Sunday, May 16, 2010

Golden Gate Park Scenes - 5-15-10

Joanne Olivieiri ( Poetic Shutterbug ) and I had a fun morning on Friday.  I picked her up at 8:45AM for a jaunt to Golden Gate Park and the Japanese Tea Garden.  It seems on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, if you get there from 9AM until 10AM, admission is free so, armed with our cameras ( Jo has a marvelous new one that takes incredible macro shots  while mine, once terrific, now shows signifignant trauma from several encounters with pavement, rocks, and other hard objects in various parts of the world ), we braved the misty morning.  One advantage to embarking early is that we found easy parking right next to the Japanese Tea Garden and were
thrilled to see a robin who allowed us to get several photos.  While we would have preferred a bright, sunny day, it was nice to see this setting without hordes of tourists.  In the next month, the numbers will definitely increase.

Of course, Jo and I will both be posting about our visit on our blogs so forgive us if you see some of the same pictures over the next several days.  Her macro shots, beyond a doubt, will blow you away.  For tonight, though, I'm just posting a couple that I know Jo didn't get.

After our visit to the Japanese Tea Garden, we crossed the street and entered the Botannical Garden where several squirrels cavorted around and entertained us for a few minutes.  They clearly were wanting a handout and I was so sorry I didn't have any treats with me. 

From there, we went to Clement Street and had lunch at Yet Wah, a venerable old Chinese Restaurant that both Jo and I had eaten at for years. 


Jo is happy as can be with her new camera

Poetic Shutterbug will go to any length for a good picture!

Here I am in my 49'er jacket, acquiring sniffles for the rest of the day!

Jo's camera will have much better pictures of this robin!


This was the only robin we spotted out and about that morning but, surely, there must have been others nearby somewhere in the park.

These guys were racing around all over the place.  They look a lot skinnier than Ratty's squirrels.

They would come right up to us, obviously expecting food.  When they didn't get it, off they went!


I loved the flowers and lovely scenes we encountered everywhere.

Baby's tears, one of my favorite plants of all time

Japanese maple ( I think ) - if you look closely, you can see the rain drops

At Yet Wah, Jo and I became nearly hysterical with laughter over the appetizer menu with the "stuffed crab craws" - we figured it had to be a misprint or the Chinese interpretation of crab claws.  If anyone out there knows more about crustacean anatomy than we do, please let us know!

More photos to follow on the Japanese Tea Garden and the Botannical Gardens in a future post.



24 comments:

  1. Poetic Shutterbug in action!

    Shall look for this picture in her blog.

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  2. Sounds like a really fun day. Nice photos. I would love to visit San Francisco someday, I haven't been there yet.
    Kat

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  3. Did I miss the roasted squirrel on the menu? ;-)

    Looks like the two of you had not only a wonderful out, but an interesting lunch menu to boot! :-)))

    A wondeful Sunday to you,
    Merisi

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  4. It looks like you both had a great day. And you took amazing photos, I can't see the "trauma" of your camera anywhere, you did a fantastic job!

    (So, you and Joanne laughing at foreign interpretations of English, ah? OK, I'll remember that, he he!)

    Have a great Sunday, Carmen!

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  5. I'll have the Princess Garden Chicken Salad please.

    Not sure I am any expertise on crab anatomy but wonder if it is possible to stuff a crab claw with anything.

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  6. Anonymous6:25 AM

    Oh I like the picture of Jo reaching for a shot! All beautiful shots, Carmen, and you've been tagged!

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  7. Great Shots Girl!! LOLOL...stuffed crab claws...Wonder how that's done?!!
    hughugs

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  8. Well I never thought my "behind" would make it's debut on your blog. You got some great photos especially of the Robin and our little squirrely divas, they were so cute. We had such fun that day, albeit in the overcast and misty conditions :)

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  9. Anonymous4:36 PM

    How very wonderful it must be living there. Thank you for this small escape. Please have a nice start into the new week.

    daily athens

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  10. all beautiful shots, Carmen. thanks for sharing your shots of Jo taking pictures and doing the best she could to take pictures :)

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  11. Some beautiful photographs there. I remember reading about Golden Gate Park and the Japanese Garden some time ago, it was really interesting to see the photographs of it.

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  12. You got some excellent photos from your trip, and It's obvious that you had a very good time. I love robins and squirrels. They seem to be friendly counterparts in nature. They can both be found hovering near human areas.

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  13. rainfield61 - we both got lots of pictures this day...will be putting them up a little at a time, I suspect.

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  14. Kat_RN - I hope I'm still in the Bay area if you ever come to visit...since retirement, it is getting too costly for me to afford this $2325 rent...but I don't think I'll be further away than Sacramento. I MUST see you if you're ever out this way!

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  15. Merisi - ohhhhhhhh, no roasted squirrel on the menu and no dog, either, that I saw!

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  16. fullet - dear one, your English is impeccable..but you will forgive us if we tease you, anyway. I still don't know if there is such a thing as crab craws. When I do a search for crab "craws" on the internet, only "claws" comes up.

    You only see the pictures that were good on my blog. About half I had to discard. It's a good thing we now have digital photography!

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  17. Liss - look closely, that menu does not say crab clas but CRAW...that's what Jo and I found so funny.

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  18. Icy BC - it was fun getting shots of an unsuspecting Jo. I'll get to my photo this weekend.

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  19. Donna - look at the menu closely...it was CRAWS, not claws. Whatever the heck that is.

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  20. Poetic Shutterbug - I really like these pictures of you...especially the one of you taking the photo that's on your Facebook page - I guess you couldn't use the other one...no one would recognize your rear end!

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  21. ρομπερτ - I've been in the San Francisco area 33 years now - fell in love with it during a layover when I was 18 and en route to Hawaii...at 65, I still love it though the city has changed a lot ( as have I ) - certainly crime has increased, etc...but it is still so beautiful out here and it is the most European city in the U. S.

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  22. betchai - it was a fun day and I loved getting the shots of Jo!

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  23. Alan Burnett - it had been more than 20 years since my last visit to the Japanese Tea Garden! Pretty sad.

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  24. Ratty - what a wonderful day Jo and I had. It was nice to get to the gardens early, before they got crowded. Next time, I'll bring some snacks for the critters.

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