Desert Water

Desert Pond - Owens Valley  1976

Desert River - Owens Valley  1976

I'm thinking Owens Valley as a location due to the water features. That might not be a river in the bottom photo - maybe recent rain water in a wash.

Monday Cat Blogging

White Cat (Cloverdale) - Sonoma County  1976

Taken in March, 1976, as we were driving up to Elk Cove for a bed and breakfast stay.

Can't remember exactly why we stopped in Cloverdale, but I do remember the cat scooting by me, then leaping up on the fence, waiting there just long enough for me to take the photo.

I used a Nikon F SLR with Panatomic-X film.

Desert Hills

Cloud, Desert Hills - Death Valley  1976

Cloud, Desert Hills - Death Valley  1976

I've been scanning some 1976 negatives recently and found some interesting desert scenes, evidently taken by me in the first quarter of 1976.

I don't remember the trip! I think that my brother Joe and I took a quick excursion northeast from Los Angeles to some of our favorite spots in Owens and Death Valleys. I've listed the location of these photos as Death Valley . . . they certainly look Death Valley-ish.

San Francisco Sightems

Giants - San Francisco  2026

Brick Building - San Francisco  2026

Lower photo taken using the iPhone's wide angle option, then perspective-corrected in Photoshop. I've illustrated this procedure in an earlier post.

San Francisco Sightems

AI Billboard - San Francisco  2026

St. Ignatius - San Francisco  2026

The church has appeared before in the blog, peeking out over a parked Waymo. Someday I must actually walk by for a better view.

San Francisco Costco

Costco Hot Dog - San Francisco  2026

Costco Asian Products - San Francisco  2026

For various reasons we found ourselves having the famous hot dog meal at the Costco in San Francisco.

What a value! 

It was interesting that the various Asian food products available almost rivaled H Mart.

Richmond Bridge, San Quentin

Richmond Bridge - Marin County  2026

San Quentin Buildings - Marin County  2026

Photos taken with a Sony RX100 while taking the ferry over to San Francisco.

By the way, San Quentin is now officially known as "San Quentin Rehabilitation Center." Interesting writeup in Wikipedia.

San Francisco Bay Bridge

Bay Bridge through Ferry Window - San Francisco  2026

Bay Bridge, Clouds - San Francisco  2026

Photos taken with an iPhone from the Larkspur-San Francisco ferry.

Monday Crow Blogging

Crows, Tree Branches (Fairfax) - Marin County  2026

Crows, Fog (Fairfax) - Marin County  2026

Morning walk crows.

Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge (with shadow) & Sutro Tower - Marin County  2026

Golden Gate Bridge, Traffic - Marin County  2026

Two vertical photos taken from the Marin County scenic view overlook in the afternoon.

Note Sutro Tower off in the distance in the upper photo.

Fairfax Hike - 5

Oak Tree (Fairfax) - Marin County  2026

Labyrinth (Fairfax) - Marin County  2026

Photos taken during my hike high above Fairfax:

- A dramatic backlit oak tree, and

- a folk art labyrinth with Mount Tamalpais in the background.

Towards the end there was a steep descent into more familiar territory and back home. 

Yikes, 29 flights climbed!

Apple Watch (Fairfax) - Marin County  2026

Fairfax Hike - 4

Meditation Pergola (Fairfax) - Marin County  2026

Hiking along the ridge trail above Fairfax, I spotted this cool meditation site along with a depiction of Guru Rinpoche.

Guru Rinpoche (Fairfax) - Marin County  2026

Fairfax Hike - 3

Serpentinite, Mt. Tamalpais (Fairfax) - Marin County  2026

Once I managed to make it up to the ridge above the water tank the views looking south became quite nice - sunrise in the east illuminating Mt. Tamalpais to my south.

Fairfax Hike - 2

Upper Trail (Fairfax) - Marin County  2026

Upper Fence (Fairfax) - Marin County  2026

So, the road ended at a water tank, with no obvious way to continue on. But peering up I could make out some wooden fences located high above. I resolved to make it up to the fences, which I managed to do by scrabbling through the wet grass using both feet and hands. Once at the top some trails appeared.