California Continued

We took a really interesting trip out to the California Delta while we were out west. The delta is really an inverted delta in which the river is higher than the land near it so it is kept out of the fields by levees.



A most interesting stop we made was to a ghost town called Locke. This used to be a Chinese community during the building of the railroads. This is a monument in honor of their sacrifice and mistreatment.



The buildings are pretty much the way they used to be back in the day. There aren't any opium dens or brothels left (as far as I could tell), nonetheless there is definitely an old timey atmosphere here.



Here are a few images of the town.



It definitely has that out west look! We went into a junk shop and I had to buy something in this photo - bet you can guess what!




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No! Not the skull! Everyone needs a ceramic doll torso with the head sliced off! (Those are gloves being displayed in it!) By the way, the dog is totally freaked out by that doll! She barks insanely whenever she sees it we have to keep it covered!



More buildings in Locke:



Isn't this a great bit of Americana!?



Of great interest is the garden at this house.



Here is a closer view so you can see the planters.



Behind Locke is a state park (probably being closed down with the governor's budget cuts.



Lunch was crawfish at Isleton Joe's in where else, but Isleton.



It was a nice, neighborhood type biker place. The Crawfish festival used to be held in Isleton, but I guess there were financial issues this year, so it got cancelled or moved or postponed or something!



There was a bike store and this next door.



We spent a little while in Isleton looking for coffee



but then we realized that was the wrong beverage for the location, so it was off to the Bogle vineyards.



You can see why this is such a successful place!



Aren't they luscious?

A Few Spring Garden Pictures

We have had such a late Spring this year, that it has allowed me to enjoy my Irises even though I was away during the time they usually bloom!



In no particular order here are some images from my garden this year.



Above are my favorite peonies. (Click on the image to enlarge). They are in the front shady garden east of the driveway.



I didn't have enormous numbers of Iris this year, but they are a beautiful flower and I enjoy every blossom even when it is just the small antique irises and not the expensive grandiose ones!



The lupines just appeared out of nowhere.



I have a long row of irises interspersed with hostas and day lilies lining the drive.



The dark red ones (above) are particularly striking. The red flower below is a peony of course!



These early day lilies always bloom right before the irises. I think it is a great combination. They are still blooming even though the irises just finished.



Now my garden will have fewer blossoms for a while until the day lilies start up. I have a few balloon flowers and pinks blooming right now,



...but the drama of iris season is over!

A few Pictures

Here is an interesting "Balloon Flower" I bought at the nursery for my pink garden!



And of course I need to post a few updates of the puppy:





Mercifully she is napping right now! What a powerhouse!

Working on an Avatar

Going to the Dogs

More California coming, but in the mean time here are a few photos of the new demon child.

Saturday Evening and Sunday in SF

Saturday evening we decided to go out for Indian food, so we headed towards the water and stopped at a restaurant run by a very nice Punjabi man.



I loved the decor which had batiks of the life of Krishna.



The food was also very nice. I ordered the maharani platter (which I almost always do when I go to Indian restaurants, because it allows me to sample a variety of the cooking. I had a Saag Gosht and several other delightful dishes and was able to take extra home for breakfast the next day.

After dinner it was time for a walk on the piers. So we headed out to view the sun set.



It had been a lovely day.



After the evening walk we headed back to the hotel. We stayed at Club Quarters, going to bed early in anticipation of the next day's activities.



The next morning we met our friends and decided to try and take in the Georgia O'Keefe and Ansel Adams exhibit at the Moma.



This was a little bit tricky because we had tickets for a matinee performance of Tosca, but we were determined so we squeezed in a trip to the museum. Can't you just see the determination in our gait!?



The foyer of the museum was dominated by horizontal lines. Quite interesting and monolithic.



Amazingly, they allowed us to take photos (of everything but the O'keefe/Adams show and another photo exhibition by Robert Frank.)



The O'Keefe/Adams exhibit was very nice. These are the images that MOMA has on its web site:



They did a great job of comparing photographs and paintings of the same subjects.



Even more impressive to me was an exhibit of photographs by Robert Frank based on his book The Americans. Here are a few images from the MOMA web site:



Frank had a marvelous sense of irony and humor and actually made verbal puns in many of his series.





Here are a few more photos from the museum. They have a great contemporary and modern collection.



Yesterday was rabbits today it was poodles.



Above is one of the modernist galleries - there is even a Tanguy in the right hand corner.



Here are some more of the paintings that we saw.



After the museum we raced to a deli for a quick lunch. We were really tired as you can probably tell and wanted to get some thing to wake us up before Tosca.



On the way to Tosca we passed a celebration of Phillipine independence.



There was an interesting little gallery on the way to the opera house. (A view through their window!)



An the opera house itself wasn't very impressive externally - it seemed like it had seen better days.



Inside was a different matter.



The decor was lush and opulent.



Of course I could not take pictures of the opera - but it was lavishly costumed and sung with full luxuriant voices. We thoroughly enjoyed it.



On the way home we passed this interesting mural.




We had just enough time to stop and eat Thai food



and have coffee at Francis Ford Coppola's Cafe before it was time to get on the Ferry and head back to Sacramento. What a full and exhausting day!






As the sun set we then sailed across the bay and back home.

Some Gentle People