05.31.07
A foggy morning in San Francisco’s Chinatown.
05.30.07
Another Chinatown shot. Alas, it was long before a reasonable hour for opening the doors that I passed this shop, but I’m sure, judging by the dragon on the wall, that the shop is true to its moniker.
05.29.07
Lanterns in San Francisco’s Chinatown, as seen during an early-morning stroll.
05.28.07
The Sentinel Building, Kearny and Columbus. (Zoetrope All-Story and American Zoetrope live here.)
Unrelated update: I don’t usually mention my publications until the paper is actually in my hands (or the pixels are on my monitor), but I’m pretty tickled about this one: Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet #20 will include my story “The Oologist’s Cabinet”, an odd little tale of obsession and furniture and eggshells. LCRW is a “zine”, but it’s not just any “zine”–it’s Kelly Link and Gavin Grant’s ‘zine, a weirdly wonderful place for uncategorizable stuff. Place your order or pay a visit in June to one of the shops that has the good judgment to carry it (in Minneapolis, that means Dreamhaven); even if you’re disappointed with my story, you won’t be disappointed with the rest.
05.27.07
The Sentinel Building, Kearny and Columbus. (Zoetrope All-Story and American Zoetrope live here.)
Unrelated update: I don’t usually mention my publications until the paper is actually in my hands (or the pixels are on my monitor), but I’m pretty tickled about this one: Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet #20 will include my story “The Oologist’s Cabinet”, an odd little tale of obsession and furniture and eggshells. LCRW is a “zine”, but it’s not just any “zine”–it’s Kelly Link and Gavin Grant’s ‘zine, a weirdly wonderful place for uncategorizable stuff. Place your order or pay a visit in June to one of the shops that has the good judgment to carry it (in Minneapolis, that means Dreamhaven); even if you’re disappointed with my story, you won’t be disappointed with the rest.
05.26.07
Fogtown, I’m down and out on your streets
Oh I would run if I only had a place to run to
Fogtown
Michelle Shocked, Fogtown
Featured on the Daily Dickinson site.
San Francisco was a colder, damper, grittier place than I expected; it was more like a big version of Portland, Maine, than like San Diego and Palm Springs, my only previous California experiences. I liked it.
I was in conference sessions during the day, so I only slipped away at night and early in the morning (I never quite adjusted to West Coast time, and got precious little sleep) to see what the city had to offer. One of my favorite outings was to North Beach for a City Lights pilgrimage and a Chinatown supper; it was a foggy night, and I think I captured a few nice San Francisco fog scenes.
I brought only one camera with me–the Yashica GL rangefinder. It’s a nice, compact, solid traveler–it was my mother’s camera for documenting our family life throughout the ’70s and ’80s–and a dream to use in low light. Having just one camera to choose from was an interesting challenge–equivalent to formalist poetry in a way. And the Yashica is an especially honest camera; what the naked eye sees is pretty much what it sees, no zooming allowed. If you want to get a close up, you use your feet to get closer. Not a great camera for the Golden Gate Bridge or Alcatraz Island, it turns out, but nice for city streets.
Unrelated update: I don’t usually mention my publications until the paper is actually in my hands (or the pixels are on my monitor), but I’m pretty tickled about this one: Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet #20 will include my story “The Oologist’s Cabinet”, an odd little tale of obsession and furniture and eggshells. LCRW is a “zine”, but it’s not just any “zine”–it’s Kelly Link and Gavin Grant’s ‘zine, a weirdly wonderful place for uncategorizable stuff. Place your order or pay a visit in June to one of the shops that has the good judgment to carry it (in Minneapolis, that means Dreamhaven); even if you’re disappointed with my story, you won’t be disappointed with the rest.
05.25.07
For those of you who’ve checked back lately hoping to see something from my San Francisco trip, but no, it’s just more d****d Lego pictures: thanks for your patience, and indulgence of this series! This is the last, and then I’ve got a bunch of things lined up that have nothing to do with kids and legos and water towers…
A few weeks ago, we went to an All About Family event near the Washburn Water Tower, where we learned a little bit about the history of the tower and worked on a Lego model. Here’s a series of shots documenting this effort (marking time while I print and scan two rolls from San Francisco): here Jack and Peter pose in front of the finished product, which is destined for a display case at the Washburn Library.
Unrelated update: I don’t usually mention my publications until the paper is actually in my hands (or the pixels are on my monitor), but I’m pretty tickled about this one: Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet #20 will include my story “The Oologist’s Cabinet”, an odd little tale of obsession and furniture and eggshells. LCRW is a “zine”, but it’s not just any “zine”–it’s Kelly Link and Gavin Grant’s ‘zine, a weirdly wonderful place for uncategorizable stuff. Place your order or pay a visit in June to one of the shops that has the good judgment to carry it (in Minneapolis, that means Dreamhaven); even if you’re disappointed with my story, you won’t be disappointed with the rest.
05.24.07
For those of you who’ve checked back lately hoping to see something from my San Francisco trip, but no, it’s just more d****d Lego pictures: thanks for your patience, and indulgence of this series! There’s just one more to go, and then I’ve got a bunch of things lined up that have nothing to do with kids and legos and water towers…
A few weeks ago, we went to an All About Family event near the Washburn Water Tower, where we learned a little bit about the history of the tower and worked on a Lego model. Here’s a series of shots documenting this effort (marking time while I print and scan two rolls from San Francisco): here the “guys” are set up at last on the tower.
Late-breaking update: I don’t usually mention my publications until the paper is actually in my hands (or the pixels are on my monitor), but I’m pretty tickled about this one: Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet #20 will include my story “The Oologist’s Cabinet”, an odd little tale of obsession and furniture and eggshells. LCRW is a “zine”, but it’s not just any “zine”–it’s Kelly Link and Gavin Grant’s ‘zine, a weirdly wonderful place for uncategorizable stuff. Place your order or pay a visit in June to one of the shops that has the good judgment to carry it (in Minneapolis, that means Dreamhaven); even if you’re disappointed with my story, you won’t be disappointed with the rest.
05.23.07
A few weeks ago, we went to an All About Family event near the Washburn Water Tower, where we learned a little bit about the history of the tower and worked on a Lego model. Here’s a series of shots documenting this effort (marking time while I print and scan two rolls from San Francisco): here Brian, the organization’s founder and leader, puts one of the “guys” on the tower.
05.22.07
A few weeks ago, we went to an All About Family event near the Washburn Water Tower, where we learned a little bit about the history of the tower and worked on a Lego model. Here’s a series of shots documenting this effort (marking time while I print and scan two rolls from San Francisco): here the tower begins to take shape.
05.21.07
A few weeks ago, we went to an All About Family event near the Washburn Water Tower, where we learned a little bit about the history of the tower and worked on a Lego model. Here’s a series of shots documenting this effort (marking time while I print and scan two rolls from San Francisco): here the tower begins to take shape.
05.20.07
A few weeks ago, we went to an All About Family event near the Washburn Water Tower, where we learned a little bit about the history of the tower and worked on a Lego model. Here’s a series of shots documenting this effort (marking time while I print and scan two rolls from San Francisco): in this one, one of the visiting architects (alas, I missed his name) selects from the tower’s raw material.
05.19.07
A few weeks ago, we went to an All About Family event near the Washburn Water Tower, where we learned a little bit about the history of the tower and worked on a Lego model. Here’s a series of shots documenting this effort (marking time while I print and scan two rolls from San Francisco): in this one, one of the visiting architects (alas, I missed his name) helps with the landscaping that will become the tower’s hill.
05.18.07
A few weeks ago, we went to an All About Family event near the Washburn Water Tower, where we learned a little bit about the history of the tower and worked on a Lego model. Here Jack works on the stairs leading up to the tower.
05.17.07
A few weeks ago, we went to an All About Family event near the Washburn Water Tower, where we learned a little bit about the history of the tower and worked on a Lego model. Pictured is a painting of the current tower–the tall domed tower ringed with eagles and knights–and the original tower, a smaller, flat-roofed structure that was replaced in 1931.
05.16.07
Under the Washburn Water Tower.
05.16.07
Why are you sitting in a box?
My house is full of cardboard boxes, strings, straws, paper towel tubes, and other components of the boys’ various machines. These machines have many uses: they fly and swim, are used in construction projects, and prove out the various theories that five-year-old boys generate about the world. It’s not unusual for bits and pieces of things to make their way home–cups and straws from Ikea, water bottles and newspapers–to be incorporated into some new invention.
So it’s not surprising that Antoinette Portis’ Not a Box has been a hit. With simple but imaginative line drawings, a young rabbit’s box-bound adventures come to life. Packed inside an empty box are a race car, a hot air balloon, a robot, a mountain … a box can hold a lot of fascinating things. Packaged in a brown-paper cover, “Not a Box” captures the magic of play that a discarded box offers.
It’s not that the boys are “deprived” of toys; they have Legos and trains and a swing set with a pirate flag. But simple bits of twine and cardboard can occupy them for hours because there are no boundaries to what they can become.
05.15.07
Under the Washburn Water Tower.
05.14.07
Under the Washburn Water Tower.
05.13.07
A happy Mother’s Day to all!
Pictured above is my wife, Kelly, mother of the inimitable (thank goodness…) Jack and Peter, at the St. Patrick’s Day pre-opening of Merlin’s Rest. She’s wearing a shirt from the lamented (lamentable?) Irish Well, emblazoned with the long Welsh place name “Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch” (ask Mr. Dingley to tell his joke about the train to said spot, but set aside plenty of time).
05.12.07
Bill Watkins: gadabout, raconteur, boulevardier, as spotted at Merlin’s Rest.
I’m back from San Francisco with two rolls of black and white film and a roll of color slides to process; quite a town, San Francisco.
05.11.07
The bar at Merlin’s Rest.
I’m on auto-pilot this week–putatitvely attending the Sun JavaOne conference in San Francisco, or so my employer thinks, when in fact I’m drawn more to City Lights Books and Chinatown than discussions of Service Oriented Architecture and .NET interoperability. Between sessions, I hope to at least catch some of the classic sights, like this bridge and chain from Craig Ferroggiaro.
05.10.07
John Dingley, one of the proprieters of Merlin’s Rest, leans in close to deliver a quiz question.
I’m on auto-pilot this week–putatitvely attending the Sun JavaOne conference in San Francisco, or so my employer thinks, when in fact I’m drawn more to City Lights Books and Chinatown than discussions of Service Oriented Architecture and .NET interoperability. Between sessions, I hope to take in sights like this Chinatown shot from James Patrick Griffin.
05.9.07
And here’s Lucy again at Merlin’s Rest’s Sunday pub quiz. She gets two pictures, whereas poor Ludwig gets only one, because even Ludwig will have to admit that she’s the prettier.
I’m on auto-pilot this week–putatitvely attending the Sun JavaOne conference in San Francisco, or so my employer thinks, when in fact I’m drawn more to City Lights Books and Chinatown than discussions of Service Oriented Architecture and .NET interoperability. You know, City Lights, Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s bookstore that brought out Ginsberg’s “Howl” and remains a mecca for people who love books. You can see a great picture of it here from James Patrick Griffin.
05.8.07
And here’s Lucy at Merlin’s Rest’s Sunday pub quiz.
I’m on auto-pilot this week–putatitvely attending the Sun JavaOne conference in San Francisco, or so my employer thinks, when in fact I’m drawn more to City Lights Books and Chinatown than discussions of Service Oriented Architecture and .NET interoperability. Between sessions, I hope to see things like those captured in this collection of Polaroids from CURSIVE BUILDINGS.
05.7.07
Here’s Ludwig of the Fat Chance Jug Band, just before the mighty Monotremes took first place in the first Merlin’s Rest Sunday pub quiz.
I’m on auto-pilot this week–putatitvely attending the Sun JavaOne conference in San Francisco, or so my employer thinks, when in fact I’m drawn more to City Lights Books and Chinatown than discussions of Service Oriented Architecture and .NET interoperability. Between sessions, I hope to see things like the squeezebox girl as found by “your waitress”.
05.6.07
Mother Earth Gardens.
The Heart of the Beast May Day Parade and Festival takes place today, Sunday, May 6, at 1:30 PM; if you’re in the Minneapolis area, get yourself down to Bloomington Avenue between Lake Street and Powderhorn Park for the event that really kicks off Spring in this little corner of the world.
05.5.07
Mother Earth Gardens.
The Heart of the Beast May Day Parade and Festival takes place this Sunday, May 6, at 1:30 PM; if you’re in the Minneapolis area, get yourself down to Bloomington Avenue between Lake Street and Powderhorn Park for the event that really kicks off Spring in this little corner of the world.
05.4.07
Spring has sprung at Dowling Community Garden.
The Heart of the Beast May Day Parade and Festival takes place this Sunday, May 6, at 1:30 PM; if you’re in the Minneapolis area, get yourself down to Bloomington Avenue between Lake Street and Powderhorn Park for the event that really kicks off Spring in this little corner of the world.
05.3.07
Mother Earth Gardens, our favorite local garden shop.
The Heart of the Beast May Day Parade and Festival takes place this Sunday, May 6, at 1:30 PM; if you’re in the Minneapolis area, get yourself down to Bloomington Avenue between Lake Street and Powderhorn Park for the event that really kicks off Spring in this little corner of the world.
05.2.07
Mother Earth Gardens, our favorite local garden shop.
05.1.07
