Walrus Heads

 Monday morning (6/24), I went out into the San Francisco morning (slightly foggy) and photographed various buildings.  This was a happy discovery, tucked away behind a corner, built in 1908.

Only this part remained and was reincorporated into another building (I think).  I'm guessing the A C stands for Alaska Commercial.

It reminded me of a similar walrus carving in Seattle.

 

No Gargoyles Here...

Over the weekend, we packed into the car and drove eight hours to San Francisco.  Mark did the lion's share of the driving.  We found some likely looking and interesting stops about four hours away from Eugene:  Uh, Something-Platts, and the Hotel at Wolf Creek.  The Hotel is fairly old, Jack London stayed there (I think on the way to Alaska).  The drive down was fairly uneventful until we got to the Bay Bridge.

We stayed about a block away from the Transamerican Pyramid, on the cusp between the Financial District and Chinatown.  This was a reconnaissance trip to see what sorts of things that we might do on a later trip.  Also, The Child wanted have room service breakfast in a nice hotel, a dim sun meal anywhere in Chinatown, and dinner in the Hard Rock Cafe.  Somehow, visiting Ripley's Believe It Or Not at Fisherman's Wharf worked its way into the trip.

I brought my camera so I could take photographs of the architecture.  I didn't take into account the 1906 earthquake and fire.  And I didn't do any gargoyle research.  As a result, I didn't get many photos of gargoyles or grotesques; instead, there were many grand entrances.   We decided that the buildings in San Francisco resembled the buildings in Portland, Oregon, more than they did the ones in New York City (but then again, we pretty much stayed within the walkable area between the pyramid and Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill.

The folks we saw (over the weekend) dressed better than folks from Eugene, but not as well as folks in New York (and on reflection, not as well as folks in London).  The diversity was different... it felt very much dependent on the neighborhood we were hoofing through. 

We went to City Lights Bookstore ... and, it was fun, but it had been billed as "like Powell's Books," which isn't true.  Nothing is like Powell's City of Books.  City Lights was more like Tsunami Books in Eugene (only with a publishing house (and Allen Ginsberg) connected to it). 

Next time we visit, it would be fun to connect with various Bay Area friends (I'd lost track of how many folks I know have gravitated there).  I wouldn't mind going to a few more museums.  And it could be fun to go to the Pride Parade. 

Solstice Flowers

Last week, flowers in our yard provided some good photo opportunities.  I enjoyed the mystery of the poppies; each day was slightly different as the blooms shrugged off their protective sheathes, flowered, and then disrobed--casting spent petals--and held up ripening seed pods.  The bed where they grow looks like a scene from an Egyptian frieze.

This week, there's one poppy bud -- the last -- rising up toward flowering.  We're not sure how long it takes the pods to have viable seeds, or if the seeds will only grow in the raised bed or all over the yard.

I'm hoping they'll bloom in more than one place, although, given the history of the yard, it's unlikely in the eastern bed and a slim possibility in the western one.  It's possible they might do well out front.

Dragonfly Season

Monday I was feeling grumpy, so I didn't go to the gym.  I can't quite put my finger on why I felt grumpy, which is a little disconcerting because it's full moon, not new moon, and the Summer Solstice and all its attendant daylight is right around the corner, so I can't blame the short daylight hours.  I'm thinking maybe I should blame the pollen count.  Or maybe sleeping poorly because of the 95F weather.  Or maybe I'm wishing Eugene and my life was more fabulous.  

I did go to the gym Wednesday (6/19) and Saturday last (6/15) and managed the usual routine.  So I'm not a total slacker. 

The season of Dragonfly Hunting has begun.  The other day Cicero was worrying something in the ground and I rescued a damaged dragonfly--a skimmer of some sort--from a protracted torture session.  I don't know if he'd caught it mid-air, or if a bird had pecked it, but it seemed deflated.  I thought it might recover, and tried to give it a branchey perch, but my efforts did not help.

At my folks' house last weekend, we saw spiketails, a window skimmer, and either a flame skimmer or an autumn meadowhawk.  

Currently, (Wednesday night), I'm writing this under the deck pavilion.  It's breezy and about 68F.  The pavilion is nice, but it does require extra effort to see the night sky.  I think it's worth it, though, because the deck is pleasantly shaded during the hot part of the day.   The pavilion seems, if not rain-proof, at least rain-resistant.  

I've been halfheartedly wanting to photograph the moon and Jupiter ... but the combination of having the best shots happen at midnight, and the partially cloudy skies have had me sitting back and simply appreciating the bright dance in the sky when I glimpse it through clouds and branches.

Writing has been hard, lately.  

Corvallis Wildlife

 Resucued this lizard (one of two) from my folks' pool Sunday.  I think it's a blue-bellied alligator lizard... but I may be recalling a name made up from childhood.  I'm not sure what the lizards were doing in the pool, and it seemed odd that there were two of them; maybe they were fighting and pushed each other in; maybe it was sexy-lizard time and they got distracted.  This one had been in the pool longer, I think, as it was near the bottom and not nearly as responsive as the first one I fished out, and which crawled up the skimmer net and onto my hand.

Earlier in the day, we had noticed this dragonfly.  There are three types flying around their house:  this one, one with a clear window in its wings, and a skinnier yellow banded one (I'm away from my dragonfly book, so I can't look up their names).

One nice thing about dragonflies--aside from eating a ton of mosquitoes--is that they'll stand still long enough for a photo, and this one obliged by alighting on a car antenna.   It also perched on a bird feeder, but I wasn't able to get as close (and also the camera's auto-focus kept wanting to take pictures of the trees in the distance).

Listless Thursday

I heard through the grapevine that this year Eugene ranks as the highest pollen count in the nation.  Mark is really wiped out this year.  The pollen is making me tired, I think.  Which in turn is making me tired.  Which in turn is making me grumpy and listless.   I wish I felt creative and energized instead of like The Void is gaping right next to me, which is tiresome.

Ah well, time do mash together songs like "I Need You," and ... well, nope -- just a straight up rendition will do.

At least we have foxgloves, poppies, catnip, nicotina, and other flowers blooming in our yard.

The last week has felt like a strange, in-between week.  In part this is because it's the last week of classes, so everything has that penultimate, winding-down feel to it.  We've also had record-breaking heat Tuesday and Wednesday.  

Went to the gym Saturday last.  Between his birthday celebrations and special school events, The Child's schedule is wonky, so I ended up not having the time (or inclination) to go to the gym Monday.  Went to the gym (late) on Wednesday to beat the heat.  Probably skipping Monday was a good thing, because the pulled muscles from last week didn't feel so evident.  

Writing Weekend

Some poppies sprouted up in the back yard.  Mark's a little mystified as to how they got there.  We weren't quite sure what they were at first.  The flowers started blooming last Tuesday or Wednesday, and they must have done their thing because both blooms have dropped their petals.  More blooms seem it be in the works.  The flowers are a pretty lavender shade, and we're hoping for more volunteer plants next year.


Gym Report:  Skipped Friday and went to the gym Saturday.  I dialed back the weights to my original values, but youch, I've definitely pulled a latissimi dorsi on my left side -- possibly when I lifted Smokey in a cat carrier on the way to the vet -- which doing any kind of press quickly revealed.  I'm managed to do everything, and the exercises seemed to help loosen up where I was tight.

The universe it trying to tell me something, I think, on three separate occasions the last few days, someone has told me a variation of "Getting old means putting on a sock and pulling a muscle."


On the writing front:  Mark and The Child went with some friends to the coast, so I managed to get some work done.  Some of it was actual re-casting exposition into action.... and I'm finding it helpful to think of a recently critiqued manuscript as a detailed outline.  Or something.   Looking at the word count... not stellar progress (not quite 1000 words).   But... there was some back-story filling going on, and also some research (space beer and aereospace composite materials).  So, not a total loss.

In related news, I Did All The Laundry, made crustless quiche, diagnosed a solar LED string, created three glass tiles, watched "Age of Ultron," and administered cat meds to a cat that hates cat meds.

I got a contest rejection Friday night, which I suspected was going to happen because the market usually contacts folks about a week before the winners' announcement date, and I hadn't been contacted.


Dreams have been kind of weirder than usual, lately, with long, complicated plots.  Unfortunately, I haven't been motivated enough to arise and write them down as I wake, so I only remember the odder bits.

Last night I dreamt someone was trying to silence witnesses by driving pencils up their noses in order to make them lose the power of speech.  In a typical dream-logic hole, I don't know why this wouldn't prevent them from writing down messages.   In another dream, I was looking through a camera that made all the microbes in one's mouth light up... it was sort of a cross between a macro-lens and a microscope, and I was looking into a celebrity's mouth. . .

Friday Update

Went to the gym Wednesday.  I've been adding five pounds to my routine and I think I may have overdone a press or something because I pulled a latissimus dorsi along my left side.  I suppose it will improve my posture, because leaning back into chairs hurts.

On the writing front, I'm working on putting various parts of a recently critiqued story from narrative exposition into action scenes.

I think this is a cormorant.  It's one of the photographs I took from the forbidden side of the Siuslaw Bridge.  I think it would be fun to have a house right on the water, but also I would worry about that one really high wave.  The nest looked robust, so I suppose it's not usually a problem.

Siuslaw River Bridge

Sunday we escaped the pollen in the Willamette Valley and headed to the coast.  Mark decided that since we usually head north when we get to Highway 101, we would head south instead.

We walked along a very windy jetty and watched osprey at Honeyman State Park and wound up in Florence.   As we drove over the Siuslaw River Bridge, the finials and art deco-ish bits caught my eye and I said I wanted to photograph the architectural details of the bridge.





We walked through Florence and up the stairs to the bridge's deck.  I've taken photos of the bridge before, but usually from a distance.  I am a little confused about how the bridge's structure works as a bridge, because I'm not used to seeing concrete used in a suspension arch -- maybe it's concrete-clad iron girders?







In any case, the bridge has aesthetic lines in the arches.  The 1930's decorations remind me of the Empire State Building.










We walked along the eastern side of the bridge, which was a little alarming because the sidewalk didn't seem to be far enough away from the traffic.  I took a few detail shots and realized that I wasn't going to get good detail on the various designs embossed into the concrete unless I crossed 101.  So I did and was rewarded with much better lighting (the hight contrast on the concrete caused by direct sunlight confused the light-meter on the camera).

I think scaled down columns like this would be fun in our back yard... it might be too imperial, though.  And I can hear Mark saying how they might tip over onto someone or a cat.

The arches had decorative wings on them.  The details came out much more clearly on the west side of the bridge.

One of the things I like about 1930's American architecture is that they took the time to put little decorative details on otherwise utilitarian objects; it gives a animistic or spiritual aspect to structures.

The timing was perfect for this photo, and I didn't realize until I got home that the shadows of the feathers were lining up with the feathers beneath.

I really do think the columns were inspired by the Empire State Building.  Or maybe the Chrysler Buildind.

Or Orthanc. 

I'll have to keep how they sculpted this column in mind the next time I'm making sand castles.  I think a simple triangle-cut plank could make a good tool to get this effect.

Mark gave me a hard time for crossing Highway 101, and I replied it wasn't like I clambered under a moving, two-ton, ATHLETE (All-Terrain Hex-Limbed Extra-Terrestrial Explorer) robot at JLP (yes, I saw a photographer do this--the engineers all collectively gasped).

I took a final, obligatory photograph of sunlight slanting underneath the bridges gothic arches.

So Steamy !

The City of Eugene has purchased an old steam plant that was built in the 1930's.   Mark and I toured it last Saturday.

They plan to remodel it over the next two years and turn it into a public brew-pub / music venue / shared office space / riverside destination.

The steam plant used to provide steam heating for the City of Eugene and Peacehealth Hospital (when it was near the U of O campus).  It hasn't produced any steam for (I want to say) a decade. 

 We were on a tour with about ten other folks.  I was with a group of photographers who pretty much stopped listening to the tour guide so we could snap photos of all the half-century old tech.  I mean, really; who could resist a dial that reads "Power Factor" ?

 I was so busy photographing Mark that I failed to get a good photo of the valve he was turning, which had a lot of words on it.

It was too bad that safety concerns prevented us from climbing up on the catwalks.








I spent too much time trying to get a good photo of this yellow hook, which was part of a giant crane on a track.  The whole structure was about three stories tall.











The crane was used to hoist massive generators through sliding barn doors on the south-east side of the building and ease them along the length of the building. 

I wish we could have stayed longer -- I could have easily spent three hours in there photographing stuff

 What struck Mark was that the actual boiler was something like five stories tall and had human-sized hatches in it.

 I came away from the tour with an increased appreciation of the building.  From the outside, it looks like a typical brutalist architecture (I think this is partly because of a later addition to the building's south-east side).  But after seeing the inside, you can see that the building was responding to and designed for showcasing the boiler and support structures. 

The whole place was a steampunk stock photo opportunity.  In fact, Mark had to remind the tour guide that the photographers in the group had started to leave the building, but had stalled out surrounded by all the steamy.

Critique Notes

I was reviewing a piece and its critique notes the other night and one critic said that they didn't like puzzle stories.  I am going to interpret that as "Jar of Tang" stories, where the author withholds information so they can have a revelation at the end.  I am also going to re-interpret that as stories where the reader gets to the end and says, "Huh?" as opposed to stories that start out a little confusing at first, but by the end the reader says, "Of course."

Looking at what I had written, the effect that I'm working toward -- partially through my choice of first-person narrator's voice -- is to see old things through a new filter in order to induce a sense of wonder.   I'll have to keep the balance between a Tang Story and a Wonder-Filter story in mind when I'm working on this piece.  I'll have to remember to try to step out of my head and make sure what I'm writing is clear to a reasonable reader.  (Yes, it's probably true that I am not a reasonable person.)   I edited out some of the more unnecessary decoration from some sentences in an effort to simplify them.

Another critique note was that the language in the piece was ponderous.  ... Hmmm... slow or clumsy because of great weight.   This one is harder for me to address, because I wanted the piece to have an elevated vocabulary.   Again, part of the solution is to simplify.  The other part is to look where there are exposition lumps and turn them into in-scene action.

Ah well, back to the editing board.

Cats