Monday Tree Swallow Blogging

Tree Swallow - Marin County  2016

Seen on a hike near the Hamilton wetlands. Little bird obstinately refused to face the camera.

Pre-Halloween Post - Osaka

Happy Halloween (Osaka) - Japan  2016

This year Halloween falls on a Monday, which creates a conflict with the regular Monday Blogging feature. So, here's a pre-Halloween post. Photo taken in Osaka: Halloween is becoming more of a big deal in Japan, but so far no treat or treating.

"McMansions"

Waring and Ogden McMansion - Los Angeles  2016

Waring and Ogden Project Sign - Los Angeles  2016

You can see a lot of these going up in the Hollywood area: old houses being torn down and very large houses (not actually "mansions," but still . . . ) being built on the properties.

Above example from the corner of Waring and Ogden, a block up from Melrose Avenue. There's a website with renderings . . . don't know how long it'll be up.

Day in L.A. / Coach

Day in L.A. - Los Angeles  2016

Coach, Self-Portrait - Los Angeles  2016

L.A. sightems. Both photos taken with a Canon G5X, with the ISO setting returned to normal.

Chinese Restaurant

Chinese Restaurant - San Francisco  2016

I was driving through Chinatown / North Beach on my way to The Embarcadero when I took this photo out the car window. (iPhone 6S Plus.)

Anyhoo, that made me decide to return to Chinatown via the Larkspur Ferry for some more pix.

So looking through my Photoshop files I see that I have a bunch of Los Angeles and San Francisco photos. Actually, maybe I'll post them on a random scattershot basis for a while. Yes, sounds like a good idea.

Dingbat

Apartment Building - Los Angeles  2016

Apartment seen in the Hollywood area, off Melrose.

"Dingbat," not in the typographical sense, but in the architectural one.

Highway 5 Rest Stop

Trucks, Hwy 5 Rest Stop - Stanislaus County  2016

Trees, Hwy 5 Rest Stop - Stanislaus County  2016

Oh yes, I've taken many a photo here. For example:

November 18, 2015

March 24, 2015

Earlier this year, the hills in the background were nice and green:

April 11, 2016

Above photos taken with an iPhone 6S Plus.

Monday Cow Blogging

Cow, Fog - Marin County  2016

Early morning fog starting to burn off.

Lilies, Redwoods

Lilies - Marin County  2016

Hikers, Redwoods - Marin County  2016

San Geronimo Valley sightems.

Both photos shot using the Canon G5X.

Joe Montana

Joe Montana - San Rafael  2016

The web address in the poster takes you to a memorabilia site.

From the Ferry

Ferries - Marin County  2016

Guard Tower, Richmond Bridge, Ship - Marin County  2016

Exercise Yard, San Quentin - Marin County  2016

Taken during a quick AM trip into San Francisco.

Poison Oak

Oak Branches, Poison Oak - Marin County  2016

Coyote Bush, Poison Oak - Marin County  2016

From more walks up the street: two photos featuring some poison oak patches.

Both photos shot with an Olympus E-PL7, using a 25mm prime lens for the top photo, and a 9-18mm zoom lens for the bottom one.

Up the Street

Oak, Madrone - Marin County  2016

Streambed - Marin County  2016

Photos taken on some of our periodic walks up the street.

Top photo: camera used, Olympus E-M10, lens used, Olympus 14-150mm zoom. Shot at 17mm.

Bottom photo: camera used, Olympus E-PL7, lens used, Olympus 9-18mm zoom. Shot at 14mm. (So I didn't even use the widest part of the lens . . . could have stuck with the superzoom.)

Pacific Gas & Electric

Station J - San Francisco  2016

Plug - Petaluma  2016

P.G.&E. buildings.

Monday Quail Blogging

Quail on Fence - Marin County  2016

Quail Family - Marin County  2016

Every now and then a quail will visit our house (top photo). Not that often.

Much more quail action at the stable (bottom photo).

Larkspur Ferries

Clouds, Ferries - Marin County  2016

iPhone 6S plus panoramic photo. Taken last month from the pedestrian crossing over Sir Francis Drake Boulevard.

Harvey's Casino / IPA

Harvey's, Cloud - Nevada  2016

Harvey's, Cloud Reflections - Nevada  2016

Taken on a walk using the street marking the California-Nevada border. Mike treated himself to pizza and an IPA in the evening, then the fairly quick drive back to the Bay Area the next day.

Double Nickel - Lake Tahoe  2016

IPA - Lake Tahoe  2016

Lake Tahoe, Thunderclouds

Beach, Clouds - Lake Tahoe  2016

Innocent beachgoers relaxing as an ominous thundercloud approaches. In the end, though, there weren't any weather events and the clouds began to dissipate as soon as the sun went down.

South Lake Tahoe Sightems

Lake Tahoe Loveseat - Lake Tahoe  2016

Photos for Sale - Lake Tahoe  2016

Mike stayed overnight in South Lake Tahoe, in order to both take a shower and to take a stroll around the South Lake Tahoe sightems.

Wow . . . look at that red in that photo! Mike has never been able to capture a red so intense as that.

Topaz Lake - Nevada

Topaz Lake - Nevada  2016

Going from Bridgeport, California to South Lake Tahoe, California, requires a portion of the trip to be in Nevada. Fun! (Mike had visited Nevada earlier this year.)

Topaz Lake has an interesting backstory:

The modern reservoir was formed by diverting waters from the West Walker River into a nearby basin that had previously contained a smaller, natural lake. That lake had historical significance since it lay on the route taken by American explorer Jedediah Smith in late spring of 1827 when leaving California at the end of his first journey, the first crossing ever of the Sierra Nevada by a non-native.

Casino - Nevada  2016

Morning Coffee (Video)

Morning Coffee, August 2016 from Mike Mundy on Vimeo.

Hokey video Mike put together on the spur of the moment. Morning coffee, then, after packing everything up, a short drive north to Lake Tahoe for a motel night.

Video taken with a Canon G5X, edited in Adobe Premiere Elements. Camera shown in video is an Olympus E-PL7.

Canon G5X on Tripod - Sierra Nevada  2016

Monday Deer Blogging

Deer (Mono Village) - Sierra Nevada  2016

Deer, Little Girls - Sierra Nevada  2016

The only deer Mike saw during his August camping trip was this one, nibbling on the manicured grass at the Mono Village resort parking lot. Mike snapped the pix, then as he was backing his car out, took an iPhone photo of some little girls oohing and aahing at the deer.

At the Trailhead

Village Marina - Sierra Nevada  2016

Happy Camper - Sierra Nevada  2016

The hike back down was uneventful, except for Mike going off route in the maze of use trails surrounding the resort. Nice clouds. Back to Green Creek campground for last night of camping.

Horse Creek Lunch

Sawtooth Ridge - Sierra Nevada  2016

Pine Tree, Grass - Sierra Nevada  2016

Relaxing lunch, with close-up views of Sawtooth Ridge and the surrounding meadow.

Lunch, Pack, etc - Sierra Nevada  2016

Trail Junction

Trail Junction Sign - Sierra Nevada  2016

Logs, Horse Creek - Sierra Nevada  2016

Finally, the trail junction! Very nice spot, especially when some clouds started to show up providing some blessed shade. At this point Horse Creek meanders through a scenic meadow with some convenient logs to be used as back rests. Lunch.

Fallen Trees

Fallen Trees - Sierra Nevada  2016

For some reason the hike up to the trail junction took longer than Mike had expected. To begin with, he had broken his usual hike-starting early morning rule, dallying over a muffin and coffee in Bridgeport. And he had not thought to bring along a hydration unit, so he ended up hand-carrying his plastic canteen, constantly sipping water.

Anyway, he was put into the unusual, for him, position of asking people coming down how far he had to go.

Matterhorn Peak

Matterhorn Peak - Sierra Nevada  2016

Dead Trees - Sierra Nevada  2016

On top there's a photo of what Mike thinks is Matterhorn Peak, the spire to the left.

Mike has never climbed Matterhorn Peak, but tried to, once (influenced by The Dharma Bums.) He and an acquaintance scheduled a multi-day backpack, knowing that it would probably not be an easy task. But their effort foundered on what Mike now thinks was a touch of altitude sickness, which doesn't always manifest as a physical thing. Even without the altitude issue, though, a first-time ascent would have been unlikely since the climbing route is very strenuous and not all that obvious.

That was some years ago, but last August Mike decided to hike the beginning of the trail, from Twin Lakes up to the Horse Creek trail junction.

The Ancient Afternoon of that Trail

Twin Lakes from Trail - Sierra Nevada  2016

And the way the lake below us soon became a toy lake with those black well holes perfectly visible still, and the giant cloud shadows on the lake, and the tragic little road winding away where poor Morley was walking back.

"Can you see Morl down back there?"

Japhy took a long look. "I see a little cloud of dust, maybe that's him comin back already." But it seemed that I had seen the ancient afternoon of that trail, from meadow rocks and lupine posies, to sudden revisits with the roaring stream with its splashed snag bridges and undersea greennesses, there was something inexpressibly broken in my heart as though I'd lived before and walked this trail, under similar circum­stances with a fellow Bodhisattva, but maybe on a more important journey, I felt like lying down by the side of the trail and remembering it all. The woods do that to you, they always look familiar, long lost, like the face of a long-dead relative, like an old dream, like a piece of forgotten song drifting across the water, most of all like golden eternities of past childhood or past manhood and all the living and the dying and the heartbreak that went on a million years ago and the clouds as they pass overhead seem to testify (by their own lonesome familiarity) to this feeling.

- Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums

Monday Gull Blogging

Gull, Sawtooth Ridge - Sierra Nevada  2016

Photo of gull sitting on a rock in the first of Twin Lakes, Sawtooth Ridge reflected in the lake's surface.