Frisco Vista

Let’s head down to SoCal for a picture today. This image of an artist on Venice Beach is one of my more popular photos posted to Flickr. Why is that, do you suppose?

We’ve had several cherry tomatoes, but this is the first full-size tomato of this summer. Always an event!

Since converting our swimming pool to a garden we have had a lot more wildlife around. This year two pair of kestrels have taken up residence. We also have a lot of butterflies, beas, and hummingbirds.

This caterpillar is a swallowtail. They like plants in the carrot family, and this one was enjoying a lunch of dill. Eventually he will turn into a butterfly that will look something like this.

There are a few more photos in my nascent garden set on flickr.

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Virtual NoCal

• Google mapper busted : In the Presidio
• Create your own SF map : Via SFist
• Memorial to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade : It’s near the Villancourt Fountain
• The old old Academy of Sciences building : It was on Market Street before the fire
• Chronicle “exposé” was aimed at protecting Newsom : According to Randy Shaw of Beyond Chron
• Why are injuries increasing on SF trains? : The Feds want to know
• My God It’s Cold!!!!!!!! : A tourist gets introduced to sunny San Francisco

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This year our garden has been a little deficient in red flowers. An exception is the Maltese Cross, which produces large globular composite flowers. These are doing well. Above you can see them in the garden; below is a close-up (not too well focused, but it will give the idea) in a cut bouquet.

We have had weird swings this spring and summer between long chilly stretches and brief scorching temperatures.

The reason is clear: the ice caps are melting, and as a result our weather is bipolar.

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