One thing I found especially interesting is this album depicting Oakland in 1889, with nearly 50 photos of the lost High Victorian city of which only traces now remain. I'm almost glad the library has only got about 200 other photos in this collection. If there were many more, I'd never have gotten away from the place.
The weather has settled into its ideal local January mood, hour after hour of gray sky, occasional periods of rain falling straight down through the windless air, and the smell of wet earth and pines. In the mountains the snow pack continues to build, bringing us closer to a minimally chlorinated water supply next summer. I could deal with a couple of weeks of this. There might be sunlight by Saturday, though. Well, I can deal with that too.