GREEN AND GOLD SEIKO, SOLO

My wife stayed asleep in bed this morning, and l took off with the Seiko(s) on my own. To avoid awakening Mrs. C, I didn't mess with my watch cabinet, but took what I could find in the dining room watch bowl.

It's a cool and slightly dewey morning at the Liberty Station athletic fields.

I headed East for the water and the sunrise, and the palm trees.

We have thought a few times about moving from San Diego, but I don't know how I could cope with being away from the ocean / bay / river. You've seen in more than 80 posts now what our environment is like -- would we be crazy to leave this?

Here is one of Helen's loaner watches; I don't think you have seen this before except perhaps on my bench. This is a mechanical movement, in a gold-plated case and bracelet. It runs great and looks neat. I gave it a long bath in the ultrasound machine and got lots of "previous wearing residue" out of it. Also, the crystal is a little loose, so I will glue it back in place before returning the watch to her.

And I am carrying my wife's late Christmas present, this nifty Hi-Beat Superior Chronometer that arrived from Japan a week or so ago. I bought a New-Old-Stock Seiko bracelet for it too, and that you would not have seen.

I walked the beach, like many before me ...

I had that itching for a boat again. Maybe someday, a low-maintenance, low-physical-effort boat will come into our household.

A few minutes after I took this photo, I was the man on the bridge looking over at the water.

But for now I was on the bank soaking up some fresh sunshine, recently delivered over the horizon.

I saw this boat heading out, and noticed again the DON'T THINK ABOUT LANDING HERE "X" by the North Island runway. And I saw a solitary pelican on the pier. That's a rare sight. I walked his way.

This is how I work photographically -- I see something on the edge of my original photo, then get distracted away from the original subject and go chase the new item down.

I walked about 100 yards, climbed up an embankment, jaywalked over a 6-lane road and walked another 100 yards to a vantage point closer and higher to the pelican.

He gave me a profile photo, as you can see:

Then he gave me the stink-eye. At this point I'm about 50-60 feet from him and about 20 feet above him.

He spread his wings and stomped his foot, then tapped his beak on the dock.

All this was in a slow and dignified manner - he was not very happy with me, but too cool to just fly away. He walked / waddled over to the edge. Strange, I can't remember watching a pelican walk because they are so often in the air or water when I see them. This guy walked as a person would walk wearing snowshoes or diving flippers. It's obvious they are not built for hiking.

He stood on the edge for a moment, looked at me, looked at his feet, and ...

launched himself off the dock. He flew right at me, went under the bridge and out the other side. So I wasn't able to get a photo of him in the air. Maybe that was his plan.

Anyway, a paddler came along to draw my attention away from the bird.

He looked like an old guy, and unlike most stand-up paddlers I've seen, wasn't barefoot.

I turned back towards the bay and looked for any action. None. I zoomed to 600mm and looked some more in the distance.

The old lighthouse is still there on the hill (as expected).

This boat looks interesting, doesn't it? Not too nimble perhaps, but it's certainly stable. Might need a bit of maintenance though...

Seeing nothing else on the bay, I walked down Harbor Drive, towards the crosswalk, but didn't feel like getting involved with some kind of incident that was happening there at the signal. So I jaywalked back to the my original side of the road.

A floral interlude...

Crossing the Nimitz bridge, I again asked myself, "What's Wrong With the Old Stuff?" Here is the railing put on sometime since 1993 when the bridge was built. Welded, set in concrete.

Here is the new railing they've been working on for a month on the West side of the bridge. Each post is set on a base with 4 bolts in a new pad of concrete. A welded extension on each post, inwards towards the sidewalk. A hand rail. Back at the main posts, 3 stainless steel cables threaded through and tensioned on the ends. This is in a space less than 12" high, on a pedestrian-only bridge where everyone walks in the 30-foot wide roadway anyway. No doubt this is a new spec for safety but we are getting to the point where everything is so expensive and convoluted .... sorry, I digress. I won't whine anymore.

Cause I'd rather be out there on the road grader. Anyone here like tractors?? Raise your hands

There's a huge lot fenced with wooden rails, now smooth and level with clean brown gravel. What could this be for? As I ponder, a runner shoots past me with no warning or word.

I have stopped on the bridge, am leaning on the old but sturdy railing, and see women paddling out on the left and men paddling in on the right.

Looks to be a nice day coming

OK, they are talking and ignore me, despite fact that I am right in front of and above them.

Much like my fascination with pelicans, I love Bird of Paradise flowers. Not the most common thing in most of the country, but they grow here like weeds. Their downside from a photographer's point of view is their copious nectar which oozes out and is often black and sticky and covered with ugly stuff.

The flowers were beautiful this morning so indulge me as I do a Bokeh practice session (Bokeh=sharp focus on subject, background goes all wonky)