horsetails!!

Who on earth would think to put horsetails in a little planter in a storefront???

I expect this:

But I've never dreamed of this:
that would be Equisetum

"productivity" is overrated.....

It seems as if the time is flying by without much time for reflection. I took the day off from work to help my younger son move out of his apartment. In a few short weeks, he moves into another apartment. So the stuff gets packed up and moved only to be moved again in August. August is shaping up to be nightmarish. I have company coming, my older son is returning from Europe to get ready to move to Paris by the end of August. One good thing about that is he can only take what the airline will allow. Then my younger son moves out for his junior year at college. And meanwhile, I am getting ready for a huge field effort on a project in Oregon that takes place in September. I have no time to waste. But that is not how my mind is organized. I require a certain amount of time that cannot be described as "productive" by those who tend towards productivity.

I spend a lot of time taking photos and processing them and even just looking at mine and others. Just enjoying the beauty around me. Somehow, along the way, I get done what I need to get done.

My trip out to San Francisco was a joy although I felt like I was just laying the groundwork for much more time there. I was surrounded by tourists, who like me were just trying to feel some small pulse of the city. San Francisco holds an irresistible lure for me. I want to live there or at least stay there for some months, maybe at least through all of the seasons, even if they don't have four seasons!

After seeing the movie, Mama Mia last evening, you might say, I have a dream....


p.s. I don't really believe that productivity is overrated, I just feel that "goofing off" time is just as important!

the pure pleasure of details

I am fascinated by details.
I had the opportunity to spend a few days in San Francisco last week. My goal: walk around and take photos. I am not sure why I am so fascinated by architectural details, but whenever I see old buildings, my imagination runs wild. For instance, on the first evening in SF, I just started walking north....up and down...up and down. I found myself on the top of one of the many hills. I had no guidebook yet, but I noticed a big dark mansion with a fascinating fence around it. After a little research, I learned that this building was the only house to "survive" the 1906 earthquake/fire on Nob Hill: the Flood Mansion now the Pacific-Union Club. The mansion was gutted by the fire but the shell survived and the building was restored. The fence is original, bronze and sandstone. The Pacific-Union Club is some kind of ultra exclusive men's club.

I had to laugh after reading this since one of the things I noticed while circling the building was the dumpsters full of discarded pizza boxes. Oh, I am sure it was "gourmet" pizza!

to be continued....