Yes, she will triumph nonetheless.

Neither of these photos does the sight justice. That ivy has crept up the telephone pole ever so slowly, ever so steadily, with nary a soul to pay much notice. I like the first photo i took because there's a tree in the background which could very well be *El NUEVO Palo Alto* (The NEW Tall Tree) someday! (though likely not...see future post regarding El Palo Alto for more specs) The second photo i think shows a little bit better how the weight is causing the whole thing to lean over and i also like the framing and the cross-top look and cross-hatch feel of the telephone wires. More than a small part of me hopes that no one will notice and so it will remain untrimmed and sometime during the night or whenever the whole thing will come crashing down. It's the small victories in life you treasure. Even if they are just hypothetical. In the recent words of one Kyle Warner: "WELCOME TO MY MIND!"






flashback (see fourth picture down)

Communicating Via Morse Code With My Inner Arborist

Yet another case of photo documentation seriously failing to do a sight justice. This is actually the second pair of Tree Friends i've seen in Menlo Park. The first i noticed was in the Fair Oaks neighborhood. In real life they look like they're actually leaning in to talk with one another. Either Mr. Tolkein is continuing to excite my imagination, or i've just always known deep down that the trees could talk with each other...even move. Unfortunately, the Treeherders around here have either long since lost the Entwives, or (more likely) have been chopped or burned by metal-minded wizards-gone-wild. Or alternatively, the Last March of the Ents really was the last march. Whatever the case, i can't wait for Isaiah 55 and Psalm 96 to come to pass.

(see especially v. 12 in Isaiah 55 and also starting in 12 through 13 in Psalms 96--showing the effects of v. 1-12a. A further note on Psalm 96: check out the album Enter the Worship Circle: Second Circle track 13 "Sing to the Lord" Enter the Worship Circle was/is a collaborative effort between Waterdeep and 100 Portraits ...and perhaps others?).
These beautiful, gnarly, local oaks are some good specimens similar to those which undoubtedly inspired the design of the Menlo Park official city logo.
Try to ignore those combustion engine machines in this otherwise excellent photograph:
Triple tree fiesta! Some red-barked thing, what i believe is a Colorado Blue Spruce, and some sort of cactus-tree thing.
Detail of the bearded cactus-tree thing!
Old magnolias, i believe, on Noel near our apartment. Look at those snarled old roots! If you come visit us, i will show you the "tree within a tree" phenomenon taking place in these babies. In my view, trying to take a photo that would convey the awesome factor in this case is simply not possible.

Blurry Bees!

And across the street: more of the same trees! Probably also swarming with amiable honeybees!

When i was taking these i was thinking to myself, "MAN, these are going to be so great!" ... turns out they were a bit blurry. Maybe one day i will grow up to be a real insect and wildlife photographer. In the meantime, hopefully you still like these shots. :)

Friendly Flowers Part 2

A nice wall of purple velvety looking flowers near our place. Occasionally i've sat for several minutes mesmerized by the honeybees who frequent this flower wall around this time of year. They are both numerous and awesome.

A lone pink azalea outside the Menlo Park Public Library.

Birds of Paradise on Laurel St.

Some sort of flowering tree, also on Laurel. I think it's a type of fruit tree, perhaps a cherry or an apple. If someone knows, please leave a comment and let me know! I guess i'll find out as spring flowers turn to summer fruit. Oh yeah, and i'll include more shots of these in an upcoming post featuring blurry bees!Some cheerful daffodils near the curvy part of Noel Drive. I've seen several of these as well as the flowers featured in Friendly Flowers Part 1 in the roundabouts in the Fair Oaks neighborhood near one of my previous jobs.

Also! Kirsten and i are presently in Monterey! Today we saw a lot of beautiful CA poppies, both before departing Menlo Park as well as upon our arrival here in Monterey. Hopefully i'll get a chance and some good light to photodocument them with!

Being a Wizard

You may or may not have known or even suspected, but i am a wizard, in the most good, noble, and truest sense, of course; à la Gandalf, et. al