Sorry, between being busy and doing homework and my iPad’s bad relations with Blogger, this will just be a few pictures. We went to the Rosadel - a park with a rose garden - across a huge Avenida from where we are staying.
Then through other park areas to the Japanese Garden.
Apartments along Avenida Liberdad.
People eating out at coffee shops on the first day of winter.
It took me a while to figure out that this was a gas station. I should mention that today was the second holiday this week, so no school.
Did we remember all the things we need to take? Is it too much? (We always try to keep everything down to two carryon rolling suitcases and two backpacks so we can always handle our own stuff.)
Meanwhile the guy who replaced our old front steps - great job - was gone for the winter by the time the railing was finished in October. So he's back in town. Was coming Monday night, but we had a funeral to attend. Then yesterday morning, but never made it. He just called, he's coming now. (He's here! Yeah!)
And my wristwatch screen went blank last night with a tiny REM on the screen, which I assume means I should replace the battery. I got the screws out this morning so I could see what kind of battery I need. (Yes I bought a kit of tiny screw drivers long ago and it's occasionally useful.) But one screw escaped. [Recaptured!]
I'm excited. As much as I like to have everything planned out, I know that lots of surprises will occur. Good ones as well as minor (I hope) ones.
This afternoon we head for LA, Friday night for Argentina. Still trying to get what I need from my laptop onto the new iPad. And figure out how to use the iPad. It's Apple enough that it's no big surprises.
I keep updating notes for the house sitter as new issues arise. Tried to get a library book back to the library last night, but their new automatic drop off system said something like 'waiting for sorter.' Is that a human being? After hours?
So that's why I don't have more. But here are some presents from the garden.
First daisy bud opening yesterday.
The lilacs close.
And these little blue flowers whose name I once knew.
The sun's been out most days. Today it was something over 70. And there's lots of flower blooming all over town. But particularly amazing right now are the lilacs and mountain ash trees.
Less showy, but no less beautiful are the wild geraniums. Here are two in our back yard. (The picture above is downtown, NOT in our yard.)
Saw lots of people today and busy prepping for our trip.
A friend suggested that when we head south next week, that I just not blog for a month. That was in the context of my looking for an alternative to taking my laptop with all the stuff that's on it. We were talking about my visiting little locally owned computer/telephone repair shops that sell used equipment too. I already posted about High Frequency where I bought my wife's phone and more recently my on upgrade from having to text using a phone keyboard and not being able to see the whole conversation. Just the most recent text. High Frequency has moved from Gamble and 15th (with a hard to get into parking lot) to 36th and Old Seward. Much more convenient for me.
But I also learned about Device Pitstop over at Arctic and 36th next to Jens. Chris, in the picture, didn't have quite what I was looking for. He had another option for a higher price, but then asked if I had any layovers on the trip.
I mentioned LA and he was on the phone trying to find me cheaper options there.
I'm really impressed with these smaller stores. They all had much more personal service than the national chain stores. I also visited Computer Renaissance on King and Dimond. They didn't have any Apple products, and it seemed easier to stay with what I know. Today I went to where I should have gone - the Mac Store. This is the closest place and it's Mac. But he didn't have anything either - though it's nice to know he's there for repairs and help and he's a registered Apple repair service. That store used to be off Dimond between New and Old Seward on the north. But he did tell me about an iPad for sale at Walmart. But I don't want to shop at Walmart. No problem, he said. Best Buy will match competitors' prices.
So I biked over today - such great biking weather. Big thunderheads rising up from the mountains. Thunder is pretty rare in Anchorage
And now I have a new iPad for a decent price. And I suspect when we get back, it will be what I use when I go out of the house and need my computer. It weighs much less even with the keyboard/case I bought with it. And Best Buy gave a discount on that too. I hate buying new tech stuff and took my time. Actually I hate buying new stuff. We (people in general) have too much stuff.
Tomorrow our house sitter comes over for lunch. OK, the trip. I'm excited, but I have mixed feelings. I hate to leave Alaska in the summer and this week eating three meals a day out on the deck has been like a little paradise. After 32 years, the old deck was starting to have some structural issues. Moss had made the holes between the boards large enough in places for things to fall through. Some of the steps were not rotting out. So we had it rebuilt and with years of experience, we added a little more so that we could follow the sun. That took a lot of time - we had a builder, but still there was some disruption. Even though the builder put down plywood every night so we could use the deck the whole time.
So the trip. My daughter got us into this. I'll leave it at that. But she wanted to go to Argentina this summer to see the total solar eclipse in early July. We were invited. My granddaughter was involved, so we said yes. But we decided if we were going that far, we should stay a little longer and see more of the country. So we'll only overlap a little bit with them. But I've never been further south than Guatemala in the Western Hemisphere. But I wanted to travel lighter and without all the data that's on my computer. I was reading stories on line of people being robbed. And even though I've taken my computer a lot of places, I decided it was time to think about this more. Identity theft is a bigger issue these days. So with a much cheaper model, without much personal info on it, there should be less risk. And I can still keep you posted about what we see.
I've been thinking about how to introduce the trip and so now I have. Our front yard flowers have started their annual show.
And earlier this spring, a moose chomped on the leaves of these lilies. But apparently it wasn't tasty and the buds hadn't started pushing up yet. Because there are lots of buds.
OK, here's one more picture I don't know where else to put. Saw it biking yesterday along 40th. They were on every 2nd or 3rd pole. I have mixed feelings about Assange. I don't think I'd like him as a person, but enough people I respect - like Daniel Ellsberg - feel prosecuting him is a serious attack on the First Amendment.
I can't help feeling that this is more about the anger against leaks in general. Under Obama it was embarrassing to have so much diplomatic gossip go public and as I've pointed out in earlier posts, no one has identified anyone who died because of the leaks. But they argue that he endangered many lives. Under Trump, anything Trump doesn't like published, he'd censor if he could.
Part of yesterday's wanderings included the old Sutro Baths where Geary meets the ocean. This is actually a National Park Service National Recreation Area with an interesting history that I'll let interested parties check out here.
The walk down to the beach area was filled with blooming flowers, birds, and bees.
"Battery Chamberlin holds the last 6-inch "disappearing gun" of its type on the west coast. Built near Baker Beach in 1904, Battery Chamberlin was constructed to accommodate the lighter, stronger, more powerful coastal defense artillery developed in the late nineteenth century."
The trail from the beach to the Golden Gate bridge had lots of stairs.
It was a short, but wonderful time with the grandkids, and in San Francisco. But it's raining today, time to get back to better weather in Anchorage.
A note on the state of affairs. My son, at age four, did not have the word "homeless" in his vocabulary. But his four year old son uses that word all the time.
We're in Oakland with very long time friends and today we go into San Francisco to gramp for a few days. Our friend has a Tesla with a tinted glass roof. (Probably they all do, but I have no idea.) It made the sun in the clouds quite a show. I'd note this this is the first new car my friend has every bought, but he did build and drive his own electric car over 30 years ago.
We had a great day and also visited other good friends and saw lots of flowers.
A poppy bud.
Another blooming.
And one that is finished blooming.
Rhododendron.
And an iris. Just a small sampling of yesterday.
I'd note it's only about ten degrees warmer here now than it was in Anchorage when we left.
It's definitely spring. Even with mostly cloudy days, it's warmer and the plants are starting to wake up. I rode over the the Botanical Garden the other day on my new bike. I was able to trade in my old bike - the one the physical therapist said wasn't good for my knee - after about 35 years.
The peonies are in various stages from not even poking out yet, to just coming in as these in the left,
to looking like a real plant like the ones below.
And this oxlip primrose was actually blooming already.
Back home I knew we had a tulip bud that was well along.
But I didn't realize we too had something blooming - there was one bleeding heart flower out.
We also had a visitor. If you look closely you can see that something has dined on these lilies. The most likely culprit is a moose.
And yesterday these white scuff marks weren't on the cement at the bottom of our front steps. I wouldn't have figured moose hooves if it weren't for the lily. There's still a lot left. Maybe it didn't taste too good.
I was going to just let a day slide with no post. Lots of things to do. But then I looked out the window (it's 9:50pm now and that was ten minutes ago). The camera just couldn't capture the color on the freshly snowed mountains, but this gives you an idea. I ran out and got the picture with a telephoto lens.
I did try the panorama setting on my iPhone first, but the mountains looked much further away than they did in person. That was from the window. But now that I look at it, the tree patterns are kind of nice.
They're a muted grey now as I look outside. But these other two pictures were on my camera and there seemed to be a theme. Well, the second two probably go together better. And no, those trees shouldn't be right in the middle, but I was after maximum pink.
The geranium petals were from a plant that bloomed inside, and then settled on the counter like this.
[UPDATE April 25, 2019 - Based on Barbara's comment, I'm adding this video of suminagashi]
The other day we passed by the Internet Archive, so yesterday as we passed it again I decided to look in.
A guy named Kevin let me into the lobby, but said tours are only Friday afternoons at 1pm. So I looked around the lobby.
Nothing fancy here, but this was a basic look at the evolution of ways we document things from uniform to digital storage.
The most interesting things was this contraption, and when Kevin came by again I asked if it was a book digitizer, and he said yes.
One of the things the archive does is called The Wayback Machine. They digitize books. They also serve as an archive for websites. I asked about my blog and he said I could check to see if it was on the Wayback Machine. (It turns out it is, but I'm not sure every page is. But lots of it are.) That led me to finding a site where I could get a list of dead links on What Do I Know? It looked through 3000 pages (the limit for a free check) and came up with 385 broken links. Now I have to figure out how to either update them or delete them.
They also have hundreds of thousands of modern books at Open Book.
Here are a few more pictures from our visit.
Some of the agapanthus (Lily of the Nile) are blooming in town.
As are various fruit trees. A cherry? I'm not sure.
