SquareOdds #16: California Academy of Sciences

Self has fallen behind the SquareOdds Challenge! She will do her best to catch up.

Today, she’s sharing her photos from a visit last April to the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. The Academy and other museums were just beginning to open to the public again. Self rushed over as soon as she could.

The building is fabulous. Designed by Renzo Piano, it is powered entirely by solar energy. It has a living roof — six inches of soil were carted in, and then the designers decided to see what would grow. Now, years later, a meadow has sprung up. It is lovely.

Here are two views of the living roof, from above and below:

Lens-Artists Challenge # 180: Favorite Images of 2021

Thank you to Tina Schell of Travels and Trifles, host of this week’s Lens-Artists Challenge, Favorite Images of 2021.

• First and foremost, let me begin by wishing everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year. As always, the turn of the calendar page to January 1st brings with it an opportunity to begin anew – having learned lessons, accomplished some of our goals, or perhaps having simply survived to start a new day. Whatever our thoughts about the year just passed, we once again have a chance to make the new one even better. — Tina Schell

Without further ado, here are self’s favorite images of 2021:

Despite the pandemic, self managed to do quite a lot of things in 2021.

HUH. Who would have thought?

Seems the vaccines do work!

Photographing Public Art Challenge (PPAC) # 12: Gardens & Art

Self is waaaaay behind but she’s still manfully posting. Someday she will catch up.

For this PPAC Challenge, self wanted to focus on outdoor art.

Stanford campus is full of outdoor art, but this one, in a grove of oak trees near the entrance to the Anderson Collection, really spoke to her.

Reaching Toward Warmer Suns by Kiyan Williams

This one’s just outside the de Young Museum café, in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. She doesn’t know who the artists are. An interview with the designer of the sculpture garden talks about the concept of the design, but not the individual artists whose works are pictured, which is a crying shame.

Finally, a little garden shed in a very wee garden store in Woodside. Self will just keep the name of the store to herself for now, but it’s been featured in Architectural Digest, and ever since then, it’s been impossible to find parking, unless you go right at store opening.

Sea of Images 2021

Past Squares 4: When Museums Re-Opened

For today’s Past Squares challenge, she’s posting a couple of photos from two big exhibits she saw this year: the Frida Kahlo and Judy Chicago exhibits, both in the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park.

Self had tickets to see the Frida Kahlo exhibit last year, but the week she was supposed to go, the whole city abruptly went into pandemic lockdown mode and stayed locked down into 2021. As soon as the de Young re-opened to the public, just this past spring, self rushed over. YAY!

The Frida Kahlo exhibit was followed by the Judy Chicago retrospective (which is still on; everyone within driving distance should go: it is FANTASTIC!)

July #TreeSquare Challenge #4: Sunday in Golden Gate Park, Part II

For this July #TreeSquare challenge, self is sharing more pictures she took in Golden Gate Park last Sunday, the Fourth of July. It was a beautiful day: cool! What a nice respite from the heat down on the Peninsula.

The statue is a memorial to Marie Bonner. The log cabin was something self stumbled open while wandering around the picnic area:

Stay cool, dear blog readers. Stay cool.

July #TreeSquare Challenge #3: Sunday in Golden Gate Park

Learn about this challenge, hosted by Life of B.

Yesterday a friend and I went to Golden Gate Park. We parked up by Stowe Lake, and wandered around quite lost. Her cell said to go right, mine said to go left. I said I wanted to see the de Young (I have a membership card and I needed to go to the bathroom) My friend wanted to know why, whenever I’d ask for directions, I’d ask for the Japanese Tea Garden. I said, The de Young and the Japanese garden are right beside each other; if you find one, you find the other.

Originally, we were supposed to hunt up the Conservatory of Flowers, but it seemed a long way, and I hadn’t brought a sweater (It was cold and windy. Lucky she had a grey hoodie; I only had a thin cotton top. Anyhoo, I’m kinda glad we never found the conservatory, because when I got home I looked it up on the map, and we’ve had had to cross the entire park, lengthwise.

The park was lush and green, and it felt good just to be alive. The eucalyptus trees (not native, I was told by a naturalist on a tour last month) smelled heavenly.

Here are a couple of trees I saw in the Park.

Stay cool, dear blog readers. Stay cool.

Water Water Everywhere (WWE) Challenge: California Academy of Science

Thought self had come to the end of her California Academy of Sciences archive? NOT!

For the Water Water Everywhere (WWE) Challenge by Jez, here are some shots she took from her visit a month ago:

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The Aquarium, on the lower level, was fabulous.

Self was also fascinated by the tide pool that wraps around the Rain Forest exhibit.

Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.

One Word Sunday Challenge: MOBILE/MOBIL

The theme for this week’s One Word Sunday Challenge is MOBILE/MOBIL.

Without further ado, her mobile/mobil pictures:

(1) Bird in flight

(2) Alexander Calder mobiles in the recent Calder/Picasso exhibit at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park

Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.

A Photo a Week Challenge: CIRCLES ON CIRCLES

Today’s challenge is from Nancy Merrill: A Photo a Week.

This week’s challenge is Circles on Circles.

Here’s a standing lamp in her living room.

Here’s the roof of the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. The gorgeous building was by Renzo Piano. Self took this picture from the Rainforest. She remembers there were so many butterflies (not one of which was captured by her camera, boo).

Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.