Saturday. I did get to bed just after nine last night, although I didn't get to sleep until after ten. Not a lot after ten. Awoke this morning with the alarm at five forty-five, went back to sleep for an hour before heading off to breakfast just after seven, still getting back by eight. No New York Times is delivered on the weekends so the morning reading doesn't take nearly so long.

Along with my newspapers this morning (the landlord gets up really early and collects them from out front and drops them off at the tenants's doors as part of his morning routine - there's only two others who get morning papers in a building with thirteen apartments) was the package that “didn't arrive yesterday” from UPS, who knows what that's about? An illustrated “birds of the local area” book, the last of three recommended books I'd ordered last week thinking it might be good to be able to identify and know the names of some of these birds I've been photographing. Haphazardly photographing. Maybe I'm thinking of tightening it up a bit. A future birder? Not something I would have guessed.

The Oakland Holiday Parade starts at two, so downtown by noon, the sun bright and the weather quite good, the weather people saying it will last through the weekend and into the week beyond. Maybe a nap between now and then, another go through of the new artandlife and HereInOakland designs. I've been working with them with some satisfaction and interest.

Later. I was tired this morning with whatever sleep I got last night, with whatever sleep I've been getting this last week, and my feeling has been I've been getting plenty of sleep. A nap and then another nap, two lie down for a whiles later this morning where I dozed off briefly and felt better for it.

Out the door, though, perking up once I hit the outside air, arriving at the downtown parade site two hours before it was scheduled to start. This gave me plenty of time to walk the City Hall Ogawa Plaza perimeter and photograph any changes in whatever now remains of the Occupy Wall Street group and still get on to properly photograph the people preparing for the parade. I've photographed this now for these last few years (I'm going to have to track all those down with the artandlife redesign) and know where to go to get what I'm after. Mostly. If I don't screw up.

One of the parade participants, the Oakland Black Cowboy Association, a group I've photographed in the past at other parades here in Oakland, was forming up on 10th Street where it feeds into Broadway and I noticed this sign on the back of one of their horse trailers. I really got a kick out of it, “race” horses. The young owner of the horse and trailer said his father had come up with the sign. Again, I really liked it. Clever with just enough attitude to make you smile, black or white. “Race” horse. Nice.

Anyway, two or so hours of shooting, some four hundred pictures, maybe forty of them useful enough to use. I hope forty of them useful enough to use. Which will take me the rest of the afternoon and probably a good part of tomorrow, but no problem with that. I'm tired, but not too tired, the head is clear, the back hurts a bit (which will go away on its own pretty quick) and there's still a couple of hours left in the afternoon to make some headway.

I'm thinking of having sushi and sake for dinner, although sushi doesn't really appeal. I had a big breakfast, a raspberry and sour cream desert crepe along with apple juice for lunch (not all that much raspberry jam and sour cream, but enough to taste pretty good) and now I'd like some actual food for dinner. But what? I suspect that roasted chicken sitting in the refrigerator I bought Wednesday has reached its expiration date and it's been pretty much tasteless anyway, not much interest in that. Think, think. On a Saturday. In Oakland.

Later still. The photographs I took today of the Occupy Wall Street area were just enough to finish out another section (just enough with a slight stretch), so I've posted them. Now to get into the Holiday Parade photographs, those are going to take a while. It's just after six, we'll work on the photographs, play a little guitar (the fingertips are feeling better, string bending might not be an issue anymore) and get to bed early (again). See if that doesn't make for a decent morning. The problem seems to be the mornings.

Oh, and we skipped the sushi and carved out one last chicken sandwich. What the hell, it worked, I'm no longer hungry. I'll try one of the free range roasted chickens they sell at the farmer's market next week, see if they taste any better, not that I'm particularly into chickens that have been roasted in a store or on a truck. I'm not a betting man and I wouldn't bet on it.