Berkeley Walk (going condo)

Gate on College Avenue..

My "favorite" house on College is going Condo.. It's been this way for a while but today I actually got around to taking pix:

proposal..




2710 College Ave.

Cats of Berkeley 5

so this sweet Morris Cat I've run into a few times.. very friendly, but thankfully never follows me beyond its corner..

Sunny Day on Bancroft

Walking down Bancroft toward Shattuck... I love being able to see so far down the road that you can take the Bay into your scenery..


For someone who's usual view is of the hills, this was a lovely reminder.

Reading Challenge 2016 Pt. 3

The Spring semester has had me behind in my reading challenge, and when I *did* manage to read anything, it seems it was mostly school related. I have 2 weeks before Summer classes start.. so we'll see how much I get read before then.. I am (as always) amid at least 10 books, (many of them being library books I've had to return after renewing as much as I could.)


a few of the books I'm hoping to actually finish sometime this Summer..

I just started reading Orlando Figes' Just Send Me Word (which I thought sounded interesting while reading Revolutionary Russia for some side-reading in my World History class..) I checked it out Sunday during Bay Area Book Fest so I've not gotten into it yet. Some of the source material are some 1500 letters that were written (& left uncensored) while imprisoned in Stalinist gulag. Sounds romantic,yes?

Belarus (Mathew Wilson) is another book I'm having to return to the library after renewing three times.. I'm about 65% through it and up to the 'modern era' but I'll have to wait to check it out again on another visit. So far it's been interesting from a linguistic and geographic point of view, and helped me understand a couple things about 'self identification' (but also brought up a few questions.. ah well.)

Not pictured, The Philosophy of Mathematics (David Bostock.) I'm about halfway through, but have been sharing it with unknown entities as I've had to return it a couple times due to it being 'on hold' for someone else,(when it's not on hold for me!)

Country in the City (Richard Walker) and The Heyday of Malcolm Margolin (which I started twice already) I am having to re-start from the beginning.. Basically I start a book, something happens, I have a different book (for school or otherwise,) getting priority and then I come back to previous book a week later, (if I'm lucky.) Otherwise things get re-shelved, and library books get priority because I have to return them, or I have a paper to write, something.

I spent 20+ hours weekly working on Statistics and feel lucky to pass it (which is a total bummer because I was actually enjoying most of it.. but enjoying it and 'getting it' in a timely manner are different things.).. Therefore reading, unless class related, got pushed aside for much of the semester.

I guess we'll see where I'm at after Summer Session.. Mainly due to my short-comings in Maths, I'll be taking a couple classes this Summer for the first time. I'd like to have my History AA-T at the end of Spring 2017 semester. It can happen!

There's Always the Bad Poetry

new poem over on my Poetry Blog..

Just the Same

Walk around Mission

One of the things I like about heading to the city to return/check-out new books, (besides the books part!) is walking around and seeing something new..

Friday I needed to make a side errand to Costco before the library opened.. so I got to see this:

untitled mural by Meagan Spendlove just off 10th Street and Sheridan.


St Joseph's Church on 10th Street..


faded building with nice lines next to Harrison Drywall on 10th St.


SF Coffee Company at 13th & Isis..


A 2006 community mural project.. "Precita Eyes Muralists" (youth mural project)




a really large mural, there are more panels in my flickr set.. the mural runs the length of 13th Street from Bernice to Isis Streets.

I had hoped to meet up with an internet friend to walk with her, but the weather forecast sounded questionable.. So I extended my walk from the Civic Center BART to 10th Street.. to Costco, then South to 13th (where I ran into a freeway) and walked along 13th and back up Mission to 8th, then turned back to Market St and across to the Main Branch Library. Not a lot of walking*, but a nice addition to the 1mile (1/2 mile each way) walk to and from Ashby BART.

*I actually created my route on 'map my walk' and it measures it at about 2.4 miles when I include the walk from the library back to the BART station, so with the 1mi to & from my local BART station, that's not bad for a short trip to the city.

Remembering Prince

Overlook (views from the Hills)

Last week Friday I spent the morning in Sibley Volcanic Park (part of a lengthy California Geography project I'm working on for school) and we stopped at the overlook on the way back down..


You can see Oakland and San Francisco..


Oakland..

Here's the set from Sibley (minus stuff with my face in it..)

The sky was so blue.. something to recall as the rain moves back in the next couple days..

new poetry blog

So I'm migrating (eventually) all the poetry I have on here over to here:

Collecting the Days

That is also where future National Poetry Writing Month items will be posted. Even if it's only once a year, having several poems, etc. posted (where I would rather have Bay Area things) seems a bit much. I may also add older pre-internet things there as well as a back-up to the hard copies I have filed away.

Homework Break..

Alexander wants you to know he's the #1 Cat of Berkeley..

Who am I to question? Photo taken earlier today when he 'demanded' I desist from studying to have a snuggle break. I was lucky to get this image as he likes doing his nails (making 'biscuits') on me.

Morning Moon

Daytime Moon around 7:20AM, Tuesday morning.. on Bancroft near Fulton..



taken with my iPhone so not so good..