waves – A Tangled Mind In Motion

The Bus of Goodwill Headed In The Wrong Direction, But A Meercat Stopped It Dead

October 20, 2013July 2, 2016Posted in San FranciscoTagged bus station, bus stop, city, city lights, civic plans, Dreamy, Evening', Greyhound, history, magic, musician, night, novel, organic, outdoors, photography, San Francisco, San Francisco Bay, skyscraper, Sony NEX-6, stories, stroll, Transbay Terminal, urban, walk, waves, writerLeave a comment

Temporary Transbay Terminal, San Francisco, California

Ah, The bus terminal. The old American tradition of the 1950’s – 1970’s until it began it’s long slow decline to a reputation as a refuge for society’s marginalized, its homeless, its drifters and beggers and miscreants alike. Transit is always fun for people watching, but taking a Greyhound bus cross country takes it to a new level. A Scottish musician trying to make it big “I’m going to LA!”. A rotund elderly lady who forces the bus to stop in the Arizona desert because she doesn’t want to throw up around the other passengers (she sprinted to the back of the bus, and we all watched her heave). The dreamy throwback hippy millenial with her tie die and long straight hair all scarfed up. A wisecracking Asian bus driver, telling jokes that only a few of us understand, but we laugh because he’s laughing so hard at himself.

In any case, you’re looking at something temporary in this picture; By late 2016, San Francisco’s ultra modern Transbay Terminal (e.g. our first true Grand Central Station) will have opened, and the terminal before you will become a park with skyscraping views of shiny glass towers, with folks on lunch break nibbling their organic wheatberry salads as they sit awkwardly in the grass. Go West and gentrify, by gum, and don’t forget to bring your Pez dispenser!

The Waters of Life Have Many Names, And They All Contain The Truths We Can’t Speak Aloud

October 18, 2013July 2, 2016Posted in San FranciscoTagged bay, Bay Bridge, city lights, Embarcadero, Hills Brother Coffee, history, night, outdoors, photography, San Francisco, San Francisco Bay, Sony NEX-6, stroll, walk, waters, waves1 Comment

The last major quake in the San. Francisco Bay Area was the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989; it was perhaps the first quake of the modern age to be witnessed live, during the opening of Game 3 in the World Series between the Giants and their cross Bay brethren, the Oakland A’s. Millions watched as the screen went static, and the baseball players started looking around in quasi panic as the announcers talked about the shuddering rolling ground beneath. In the days that followed, we watched the iconic images of collapsed freeways, including the silver lining of the quake; the broken Embarcadero freeway, an eyesore double decker that ran the outer perimeter of the city and blocked many of its fantastic waterside landmarks like the Ferry Building.

The quake forced demolition of the freeway, and by 1991, the waterfront was reborn as the Embarcadero you see here, which is a source of much joy to locals and turistas alike as they ramble up and down its magnificent three plus miles.

Night walks on the Embarcadero promenade are a lovely menagerie of light and color, old brick buildings with ornate stonework and modern glass wonders. Or the Bay Bridge, who’s current LED light show undulate in non repeating patterns; the operating cost of the whole bridge display is only $15 USD per night!

These October nights are the tail end of San Francisco summer, the wind a mere gentle breeze, the temperature a mild 65F(18C), and I love the sound of the lapping Bay waters as they echo the city lights and the bridge in their reflections.

This Is The Land Of Lost Content, Delirious Highways Where I Can Never Return

October 17, 2013July 2, 2016Posted in San FranciscoTagged beach, Cliff House, cove, cypress trees, Great highway, history, Marin Headlands, nature, ocean, Ocean views, outdoors, Pacific, photography, San Francisco, Sand, Sony NEX-6, Sutro Baths, waves, wildflowersLeave a comment

San Francisco is not known for its beaches, or at least it’s not the first association that comes to mind, though the well known Mavericks surfing contest takes place on the fierce western shores up in Half Moon Bay a few miles to the south. But those who meander to the western edge of the Golden Gate Park on rare and fortunate sunny afternoons are treated to this grand view across the Great Highway, a vast expanse of natural sand where the Pacific Ocean comes in as it pleases, signs of shifting tides visible far into the drifts. Locals don’t speak much of this beach to the turistas, because most of the year, it’s overcast with rowdy freezing gusts that will have you wrapping on the layers right quick. Hardly a beach suitable for beach wear.

But on this day, a friend and I biked around the Cliff House, looked down, and saw that for this moment, life was good, and the sun shone down upon us and agreed.

Dead Saba Pirates Tell No Valentine’s Tales

February 14, 2013July 2, 2016Posted in SabaTagged Caribbean, love, nature, ocean, photography, Saba, Valentine's Day, waves, writingLeave a comment

Waves Crash Ashore At Spring Bay, Saba, Dutch Caribbean

Yo Ho Ho, And A Hallmark Gift Card In A Bottle of Rum

Waves smashing into every Saban shore, its craggy rocks, its vast ocean square and flat to the distant horizon. If I was a pirate, Saba would be my first choice, too; no wonder Columbus took a quick gander, mistook the perpetual fog on Mt Scenery for a smoking volcano, and headed straight for Statia without landing here.

What’re YOU doing for Valentine’s Day, that most treasured of love and courtship holidays? I’m listening to angsty friends complain about its commerciality, that it’s an invented holiday for card company profits, but not only has it been around since the Middle Ages as a celebration of love, but I think they’re missing the point. Certainly, you should celebrate your significant other all throughout the year, but everyone’s so endlessly busy in day to day life, why not have a holiday just to slow you down a bit and have a good excuse to take some missing quality time together, eh?

Sappy? Maybe, but If V-Day is wrong, I don’t wanna be right. Bless all of you and give your loved one a smooch and a hug today, just because you can.