Flags - Allentown / Asbury Park

Flags (Allentown) - Pennsylvania  2018

Flags (Asbury Park) - New Jersey  2018

Once again, as in past holidays, I found some older flag-themed pix on my external hard drive.

Nevada Sightems (1987)

Hotel (Elko) - Nevada  1987

Hills, Clouds - Nevada  1987

Last of the 1987 scans . . . for now.

Piano - South Dakota (1987)

Piano - South Dakota 1987

We were in South Dakota to visit my grandparents in Aberdeen, staying at a motel in the vicinity. By that time they had moved out of their house to a smaller senior apartment.

So this photo had to have been taken in a relative's house. Alas, I don't have the slightest memory of the place. Oh well . . . although I don't think I ever made a print of the negative, the photo is actually kind of cool.

Motel - Idaho

Motel - Idaho  1987

Motel - Idaho  1987

Cafe attached to our Twin Falls motel, I think. Interesting.

Firehole Falls

Firehole Falls (Yellowstone NP) - Wyoming  1987

On the same roll of film as last week's Little Bighorn photo.

I knew that the photo was taken in Yellowstone, but I thought that it was one of the Yellowstone Falls, upper or lower. But no, uploading the photo to Google got the correct name and location.

Monday Pigeon Blogging

Pigeon (Fairfax) - Marin County  2026

Pigeon (Fairfax) - Marin County  2026

"The band-tailed pigeon (Patagioenas fasciata) is a pigeon native to the Americas, and one of the largest pigeons in this region. It is largely gray, but with a thin white collar on the nape and a purple-gray breast.

"The genus Patagioenas is the most closely related living genus to the extinct passenger pigeon, and as a species of this genus, the band-tailed pigeon has been investigated for the potential use in efforts to bring back the passenger pigeon species."

Morning walk sightems.

Roy's Redwoods - Tripod Shots Using a Nikon Z7II

Burnt Redwood (Roy's Redwoods) - Marin County  2026

Redwood Grove (Roy's Redwoods) - Marin County  2026

I've been wanting to try some tripod shots using my Nikon Z7II, a high-res (45 megapixels) camera. The idea being that using a tripod one can set the ISO to the lowest setting (64) and capture some super detailed shots with relatively long exposure times.

It worked! There's a quite high amount of detail available in extreme enlargements (see below). I guess if I was going to make billboard-sized prints I'd have to use a tripod more often. But as of now I don't have any plans to make billboard-sized prints.

Burnt Redwood (crop) - Marin County  2026

Loma Alta Summit Views

Fencing (Loma Alta) - Marin County  2026

Mt. Tamalpais from Loma Alta - Marin County  2026

Maybe the now-dilapidated fencing was once used for cows. 

I ate a Kirkland Protein Bar at the top, standing up (should have brought my super light backpack chair). Then the foot-pounding trek downhill.

Loma Alta Views

Richmond Bridge from Loma Alta - Marin County  2026

San Francisco Skyline from Loma Alta - Marin County  2026

Hazy. Photos taken using a Nikon Z7II and a 24-200mm zoom lens.

Little Bighorn Battle Anniversary

Little Bighorn Battlefield - Wyoming  1987

"Almost 150 years ago, Sitting Bull’s followers defeated Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and the Seventh Cavalry Regiment of the U.S. Army in the Battle of the Little Bighorn, one of the most closely studied and hotly debated military clashes in American history. Sitting Bull is said to have had a vision that presaged a great victory, which came weeks later for warriors led by Crazy Horse." (NYT)

Photo taken during a trip to South Dakota with my parents in 1987. I used a Mamiya twin-lens medium format camera.

Loma Alta Plants

Vetch (Loma Alta) - Marin County  2026

Milk Thistle (Loma Alta) - Marin County  2026

"This fairly typical thistle has red to purple flowers and shiny pale green leaves with white veins. Once native from Southern Europe through Asia, it has spread throughout the world." 

Loma Alta Gate / Ridge

Cattle Gate (Loma Alta) - Marin County  2026

Summit Ridge (Loma Alta) - Marin County  2026

Alas, no cows, unlike my 2020 hike.

Monday Cat Blogging

Della - San Francisco  2026

Cat in Window (Fairfax) - Marin County  2026

Cat on Fence (Fairfax) - Marin County  2026

Della has appeared before on the blog . . . the bottom two cats were seen during our morning walks here in Fairfax.

Loma Alta Views

Mt. Tamalpais from Loma Alta - Marin County  2026

Grass, Fence - Marin County  2026

"At 1592 feet, Loma Alta is one of the highest points in Marin."

My last hike to the top was in 2023, so I was thinking that it was probably time to go up again.