I enjoy the Temescal Farmers Market year round, going almost every Sunday when I’m in town, but during the summer, it’s something I look forward to all week long. A few weeks ago, my girlfriend and I went to the market, and she took some beautiful pictures of the summer bounty.

Our first stop at the market is always for tomatoes. These heirlooms were at Happy Boy Farms.

Happy Boy also had a great variety of squashes, though we never purchase these since we grow more than we can consume.

The best part about Kashiwase Farms is their tasting station, filled with peaches, nectarines, and plums.

Flowers are always in abundance at the market, but this week, there were also artichoke flowers from a Santa Cruz area farm. Artichoke flowers are so beautiful that some of our neighbors allow them to bloom instead of picking them to eat.

Our favorite stop at the market is Twin Girls Farm, which at this time of year is full with peaches, plums, nectarines, and pluots. They sell soft fruit for $1 a pound, which we use for smoothies and baking.

This year’s Fire Arts Festival was just as spectacular as it was in 2008 and 2007, but it was much bigger. That meant more art, more space, and much more fire. Here is some of what I saw:

It's a bit unclear above, but this creature is what its creator, Rebecca Anderson, calls a fishbug. I talked to her for a bit and found out that this is just the frame for the creature, which will be filled in with various materials in time for Burning Man. It already looks great, so I can't wait to see it finished. You can find out more info at http://fishbug.net/

There were strange creatures featured throughout the festival, including ones without fire elements.

There was also fire flora and fauna, like this field of fire flowers.

And one of my favorite pieces of the night was these hanging flowers, which lit up and played music when you touched them. It was great to see strangers interacting with the art and each other, with huge smiles on their faces.

Of course, there were other ways to interact, like at the flame shooting gallery, where anyone could get a brief training and then shoot fire....

At these poor innocent men.

2PiR, one of my all time favorite Burning Man pieces, was back. I can't tell you how much fun I've had on this creative, Oakland made art piece. You stand on the platform and dance, and the motion sensors on the platform set off fire. The mom and daughter above looked like they were having the time of their lives.

Of course, there was plenty more fire just to look at, some which was quite beautiful and artistic.

And the pendulum of fire that swung back and forth.

One of the most memorable parts of my night was seeing the gnome, which was made by a group of East Bay residents, including a friend of mine. Pictured above is the small fire that came out of his head, which anyone could activate by pressing a button.

But that fire was nothing compared to the hourly fire show Team Gnome did. They produced colored fire that shot 50 feet up into the air. This photo shows the orange fire, but earlier in the night they featured green and then purple fire. This creation is also unfinished, since the gnome doesn't look very gnome-like yet, but they'll have it complete by Burning Man. You can watch their progress at http://thegee-gnomeproject.blogspot.com/

This Saturday, I was lucky enough to take a mini-cruise out on the bay for 4th of July. As we moved away from the Berkeley harbor and across the bay, I remembered one of the reasons Oakland is so great, and that’s because it’s part of the larger Bay Area. Sure, there’s plenty to do in Oakland. But if it’s not in Oakland, chances are it’s in one of the cities nearby, and looked at holistically, the Bay Area is easily one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Here’s some of what I saw.

Downtown Oakland from afar.

The Oakland container cranes.

It was really bizarre to see the new and old East spans of the bridge together, especially with the large gap in the new one.

The West span looked like its usual self though.

I used to think the best way to see San Francisco was from Oakland, but now I know the best view is from the bay.

People on the boat got really excited when we passed under the Golden Gate, and I must admit it was a stunning view.

The sky was filled with clouds, sunlight, and the moon.

At night, it became a bit difficult to take photos. You can see the movement of the boat reflected in the lights.

We waited for a long time in the freezing cold for the fireworks to start. It reminded me a lot of waiting for the man to burn at Burning Man, boats gathered around like art cars, blasting music.

But they were worth the wait.

Unintentionally, my blog has become a bit heavy over the past couple weeks. There’s just been so much going on in the political realm that there’s been little time to reflect on the unfiltered beautfy of Oakland. It’s also been a ridiculously long time since I’ve posted a Monday morning distractions post so I thought I was due in. Hopefully this will be the start to bringing back some balance to Living in the O.

A few weeks ago, I had a meeting on a sunny Saturday morning near Jack London Square so afterward I decided to walk down to JLS. One of the first things I noticed was that Jack London Market looked completely finished.

I’m guessing they’re still working on the interior, and of course they still have to lease the spaces, but it’s exciting to see the building nearly completed.

I walked along the water and enjoyed the gorgeous view. The Bay was packed with people on boats enjoying the day.

It had been quite a long time since I’d walked along this part of the water, and I hadn’t remembered how pleasant it could be. There were tons of benches to sit on, and plenty of beautiful succulents and flowers to admire.

After enjoying the waterfront, I walked towards the Amtrak station. The following week I came back to take the train to Sacramento, a trip which I’d highly recommend – it’s a very scenic ride and so much more relaxing than driving.

On my way back towards downtown, I walked by the Ellington (which I got a chance to tour the following week). I think the building is beautiful and a great addition to the neighborhood.

Though JLS seems like it hasn’t fully reached its potential, it felt much more active and vibrant than the last time I visited and I hope it will continue to move in this direction. Once the market opens and the units in the new buildings fill up, I think JLS might become an Oakland destination. Now if there was just a quick and easy way to get there by bus.

Last week, when I was down in LA visiting my family, my mom took my girlfriend and I to look at the Rose Parade floats, as they were being created. It was pretty incredible and a bit overwhelming. Here’s some of what we saw:

The size of the floats was in itself astounding. This Sesame Street float was too tall to fit down parts of the parade route, so Big Bird’s head had to be flipped back.

I was also amazed by the amount of people who were working on the floats.

Cutting flowers…

And pasting flowers. And every single one of them was volunteering.

Even with so much going on, each individual flower was treated with care. Each of these roses were placed in their own little vials of water.

Roses weren’t the only material used. In fact, many of the materials used were not even flowers. This top hat is covered in seaweed, beans, and white flower petals.

And the end product was gorgeous.

But my favorite part was getting to see the area where the raw materials were stored. Tens of thousands of roses in one room – the aroma was enveloping.

Several cities created floats for the parade. Maybe one year Oakland will get in on this action? I know I’d volunteer.

Want to see more? Check out my girlfriend’s Flickr account.

The summer’s over, but we’re still keeping up with our balcony garden, with a whole new set of winter crops. Here’s what we’re growing now:

The spinach that we planted back in September finally looks like spinach.

We just picked up some starter beets, and they're already fitting in quite nicely.

We also got a bunch of chard. I can't wait to make salads with baby chard, beet greens, and spinach.

I couldn't resist buying this purple cauliflower plant from the woman who sells plants at the Temescal Farmers Market. Mmm, purple cauliflower soup.

Don't have a green thumb? Don't worry. Anybody can grow potatoes. Just half some old potatoes, stick them in dirt, and water them once in a while. A few weeks later, this is what they'll look like.

The only plant left over from this summer is our pepper plant, which I was convinced was never going to produce any peppers. Well, in early November this pepper appeared. Not sure yet what I'll do with a single sweet pepper.

Previous balcony garden updates:

• 9/17/08: Distractions for Your Monday Morning
• 7/22/08: Apartment Gardening

OK, I have to preface this post by saying that for as long as I’ve written this blog, I’ve promised myself that I would never do any cat blogging. Even though I love my cats dearly, I realize that to everyone else, they’re probably pretty boring. So I didn’t want to subject any of my blog readers to lame posts about and pictures of my cats.

Well, I’m sorry, but you’ll just have to deal with it today because as I tried to photograph the lovely bouquets my girlfriend was arranging, my cat Ayla got in the way. And she decided she had to be the star of some of the shots. So here goes. I hope you’ll forgive me and I promise I’ll never bore you with my cats again.

Yesterday morning, my girlfriend and I went to the Temescal Farmers Market and picked up a few bouquets of flowers, as we do on most Sundays.

She likes to deconstruct the bouquets and reconstruct them.

And this time Ayla decided she had to help.

Fresh flowers are great all year long, but they are especially nice as the cold winter days approach and most flowers in the neighborhood have disappeared.

Apparently, Ayla agrees.

I don’t know about you, but I need some distractions right about now. Really, can it be Tuesday night already? I can’t take the anticipation anymore!

To distract myself this weekend, I finally got caught up on blog posts and found some distractions that made me smile. Hope they make you smile too:

David at Brooklyn Avenue spotted a great No on 8 car parked in Oakland.

Apparently, Rockridge BART is the place to be on Thursday night. Oakland North covers the four square games that happen there weekly, complete with video. East Bay West Online (Oakland North’s sister site), also has a fun video up, of the Dia de Los Muertos celebration in East Oakland. Don’t you just love the variety of activities you run into throughout Oakland? And don’t you love Oakland North and East Bay West Online for telling you about them?

Via my cousin’s blog, I found this incredible set of photos of our next president. I know, you’ve already seen plenty of photos of Obama, but these are worth checking out. Make sure to keep clicking “show more images” to see all the beautiful photography in this set.

The Uptown neighborhood in downtown Oakland is hopping! dto510 covers all the excitement popping up in Uptown, including restaurants, apartments, and the soon to be opened Fox Theater. V Smoothe recently visited the brand new park next to the Uptown apartments and took some great photos. I need to find some time to head down there and check it out (after the election).

Check out this stunning photo Andrew at Oakland Geology took from atop Kaiser Hospital’s parking structure. Oakland is simply beautiful at dusk.

Britnney Gilbert’s job is to serve up distractions over at Eye on Blogs. I recently noticed this feature of hers called “Today’s [insert city here].” Check out Today’s Oakland, Richmond, and San Francisco for some stunning Bay Area photos.

Via Awaken Cafe’s blog, I read this sometimes hopeful, sometimes depressing article in the Oakland Tribune about how small businesses are faring in Oakland in the face of an economic downturn. The takeaway from the story is that while some traditional businesses are seeing sales slump, businesses that fill a new niche are doing very well. One industry that’s booming in particular is medical marijuana:

Richard Lee, owner of the nearby Oaksterdam Gift Shop, at 405 15th St., said demand for medicinal marijuana is almost ridiculously high.

“The cannabis industry is booming now that sales are legal,” Lee said. “We’re using that to revitalize this part of Oakland. We think Oakland could be like Las Vegas, which used legalized gambling to expand to other industries, bringing in Cirque du Soleil and stuff like that.”

Lee said the pot club pays $300,000 a year in sales tax and employs 30 people, on top of attracting 1,000 customers a day, who contribute a lot of income to nearby eateries.

Maybe the council will recognize this next year and increase the medical marijuana dispensary permits allowed in Oakland from four to at least six.

If you’re looking for distractions in Oakland, I think the best place you could go is the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse. After eating a delicious breakfast at Horseshoe in Temescal (which by the way was nearly half full, a big improvement over my last visit), my girlfriend and I walked down the block to the depot. It’s always a bit chaotic and there, but it was much better organized than I’ve ever seen it before.

Forget about finding something specific at the depot, but if you like looking through a lot of random objects to find some gems, this is the place for you. Here’s some of what distracted me yesterday morning:

There's a lot of random bulk stuff at the depot, orgnanized into these bins. You never know what you'll find in them.

Then there's more random stuff on shelves and walls, like these trophies and clocks.

Then, once in a while, the depot will have an absurd amount of one thing. Last time, it was glass test tubes. This time it was tie silk.

For all the random objects at the depot, there are just as many common items, like string, sewing materials, videos, books...

And this new holiday section.

My favorite distraction in the store was easily this fish made out of CDs. Not for sale, but hopefully a new permanent fixture at the depot.

Burning Man may not be directly related to Oakland, but it really wouldn’t be what it is without the many contributions of Oaklanders. Here are some pictures from this year’s event to distract you on this Monday morning.

Part of an art piece by Dan Das Mann and Karen Cusolito, two of my favorite artists who create their recycled metal based work in Oakland.

Another figure in the same art piece.

There are plenty of zoning codes in Black Rock City, but one thing that's not regulated is height limits. So this year a group of artists built this 10 story building at the outskirts of the city. The view from up top was phenomenal.

Regular cars aren't allowed to drive around Black Rock City, but there are plenty of art vehicles like this one.

It's about as easy to find a taxi in Black Rock City as it is in Oakland, but unlike in Oakland, they're free. (It's much easier to hop a ride on an art bus, but unlike in Oakland, you usually have no idea where it's headed.)

This viewing tower was a block away from my home, and I'm sure they had a nice view of this smoke ring.

The weather in Black Rock City is a lot less predictable than in Oakland, and a lot more harsh. This dust storm lasted literally all day on Saturday and delayed the burning of the man.

We might have Black Rock City beat on weather, but the sunsets in BRC cannot be beat.

It’s Monday morning, which means it’s time for another dose of distractions.

This weekend, I got to meet the four chickens that my girlfriend’s parents purchased last weekend up in Petaluma. We’ve been gardening at their house in Berkeley for many months, but now it really feels like we have an urban farm. I can’t wait for the eggs they’ll start to produce in the spring, but until then I’ll be content enjoying their awkward movements and cute chirps.

Last Monday, I shared some photos of my balcony garden as a way to lighten up the load of your Monday. It seemed to go over well so I thought I’d make this a semi-regular feature. What can you expect from Monday morning distractions? Not much writing, but lots of photos, videos, music, and it will always be light-hearted. Most of the posts will be related to Oakland, but some of them may not be.

Tell me what you think in the comments, whether you love or hate this idea, and if you have any specific requests.

For this Monday morning, I thought I’d share some photos from this year’s Temescal Street Fair. I never managed to write about it, but I thought this would be an appropriate time to post the photos, since Rockridge is having its neighborhood street fair this Sunday, September 28th. Hopefully these photos will inspire some of you to make it down to Rockridge next weekend.

People everywhere, eating and dancing.

Good luck finding a parking spot for your car, but bicycle parking, no problem.

Bakesale Betty, with an even bigger crowd than usual.

Oaklandish, with several new designs for the summer.

A rapid bus serving as a museum exhibit. Really, I was a bit shocked at how excited people were to get to check out the bus. Have they never been on one?

A good old fashioned dunk tank, Oakland style.

I had a lot of time on my hands this weekend, being stuck sick in my apartment, so I decided to take some photos of my balcony garden, which is doing amazingly well. To liven up my pictures, I included “Spud” as the star of the photos.

Spud has a neat story behind him. A few months ago, we threw several old, sprouted potatoes into the compost bin at the other garden I help with in Berkeley. A few weeks later, several potato plants sprouted. A friend of mine dug through the compost last week and found several delicious potatoes, which we ate immediately with herbs from the garden. But Spud was just too interesting looking to eat so my girlfriend gave him some eyes, I named him, and he’s been hanging out on a window, where he brings a smile to my face every time I look in his direction

Hope you enjoy…

Spud hanging out in the parsley forest.

Those two little leaves behind Spud are spinach - a bit hard to see with all the oat grass that's grown from the hay.

As of last weekend, there were 106 tomatoes growing on this hearty plant. We just ate the first ripe ones and they were juicy and delicious. Next year, we want to fill our balcony with these plants, purchased at the Temescal Farmers Market.

In the shade of the basil, which no matter how hard we try, we just can't seem to grow enough of to satisfy our culinary needs.