signs: Burris Window Shades

Burris Window Shades

The neon on this sign is long gone, but the sign lives on in painted form.

signs: Mexicali Rose

Mexicali Rose

Across from the jail in the Old City is the faded Mexicali Rose. The day I took this picture there was plastic bag stuck in the sign, flapping in the breeze.

signs: J. Miller Flowers

J. Miller Flowers

In honor of the much-needed rain which brings life to California, today we have flowers. J. Miller Flowers is on Piedmont Avenue up from Pleasant Valley. Not far away Oaklandish has their truck parked if you're looking for good Oaklandish gifts for Christmas.

J. Miller Flowers

signs: The Graduate

The Graduate

Near the fun-filled 6-way intersection of College, Claremont, 62nd Street and Florio is The Graduate bar. I ride past it on my way to the Red Cross to donate platelets. It's across from one of the Oakland Safeways that is due for redevelopment. One of the comment threads over on Living in the O talks about the difficulty of crossing the street there, and I can attest to that. There are signals, but with multiple streets to cross and Claremont being so wide, it takes a bit of doing and more than once I've seen close calls with cars vs. pedestrians. Eric Fisher suggests a good alternative on his journal, closing off the ends of 62nd and Florio.

getting a new coat of paint

signs: Alpine Hotel

Alpine Hotel

In the Fruitvale not far from Rossi's Flowers is the Alpine Hotel. The neon for 'Alpine' appears to be intact, but 'Hotel' is in bad shape, so I don't know that they light the sign any more.

Splish Splash

party in the bird bath

The birds were happy about the warmer weather and the break in the rain. A bunch of them celebrated by taking a bath, something they couldn't do during the colder weather because the bird bath was frozen solid. I'd have set up the tripod and taken better pictures, but they came, they splashed around long enough for me to take a couple shots with the point and shoot, then all left at once. It was fun to watch while it lasted, though.

Habitat home dedication

The birds weren't the only ones happy about the warmer, drier weather. I took advantage of the break in the weather to take some pictures over to the Habitat for Humanity office. Saturday was a dedication ceremony at the Edes Avenue building site. Twenty families received the keys to their new homes, and I took pictures at the Thrivent Builds sponsored house. Fortunately the rain held off for the ceremony.

bike full o' beer

On the way home I did some grocery shopping, and did my usual load up of the e-bike. Yes, that's a case of beer on the back. Lucky's (at least the one in Montclair) is having a special on a Gordon Biersch winter sampler. It includes a winter bock, a blonde bock, a märzen, and a Czech-style pilsner. The bocks and märzen are very good; the pilsner is just OK. But for $20.99 for a case of good beer, it's a great deal while it lasts. And while they're not in Oakland like Linden Street Brewery, they are local to the bay area.

Brrr!

I hope you're staying warm in this unusually cold weather. Some frost in winter isn't unusual here in the hills, nor is a bit of snow every once in a while. But this has been cold and not warmed up much during the day. Our birdbath froze solid over night, and only thawed around 2PM or so. It's on its way to freezing again tonight, so spare a thought and more if you can for those who have less shelter than you.

Apparently (but alas, not surprisingly) it's cold in Oakland's classrooms, too.

And City Homestead has some good info for caring for your plants and house in cold weather. Frozen pipes are not out of the realm of possibility if this cold sticks around. It should warm up some when the next storm comes through...I hope!