Saturday, November 29, 2014

The First Sunday in Advent












These caverns are numberless
I have flown through them all
In mystagogia
          
                                   Jerusalem Syndrome
                                          Stephen Ronan










 








Advent as imagined
in the first of four Roman Catholic churches 
where the Flaneur says his prayers
and receives the Sacraments








   The Cathedral of Christ the Light


These were among my first images captured with a new camera last year. I have been waiting for Advent to post them at last, them like a child awaiting Christmas Day.
All of the images were made the same day except for the above shot added for exposition.









 

 Oh thee of little faith,
I am immune to your consultations







 Bishop's seat







 Advent wreath on a pedestal in mid aisle















Crucifix and Tree













Organ airs arabesque
Like scented smoke








 On another level







 The Inner Sanctum







 Saint Patrick of Eire
He made Saint Ronan a bishop,
Ronan cursed Sweeney and met Saint Judas on an iceberg,
He evangelized the Scotland,
 His remains are at L'eclise Saint-Ronan de Locronan
Paintings by native son Yves Tanguy
Decorate its Surrealist rectory








 Anteroom in Eternity












 May the Peace of the Lord be with you










 That we will rest with Him in heaven











 And thereby take comfort in this world
























December 2013

Monday, November 24, 2014

November Nocturnambulist







Come along if you dare, 
come along if you ain't square...




 1.
Close to Home




A game of chance, anyone?






Who doesn't love a flower superstore?





The Mystery of the Neon Barber Pole






The Flaneur sees his reflection and is fulfilled
RAY worked as a land surveyor near Cape Cod in 1978,









An alley near me,







Archimbaldo wreath






 2.
 The Nearby Faraway













L'age d'or
The fictional street,









No one's ever there,
What if I tried knocking on the door?




The lights went off,
The light came on,
and no one answered my knocking








Santa Claus Conquers the Martians,
On Christmas tree TV






Remember the poor cats at the Carles
They'll have heat or a chilly night's sleep






 3.
Copland



 A gloomy, anxious realm under the freeway






 On the border of Hope's final refuge







 

 Do you like to help people? 
Good cops needed
Do you like to hurt people?
Bad cops always needed








 Police Ass. Lobby







 Cop ATM
Pages fanned at the speed of light
I had future-shock







 Cop shop
Where cops get their Tactical bling 
Taser belt-buckles etcetera






I used this image in an earlier blog,
I just can't be bothered to shoot it again






 The cop lobby,
its immense








 You don't want to enter by this door,
By "STORES"  they mean human beings





Naturally there are remedies,
From the banal...






 To the sublime,








The Berkeley Flaneur hopes that your turkey is stuffed,
With peace, love, and sooooooul, baby





 November 2014

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

The Biology of the San Francisco Bay (The Secret of the Sea , Pt.IV, Chap.2)





 THE
 B  I  O  L  O  G  Y
 OF THE
 




THE CUTTING EDGE OF WHAT WE KNOW 
ABOUT THE SCIENCE OF BIOLOGY 
AND THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY




Notably
A broad shallow shelf past Alameda
Deeper water off of San Francisco





 1.
 Fish


In 1968 a chemist on a houseboat in Sausalito
dumped a vat of Purple Haze into the Bay
These crustaceans remain psycho-active to this day,
When acid rock is played near their tank
They dance and have sex






I'm going to grow fins,
And go back into the water again






Fish arrive daily on extra-planetary ships,
Sadly, some are not even edible





Sorry flounder,
We eat you





The mysterious ways of seafood
Take place mostly unobserved,
Right under our nose-plugs






This fish buries its tail in the gravel
In order to better attack the tender bits
of the other fish swimming past







When he does of course,
All hell breaks loose






As a general rule it is fair to say,
Fish are very rude in their behavior





 2.
Flora

 

 Prehistoric plant-life abounds in the Bay Area








  A walkway into the Bay in Alameda
Submerged at high tide,






When the tide goes out again
A nutrient-rich film coats the walk





In winter months seeds germinate in it
Surviving the wan sunlight seaweed grows
The entire walk gleams green









 Berkeley Marina
The Flaneur has spent hours,
At rest beneath this whispering pine









Scotch thistle tough enough to grow anywhere,
A cliff over the Pacific







 Hardy flowerettes
Stand-up to the cold fog








Time out of mind
Land's End






3.
Insecta
 

An industrious bumble bee works the clover,
A lawn in the Marina right on the Bay




 4. 
Avifauna


Quail a lovely gentle bird
I have encountered them in the wild
Only due to my quiet, contemplative gait







Vast flocks follow along the shoreline,
They come in waves
Passing this point at a mad velocity







In November
Coots are a dime a dozen






Seagulls you always have with you






 Exquisite snowy egrets fish,
Zen-like in the Oakland estuary






 Cormorants take turns bathing
A seagull looks on suspiciously







 Pelicans, cormorants, and others
Nest on this strange storybook isle







Great blue heron brooding






Almost absurd at times







Perfectly adapted to life
on the San Francisco bay






5.
 Fauna



Elks in great numbers
Once rose up out of the Bay







Apparently at one time 
there were a great many of these  animals around
-- California smilodons






California Sea Lions
Were land-loving dog-bears
long ago





Whales inhabited the wide waters of the Bay,
Today they appear only  when
their geo-location instinct goes awry





Spaniards are said to have brought the first horses






Sometimes non-native animals
fare better than the local critters,
In cypress trees by the sea









6. 
Human Beings



Unlimited consciousness,
emotion and sensitivity,
Swims in the sunset,















Crab Cove, Crown Beach in Alameda
Lake Merritt, Oakland
Cordonices park, Berkeley Marina, UC Berkeley
Pier 39, Maritime park, Land's End, and Zoo
in San Francisco













2011-2014