Waiting man, this morning was about waiting. Waiting to fall asleep after waking in the middle of the night. Waiting for the dreams to fade away and leave me alone. Rinse and repeat. Waiting for daylight. Waiting for coffee to take effect. Waiting to feed cats. Waiting for groceries to be delivered. Waiting for the phone to charge enough so I could talk with Docken while walking (thanks Doc). Why wasn't the phone charged after being on a charger all night? Another mystery from Apple's secret laboratory but I think I'll have to wait before I can get a new phone. Anyway, everything came together and by 8:00 AM I was ready to head out.
Here's Stan, he had already finished his breakfast. This is unusual, him hanging on the patio watching me through the the windows. I opened the door to talk with him and then took some pictures. Did he want to come in? What was he waiting for? Stan and I have grown closer lately and while he spends more time here and with me, I still can't touch him. Arms length is his usual limit. Winter coat, handsome lad.
There wasn't much to report. It was really quiet at the local botanical garden. I didn't even see male Calypte anna hummingbird, Dusty. Unless this was Dusty, this shot was taken well within his realm but I neither got a good look nor was I able to observe his behavior.
I left the garden rather quickly. I thought perhaps I'd loop back around but I didn't know I was close to becoming completely distracted from any routine.
The ancient car worshipers were back. In fact, there were a lot of people in the parking lot, mostly observers it seemed. Mostly non-classic cars blocking the classic cars in the lot. Maybe it's always that way, I was about an hour later than usual. I don't explore these events, I pretty much walk, click and am on my way.
Apparently this is a Chevy Nomad but it appears as though the guy took off the labels. Google Lens is helping me on ID's today. I have no patience for Id'ing cars. Aren't you supposed to keep the labels on, isn't that part of the deal?
This is a Thunderbird. This car is really old and yet it's a year younger than I am. You know, where can we shop for after market parts?
I had this in here before. Still dunno make and model, again, what happened to the labels? What happened to the door handles?
This car I had never heard of before. Google Lens gave me a positive ID. This is a Bizzarrini Strada (5300 GT Strada). Designed by ex-Ferrari chief engineer Giotto Bizzarrini in 1963. The Strada was launched by his company in 1964. Production was from 1964–1968. 133 cars were built. This is the kind of car I would have liked when I was about 12.
This is a 2022 Mclaren 765LT. What's with the scratches and dings? I don't see that on the vintage cars. MSRP is about $382,500. Jeezus, dude, take care of your toys.
Cruising away from there and thinking I was going back to the garden I was met with a surprise. Docken caught me through the phone agasp and bewildered. A little bit of back story... This college campus was established in 1947, originally as an agricultural school. The initial focus was crop cultivation and animal husbandry. I grew up with this school as a both a hideaway and a hangout. I have serious history with this campus, I mean, my mother used to buy eggs, milk and butter from a little farm store on this campus when I was barely as tall as the counter inside. I had been telling Docken for months about the classic mid-century modern library we both were fond of being fenced off and construction taking place. We both thought, the building is classic, surely they were working on a restoration. Nope... all gone. The bastards!
I borrowed this picture from someone named Stephanie Asher on Flickr and modified it slightly in an effort to show off the architecture. This was taken in 2006. Docken found the image, I couldn't find any others.
The vertical piece on the right side of the image was a small elevator mostly for handicapped access.
In late 2012 or early 2013 a new libray/learning center was established on campus. It took them forever to build. That's when I first started wondering about the fate of the old library. I took these pictures in March of 2013 and September of 2013, respectively.
One thing that came out of wanting to see the wreaking grounds of the old library... I walked the stairs. The famous stairs only to be rivaled by Tianmen Mountain in China. I walked around the top of the hill after visiting the Fine Arts, outdoor art gallery. Clearly there's something I don't understand about the nature of the project, so I'll leave it at that.
Canada geese, I'm on my way around the top of the hill, back to my car and headed home. Thanks for coming along.