April 2005 Archives
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We've spent some time at Coyote Hills Regional Park, near the Dumbarton Bridge, and now it's time to explore the Hayward Regional Shoreline, near the San Mateo Bridge. Though not as beautiful and diverse as Coyote Hills, Hayward Shoreline has quite a number of birds and a nice spot to watch the the San Francisco Bay.
Click below for more Hayward critters.
The ladies of the Sunol Homeowners Association are still impatiently awaiting their cable tv, and insist that they be hooked up before Constantine gets kicked off of American Idol. Thank you for your attention.
Click below to see Sunol's tiny version of Yosemite...
Another look at the this exclusive local plant.
I post more pictures of poppies not because it is prudent, but because I prefer it. I will post poppies until people pop from the persistence of poppies.
The yellow flowers in the middle, I believe, are the endemic Mt. Diablo Sunflowers, which only grow within a fairly close proximity of Mt. Diablo (this is about 40 miles away). They were all over the park.
What is that you say? That it is not possible to post more pictures of poppies? Pshaw! Pshaw!
For readers offended by the persistence of poppies, I post this picture, which I consider to be the anti-poppy, as consolation:
By the way, if anyone knows what species that is, I'm curious. Couldn't find him in the books. Found on the park road at Sunol Regional Wilderness Park, near the visitor's center.
After meeting the fine ladies of the Sunol Homeowners' Association (see previous post), I hiked through the Canyon View Trail at the Sunol Regional Wilderness park. This gorgeous park is in full bloom this year, as Northern California has had plenty of rain. The grasses are green, the variety of flowers can't be counted, and the endless green hills are disturbed only be the occasional artistically placed oak. This week we'll take a long, slow walk through a small portion of this huge complex of parks in the East Bay hills. The poppies were everywhere.
And the occasional dead tree--due to natural causes, or the Oak Death disease that many are worrying about here I don't know--contrasted against the bursting green hills.
Say it with me now, "The hills are alive! The hills are aliiiiiiiive!" Ok, don't. But check back in over the next few days to see a low elevation version of a Swiss landscape. And a teeny tiny version of Yosemite.
The ladies of th Sunol, California, homeowners' association would like to express their concern over the lack of cable television access in the Sunol Regional Wilderness park. The ladies would very much like to catch up on past episodes of CSI and Desperate Housewives. They also have some shopping to do on HSN. The ladies hereby warn the public that if they do not get what they want, they may spend even more time sleeping that would be considered prudent. Thank you for your attention.
Poppies are everywhere in the Bay Area right now. Some of the best displays are near freeways, but I found this bunch on the San Mateo County coastline.
Fremont, California is one of those cities in which no tourist ever sets foot. But like the rest of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, it hosts the East Bay Regional Parks District, a series of beautiful parks, many of which would be state parks in other parts of the country. One that is well known to commuters who cross the homely Dumbarton Bridge is Coyote Hills Regional Park.
This time of year the hills are emerald green, lush with wildflowers, brimming with squirrels.
Update: nice article on Coyote Hills here.
Fremont, California's Coyote Hills Regional Park is one of the Bay Area's hidden gems, and a place I enjoy stalking with my camera. This red-winged blackbird perched on the cattails in the marsh and posed nicely. More pictures from Coyote Hills coming up this week.
Click here for previous installments of A Week in Rome.
Well, after a couple of months and hundreds of photos, Susan the Human will cease to be All-Rome-All-the-Time after today. You might say I was ahead of my time, given that the news networks went All-Rome just in the last week. But that's the kind of cutting edge photojournalism you've come to expect from our little blog. Yes sirree. I've got lots of non-Roman pics on tap, but let's get that last batch of Rome out of our system right now, capisci?
Click here for previous installments of A Week in Rome.
Rome is a big city, too big to wrap up in just one post. For all the places I've shown you, there are dozens of little pictures and tidbits that just didn't fit. So it'll take two photo-filled posts to finally get The Eternal City out of my system.
I don't know where to start. So let's just hop randomly through the week, shall we?
The Pope's death this week brought millions to Rome, and according to today's New York Times, 4 hundred thousand in the last two days have visited St. Peter's Square. All I can say is thank you, John Paul, thank you for not taking your bow while I was in town. Because St. Peter's Square photographs so much better when your dearly faithful are not in it.
A lone monk wanders by the fountain in St. Peter's square, looking for his cloister.
Click below for the rest of this second-to-last swing through Rome...
Click here for previous installments of A Week in Rome.
On our last day in Rome, we had a bit of extra time, and the rain was coming down, so we dove into the closest museum to Termini station, The National Museum of Rome. Modest on the outside, the museum's modern interior features several levels of diverse attractions ranging from a massive fresco collection to a genuine treasure vault that would make any pirate drool. But first we must admire the discus man.
Click here for previous installments of A Week in Rome.
From almost anywhere in central Rome you can see them, the flying horses on top of the Victor Emmanuel Monument. Well, ok, the horses aren't flying, the Hermes-type-guy is, but from a distance you can't see him, and it looks like flying horses.
Emmanuel was the first king of a unified Italy. The country is now a Republic, its dysfunctional royal family banished from its borders, but the monument remains, a shining white palacial expanse of marble, horses, more marble, and more horses, capped off by an enormous fat king sitting on an enormous fat horse. While locals call it a set of dentures, tourists enjoy it and the lovely views from the top of its many steps.
The dome in the background is St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City.
Click here for previous installments of A Week in Rome.
Atop Capitoline Hill is a museum sadwiched between the enormous wedding-cake Emmanuel Monument and the stunning remains of The Forum. In a single day it's easily possible to do the Collosseum, Palatine Hill, The Forum--
--the Capitoline Museum, and the Emmanuel and still have time to walk into the heart of the old city for dinner.
The Capitoline's appeal is in its irreverent (perhaps unintentional) exhibits, such as this fine collection of disembodied parts:
