Ketchup

Haven't posted for 8 months!...Here's a pictorial catch-up.  Lots has happened.  Been to the UK, Hawai`i, northern & southern California, quit my job, etc.  I'm in limbo.  Not bad, but i have to move my life along somewhere.  Workin' on it.

monarchs at Pismo Beach

elephant seals at Piedro Blanca

stars over Joshua Tree

crane in snow near Yosemite

snow and moonrise at Crater Lake

stars at Yosemite

Hanauma Bay, O`ahu

Emerald Bay, Tahoe

Thankful in Death Valley

View of Panamint Valley.

NCIS -- the real one -- located at China Lake Naval base.

Sierra Nevada range within an arch located in the Alabama Hills.

Salt flats at Badwater, which is over 280 ft below sealevel. (Which brings up the interesting question of how sealevel is measured against land positions.)

Hawai`i car in Death Valley at the Furnace Visitors' Center.

Good to spend some time in places on the edge, & to reflect on past, present, and everything imagine-able...including matters of life and death.

Wonder-filled

I am horrified when i reflect on how horrible ppl can be toward each other -- domestic abuse, violence against strangers, pettiness, racial hatred, the torture and killing of strangers whether one-on-one or in war.

And it is equally moving to reflect on how amazingly kind, generous, forgiving, self-sacrificing, and loving ppl can be, strangers, family, friends....times that know no race, dividing countrylines, bloodlines, or even species-lines.

Although i am sometimes terribly ashamed of my species, other times i am amazingly warmed and proud of life on Earth, including the human element.

Life fills me with wonder and amazement. And i hope everyone feels this way.

so i have somewhere to sink into

odd mix, but it's what i like.

First Aid Kit's cover of a Fleet Foxes song

Four Non Blondes - What's Up

Hawai`i Aloha (Israel Kamakawiwo`ole)

from "Wicked" -- For Good (rehearsal and interviews)
--despite this being not a song right through, i love the dialogue from the creators/artists, mixed with the song itself

UC-Berkeley Men's Octet 2003 - Bohemian Rhapsody
(i like others by this particular octet grouping, including Not Pretty Enough, the original of which is by Kasey Chambers -- an absolutely gorgeous song & arrangement)

Apologize (One Republic w/o Timbaland)

...and with the remix of Timbaland

Peter Moon Band - Far Too Wide for Me (from Rhapsody - scroll down & select)

bianca ryan (my favorite of her performances was also her first)
there's just something about first performances that i like ~
Craig Womersley's
Bessie Cursons
Paul Potts' audition (fantastic!)
and Jack Reeve -- definitely liked his all-heart audition rather than the "showy" production that was later set for him.
Dominic Smith - he really shines in this audition done acapella
George Sampson - 2007
George Sampson returned the following year (this is his audition), & won the competition
...and his final competition performance ~ awesome!

2 chinese boys lipsync'ing to the backstreet boys' "I want it that way"




...more to be added regularly

Beaded House

The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

Carl Sandburg


This morning's fog-on-the-bay was gorgeous; loved the ferry ride into the city. Sometimes the fog thinned enough so instead of hiding the bldgs, the view was merely veiled. On the walk that i've done for the last 8 months to and from the ofc, i caught sight of this wonderfully beaded creation.




Click on the photo to see the detailed image of the spider's web beaded with fog-dew. It's amazing!
Fog & spider worked together, for no one's eyes, but there it was. Nature is awesome, this Earth is incredible. (People, i have little faith in; but the Earth is liberating.)

Common Sense, Common Decency

This story on msnbc.com regarding Pres. Obama saying that Kanye West, in his comments during the VMA acceptance speech by Taylor Swift, was being a 'jackass' and the quote then having been not only 'Twittered' but then to be picked up by the media & questioned on whether that was an appropriate thing to do, etc., is on the vomit side of ridiculous.

(a) The President is entitled to his opinions. (Mr. West also apologized for his behaviour, so it is likely that even he would have agreed w/ Pres. Obama that his behaviour was jackass material.)

(b) So it was Twittered...big deal. Terry Moran found it amusing.

(c) The current debate on whether anything a public figure says should be "off the record" is ridiculous. That anything is made of this he-said-big-deal moment makes me see that humans in general are hopeless.

Bombs fall. People are hungry. Animals are finding their habitat shrinking. Our temperatures and oceans are rising. Kids tote guns. Violence, particularly against women and children, continues to escalate. Surely we can find something more meaningful to remember, discuss, & fix.

highlights from the last 3 months

Btwn May & now, there have been a lot of road trips. Crater Lake at least 3x, Death Valley twice (and another trip out there soon, i hope, because there's more to do!), Tomales Bay, Point Lobos, Redwood State & National Parks (north of SF, near the Oregon border). Here are some photo highlights.

This is Lucy (for "lucid") at Crater Lake. Wizard island is reflected in the lake.

This is the tour guide in the cathedral room of Shasta Caverns. In June, Victoria & Cindy visited, so we did a li'l jaunt up north.

Lassie & the kid at Mt. Lassen (Lassen Volcanic Nat'l Park), June 2009.

Below are the various bugs & things that I saw in this apparently very useful yellow flower (dandelion?). Point Reyes National Seashore preserve area.

Point Lobos in July. The otter-eating-a-shellfish photo is of a female otter -- i read that the females might have a red-raw nose from the male holding on during mating. Point Lobos is on the south side of Carmel, CA.

Below: Gibson Beach

below: China Beach (rt side of photo)

next upload session will contain the death valley & redwood parks photos.