Yesterday turned out to be rather lovely. Warm sun and fluffy clouds. Not too hot and not too chilly. Most striking of all, though, the spectacular clear light made everything look electric and vibrant.
Here are two random photos from yesterday. The top one was taken from a southbound Caltrain in the morning, as Bernalwood woke up for the day; The one below was taken at sunset, as the sky exploded in a Martian orange halo:
PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics
In Bernal Heights, as in all of San Francisco, warm nights are a rare treat. So when they happen, I like to mark the occasion is by trekking up to Bernal Hill with a camera and tripod to take in the balmy nighttime air and shoot pictures of the monumental scenery.
Last Saturday was one such night, and the photos you see above were taken during a late-night stroll on the hill.
Here are a few more:
PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics
Let the record show that summer arrived in Bernal Heights last weekend, sometime during Saturday night. Sunday, June 10, 2012 turned out to be a gloriously sunny day, with no wind, no clouds, no chill, and really nothing to complain about.
Of course, by the time you read this, summer may already be over. Yet for 24 hours on Sunday, the Citizens of Bernalwood celebrated the arrival of the warm sun by taking to the streets for food, festivals, and fun. Let’s review.
At St. Anthony’s Church in Precitaville, they held a typically lovely gala in the church’s parking lot/playground area. It was a great scene, especially when the band began to channel Carlos Santana (who of course used to live just a few blocks away).
Give it a listen:
A few hundred yards west on Precita, the Bernal Heights Junior Capitalist League spotted an opportunity in the heat, which they decided to exploit by selling a very delicious sparkling citrus drink. It was two for a dollar, so Bernalwood’s Cub Reporter and I each had one. Refreshing!
On Cortland, things were jumping at Heartfelt, as Bernal neighbor Jane Wattenberg was on hand with a few of her animals for an event to celebrate her hilariously awesome Mrs. Mustard’s Beastly Babies book. When the Cub Reporter and I showed up at the door, we were greeted by a hungry goat:
Inside, Neighbor Jane (that’s her at far right) introduced visitors to her books, her ducks, and her chickens. All her animals are certified Residents of Bernalwood.
While we were there, one of her chickens laid an egg. They don’t get any fresher than that, really. Jane kindly gave the egg to the Cub Reporter to adorn her breakfast plate during the week ahead. (UPDATE Monday, June 11, 09:20 am: The Cub Reporter ate the egg this morning. Yum!)
Meanwhile, there was a block party on Mullen Ave., where cute little animals were also the focus of attention — but in a very different role. On Mullen, the animals were the main course:
Perhaps inadvertently, Mullen appears to have become a Apocalypse Now-style celebration of the senses, as the featured events included not only a spit-roasted pig, but also a glamorous sidewalk hot tub:
Neighbor Mason made a Zapruder-quality video that captures the vibe of the Mullen Melee. (PRO TIP: Mason! Could you turn the camera horizontal when you make movies? Thankssomuch. xoxoxo.)
Mercifully, Sunday remained warm, even as the sun started to set. Team Bernalwood celebrated this rare fact in true fashion by dining al fresco in the back yard.
It was wonderful, but much like the recent Transit of Venus, a night this warm may not happen again in San Francisco for another 104 years. We savored it.
PHOTOS: Top, Richfles. Mullen photos from Neighbor Amanda. All other pics by Telstar Logistics.
This is an advisory from the Bernal Heights Seasonal Transition Monitoring Group.
Following a routine chromatic analysis of Bernal Hill conducted last Saturday, Bernalwood scientists have concluded that our neighborhood will soon complete its annual transit from Wet Mode into Dry Mode.
As you can see in Exhibit A (shown above), while a few patches of aquagenic greenness remain, most of Bernal Hill has already been overtaken by the onset of aridity-induced brown. If present trends continue, the Brown Transition is expected to resolve itself within the next 10 to 14 days.
Do not be alarmed. The onset of Brown is a routine cyclical event, and Green Season is expected to return sometime around mid-November. Keep calm. Carry on. That is all.
PHOTO: Telstar Logistics
Over on the Instagram, the south side’s Neighbor Anita (aka @marriedwithdinner) has been taking a glamorous series of sunrise photographs — presumably from a window of her home.
Taken as a set, I love the variety of colors on display… as well as the fact that I slept through every single one of these magical moments.
PHOTOS: marriedwithdinner
And Michelle Glauser captured it in a moving picture:
Beautiful windy, sunny afternoon on Bernal Hill. It’s a good day to live in San Francisco.
UPDATE: (Promoted from the comments)
My friend calls the afternoon wind in Bernal the “Bernado”
Note: That’s pronounced “Ber-NAY-Do”
You probably noticed that yesterday’s on-again-off-again rainstorms featured two very special guest stars: Mr. Thunder and Dr. Lightning.
But during the day, the interplay of light, sun, water, and Bernal Heights created some beautiful scenery. I took these phonecam snaps on my way to work in the morning.
PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics
We know that Bernal Heights is all about the love, but our romance is not just a blue-sky phenomenon. Andrew Curry took this wonderfully atmospheric photo during yesterday’s rainstorms, and he rather brilliantly titled it “Lover Cover.”
(PRO TIP: For maximum dramatic effect, play this link through your headphones while watching the videos in this post.)
The clouds were dramatic Sunday afternoon, so I went looking for a slightly different angle to capture Bernal Hill, Sutrito Tower, and Mighty Sutro with time-lapse clouds as background. This view features a blue tarp, for extra enjoyment.
In the afternoon sun, though, the view to the east from the hill was even more dramatic. There’s some circulation apparent here, with the foreground clouds moving north and the background clouds moving south.
Above is a Sutrito sunset from the weekend before last, St. Patrick’s Day, I think.
Monday night (March 26), I tried to get the Moon/Venus/Jupiter trifecta, but never caught a glimpse of Jupiter through the clouds:
Rebel blogger Burrito Justice, chief propagandist of the La Lengua separatists, looked into his cartographic crystal ball recently to understand the impact that global climate change and sea-level rise might have upon our City.
His research generated some bittersweet conclusions. Assuming a worst-case scenario of 200-feet of sea-level rise, San Francisco will become an archipelago. That’s bad news for his beloved La Lengua Autonomous Zone, which will be completely submerged beneath the rising waters. But on the bright side, Bernal Hill will be transformed into a glamorous island with excellent luxury vacation destination potential.
Let’s zoom in for a closer look:
In a must-read post written from the perspective of the year 2072, Burrito Justice envisions life in the San Francisco Archipelago:
With the surprising acceleration of sea level rise due to the melting of both the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets over the past decade, ferry service has been announced between the new major islands of the San Franciscan Archipelago while the boring machines make progress under the Van Ness Passage and Richmond Pass for the new transit tunnels. […]
The submerged ruins of the Sunset and the Mission have proved popular diving attractions, [and] many have already forgotten the locations of long-flooded streets and avenues. […]
While other islands have embraced both bridges and tunnels — the 150 year old bridges across Glen Narrows are scheduled for destruction once the new suspension bridge is completed to Bernal Isle.
What’s fascinating is the fact that Bernal Isle of 2072 is quite a bit like the Bernal Heights of 2012: A scenic haven that’s just slightly cut off from the rest of the City. But Bernal Isle will also enjoy some competitive advantages that Bernal Heights does not; most notably, ample beachfront real estate and convenient tourist access to the submerged ruins of the former Mission District.
Fellow Citizens of Bernalwood, we have an exciting future to look forward to!
IMAGES: Top, Telstar Logistics. Archipelago maps, courtesy of Burrito Justice.
Thank you, 4Blankwalls, for the on-the-scene report.
Be advised: This afternoon the Bernalwood Rainbow Observation Center activated a Category Four Rainbow Alert at approximately 4:46 pm.
At the moment we have received two (2) documented reports of rainbows in the greater Bernal Heights area. Residents are encouraged to shelter in place. In the event that you begin to feel inexplicable euphoria, our experts advise you to remain calm. If needed, you may play with crayons.
PHOTOS: 4Blankwalls and @aheartwell
I happened to be traveling from Cortlandia to the Precitaville Administrative Zone on Sunday evening just as the sun was settling down for the night. The sky was exploding with oranges and pinks, so I took a few iPhonecam pics (with a boost from the awesome TrueHDR app) as I headed around Bernal Hill.
I started with the view to the southwest, in the photo above. This was what I saw as I headed east down Bernal Heights Boulevard:
PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics
Bernalwood 