I took this photo this past Saturday morning while we were wandering around NoMa. We went on a little stroll (Bowser included) over to CVS to get some black-and-white film for the Pentax and I shot off half a roll before realizing the light meter wasn’t moving much and it probably needs a new battery. Sooo, might be some bad pics in there, we’ll see when I get it developed. I ordered a new battery on Amazon today. They only came in packs of 10, so I guess I am set for… EVER. If anyone needs a 1.5V silver oxide battery, hit me up. I have spares.

I also ordered some printer paper, regular envelopes, bubbly wrap envelopes, and green looseleaf tea (had to put it over $25 for the FREE SUPER-SAVER SHIPPING). Whoever is reviewing my order is going to think I’m the lamest person in the world.

Back to the photo though… looking up at the clouds and the glass, pretty hypnotizing if you stared at it long enough, especially since they were moving kinda fast. As mom would say “COOL CLOUD DAY!!!!”

Bleh. The bad part about fall coming is that the ginkgo trees have pooped all over the sidewalks again. The little yellow balls are everywhere, and it stinks. Literally. Thankfully, the tree directly in front of our house is a male and it doesn’t drop any of the foul bombs, so I shouldn’t complain, but… just about every other tree on the block is a female and the smell is horrendous. Even Bowser, who thinks that anything on the sidewalk is some sort of delicacy, won’t go near the things. This is the same dog that has sometimes been known to sneak nibbles out of the kitty litter box, so you know these ginkgo fruits must be BAD. Gross. I have to check my shoes every time I get back to the house to make sure they aren’t encrusted with yellow slime. I also make it a point now to park the car on the opposite side of the street, where the neighborhood kids are known to jump all over the hood, just to avoid having the fruits drop all over the car. Hood dents > ginkgo berries. Why has no one invented a way to tell if the tree is male or female before it matures? Come on dendrologists! I know you can do this!

It’s actually just sad because the rest of the year, the trees are so sturdy and beautiful (so deceiving) and then they go and do this once a year. ugh. I think a great solution would be for everyone who lives in the shadow of a female ginkgo to take charge and sweep the berries off of the sidewalk before they get all mushed up underfoot. We could treat it just like snow removal — you get your little piece of sidewalk, and I’ll get mine. oh, wait… that requires proactivity on the part of some. And then some people would just sweep all the berries from their side onto to our side, or brush a little, tiny, 4-inch wide ginkgo-free path down the middle of the sidewalk. That isn’t going to work. Guess I’ll have to keep playing sidewalk tiptoe like the berries are molten, burning lava pits. I can’t be the only one in this city that does that.

You know what happened between the hours of 3pm and 8pm today? THIS. A spider went nuts-o building this incredible web all over our gate across the backdoor, which happens to be the only way out the back of the house. The web was so big that it kinda reminded me of the time we duct-taped over the outside of Jackie and Andrea’s freshman dorm room door while they were still inside. They had no idea what was going on outside. Only this was much creepier with the spider sitting there, and there was no way I was tearing this down and busting my way out. Unfortunately, I stood there for a few minutes thinking about ways to get around it and get outside, when suddenly Moesha went slinking out past the gate. I had to entice her back inside by shaking the food bowl around, because I had already decided not to disturb the web. (Kitty will always come running for dinner number two of the evening.) Then of course I had to take a bunch of photos (really close-up) with my little point-and-shoot camera because I couldn’t find the Nikon with the zoom lens, and now I have the creepy-crawlies and feel like spiders are crawling all over me. I know I will have scary nightmares tonight about it… I just hope John Goodman shows up to save the day.

I love all the little city vignettes (<—also love that word, yeah!) that I come across when I’m out walking Bowser around the neighborhood. For example, this old, white-painted door that is now a hose holder. I mean, it looks like a good place to hang your garden hose, so why not?