no turning back

[lytton ave]

here we go into 

the future (as if we didn't 

do that every day). farewell, 

2008.

tunes and wheels

[university ave at kipling st]

december pastiche at 

the apple store downtown

late december autumn

[hamilton ave between bryant & ramona]

believe it or not, this is not another 

photo from the archives: this is city hall 

on the 29th of december. 

not exactly a winter wonderland, is it?

guess how many millions

[near downtown]

forgive me: i'm experiencing something 

of a new-photo drought; here's one from 

the archives, taken in early october:

a fairly typical palo alto house

(i love the shapes and delicate colors on this one)

twins

[palo alto caltrain station]

they're no match for 

the catbus, sure, but

they do have a certain 

feline quality, i think

left

[palo alto caltrain station]

fair california, i have

not abandoned you. i'm

coming home soon.

jaunty

[palo alto caltrain station]

three days before christmas

on the way to the airport

on the way to the other coast

to spend the days with family

among hibernating trees and under cooler skies

happy holidays & happy skywatching!

silent night

"And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not." [John 1:5]

Y es hermosa la luna solitaria, 
la blanca luna en la estrellada noche 
negra cual la abundosa cabellera 
negra del nazareno. Blanca luna 
como el cuerpo del Hombre en cruz, espejo 
del sol de vida, del que nunca muere. 
Los rayos, Maestro, de tu suave lumbre 
nos guían en la noche de este mundo 
ungiéndonos con la esperanza recia 
de un día eterno. Noche cariñosa, 
¡oh noche, madre de los blandos sueños, 
madre de la esperanza, dulce Noche, 
noche oscura del alma, eres nodriza 
de la esperanza en Cristo salvador! 

[Miguel de Unamuno, El Cristo de Velázquez]

Wherever you may be in the world, I send you warm wishes for a very merry Christmas.

protected by borges

[university ave]

i'm not quite sure what a security system 

by borges might entail: 

several circular walls, perhaps, 

or a series of forking paths 

that must be navigated before the entrance? 

red and green

[middlefield rd, redwood city]

california flora, 

nonchalantly dressed up for christmas

(okay, okay, so this is redwood city, 

not palo alto. give me a break, please? 

it's pretty close. and 

i've been at the airport all day.)

nocturne

[hamilton ave at ramona st]

staying up way past delirium

cleaning the floors

wandering outdoors

overdosing on podcasts

packing my bags...

o christmas tree

[inside the university art annex, hamilton ave at ramona st]

alternatives (or additions) to the

traditional living breathing greenery

on display at this artsy gift shop

glub glub

[bike/pedestrian underpass, california ave]

under the train tracks,

under the sea...

magic trick

[alvarado row, stanford]

what's this? the sky—

it's vanished! where did it go?

i'll bet we can find it at skywatch...

going nowhere

[webster st at coleridge ave]

stop
look around
go
no not that way
turn around
go
stop
go
on
and on

meow

[university ave]

sometimes you just can't not
stop to take a picture

it was cold today

[stanford ave in august]

here's a reminder of warmth

lights, please

[university ave at ramona st]

a cold, rainy, gloomy,
curl-up-and-do-nothing
kind of day was today
(not when i took this photo,
but it fits the mood)

be alert

[webster st]

illuminated

[memorial church, stanford]

façade with a halo of sunlight

twilight cloaked in conifers

[webster st at hamilton ave]

look east

[view from hoover tower, stanford]

in the foreground, stanford football stadium; beyond,
a thin strip of the san francisco bay. cross
the dumbarton bridge into the east bay hills, and
on into the horizon...

fading season

[main quad, stanford]

getting chilly around here,
dropped below forty degrees fahrenheit
last night (that's cold for around here).
most trees are bare by now (except
the evergreens, of course); this one still had most
of its leaves just a couple of weeks ago.

summer color on a winter day

[middlefield rd]

spotted on an aimless and
disillusioned wandering
in late november

ice cubes

[gates bldg reflected on hewlett bldg, stanford]

normally at this time of year, i would
use "ice cubes" to refer to the weather
somehow. but it's not quite that cold here.
just an aesthetic reminiscence in this
building (do you sense a theme in the names
on this part of campus?)

larger than a garden gnome

[melville ave near alma st]

i don't know anything about this
sculpture, and i am especially
in the dark as to why it includes what
appears to be a humanoid figure without
a head. but the fact that someone has this
giant piece of metal in their front yard made it
photoworthy enough for me.

sticks and stones

[main quad, stanford]

scarlet foliage glowing

on an autumn morning

sail away

[webster st at coleridge ave]

the weather's nice,
the surface calm and smooth:
good day for a skywatching voyage!

meet me on the roof

[rooftop of green library viewed from hoover tower, stanford]

last week of classes: need a
break from studying? tiptoe
away from your carrel hidden
in the corner, slip between the
shelves past vonnegut, vollmer,
vizenor, vidal, then glide down
the aisle between udall through
updike and hemingway through
hinton, steinbeck through
stowe and faulkner through
fitzgerald, and sail up the spiral
staircase into the gazebo crown, out
through liquid french windows and a-
light on the sundeck. i'll be
there.

trio

[melville ave near alma st]

sometimes i wish i lived in
a bigger city, busier, more noise
and bustle going on around
me, but then again
ensembles like this can be
nice company, too

look a-round (it's a glorious place, this)

[stanford campus and santa cruz mountains as seen from hoover tower]

whoops, i blew it and forgot
to register in time for
december theme day. (can you believe
it's december already??) so here's
another unofficial theme-day post.

this month's theme is circles/spheres.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants