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Jeff and I are headed off for a road trip today. We’re driving south with his nephew Matt, who is here for spring break. The sun has been darting in and out today, so hopefully it will provide for some dramatic pictures as we drive through Big Sur. Our destination is Cambria and nearby Hearst Castle.

So, until we return, I leave you with the latest from Russia. Enjoy.

How are you? Do you saw an eclipse of the sun? I for the first time could see it. It is very beautiful. Weather here warm. It cheers up as well as your letters. But I should tell to you that now I not always can write to you. Because I should save money. I need in purchase of new clothes and other things. All that is necessary for the girl to look beautifully. 🙂 As soon as I shall have money I shall write to you letters. Ok? I cannot write to you everyday. I hope you you will understand me. Thanks that you understand me. When I write letters to you I feel a strange inclination to you. What is it? Love? I cannot understand. Probably this attraction was thought up to each other with destiny. 🙂 Or the spring so strongly operates on us. I like you. I send you my photo. By the way today and I for the first time do not know my birthday as I shall celebrate it. 🙂

I think Elena was drinking today, because this letter seems to ramble more than the rest. Still, the affection is clear. You just can’t make this stuff up.

Have a good weekend.

I’m always amazed what I can learn over lunch. Today, I was surfing MSNBC.com and ran across a headline that is sure to draw clicks: “Kosher cell phones ring up growth”. Who could resist?

It would seem that multi-function cell phones are under fire from religious groups as tools bringing sex (“and other worldly temptations”) into the community. A magazine was even quoted calling cell phones “a candy store for the evil impulse”! So, an ambitious Israeli subsidiary of Motorola has been working with Orthodox leaders to develop a phone that is simply a phone and has a carefully managed list of blocked numbers (incoming and outgoing). An interesting idea.

Personally, if they would just squelch the explosion of annoying ring tones, then I’m on board with it 🙂 Vibrate only? Probably not.

Blame Mother Nature for all this rain talk. Yesterday, San Francisco set a new all-time record for rainy days in March. Thursday was our 24th day this month with rainfall, beating the old March record of 23 rainy days set in 1904. The rain today, will make it 25 days.

[Hmmm, oddly enough, just as I started typing this entry, Bruce Hornsby’s Mandolin Rain just started playing on my iPod. Coincidence?]

This weekend, Jeff and I checked off another nagging home project–not a big one, but visible. We have spent a lot of time beautifying our front and back yards with a wide variety of plants. Yet, one space has eluded us…until Saturday.

We have a beautiful tree in front of our house, but the previous owners put a weed-like ground cover around it. So Saturday morning, Jeff and I ventured down to a spectacular nursery in Half Moon Bay and found provence lavender, a variety that should grow to a perfect full height and add a nice scent to the front yard. Here are the before and afters.

Now, while we were digging out the old weeds, we uncovered a very wet, very unhappy salamander. My mother would have immediately named him Sammy Salamander. We transported Sammy to a cozy spot in the back yard. But seeing Sammy reminded me of all the salamanders that my brother and I used to collect in our youth. Fun memories.

By the way, the iPod has moved on to a swinging Sinatra tune.

This weekend, while was driving around taking pictures, I stopped at an area in China Basin, which is near the SF Giants ballpark. The top picture is the view across the inlet to a dock area where they routinely bring in cruise ships for maintenance.

Anyhow, the concrete area in the foreground has some interesting features, and I have photographed on and around it several times now. Well, Saturday morning, I hit a low tide, and the underbelly of this platform was revealed. The bottom photo was just a quick shot I snapped peering underneath. I was intrigued, until I spotted a homeless man well off to the left. Startled the crap out of me.

I did find it quite ironic that this man was living in the shadow of this cruise ship. But, needless to say, I am NOT poking my nose under THERE again.