We Lost Another Great One Yesterday...

I really didn't expect to be back this soon to post, but I just found out that Dave Brubeck died yesterday...

He would have been 91 tomorrow.  If you're not sure who he was, just listen to this song and you will know.  "Take Five" is one of the greatest songs ever recorded. Not just an absolute jazz masterpiece, but an all around classic.  Dave Brubeck wasn't just a great talent, he was truly a game changer and one of the most influential musicians of all time.

I'm usually pretty stoic about these things, but this one saddens me...

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Alive and Kicking...

I'm sure that many of you have noticed my frequent references to A.D.D. Right?  Well, I really am wildly A.D.D. and it's been a problem for a long time. Probably most of my life. A couple of weeks before my last post and after about a thousand prods from one of our girls; I made an appointment with a psychiatrist (who in all likelihood, will read this blog post). After much talking and question answering, I was given a prescription and some hope.  

After a few days of taking the medication, I was AMAZED at how I felt.  I felt FOCUSED!  Focused like I've seldom been in many years. I have a list with about 100 things that I need to do to our house, yard, cars, etc.  A.D.D. people are great at making lists and I'm no exception. The problem is that very few items ever get crossed off the list!  I could start an item, but then get distracted (by nothing at all) and forget about what I was doing. The difference now, is that I'm not making a new list, I'm actually knocking things off the old one, right and left. 

Anyhow, I just wanted to let you all know that I'm doing well and I will be back soon.  I've even created some posts that are waiting to see the light of day. I haven't posted any of them because I just don't have the time yet to respond to comments or to visit any blogs myself. But I will!  

For those that have been with me for quite a while; the daughter that was prodding me was Ashley. Ashley, of the seemingly abandoned, yet amazing StupidGirls blog and her living and breathing Our Journey begins as the Kings blog.

Love you all, miss you all and I'll be back very soon. I promise!
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In the mean time, beware of the giant pelicans!

embiggen por favor...

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I'll be back in a couple of weeks!

Much too much going on right now, but I'll be posting again in 2 or 3 weeks. Happy Halloween!

See you soon!

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Street Candids 6 - Family - And a Halloween Blog Fest

These folks are all part of my family, but the photos are very candid.

Making a wish before flipping a coin into a fountain in Palm Springs. I love the high level of concentration on her face. She is my granddaughter and had no idea I was watching her.

My wife (on the right) and her sister. She looked at me just as I took the photo. Judging by her expression (enlarge please), I can't tell what she was thinking.  My wife on the other hand looks to be very interested in something that she found.

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My friend Budd at Scifi Media is hosting the Scare Me blogfest on Halloween. Please follow the link and check it out and/or participate. Even if you don't participate, check out Scifi Media. Especially if you are into Scifi.

Here is Budd's blurb about it...

This is my first Blogfest and it will be happening on 10/31/12.  The purpose of the Scare Me Blogfest is to write about the scariest book that you have read, Movie you have watched, Ghosts you have encountered, and/or to share your own scary story. Just sign up on the Linky below (on his blog) and post your  entry on Halloween.  A panel that includes me, myself, and I will argue and fight to decide which entry was the best and that entry will get an award.  Who knows, I may make several.  

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Street Candids 5

Faces! The thing that draws me to people on the street is their faces. Seriously, I don't take photos of just anybody that walks by. If you've been here for a while and have seen my street candid photos, you'd have to agree that most of them either have a classic face or an unusual presence.  To me, these two guys are perfect!

This gentleman was manning the grill at a Greek food stall at the weekly Palm Springs street fair.  I LOVE his face!  If you ever find yourself in the southern California desert on a Thursday, you won't be sorry if you save some time for this weekly event. EVERY Thursday evening. Music, food, art and tons of people!

I can't be sure whether or not this guy is homeless, but I am sure that he's one of the fringe people you see where ever people are gathered. Many people are afraid of them, but I think they're pretty interesting and usually have a good story to tell.  Either way, that face was screaming at me to take a photo. It was late afternoon and the light was perfect.

More to come...

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Street Candids 4 - Japan

Most of you already know that I really like taking candid photos of folks on the street.  Several people have asked in their comments how I feel about others doing the same to me. I'm a fairly unremarkable looking guy and people normally wouldn't think to take my photo.  Unless...

They saw a large white guy standing on a wall, taking their photo. 

Shootout at the OK corral... This one is pretty washed out, but I had to shoot from the hip to photograph him photographing me.

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Street Candids 3

Please feel free to embiggen.

This one was taken at the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in Point Loma, California.  If this lady would have seen me taking her photo, I would have felt badly about it and approached her to apologize for interrupting her very personal moment. I wasn't however, going to pass up this shot. To me, it was very moving.  Even more so these days, because this beautiful cemetery is also going to be my final resting place.  I would have loved to move to the left several feet to get a good perspective running down that wall of niches. 

This guy is most certainly giving me the old stink eye for taking his photo. When I got up close to him though, he didn't have anything at all to say to me. I think my stink eye trumped his.  The photo was taken at the Orange County Market Place. (the following sentence was added after several comments) I guess I should have set this scene up. The lady in front of me is my wife. This guy was REALLY checking her out. I was trying to get a photo of that, but by the time I was ready, he saw what I was doing. 

This one was posted several months ago. This gentleman is one of the inhabitants of Slab City, in the Southern California desert.  He didn't care about the photo and even waved at me. 

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Street Candids 2 - Palm Springs

My last post consisted of a few candid photos taken in San Luis Obispo. In the comments to the post, several people said they don't take these photos because they don't want the subject getting mad at them. 

Ask The Rabbi

These two were taken at the weekly street fair in Palm Springs. Everything looks okay in this photo. I thought the whole "Ask The Rabbi" deal was pretty cool, so I decided to take a couple of photos. They were smiling and having a good time. Well, they were until they noticed me taking their photos.

I guess I forgot to "Ask The Rabbi" if I could take their photos. 

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Street Candids 1 - San Luis Obispo

Not everybody wants their photo taken, especially if they don't know the person with the camera.  If I'm in a public place, everybody I see is fair game. Some don't care, some actually get mad.  I love random candid photos and if something, or somebody looks interesting, I'm taking the photo.

She was obviously not liking it at all.

While not as unhappy as the lady in previous photo, she didn't seem to like it either.

This guy had a great profile and never knew I was there.

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Nice Socks...

A lot of my old photos were somehow sucked off of my blog. I didn't have very many followers back then, so I'm going to re-post some of them. Or maybe, it's the first time I've posted some of them. I have no idea!


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Do You See What I See?

While hiking along Oak Creek near Sedona, Arizona,  I stumbled upon this tortured and distorted face growing out of a fallen tree limb. Mother Nature not only creates the beautiful, she also creates the absurd. I would have taken the branch with me, but to be honest, Sedona is chock full of strange power spots and I'd prefer to stay on the good side of all that.

Does this thing look freaky to you, or is it just me?

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Cow Beach

While recently on the road, we drove by the lovely Lake Henshaw.  It looked to be a good place to do some exploring in our kayak. 

While driving towards the main entrance, we spotted the gate to "cow beach." Check out the turnstile! I guess it's there so people can get in, but the cows can't get out. Our kayak is pretty heavy and it is much too  far and downhill to carry it to the shore. I wonder why they call it cow beach?

Okay, now we know! You can see the edge of the lake in the upper left hand part of the photo.  You can also see cows over there. Sometimes this entire depression is full of water and the lake is much larger. There are actually cows IN the lake!

Once we got to the lake,we were told that no kayaks were allowed in the water. Apparently, this lake is a reservoir for drinking water for the city of San Diego and no body contact with the water is allowed. Okay, so we can't put a toe in the water because people are going to drink it. However, it's no problem that hundreds of cows are pooping and peeing in it on a regular basis.  I wonder if the people in San Diego think their water tastes funny

I thought this was a cool looking sight.

There is an outcropping by the lake, that has a lot of local history to it. Apparently, back in the day, some local Indians were being mistreated by the local government and occupied that little hill in protest.  At that time, the entire valley was full of water and that hill was an island. I found something about the conflict on the Internet, but I don't know what I did with it and don't know where I found it.  It's a pretty place with odd rules.

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For reflections by other folks go to Weekend Reflections sponsored by James.

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Newman

We have four cats. This one is Newman. Newman has a fetish for human clothing. He loves to drag pajamas, socks, underwear, bras,  pants, etc, all around the house.  If none of those things are available, he has no problem dragging rugs around. He's also been known to empty our dirty clothes hampers and drag the contents all over the house. Heck, when he's feeling particularly strong, he'll pull the blanket off you while you're sleeping.  He's strong enough to do it too. 

As if the clothing thing weren't enough, he prefers to drink out of the toilet. One paw full at a time.

I included this one for scale. That is a full size laptop computer he's dwarfing.  He's the biggest (non obese) house cat I've ever seen. He's the size of a medium dog.  If he stands up on his hind legs he can see on top of most of our furniture.

Perverted, but very cute...

I think I embarrassed him. He should be embarrassed!

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Kwaaymii Point - Granite Mountain

This group of photos was taken on top of Mt. Granite. It's about 15 miles from the spot where we camp in our RV whenever we have the chance. This particular spot though, is not used for camping.

It's used for hang gliding.

Not always successfully, I'm sorry to say. Yep, the drop off beyond this ledge is VERY steep and over a mile to the bottom.

These plaques are dedicated to some of the hang gliders who have died here.  As evidenced by my wife's hair, there is a crazy updraft here. That's why the spot of so well known (and very radical).

Please enlarge this photo. A little over half way up the photo, a little to the left of center, there is a little white shiny dome. When I say we going up to our favorite mountain ridge, that is where we go. Just a tiny bit past the dome is a green area of pine trees. That is where we camp whenever possible.  The dome is actually part of the California Wolf Center. More on that wonderful place in a later post.

Part of the Pacific Crest Trail. Mexico to Canada...

It's not much more than a rut in the dirt here, but this trail is almost 3000 miles long.  You can see it in the middle of the bottom of the photo and then cutting across the peak towards the top.

I've never done the whole trail (and probably never will), but I always like to do little bits of it whenever I have the chance. I thought this was a cool looking rock formation, along the way.

This is where the trail goes around the top of the peak (two photos ago).

The trail in the upper right of this photo is where the part in the above led to.  Towards the bottom, on the right had edge you can see the trail that led me up the next rise.

Here's a closer look at the part in the upper right in the last photo. The drop off (of several thousand feet) starts about two feet to the left of the trail. Although I'm not that fond of heights, this is serious rattle snake country and I was much more worried about them.

I got a little carried away and didn't want to stop hiking. My wife and daughter were wondering what the heck happened to me and were a little bit worried. When it cools off a bit later in the year, we're probably going to hike from here back to our campground as the PCT passes pretty close to it.

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Tuzigoot Pueblo

We stumbled upon this place, the Tuzigoot National Monument, mostly by accident. It lies in central Arizona's Verde Valley. The word Tuzigoot, is Apache for "crooked water." The dwelling is a three story, 110 room, Sinagua pueblo.  It was occupied for about 300 years, starting about 900 years ago.  It was excavated during the 1930s.  The pueblo was occupied for such a long period because of the permanence of a nearby river. I retract the first sentence. 

The visitor's center (no photo) houses an extensive collection of Sinagua artifacts. All of them were found on site, during the excavation. 

The ceiling is the only reconstruction done on the pueblo and is considered an exact representation of what was originally there. 

My last post was related to Jerome. It is located on the near slope of that mountain range in the background of this photo.

It really blows my mind to think of people living here that long ago in a totally organized and efficient manner. Although there were many native Americans living in the area, they  were totally alone. All of these rooms had roofs on them, but they didn't have any doors at all. The only way in and out of each room was through a trapdoor on the roof.

I know this post is different for me, but I hope you enjoyed the historical significance of it as much as I did...

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