Thursday. To bed early last night, slept like a log. Up before the alarm to head off to breakfast and back on a sunny morning feeling pretty good. Whatever sake I drank last night made for a very nice evening and a long night's sleep. Not enough in any case to affect the morning, although I'm less sure of how reliable that is now at my age. So, what many might call foolishness has led us to a nice day, with a nice outlook, in a nice part of town accompanied by a comment too saccharine for words. It figures, given my palate anymore.

I have no idea where I might go for my walk or what I might like to photograph, not that it makes any difference. Maybe think about that second half of the bedroom that was calling out to me: put me in order, please! Do you have rooms in your house that call out to you too? Best I make an appointment with what kind of doctor? Really? Tis the season for stress? And what? Really?

Later. A nice rambling walk following yesterday morning's path to the ATM on Lakeshore and then back around to the morning café for coffee out at a table under the sun. I passed by this one stalking his or her breakfast. They keep a sharp eye for passers by who stop and lift dark somethings up to their eyes, some of the birds more careful in this respect than others. Perhaps the long term residents are less careful, the migratory birds sharp from dodging hawks, bird shot and BB guns along their route. Or I'm just making things up as I go along.

I'd go through my usual didn't take the time to take a decent picture routine, but it's not worth the effort. I suspect I'm in a somewhat fallow period needing a new year and new ambitions to get me up again and started, on to something of more interest. Not so much anything other than what's gotten me out and about in the past, just something to get me in new surroundings under a new, somewhat different horizon. It will come, probably next week once the year has finished and I've taken down the Christmas tree that somehow never went up. No complaints, really, just rambling. We do that.

Out today on the winter solstice. It finally felt as if fall had arrived and winter was coming. Some decent gusts of wind in what they're saying is the driest December but for two in the last one hundred and fifty years. Doesn't feel that way, but I'm sure they're right. Hard to spin hard precipitation data unless you're running for office and even then I suspect most people would know the difference. “It's rained every day since my opponent was elected!” Hasn't happened in exactly those words yet, but I'm sure somebody will try.

Now, now.

Doesn't matter. As I said: the mood is good, the day is good and the weather is really nice.

Later still. A bus downtown to pick up a package of AAA batteries. I have two devices that use AAA's and it's not worth the effort or cost to buy rechargeables, given the fact I don't have a charger, so I felt the large package of sixteen for the over ten dollar savings over four packages of four. They'll last me for years, probably the reason they've printed “guaranteed fresh for the rest of the millennium” on the package, as many another like me fall into the light use category. Reason enough to go downtown? It was this afternoon. A bit cold, though, for the way I was dressed so I didn't stick around.

An hour and a half's nap after I returned. I'll stop analyzing the naps other than: I felt tired, I took a nap, end of story.

I did go through my artandlife Oakland miscellaneous section afterward and segregated out enough photographs to create a second Oakland Chinatown Street Fest page. In going through the miscellaneous photographs I became somewhat depressed over their quality. Well, not all of them, but some of them will have to go, I think, and with all this energy and activity I've generated with the web site redesign, maybe I should channel some of it into deleting the clunkier ones. And stop fretting over the photographs. Don't fret. Make any changes necessary and get on with it. Hup.

You have been going on lately about it.

My guess is it's part of the process. There are ups and downs. Mostly ups, fortunately, but sometimes little voices whisper discouraging words and they start to take a toll. But then they seem to lead to better shooting. Be nice to say better photographs, but we'll leave that to others, could just be the blinders come back on and nothing has really changed. You don't take pictures if you don't believe in your own photographs. That they're worth taking. It could be true, this bouncing back on track, even if I'm the one saying it.

So again, the winter solstice today. The light starts lasting longer again by roughly two minutes a day. Goes fast at two minutes a day. In my experience.