A few pics before Corflu

[randy_byers]

I am crap -- horribly crap! -- at taking pictures at conventions, so once again (as at Novacon and SFContario) I come away with just a few shots from pre-convention activities. This is a disorganized look at several shots I took in Sunnyvale, or actually mostly outside Sunnyvale. My brain is too dead to be doing this now, and yet I cannot stop myself. Caveat voyeur.



At St George Spirits on Alameda Island, we found Graham Charnock's brain in a jar. This is a reminder: Graham Charnock for TAFF!





'What is "known" about the last night of my grandfather's life is based on E.L. Handley's testimony. The validity of his report is in question because he was a known gangster and shortly after was convicted of a crime and died in prison. Handley reported to the police that he was in Oakland standing beside the car he used as a taxi when Homer asked him to take him into Dublin Canyon near Castro Valley so he could visit a friend. Once in the canyon, Homer ordered Handley to turn onto a dirt road, then pulled his gun and ordered Handley to get out.'

-- Vella Munn, Homer Eon Flint: A Legacy



'According to the Oakland Tribune, "Flint's body, his spine crushed, was found under Handley's wrecked machine 75 feet down an embankment at the sharp curve in a lonely dirt road near Sunol. His revolver, loaded and cocked, and presumably laid on the seat beside him after the holdup, was found where the car first turned over. In the machine was found a black suitcase containing the things previously mentioned."'

-- Vella Munn



This was just down the road from the convention hotel. I was transfixed by the juxtaposition. Although if we can have burkinis, why not a sarini? Sarkini? Not sarcastic enough?



Flowers and oak barrels at the second winery we went to on Alameda Island, which apparently wasn't called Rock Way because I can't find that on Google. Um. Somebody will be able to remind me of the name, certainly. Hm. Some of these faces look vaguely familiar too.

Comments

AKICIF

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Rockpile Winery seems most likely on that last one.

So sayeth I, one who has never visited a winery in California or anywhere else. Just count me among those enjoying reading various reports and posts about all things surrounding Corflu.

Re: AKICIF

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

I was prepared to go along with this, but further googling brought me to Rock Wall Wines, which looks like what I was trying to remember.

Re: AKICIF

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Ah, it appears I didn't read one of those reports/posts closely enough. Is Rock Wall Wines one of the several small wineries in the collective that is Rockpile Winery?

Re: AKICIF

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Looks as though Rockpile is a grape grower, and it could be they are one of Rock Wall's suppliers. Rock Wall is in the middle of an old naval base on Alameda Island, and it doesn't grow any of its own grapes, or at least not there.

Re: AKICIF

[magscanner.livejournal.com]

They told us it was called Rock Wall after the rock wall built around the edge of the island to keep it from washing away. Yes, in spite of what you may think from having watched five hundred episodes of Mythbusters, Alameda is an island.

Re: AKICIF

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

I did get a pretty good shot from in front of St George Spirits of a vast concrete field with San Francisco in the distant background. It looks like just the kind of wind-swept wasteland that you see in Mythbusters, and for good reason.