A Post Thanksgiving Stroll

 Benicia is simply gorgeous this time of year. First street from the water . . .

. . . right up to St. Paul's.  It's simply beautiful.  We took a walk on Thanksgiving day.  We saw about three people the whole time. 

All of the shops had their Christmas regalia, in preparation for the biggest shopping day of the year. 

Above Benicia Bay Company the windows were open and Thanksgiving dinner noises could be heard.  The Dot and I were delighted.  We stopped to listen for a minute or two.

These geese saw us coming and ran the other way.  They don't realize we eat turkey on Thanksgiving, not goose.  Plus we were full. 

Autumn By the Water

It was a beautiful day today.  Hub and I walked down to the water.  It's supposed to rain and we were hoping to get caught in it.  It was warm and calm.  The clouds were heavy.  The water birds were happy.  I have a raw turkey in my refrigerator and people coming.  Life is good. 

Benicia in the Chronicle

There was a nice little piece on our little town in the San Francisco Chronicle this week.  It's just a short piece, but includes a little history and a lot of links.  They highlight Union Hotel but don't mention that it's a great place for a glass of wine and some of the most delicious crab cakes you'll ever eat.  And live music Thursday nights with my friend Russell Hands as drummer.

And in the "Getting There" section they forgot to say go outside and hang a left.

Notable Listing Pictures

Some of these pictures are strange, some are nice and some I just wanted to hang on to.

 

Sometimes I don't know what to say.

 

 Is anyone else feeling creeped out?

 What do you suppose this room is used for?  And why do you suppose the agent thought it would help sell the house?

Please keep in mind, this is a recent photo.  Of something.  In a house.  That's for sale.  And that there was no explanation.

The four photos above are a set.  They were all provided by an agent in an effort to SELL A HOUSE.  There was no picture of the front of the house.  Just these photos.

The top photo in this series isn't THAT bad.  In today's market.  The kitchen is messy, but this is just how this person lives.  And you can't really fault the agent for including the picture.  People want to see the kitchen.  You kind of wonder why the agent didn't just put a few things away before snapping the pic.  Then you see the second picture.  Ahh.  I would have left the kitchen alone myself.

 Seriously?  The top stencil is bad enough.  But the pretend logs?  And there were four pictures of this room.  From every angle.

This one I shoved on the blog because I love it.  I just want to stare at this person's pantry for hours.  A pantry tells a lot about a person.

A Beautiful Day at the Harbor

It's a pleasure to live in a waterfront community where a typical walk includes scenes such as these.

 The weather today was perfect.  The Dot was visiting and the harbor was calling our name.

I love this shot.  You can see two kayaks moving west, two boats moving east and, in the back, against the hills, you can just make out the train going by.  People were all over the pier fishing.

 Along with one seal.

There were a lot of dogs walking their owners.

We saw this cute little booth called Benicia Bait and Tackle.  It's just a teeny trailer than expands.  A woman was in there doing a pretty steady business selling tackle, soda and snacks.

Here's a great view looking back towards Sailor Jacks, the waterside restaurant named for Jack London who used to spend quite a bit of time in our little city.  There's The Dot and The Hub on the right.  The tide was high.  When the tide is low, this is all beach.

A couple of days ago when we were walking, we noticed that the city has hired a group to put twinkly lights along the trees on 1st Street.  An electrician was stringing the power source across the tree tops, and the light crew was right behind, winding the lights up the trunks and through the branches.  It's going to be a pretty sight this Holiday Season!

The Harbor By Night

It has been very hot here at Wellington.  So last night The Hub and I took a walk to the harbor.  It was beautiful!  I hadn't planned to take pictures, so didn't have my camera.  Took these with my phone.
 

 

 

 

Strange Real Estate Listings 4

 

These are all MLS photos taken from Northern California Multiple Listing Services during the months of August and September.  They were all included in the MLS for marketing purposes.  One has to think that the agent's intent is to entice a buyer.  But sometimes you wonder . . .

 

Here is a bedroom photo I found.

Nice display.

There are so many things wrong with the kitchen, I won't even start.

The above two photos were each the main Front view of their respective listings.  The prime SHOWCASE photo. 

This is just not appealing.

 Listing also included three pictures of a llama.

Seriously?

What room is this?  At first it looks like a family room, but if I'm not mistaken, that's some sort of spa tub against the window.  Master?  I don't get it.

It took me a moment to figure out that this is a slide.  It's what we in the industry call "taste-specific" which means, if you can't remove it or paint over it, don't take a photo of it and maybe the new buyers won't notice.  If they're part of a circus act or have oodles of kids, it's okay.  But chances are they're not.  And really, look at that slide.  It's terrifying.  I wouldn't go down it.

I'm sorry, but these are the absolute ugliest curtains I have ever seen.  This whole room needs help, but those curtains make me nauseous.  I feel kind of mean for including this one, but I'm not taking it out.

When I first saw this photo, I was mildly amused.  But then when I saw it a second and a third time, in the same listing, I thought it was begging to be included in this posting.  This Realtor must have loved this shot to sprinkle it so generously throughout the listing.  Why, you may ask.  I don't know, I would say.

 

The agent who took this picture also took, and included in this listing, other crooked obscure shots.  The front photo looked like it was taken around dusk while the photographer was running past the house.  It was not only crooked, it was blurry and dark.  The caption under the photo above was "The moon, the stars and sunsets await you."  Okay, I have to include a couple of others.

                          back photo
front photo

 another shot of the rear yard

Nothing says "cozy" like a couple of animal carcasses.

I think you need to click on this one to enlarge.  I don't really know what's going on here, but I wouldn't live in this house if you paid me.