Curiosity 24: Some photos

I am taking the lazy way out today (as I did on day 1) and posting some photos: those that come up when I search Flickr for "November 15." They're an eclectic little bunch of images, so why not? They date from 2007 to 2010, and all were part of photo-a-day projects, which is why they're dated. (Apparently the second one was mislabeled as the 15th; it was actually taken on the 16th. But I like it, so I include it.) I also include the original captions. (Click on the images to see them larger.)

One dates to 1791 (but isn't valuable because someone put a hole in it),
and the most recent are the last solid-silver half dollars and dimes,
from the 1960s. The sock they're lying on was my father's baby sock.
The Indian head nickel is from 1936 and says simply "Liberty"
(no "In God we trust" back then, though "E pluribus unum" is there).

Our turkey friends came by twice today. The first time,
they hopped up onto the rickety fence and teetered there
for quite some time. This one discovered the fencepost and,
while on more or less solid ground, showed off his stuff.
Eventually he flew onto the roof (his friend had already flown down
by then), and they proceeded to make panicked little cooing
sounds. We finally went inside and let them get on
with their morning. Wildlife! Ain't it grand?

Met up with Shawn, Lisa, and Andy for the annual lighting
of the Fresnel lens at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse. To begin with,
they keep the lens stationary, so it shines in 24 directions
without moving; after five minutes, they let it rotate, and it sweeps
the landscape like an all-white pinwheel. Very impressive!
But difficult (okay, impossible) to photograph once it started turning.

Afternoon walk with David at very low tide. Gorgeous clear day.
We do live in paradise. How can I forget so easily? (Postscript:
six hours later, under cover of darkness, I was in a kayak
with a friend cruising around this same area. The parts underneath
the wharf were especially fun. Roused a sea lion or two,
and a couple of black-crowned night herons—appropriately named,
since you don't often see them during the day.)

Spent the day with Grant and Todd climbing at
Pinnacles—for the first time in forever. We did fun,
easy stuff—well, fun and easy mostly because
Todd led everything. Okay, almost everything.
I led a 5.8 (no sweat: it was shorter than short),
and Grant led a... oh, that's right, I'm not supposed
to say (but it was also short). We did five or six
pitches in all—not a lot, but no matter. The point
is to have fun. And we did. We hope to
get back out there within the next few weeks
again—and to start making this a habit.

On the way home stopped in Soledad for a beer
and met Colette, who's been tending bar at the
bowling alley for twenty years. But that's another story.

We never did make a habit of heading out to Pinnacles climbing, though we did have a few more excursions. That seems so long ago now...