Tale of two planters

Several years ago, we planted both of these planters identically. Each side, however, has gone its own way.


Left.


Right.

cappuccinos

Six ounce cup. Two ounces of espresso, four ounces of steamed milk.

Top row: July 11, 2015; March 13, 2015; January 31, 2015.
Middle row: March 9, 2016; May 27, 2014; August 30, 2016.
Bottom row: October 14, 2013; July 4, 2013; April 3, 2016.

sous chef

Helping me prep for Taco Tuesday.

a little YouTube in the fort

Peas, take two

I'm trying a second crop of peas this season. Here, on the left, are some shelling peas.


Here, on the right, are some snow peas.


And here they all are. With the first crop this season, I didn't have the heart to pull out the daisies that were growing there. I knew that was a bad idea, and indeed the poor peas battled mightily to get past them. So this time, I showed no mercy, and cleared the daisies out before planting the pea seedlings. (It helped that the daisies weren't even flowering.)

sunning before swimming

Sunflower: Day 156

The seeds are developing the beginning of the stripes of sunflower seed hulls...

...here's a close-up (with the contrast turned up) of the developing stripes...

...and the back of the flower head is getting a tinge of yellow.

Mathmagic and Beach Monsters

Anders and I visited the Exploratorium.


I wanted to take Anders there on this day in particular because they were showing Donald in Mathmagic Land, an educational Disney flick from 1959.


I saw this film two or three times as a kid, and I always loved it. It's really a treasure.

The visit was also an opportunity to see the Strandbeests (literally, "beach monsters") before the exhibit ended. Anders had seen them before (twice!), but this was my first time.



If you listen carefully, you can hear a surprised murmur of appreciation when the beest takes its first step.


Here it is after it's finished its march forward.


The construction is quite amazing. Here is a "nerve"...

....and a collection of nerves,


An earlier Strandbeest used this hammer to anchor itself in place on the beach...

...using anchors that were perhaps like this. (I say "perhaps" because this particular anchor is from a different iteration of the Strandbeest.)


Anders and an earlier Strandbeest.


While we were there, we also saw this Lego animation...

...and this cool, um, thing.

Gateway to nowhere

Anders and I walked past this arch on the way to the Exploratorium.


It's at the west entrance to Sydney G. Walton Square.


Some internet research reveals it's a remnant of the old Colombo Market, which was the first big produce market in San Francisco. The Colombo Market was built in 1874, and its demise was already being predicted less than two decades later.

(That's the beginning of an article from page 3 of the May 21, 1891, San Francisco Call.)

The market survived until the 1960s, though, when the Golden Gate development project that is still there now was built.

puzzling

third grade

The third grade classroom is on the second floor. It's a whole new view.

visitor

I found this friend on my espresso machine this morning.

Box City

Sigrid and the boys call this Box City.

baby fava pod

Look what I found in the garden today!


The favas continue to do well.

lemonade

Soren made lemonade using lemons from the garden.

the new finest strawberry

Today's strawberry...

...is better than the previous finest strawberry, from the end of June.

Sunflower: Day 150

150 days from planting as a seed, things are looking pretty shabby.

But the back of the flower head has yet to yellow/brown, so hopefully those seeds will develop yet.

climbing

Anders made it to the top of the rock face at the back of Douglass Park for the first time today.




From my vantage point, midway up the rocks, the view was already pretty good.

good tomato year

Bubbles & Bites at Gloria Ferrer

Happy birthday, Dan!

typical day at the Adventure Playground