Glen's dad owned this bar on E. 14th a long time ago.

The bouncer was a little frightening and stared me down until I stopped taking pictures and left.

We cruised by Lake Merritt.

You may have heard me mention my beloved Necklace of Lights.

I had a hard time with the lights.

This was actually in Berkeley, where we were checking out Big Trash Night in the hills.

Rich people sure have crappy big trash. I was thinking I was going to come home with some antique cherry bookshelves, but all we found was broken lawn chairs, worn-out shoes, and mildewed books.

If you drive all the way down 7th Street (we're back in Oakland now), at the very tip of the port is a park.

With a nice view of the Bay Bridge.

And cranes all around.

And a playground.

And public sculpture made from industrial detritus.

And fire hydrants unlike all the other fire hydrants found in Oakland.

And a basketball court. I don't think it's placed very well, as it's just a few feet from the water's edge, and could make for a disappointing and very short game.

Chad took this one. I warned him that it would blur if he didn't prop the camera against something, but he never listens to me. He says he likes it anyway.

He also took this one, which I do like. One of the few things that bugs me about him is that he hardly ever takes a picture and nine times out of ten it's a pretty good picture, while I have been taking pictures for over 30 years and hardly ever like them.

There were a quite a few people at the park, considering it was past midnight, and many of them were fishing.

One couple had caught a sand shark. (He's down at the bottom, peeking at you.)

The man was nice enough to give us an up-close look. I was surprised that it looked just like a little, teeny shark.

Chad couldn't get enough of the shark.

It was a feisty little sand shark, and reminded me of our younger cat, who only lets you pet her for a moment or so before snapping at you. The man swore that it only had a few teeth that were too small to break your skin anyway, but I didn't get close enough to find out.

On the way home, we stopped by T.J.'s Gingerbread House so I could show Chad how big it was.

We met a nice young man named Walter, and stood under the streetlights talking to him for over an hour.

After many handshakes and a few hugs, we finally went home so Chad could stay up until 6 a.m. taking pictures of Mars through his telescope on our roof. (previous - next)