Nightmare on E̶l̶m̶ Pedro Street

On a normal day, this would be the scene on Pedro Street looking east toward Lincoln Avenue:

 

But things weren't quite normal this past Friday afternoon. We were walking home from Artega's Food Center when we heard a huge CRACK! behind us.

 

Looking around, the cause became apparent: a semi truck driver had misjudged the height of his cab and trailer vis a vis a low-hanging branch. The result was a nightmare for the truck driver, the tree, and local residents wishing to drive down the street in either direction.

 

We did not stick around to see the branch removal and cleanup operation

Teaser Trailer: TSG Visits Bell Plastics & The Hayward Toy Museum

A sneak peak of a video/slideshow coming to a blog near you. 

 

Accidental Autographs

TSG recently acquired a used copy of Wishbone Ash's "Live Dates" album on CD.

 Pulling out the booklet we were surprised to see what appeared to be bassist/founding member Martin Turner's autograph on the back. Of course there's no way to determine the provenance of our item. But the signature does look reasonably close to a "certified authentic" autograph on a collector's website. 

 We're a bit more certain regarding the authenticity of the signatures we discovered on the title page of this book purchased on eBay:

 

 If it's real, having Martin Turner's autograph is sort of cool.

 But Anthem, both the book and the video project has long been a favorite document of being on the road in the mid-90s. So seeing Kristin and Shainee's signatures was a real thrill.

Lake Wakatipu Overlook from Bob's Peak, Queenstown, NZ

Right This Way

A Gravely Disarming Post

Students of Civil War history are probably aware of the lore surrounding Stonewall Jackson's left arm. Old Stoney lost it in the Battle of Chancellorsville and the limb was buried and a marker erected on the Ellwood Plantation in 1863. The exact location of said arm is unknown these days but history buffs still visit Elwood Manor to pay their respects(so to speak). 

Not to be outdone, San Jose has it's own historical buried arm, this one having once been attached to Richard Bertram Barrett. Curiosity seekers can visit his interred appendage in the New Almaden Historic District's Hacienda Cemetery.

Paranormal Activity?

 Image taken in the Mermaid Room of the supposedly haunted Brookdale Lodge sometime in the mid-90s. TSG was at the Lodge to catch a gig by the local bluegrass band "Earthquake Country". 

 Legend has it a young lady drowned in the swimming pool and guests have reported seeing her ghost in the pool window and wet footprints on the floor even when the pool was closed for renovations. 

In this case the spooky-looking apparition is not a ghost but an ordinary non-supernatural everyday-type person...the slightly blurry effect being due to a slow shutter speed. Or who knows...maybe it was a ghost after all?

Above San Diego

 On approach to Lindberg Field on SWA Flight 2742

(Apologies for lack of sharpness on these. The images lost a bit of resolution when the "magic eraser" tool was applied to get rid of the engine nacelle)

805/94 Interchange

Balboa Park Golf Course

Balboa Park / El Prado

Balboa Park / California Tower

CA 163 / Cabrillo Bridge

Balboa Park / 6th Avenue

Banker's Hill

Little Italy

Hermitage Arms' New "Fountain Alley" Water Feature

Anyone with a history of lawn use has seen something like this at one time or another. Here at Maison de la Sauterelle we have our own example, providing residents with a miniature Old Faithful event every other day when the automatic timer goes off.  

We're now into the fourth week of having this somewhat dubious bubbling perk, despite the fact management & maintenance personnel (seen here walking away, apparently having other things on their minds) being aware of it since the outset. 

Oh well, guess we might as well enjoy it while we we can...

Independence Day In Sanna Zay

TSG pays a visit to the Rose White & Blue Parade

 

This Video Not Viewable in Belarus, Russia

Apologies to our friends in eastern Europe, but apparently UMG doesn't want you folks hearing the intro to "Tunnel Of Love" on youtube*. For everyone else, here's the promised recap of our annual first weekend of summer foray to Santa Cruz. 

 

 *we suppose viewing with a VPN might be an option.

First Weekend Of Summer? Time For Woodies On The Wharf!

This year was the 30th gathering of these vintage vehicles from all over the west. As usual, after checking out the Woodies we moseyed over to the boardwalk for our traditional ride on the Giant Dipper and a corn dog. Stay tuned for more content from our excursion in an upcoming post.

J. Allen Hynek's Evil Cinematic Twin?

Having just seen Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day (good, not great summer flick in our humble opinion), we were of course reminded of his 1977 effort Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, one of our all-time favorites. 

J. Allen Hynek was a technical advisor for the movie and had a brief cameo. He was an astronomer who became a UFO investigator, he's the person who coined the term "close encounter". He was originally a total UFO skeptic but over the years his views on the subject became more nuanced. He felt the UFO phenomenon was "real" (in the sense that people were actually seeing the things), but the origin of the objects themselves remained a mystery. 

Anywho, after seeing the movie we found ourselves ildy poking around the 'net on the topic and came across this still of Professor Hynek from the Close Encouters:

This resulted in sort of a "hey, wait a minute..." moment, because this is what Colin Firth's character (the bad guy) in Disclosure Day looked like:

 

So, grey(ing) hair, glasses, blue sportcoat, dark blue tie/turtleneck...perhaps we have an overactive imagination, but there seems to be slightly more than a passing resemblance there. Maybe it's just another crazy UFO-related conspiracy theory. The truth must surely be out there...somewhere. 

A Stupid AI "Photo To Video" Creation: The Crabby Driver Of Bodega Bay.

Because we realized a post was due too late in the day and this was already made up (using images taken at the Spud Point Crab Company).  

Drake's Beach 10 Years On

Back in June of 2016 we posted Light and shadow show @ Drake's Beach which documented a very cool (even magical, one might say) experience that was almost like a time-lapse video in real time. 

So you can imagine our sense of déjà vu as we walked along the same shoreline this past week. 

  

Alder Catkin Poking Through Invasive Cape Ivy Leaf

Muddy Hollow Trail / Point Reyes National Seashore

Another Crabby Post

Sand dollar surrounded by tiny sand crabs / Point Reyes National Seashore

Watch Out For Crabby Drivers

Possibly unlicensed operator in front of Bodega Bay's Spud Point Crab Company, purveyor of the best clam chowder in California.

 

Thing You Might See In Bolinas CA

First deployment of a TSG sticker! 

Approximate coordinates: 37°54'35.5"N 122°41'06.0"W

A Man, A Plan...

From the TSG Vintage Postcard Packet Collection

 

Summer's Here & The Time Is Right For...

...Burgers & Dogs

Bon appétit!

The Stone Glurge Gallery Of Scripps Ranch

 A local artist/philosopher's ongoing public installation of rocks inscribed with saccharin-infused words of wisdom. But hey, there's always room for a little more peace love and understanding in the world, isn't there?

Kona Marina Gates

Shelter Island / San Diego

Pinnacles 'Pecker Holes

First of all, get your mind(s) out of the gutter.

 The 'pecker we're talking about is Melanerpes formicivorus, aka the Acorn Woodpecker, commonly seen in the oak woodlands California. 

 

 

Acorn Woodpeckers are notable for drilling holes in trees (and as seen here, wooden structures) to store their 'corns for future use. These photos taken at Pinnacles National Park.

Acorn Woodpeckers are also known for their distinctive "waka waka waka" call which was supposedly the inspiration for Woody Woodpecker's famous "laugh".

Your Palindromes For The Day

It's a mystery to us what a taco cat has to to with a cave. 

You'd think they'd have something more like this:

No SASE Required

The wait is over!

After years of seeing sticker-laden surfaces on our travels and wishing we had one to add to the mix, the dream of having an official TSG sticker has become a reality. 

(pennies added for scale)

Now for the first time you can have one of these exclusive, limited edition stickers. Just send us an email with your snailmail addy and we'll have it in the mail to you in no time. 

 

NOTE: please follow the manufacturer's instructions when using your new sticker 

 

 

Beatle City Update

Thanks to Ed Carter for the memory jog. 

His image from our '87 UK trip shows that we did indeed visit at least the Beatle City building.(Still unsure if it was open at the time)

As far as the MMT bus goes, as far as we can tell the Beatle City version was the one from the movie. It was used for motor tours of Liverpool.

(photo credit: dewey02/Steve Hoffman forums)

There Are Places I (Don't) Remember

Promo pamphlet from UK trip in '87. Encountered during an archive dive while looking for something else. 

(street view photos from web image search)

Of course this seems like a must-see attraction for any fan of the famous Liverpudlians, and we certainly qualify. However, it turns out Beatle City did not exist when we were there in 1987. It opened in 1984 and operated at a loss for a couple of years before closing down. It was replaced by The Beatles Story Museum located a few blocks away on the waterfront. 

 

 

This begs the question as to how/where TSG acquired a promo pamphlet for an attraction that had been closed for over a year.  We're afraid this will remain an mystery that even Robert Stack could not solve. 

Accept No Substitutes

It has come to our attention that there is another Willard Biscuit out there on the interwebs.

Don't be fooled, we all know who coaxed the Grump celebrity out of retirement back in 2007.