Ups and Downs at Santa Maria Avenue and The Boulevard

Your Boulevardier passed (alas, via automobile) through the intersection of Santa Maria Avenue and Castro Valley Boulevard this afternoon. One thing raised Your Boulevardier's spirits, and one disappointed him.

Let's get the downside over first, shall we? The Alameda County Sheriff's Department is having their annual Torch Run fundraiser for Special Olympics. It's certainly a cause Your Boulevardier can support. However, cash fundraising is done by positioning people -- teenagers and uniformed officers -- on the traffic medians at this busy intersection and asking motorists to put money into buckets as these people dart and dodge among stopped cars. Your Boulevardier finds this to be a distraction and a safety hazard. The firefighters do a similar fundraiser ("Fill the Boot") at the even busier intersection of Castro Valley Boulevard and Redwood Road. The consolation for these traffic disruptions, one supposes, is that emergency people will be on hand if an accident ensues.

Enough with the curmudgeonliness, and on to the positive. After three days of work, the window painting at Knudsen's Creamery is complete, and Your Boulevardier is most impressed. The scene, which covers the entire window, includes a rider on a bull, a crowd of watchers, a cactus, a skull entwined by a snake, a campfire, and a brilliant purple and orange southwestern sunset. (And probably more, but Your Boulevardier was busy watching for solicitors in the traffic lanes.) One assumes that the window is Knudsen's entry in the Rodeo-related window painting contest. Best of luck!