[OT from cottage renovations]
last image in the San Francisco series, taken while walking back to the hotel from City Lights.
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once again I was taken by the way structures lose definition as they cross into the fog layer.
[OT from cottage renovations]
that San Francisco is a city of bridges is patently obvious. from anywhere with even a fractional view they blend with their settings to make a pleasing whole. part of my father's boyhood was spent there before the bridges were built but I really can't imagine what it would have been like then.
by now the bridges are very much feeling their age (it wasn't at all reassuring to glance from the deck of the Bay Bridge at one of the maintenance access points, marked with a warning sign reading condemned followed by some lengthy text, all of which flitted past too quickly for comprehension of the details. work is underway, however, to replace the eastern part of the bridge (out of frame to the L in the first image below) and presumably the other upkeep items are being seen to, so the bridges should be around for a while.
important though they are for defining the places they connect and the region they serve, I have always favoured the prospect from the waters over which they cross. the images below were taken from the deck of the Sausalito ferry.
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meanwhile, over on the Golden Gate the omnipresent fog softens edges, creates the sort of lighting that subdues the bridge's signature colour and conceals the summit of the N tower, its full extent hinted at by the visible part of the cable assembly it supports. there's just enough of a breeze to keep the fogbank in motion and to create texture and interplay of light and shadow on the bay's surface.
[OT from cottage renovations]
what a fine thing it was to encounter a lion dance troupe. the auspicious character of the day was marked with a break in the customary fog.
(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)
[OT from cottage renovations]
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doorwindowwall]
there was something about this building on a corner that caught my attention and I actually hung around there for a while, retaking this shot as twilight turned into night and the lighting got more interesting.
there's a lot going on here. for me it started with structural detail, of which of course there was no shortage, and then went on to the small touches like the way the wash was hanging to dry in the casement window. look at it for a while you'll see there's even more
(click through this thumbail for higher resolution image)
over the past couple of days this is one of the images that has kept pulling me back.
[OT from cottage renovations]
more than 150 years ago Commodore Matthew Perry's black ships went to Japan to secure trading rights for the US, an event commemorated by Shimoda's annual Kurofune Festival.
more than 400 years before that, the last of the Ming Dynasty's great treasure fleets sailed the Pacific and Indian oceans under the command of the legendary Admiral Cheng Ho.
nowadays the Yang Ming Line's black ship YM North is on the north Pacific run, laden with a treasure consisting of mass produced consumer goods serving a market whose trade balance now runs the other way. it is just one of many whose comings and goings may seem unremarkable to many and at 3,860 TEU it is not even in its owner's first or second tier by size. this may not matter in the current shipping market: though inbound it is clearly less than fully laden.
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even so it made quite a sight from the deck of the Alameda ferry, seen under the Bay Bridge as it began the turn to round Yerba Buena Island on approach to the Port of Oakland's container terminal.
on arrival the containers of many colours will be lifted off, yarded, drayed and hauled to their market destinations, many of them by rail.
even out on the water one never is far from the railroad.
[OT from cottage renovations]
[crossposted to doorwindowwall]
coming down the hill it was the details of this scene that caught my eye: the low wall's brick core, its outer crust cracking and spalling off (taking the graffiti with it), the detail of the gates on both sides.
but what remained with me (though I don't know why) was the green of vegetation ... and matching recycling bin.
[OT from cottage renovations]
San Francisco: where the statuary has brand preferences and the litterbugs have a sense of humour.
(click through this thumbnail for higher resolution image)
[OT from cottage renovations]
as seen recently from the Alameda ferry: the bulging eyes, bulbous nose and red face immediately suggested a possible source of inspiration for this vessel's Japanese naval architect.
(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)
Tokyo Marine tanker Ginga Eagle riding at anchor in San Francisco Bay |
Syakki Noh mask, available from Inoue Corp, Kyoto |
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