Go 49ers!

"Today I will do want others won't, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can't."

~Jerry Rice

 

Okay, so a little later today I will be doing a small amount of yelling at my TV machine. Mostly phrases like GO NINERS, SEAHAWKS SUCK and Alan's personal favorite... TOUCHDOWN! But in all fairness, I won't be the only one in Berkeley yelling in the middle of the afternoon, in fact, I dare say, the entire hillside will probably join me! 

Didn't you just love this time of year as a child? On Saturdays and Sundays you could hear all the dads in the neighborhood yelling their hearts outs at their TV's cheering on... whoever... college or pro team that they supported. Here in the Bay Area, the East Bay specifically, it was Cal Berkeley Bears on Saturday, and either the 49ers or Raiders on Sundays. 

LOL

So tell me, will you be watching football today? If so, who are you rooting for?

San Francisco 49ers or Seattle Seahawks? 

My Pick: 49ers! (Of Course)

How about the other game?

New England Patriots or Denver Broncos?

My Pick: New England

Mood: Happy
~Me :)

Go 49ers! Go Eagles! With A Side Of YUCKY-BLECHS!

"Problems are not stops signs, they're guidelines."

~Dr. Robert Schuller

I slept late yesterday... really late. I am not sure why. Well, I was up until about 2:00 A.M. working on some editing, but that isn't all that late for me. I am a night owl, always have been, so I don't think that was it. I went to bed, and I had been asleep for about 3 hours, when Alan's alarm went off. BUZZZZZZZ! LOL. I hear it nearly every morning, and we usually talk for a few minutes, then I go back to sleep, which I did yesterday as well... so, I don't think that was it. About an hour later, Joey began crying to be let out to play. I don't let him out to play until much later in the day, when I can supervise the hilarity. We are all still learning our way, so it's just better to keep an eye on things. I got up and held him and we cooed with each other for about 20 minutes, then put him back in his box in the kitchen, and went back to bed.

3 hours later the phone rang, it was the doctor's office cancelling an appointment. I didn't know that at the time, and they left no message, just the caller ID. So, I had to call them back to find out what the call was about, then call Alan to have him call them and reschedule his appointment. Sigh. I then decided to get up, but before I did I was going to just shut my eyes for a couple more moments. Maybe listen to CNN in the nice warm bed... 6 hours later, at 2:15 p.m. the phone rang! It was Alan who was now on his way home. "Sheesh, who the hell is calling now?" I thought to myself. Imagine my embarrassment at it being the afternoon, and had he not called, I would have still been sleeping!

Now this morning, at 3:07 AM EST I am still awake, but feeling a bit feverish. Could I be catching the first cold of the 2014? It's not that I mind a good cold once in a while. A nice fever is a euphoria like no other, but I am still a bit amazed about the 6 week coughing yucky-blechs from last spring! I have been uncomfortable, but a deep cough, that leaves you pretty much unable to breathe for 6 weeks is something I sincerely hope I never experience again! And I probably won't. If I am sick now, or about to be, it just feels like your average, run of the mill, yucky-blechs. Yeah... that's it... I have the YUCKY-BLECHS! If I do have something, I hope it doesn't last long, I have two big football games to get excited about this weekend! Go Eagles! Go 49ers! My two favorite teams! I love them both! But no matter who I cheer on it's going to feel a little like running a red light... it will just be wrong! Never let anyone ever tell you that you can only fall in love with one person... or ;) ... one football team. You can love them both for different reasons! LOL.

Decisions! Decisions! Love is a whole other kind of sick.

Darn YUCKY-BLECHS! ;)

Mood: Silly

~Me :)

It's Christmas Eve... Eve! And An Encore Performance By The Brothers Gordon!

"Christmas Eve was a night of song that wrapped itself about you like a shawl. But it warmed more than your body. It warmed your heart... filled it too, with melody that would last forever."

~Bess Streeter Aldrich

Today is Christmas Eve... Eve... and I am wrapping packages, doing some last minute shopping, baking cookies, taking Christmas pictures of the boys, Dylan, Hendrix, and baby Joey. I will be doing laundry, and watching the very last home game of the San Francisco 49ers! After the game, Alan and I are going out to do some midnight Christmas shopping, and we may stop for midnight eggs! Who knows? But I do know it will be one long day that will be sliding into another. I love being this busy, and I love how happy we are right now! Growing up, I dreaded the holidays, but when I married Alan that all changed, and now I look forward to it, with all the enthusiasm I wish I could have felt as a child! Happiness... there is no better gift to give someone! :)





 And Now An Encore Performance From 
The Brothers Gordon...


Be sure to tune in tomorrow, Christmas Eve, to see the boy's portraits!

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Prelude To A Tulip

"If flowers were boogers, I'd pick a few big ones and flick them on your grave."

~Jarod Kintz, It Occurred To Me

LOL. I love that quote and couldn't resist using it for this post. There were exactly two choices yesterday for a photo outing jaunt. Visiting Golden Gate Park, and taking advantage of the free day at the Conservatory of Flowers and the DeYoung museum, or attend one of the free Jell-O Pudding cup giveaways being offered by the Jell-0 company, to lift the spirits of 49er fans, still sad about the team losing the Super Bowl last Sunday. Guess which outing I opted for?

Hey, it's not that I don't find pudding all kinds of nifty. I do. And while I prefer rice pudding to chocolate pudding, it's not like I haven't been know to indulge from time to time. I just found the whole thing in really bad taste. First of all, we 49er fans don't need to climb into a pudding cup to ease our collective football depression. All we really need to do is to get on with the rest our lives, well the next two seasons worth anyway, and before we know it, we will be right back at September, and the beginning of the 2013-2014 football season. No pudding required. Or needed.

And second... pudding? I would have thought an Oscar Meyer hot dog giveaway would have been more appropriate? Or maybe a BBQ tri-tip sandwich, maybe a sourdough? Perhaps even just a nice, plain sourdough bread loaf? After all, we San Franciscans are known for our sourdough! But... pudding? Really? I checked different websites when I got home, and it seems the giveaway didn't away didn't go as smooth as chocolate pudding. It turned out exactly as I thought it might. I wonder whose bright idea that was?

Ho-Hum.

Anyway... on to Golden Gate Park.

Free day at the Conservatory of Flowers was wonderful as always. Amazingly lovely orchids, and a pretty great new train exhibition. It has been a couple years since I have visited the conservatory, so it was nice to be able to visit there. I have a nice collection of orchids photographs that I will be posting in the coming days, but this post is all about the small hints of spring I found dotting the park here and there. I also found some solid yellow daffodils, which always makes me smile. The yellow is so vibrant and mood lifting. It's a nice prelude to the gorgeous tulips that can be found at the Queen Wilhelmina Windmill Garden. Oh my, I can't wait!

California Poppys...







I will post the orchid gallery later this week.

Stay Tuned.

"If our destiny stems from our name, then I weep for the flower named Wilt."

~Jarod Kintz, It Occurred to Me

San Francisco Weekly (The Snitch Blog)
Loser Pudding: Jell-O Dispensaries, Ronnie Lott Given the Bums Rush

Mood: Happy :)

~Me :)

Sunsets, Cell Phones And Food Poisoning Oh My

"You know, a cell phone's like a guy; if you don't plug him in every night, charge him good, you got nothing at all."

~Catherine Coulter, Tail Spin

 

Above you see the last of the early February sunset photos that I photographed from Grizzly Peak Boulevard. I think it's appropriate to post now, in that we have just seen the sun set on yet another football season. Oh my, and what a game Super Bowl XLVII was! There was winners (Ravens 34)  and losers (49ERS 31) Beyonce didn't lip sync, and no one would have noticed if she had. There was a blackout in one half of the stadium, courtesy of bad infrastructure, the hotness of Beyonce or perhaps it was... maybe... Al Gore producing the show? Nah. You know Al Gore wasn't producing the show, that was something I said off the cuff to Keith Olbermann that made him laugh. Yep, Keith Olbermann saw my tiny joke and laughed. My work on earth is done! LOL.

 

Life is funny that way sometimes.

As fun as it was to know that the awesome Keith Olbermann saw my who-ville Tweet, I actually also made contact with another awesome person, and hopefully brought a smile to her face. One of my favorite actresses from the now defunct, but about to rise like a Phoenix back to life, One Life To Live, Farah Fath, who played GiGi Morasco. It seems that she is experiencing a bout of food poisoning, and asked how long it could last. I responded that in my case it was 6 hours. Then I offered the advice of... Never eat Thanksgiving in June, or date a guy who has a serial poisoner for a mother. Honestly, a life experienced based on a true story. Well, she favorited that Tweet, and it made me feel good to think I may have brought her a grin. LOL. I like to make people smile. But just think, if I hadn't been poisoned by my boyfriend's mom, I couldn't have brought her that little grin!

 

Life is funny that way sometimes.

I have a big package coming to me later today. It's a brand new cell phone. My former cell phone is on it's last legs, after having served me well for 3 years. I loved my HTC Aria, but it was time. But I am not crying too much, as the Aria and I will remain close, as it will live on as a back-up camera and video device. I can't let go. I never could. I have found a new use for all my old cell phones. I just can't let go. Each phone has a memory attached to it. The last conversation with someone I loved dearly. A great email with a friend that I have stored in the memory. I am way too sentimental I suppose, but I come by it honestly! My birthday is June 29th, and that makes me a hopelessly romantic Cancer the Crab! What can I do, it's written in the stars!

Life is funny that way sometimes.

All Most The Cells Of My Life...
(Not including my slide phone and my basic 1998 model Nokia Archaic :)




Life is funny that way sometimes.

I like being one small tweet in the Universe. I don't need the whole world, just a camera, a really good sunset, and my sense of humor and my thumbs. That last part will make sense to anyone who was a fan of the Dick Van Dyke show. Humor... know it... use it!

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

The City Of Red And Gold... Good Luck San Francisco 49ERS!

"The reason women don't play football is because eleven of them would rather wear the same outfit in public."

~Phyllis Diller



Are we in the San Francisco Bay Area excited about the Super Bowl? YOU BET! Not only is San Francisco City Hall all dressed up in the red and gold, but so is the sky above us! It's been a long time since the 49ers have been in the Super Bowl, their last time was on January 29th 1995, when they beat the San Diego Chargers 49 - 26. That Sunday, all those years ago, is also the last time Alan and I have been able to watch the big game together! He usually works two shifts on Sunday's, so it is a real treat to be able to have him home for the game, and a little half time fun. I am a happy girl! Now, lets see if I have everything...

Chips? Check.
Dip Fixings? Check.
Cheese Tray? Check.
Hot Wings? Check.
7 Layer Dip? Check.

Yep, I have it all ready to go!

 

Go 49ers! I mean GO 49ERS!

Mood: Excited!
~Me :)

It's The Har-Bowl, Unless It's The Bro-Bowl Either Way, It's The Super Bowl

"I love seeing other channels counter program the Super Bowl. PBS: "DAMN RIGHT we're airing a new 'Masterpiece Classic'! Fuck off, sports!"

~Tara Ariano

 

Yep, San Francisco is definitely going to be RED and GOLD another two weeks! San Francisco 49ers will meet the Baltimore Ravens in New Orleans for Super Bowl XLVII. As you might have already guessed, I will be rooting for the 49ers, but even Las Vegas has them winning by 5, or 4.5 depending on who you ask.

I don't know, I have to admit the 49ers did have me a bit worried last Sunday when they played the Atlanta Falcons. The first quarter was unreal, as the team seemed to have no real defense, but by the time they came back from half-time, they had corrected whatever short circuit that was going on, and came back to win by 4 ending with a score of 28 - 24.

Oh well, stuff happens... right? We won't dwell on the mistakes of last Sunday, or the god awful record Akers has as a place kicker, or the nasty little accusation against Michael Crabtree. There's NO crying in football! On February 3rd, the only thing I will be thinking about is whether or not we have enough munchies for the game. I think I will do an special menu of football worthy nibbles.

We'll see.

Stay tuned!

But in the mean time, tell me, who do you like in this year's Super Bowl?

Is Las Vegas right with their projected point spread?

Buffalo Wings or BBQ Sliders?

Har-Bowl or Bro-Bowl?

Red & Gold or Purple & Gold

Jim or John?

Tell Me Everything!


~Happiness

~Me :)

Wishes Granted

"Squeeze your eyes closed, as tight as you can, and think of all your favorite autumns, crisp and perfect, all bound up together like a stack of cards. That is what it is like, the awful, wonderful brightness of fairy colors. Try to smell the hard, pale wood sending up sharp, green smoke into the afternoon. To feel the mellow, golden sun on your skin, more gentle and cozier and more golden than even the light of your favorite reading nook at the close of the day."

~Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making

Autumn, this year, seems a little reluctant to let go of it's day in the sun. I don't remember too many years when it was this colorful, for this long. To me it is an absolute delight. It is wonderful to see that colorful burst of autumn color and life, among a forest of stick figure trees. It's January, and to my delight I am still able to find all kinds of color and light, that if I didn't know better, I would swear could only occur in deep October to mid November. I know I should probably move onto more subjects unique to January or winter, but as along as the leaves are smiling at me, I am only too happy to stop and spend a little time with them, because clearly there is a message in them, or at least something to be learned. A little more practice with low light photography, if nothing else. Or maybe, someone who decides these things grants silly wishes like... "I wish I didn't have to wait so long for autumn to come around again." Hey, who knows, what does it hurt to throw out a wish once in a while, you never know when Mother Nature, or God, or Goddess, might just say... "WISH GRANTED!"

And it doesn't hurt that the leaves seem to be showing off their finest shades of red and gold, almost like encouragement for the San Francisco 49ers to make it all the way to the Super Bowl.

Just Saying :)



"A few days ago I walked along the edge of the lake and was treated to the crunch and rustle of leaves with each step I made. The acoustics of this season are different and all sounds, no matter how hushed, are as crisp as autumn air."

~Eric Sloane

~Happiness

~Me :)

UPDATE: Go see what my pal JR has been up to! He always has wonderful inspiring photography posted on his blog, and his latest work is no exception! :)

JR Cline Photography

Go 49ers! Go Akers!

"There Definitely needs to be water on the sidelines for these players, but I also had some Gatorade just in case they were allergic to the water or vice versa."

~John Madden

 

San Francisco landmarks have had their red on for the last couple days in support of the San Francisco 49ers, who will face the Green Bay Packers this evening in a playoff game. It's a fun thought to imagine them in the Super Bowl, I mean who doesn't want to see their home team take it all? I love football, and I have been watching them closely this season. While I admit that I am first, and foremost a Philadelphia Eagles fan, but I love the 49ers too, so, in fact, I guess I have two loves in football! One on the east coast, and one right here at home!

San Francisco Mayor, Ed Lee, has made a friendly wager with the Mayor of Green Bay, James Schmitt. You can read all about it here, but I have to tell you, those cheese curds sound terrifically delicious! I bet it would be just the thing to enjoy with with a nice, warm, freshly baked slice of bread from San Francisco bakery Boudin! I am eating a slice of their bread right now as I type this, and I can tell you... YUM!

I know the 49ers will probably win their game against Green Bay, but I have to say it has been difficult to watch their kicker, David Akers, miss so many field goals this year. But from what I have seen and heard, no one has been sadder then Akers about his performance this season. I feel for the guy, as I do for the rest of the team. I have no doubt that if he could change the past, he would. It makes me crazy that he had to actually close his Twitter account because of death threats. What the HELL is that about? The death penalty for a bad year in football? Seriously? Wouldn't you just love to know not only the work ethic of a person who would hate that much, but what about their job performance? In the world they have made in their own mind, would they be safe?

A little tidbit for all the haters to remember...

On September 9th, 2012, Akers tied the NFL record for longest field goal by kicking a 63 yard field goal off the crossbar against the GREEN BAY PACKERS! So instead of acting like a fair weather football fan, how about giving the guy some support! NO ONE respects a fan who is only a fan when things are going well. David Akers has my respect for going out on the field week after week in spite of the hate!

Sometimes, America doesn't seem mature enough for football.

 :(

Come this evening, Alan and I will be cheering on the 49ers, and especially David Akers. 

Go 49ers!
Go Akers!

~Me

 NOTE: After the game I will comeback and update this post with the score.

UPDATE: It looks like San Francisco will be wearing the RED and GOLD a little longer!

San Francisco 49ers: 45
Green Bay Packers: 31