A few more random photos from recent days...

 Top photo, downtown Richmond, looking from the Mayo Bridge over part of the James River.  In the photo above, the little blotch near the top of the tree is an osprey.  They're big raptors, hawk-type birds, with wingspans of about 5 feet, that catch fish in the river. Ospreys carry those fish headfirst, aerodynamically.  No other bird got the aerodynamic memo.  I need a better zoom, (or a real camera), this is the best  I could do.  You can see ospreys in early mornings, flying over the river near the Mayo bridge, looking for a fish breakfast.  There's really cool bird watching there, which includes, cormorants, Canada geese, great blue herons, vultures, and a bald eagle or two, if you're lucky.  I'm surprised there aren't more wildlife photographers on the Mayo (and other) bridges catching the action in the mornings.

 As an old school, HAS BEEN BMX guy, "squirrely" is a term we used for people who don't pedal smoothly.  When sketchy BMX bike riders die, they probably go to the Squirrely Gates.  But people here can just go to a game at The Diamond, to go through them.

Also as an old BMX/skateboard guy, I'm always watching the local sticker culture.  It's a low key form of street art to people like me, and seldom noticed vandalism to most.  I've seen a few of these stickers around town, and I think it's funny AF.  Finally got a pic of one downtown.

Rock climbing wall and a river resident

 I saw three great blue herons on my walk along the river.  This guy was kind enough to let me take a close photo.

 I actually went down the riverside trail looking for a bunch of street art I know is there somewhere.  I went the wrong way for that, but found another really cool thing I'd heard about, this old bridge support wall turned climbing wall.  It's hard to believe now, but I got into bouldering (low altitude rock climbing without ropes) in '92, and maybe I'll get back to it someday.  This is some good motivation to keep losing weight.

 Sport climber nearing the top.

Another wide shot, with a climber hanging, trying to figure out the next moves.

Under the bridge downtown...

 For the whole five months I've been in Richmond, I've been fighting just to survive day after day.  I got here after my quick escape form NC, and landed in the bus stop with about $3 in my pocket.  It's been rough, starting out homeless in a city I'd never been to, not knowing anyone or where to go and not go in the city.  There hasn't been much time to wander around and explore, which is what I normally do when I get to a new city.  But on New Year's Day, I took the bus down to Manchester, and walked west on the walkway on top of the flood wall by the big James River.  Here's a few pics I snapped.  Above, cool looking bridge supports.

 A group of kayakers doing a little brown water rafting.  The river was high from recent rains, so the water was pretty brown with sediment.

 The direct line down this bridge's supports.

 Rapids downtown?  Hell yeah, Richmond's got 'em.  I even saw what I think was a young bald eagle soaring above this island.  It looked too big to be a hawk, and the head was still brown.  A sign on the walkway said there are nesting bald eagles in the city limits here.  Cool.  There are also muskrats, beavers and even otters in this river.  Crazy.

 Looking northwest from under the bridge with the arches.  Pilings from a long gone bridge, and the big pedestrian bridge, with a lot of people out on New Year's Day.

Downtown Richmond (aka RVA) from across the river in the Manchester area.  Every section of the city has a long established name here.