigans! This is Mt. Diablo glowing at dusk behind Heather Farm's wildlife sanctuary--a remarkable park in the middle of a growing city.

Low-key Wildlife at Dusk

At dusk the wildlife around here gets a bit complacent. Knowing they blend into their surroundings that much more, they don't take off quite so quickly as in the daytime (you hardly ever see much of them other than ducks and geese and the occasional turtle in the daytime). Here's some low-contrast sights I saw on my walk the other evening.

The elusive muskrat. There's a big family of muskrats swimming around the lake at dusk but they're very hard to photograph because they duck under the reeds near shore. This one was sitting nearby in the canal, not noticing me for a while until a couple of walkers came by and startled it away. I tried to explain to them that there was a muskrat two feet away that I was trying to photograph but they just smiled and said, "Oh, yeah?" really loud. Way to go, nature lovers.

A large group of finches were picking apart these thistles. Another pair of walkers scared them all off, except for this loner, who fearlessly plucked away at his thistle feast, tossing it about while I snapped away. Looking for bugs in there? Don't know. The air was fluffy with downy plant matter.


I'm not including my blue heron shots because that blue heron is stealthy and managed to blend into the surroundings so well, you have to squint to see him. And that doesn't live up to my exacting photographic standards around here (ahem). I'll get you yet, little heron, even though you're the shyest creature in the lake.

Stow Lake -- Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

Paddle boating last week in the fog. We went under the bridge where Joseph mentioned there might be a troll living. I sang "Come Sail Away" for the acoustics. Paddle boating is good exercise, yo.

Datura's a night owl

When I go for my early evening walks, there's a few Datura plants at the entrance-way to the park. They look like the top photo when I start my walk. And when I head home, they look like the second photo. During the day, they look like spring rolls--you'd never know there's a dramatic flower waiting to come out at night.