When my upstairs neighbor left for the apartment complex in the sky she left behind this orchid that's almost as tall as I am, and too heavy for me to move far. If you want it let me know and I'll be home when you come and get it to help you load it into your (heavy object moving system).

     

 

That's a time lapse of the eclipse from before the darkest part to well after it. I couldn't take an earlier shot because I was on my bike pedaling down Tasman and past Lockheed when I started watching it. I quit after that last shot because the clouds got too thick for me to see the moon any more. According to this guy in Kansas, this was the darkest eclipse in more than 360 years. I'm thinking that would be true out in the middle of nowhere, but here the light pollution from the streetlights, headlights, and other lights made it the "darkest night here since the Loma Prieta earthquake" at the most.

  

Gates didn't say change right when I took this picture, but he said "change" at least once while he was sitting there being recorded. I know because I saw the footage on the news. My guess is that he wasn't talking about Texas quarters.

     

One of the little games I like to play is trying to catch Green Party members on TV. I counted Ingrid Betancourt because she ran for President of Columbia as head of the Green Oxygen Party. Sounds green to me, even though she was there pushing her new book, "Even Silence has an End". I count Aimee Allison because I remember when she was running for City Council in Oakland. I walked precincts for her. She was definitely working as a green. Even on TV that came through. She was representing a local website instead of a mainstream news outlet. Not only that, but she was talking about how IRV changed the outcome of the Mayor's race. Rebecca Kaplin, another Oakland Green (or maybe ex-Green, I don't keep up on Oakland, it's too far away) had used her 2nd Choice ballots to swing the election to Wilma Chan. A real change story. She was on Belva Davis's weekly news wrap up, and did a good job on her story. I hope I see her again in that role! Anyhow, two Greens in the same week or so is very unusual here!