One bad thing about living in California is the threat of wildfires in the fall, especially when the northwesterly winds suck all the humidity out of the air after five months of virtually no rain.

We woke up Wednesday to the smell of smoke from the wildfires in Napa and Yolo counties.


Yellow haze at Stinson Wednesday AM. You can still make out Sutro tower in the distance, but the air quality was lousy most of the morning.

Satellite image

Surreal sunrise

Hey (e:Maidencateyes) ! Small world! [inlink]maidencateyes,193[/inlink] :)

Yeah, there's something about this time of year there especially. Here's a link to pix of last year's Rhinebeck Halloween festivities:

It's funny - my friends Chris & Monique bought the place in Rhinebeck shortly before I moved out here, and that's become the weekend/holiday getaway gathering spot ever since.

Hmmm...I may have to rethink my "holiday" plans after all. I'd love to see my old gang again.

Time to get motivated for Halloween again. That week at the beach threw off my seasonal time clock. I really do miss having a full-fledged Fall season. At some point, in the spirit of balanced reporting, I'll write up a list of all the things that suck about being in the Bay area, and that'll be on it. For now I'll have to be satisfied with (e:Matthew)'s [inlink]matthew,412[/inlink]glorious pix.

My local Halloween party hosts for the past 2 years aren't going to have a party this year, and the host from the year before that moved out of state. So we're having a Halloween party crisis here. I should just have one myself, but now I'm sorely tempted to go back to Boston/Rhinebeck NY where I know my friend Steve will be pulling out all the stops for his party, which defies description. Here are some stills from the video Steve made one of the years his party was at my house.


That's my ex-boyfriend, Mark (before he was my boyfriend) attaching the dinosaur head to my front porch. (Once a guy has screwed a dinosaur head into your front porch you might as well give it all up to him, right?)


Steve checking the angle.


View from the neighbors.


Steve & me. You can't tell from this still, but here's another of my infamous conceptual costumes. Silver base with a bunch of junk computer parts/media (resisters, hunks of motherboard, optical tape, etc. scavenged during my system manager days) attached to a clear vinyl overlay. People kept asking me if I was supposed to be Barbarella. You'd think I would have learned my lesson then, but no.

I was pondering the Boston vs. self-hosted party options with my music buddy last night (R.E.M. concert was great, BTW) and he asked me if I've been to Halloween in the Castro. I've wanted to do that since moving here. This might be the year.

Halloween in the Castro

Hey, will the Bot be able to give Site Status Updates during the [inlink]news,510[/inlink]outage? I'm going into withdrawal already.

That's a big pumpkin.

I'm going to see R.E.M. at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley tonight. I can't wait. It's a great place to see a show - I saw the Pixies there last month. Possibly the most magical convergence of a peak (in my opinion) performance, incredible setting, and crowd being totally into it I've ever experienced anytime anywhere. I was at the Saturday 9/25 show. Here's the set list if you're interested. Apparently they change it around for every show.

1. Debaser
2. Velouria
3. Wave Of Mutilation
4. U MASS
5. Ed Is Dead
6. Planet Of Sound
7. Caribou
8. Gouge Away
9. Vamos
10. Mr.Grieves
11. Cactus
12. Nimrod's Son
13. Blown Away
14. Holiday Song
15. Here Comes Your Man
16. Bone Machine
17. Bam Thwok
18. Subbacultcha
19. No. 13
20. Dead
21. Monkey Gone To Heaven
22. I Bleed
23. Tame
24. Hey
25. Gigantic
26. In Heaven
27. Wave Of Mutilation (UK Surf)
28. Where Is My Mind

Whoa. my friends just called me on their way back from the beach. They said I left too soon - they got to participate in the rescue of one of the sea lions that were frolicking with us. It was really amazing (the frolicking, that is). All of a sudden this sea lion's head popped up not 15' from me. He was just checking us out. Then he went and got his buddy and came back. My friends were giving me a hard time about having to experience the moment first hand instead of through the lens of a camera, so of course then I had to go get my freakin' camera and try to get a picture of him. I probably spent two hours trying to get a good shot of him and his (by then) two buddies. Not easy to do with my camera because of the shutter lag time.

Anyway, they got to name him so we can now track him. They named him Kolby since it has the initials for all our names (Kathy, Lisa, Brenda). Great, now I have a sea lion named for me and my homies. ;-)

I don't know when he'll show up, but look for Kolby here:




Here's the best pic I got of him. Maybe he was trying to communicate telepathically with me and I was too busy playing Nat'l Geographic photographer to notice. Damn!

p.s. - I know, I know -- I've seen more convincing pictures of the Loch Ness sea monster. But take my word for it, that's a sea lion.

Well, I'm back from my extended stay at the beach. My friends seem to think my presence keeps their relationship on stable ground. I think it just gives them a reason to avoid getting into it, which isn't necessarily a good thing. It's kind of weird to be the third wheel in a lesbian relationship, but it seems to work. We're all getting something out of it for now anyway.

So what I really should be doing now is picking which online traffic school to "attend" so I can avoid getting a point on my driving record and having my insurance skyrocket. Yeah, I was bad. I actually ran a red light - my first moving violation ever! Not counting those two speeding tickets of course, which I had perfectly legitimate excuses for. Anyway, I was just pointing out Japantown to my out-of-town friends when the damn light changed and I didn't see it. I know that's not a legitimate excuse, but I was hoping for a little leniency seeing as I'm not a chronic offender. In Boston, three cars would have gone through right behind me. I know that doesn't make it right either, but it would be nice if that could be factored in. No such luck.

Anyway, the first four "approved online traffic schools" for San Francisco Superior Court are:

www.ComedyTrafficSchool.net
www.traffic101.com
www.SimpleFastFun.com
www.Fun4Ufast2.com

Just wanted to share that.

Sorry (e:Ajay) [inlink]ajay,154[/inlink] . I'll go easy on the pix. Or, come out and visit!

I'm off.

No, I didn't bring my laptop. Just a quick pitstop at home, then I'm driving back up to Stinson after a thing in SF tonight.


Looking left toward SF from the beach house.


Looking right toward Bolinas from the beach house.


On the lagoon side of the other house. A blue heron was standing on the neighbor's dock, and there are a ton of snowy egrets in the trees across the lagoon (also some cormerants, but you can't really see them in this pic.) Also saw lots of pelicans, but no great shots. Maybe later in the week.


Me this morning from the beach house. 11 October 2004.


Oh yeah - (e:paul) I stuck my toe in for ya.

Couldn't resist getting the scoop on the wedding while I'm here. Looks like a great time! Best wishes to the happy couple!

Time to get the hell out of Dodge and clear my mind. My friends are trying to convince me to stay for the whole week, and I just might do that.

The northern California coast is really beautiful and accessible. Just jump on Hwy 1 and you're hugging the narrow curves cut into the cliffs of the coastline with no barriers between you and the Pacific. It's just incredible. The beaches (near me at least) aren't built-up at all. And there are plenty of secluded spots along the miles of CA coastline where you can just pull over and claim your own private refuge.

Anyway, I can't wait. ;-)


Stinson Beach from Mt. Tam, October 2003