Julia Pfeiffer State Park - Big Sur

This is probably one of the most scenic places along the Central Coast. This was all part of the Pfeiffer home once upon a time. The ruins of the house sit high up on the cliff. It is amazing that whenever I have been there, there are few people. I guess for some reason folks don't know it is there. It also is pretty remote.



Minolta 700si
Quataray 70-300mm
Kodak HD

Wild Flowers in Big Sur

Shot this down at Julia Pfeiffer State Park about 30 miles south of here (Salinas) in Big Sur. A more beautiful place is hard to imagine. The area is prone to fog, so timing is everything. In the summer months the fog sometimes does not clear out until noon and can return as early as 4:00 in the afternoon. None-the-less, it is well worth a long visit. I'll post more on this place over the next few days.

My Sanctuary

Here is where it all happens... such as it is.

I retreat here to job search, to write, to work with photographs and video and indulge a video game or two.

This week I did a total cleanup and repainted this space. I also hung shelving and now have ready access to all my resources. I am enjoying this.

So, now Ms Bella (The Attack Kitty) and I will be off to bed to read a good book.

Good night world, and thank you God for this good day.

East of Eden

For you Steinbeck fans, this is the place that inspired the book. His love for The Salinas Valley was a lifelong affair. He was born, raised and is buried here.

This picture again captures what a polarizer can do. The sky could very well have been totally washed out let alone show the wispy sirius clouds. I am a big fan of polarizers and they are mounted permanently on most of my lenses.

Photo:
Minolta 700si
Quantaray 70-300mm w/ polarizer
Kodak HD
Photoshopped to grayscale

Freedom

Ah, this just appeals to me.

Today I choose to soar rather than wallow.

Now I think I will lay down and take a nap :)

Photograph:
Fuji 3000 Digital
ISO 100

Up The Salinas Valley - Sometimes It All Just Seems Worthwhile

Even with all the stress of life in the last number of weeks, there are certainly worse places to be while going through it. Then there is the peace that surpasses all understanding. Yes Sabu, God is good.

Salinas Valley - The Salad Bowl of America

Barn could use a little work...

Storm Clouds Over the Salinas Valley

It was hot again here today, upper 90s. It was 97 in San Francisco... San Francisco! Anyone who has been to San Francisco knows that is an amazing temperature for The City by the Bay. Mark Twain may have spent his worst winter one summer in San Francisco, but I guess the exception proves the rule.

About mid-afternoon storm clouds gathered over the Gabilan and Santa Lucia mountains. I was hopeful for rain but afraid of lightning. This place is a tinderbox this time of year. One good lightning strike and we would have had a real problem on our hands. As fate would have it nothing happened, no rain, no lightning.

What the Heck?! It's 95 Here! WE Don't DO 95 0n the Central Coast.

Really, darling, this is just outrageous. We Oh-So-Social types of the Central Coast just do not DO hot. Think of the persperation stains!

Be that as it may... here is a harvested field on a HOT day, like today. Our median high is around 75. We don't even have air conditioning. Man, this is not fun.

Laguna Seca, which sits totally open on a hilltop about a mile from here has it's big international motorcycle race this weekend. I can not imagine what it must be like up there. We also have The California Rodeo here in town this weekend. Do believe I will pass on that.

Could be worse, my old buddy Kp A advises me the temp will top 120 in Palm Springs.

Pass the iced tea!

Photograph:
Minolta 700si
Quantaray 70-300mm w/ polarizer
Kodak HD

Down to the Sea - Malpaso

Here we are back in Clint Eastwood country again just south of Carmel. This is where Play Misty for Me was shot. I can see why he likes this area. His ranch is in the hills close by.

The beach is just marvelous. The hills above the beach are rugged and pristine, maintained by Big Sur conservation. I have spent a lot of time here. It helps that it is only twenty minutes from our house.

Minolta 700si
Quantaray 70-300mm w/polarizer
Kodak HD ISO 200

In Loving Memory of July in Missouri

I was just flipping through some pics this morning and saw this one I shot up in the Sierra last winter. That for some perverse reason brought to mind July in Missouri. I hear they have had some rather warm weather back there for the past number of days. So I fired up Paintshop, which has some very nice effects, and gave it the old colored pencil treatment.

It's been hot here too, it got all the way up to 80 yesterday

In The Pinnacles

This national monument is a few miles "up-valley" from us. It is a strange place. It is one half of an ancient volcano. The othe other half is 300 miles south of here near Los Angeles... on the other side of the San Andreas Fault. Yep, that sucker moves okay. Happily, it took a few hundred thousand years to make the trip.

It also is one of the homes of the California condor, a h-u-g-e vulture like creature. I saw one once. A very large birdy indeed, about a 9' wing span I would guess.

Temperatures in this place can get pretty warm, 110 not being all that unusual this time of year. "But it's dry heat" goes the joke around here. So is an oven. It is amazing what a difference a few miles from the ocean can make.

The lava flows provide a seemingly endless variety of structures. It is a geologist's dream. Walking through the park is like a walk on the moon in many respects.

Photo:
Fuji 3000 digital
Polarizer
ISO 100


California Condor (not my photo).

An Interesting Weed

I found this thing kind of interesting, not sure what it is.

Fuji 3000 digital with polarizer
ISO 100

Mr Macro's Day Out

I seldom have the patience for macros, they require... well, like... work. Being as I am a blend of Maynard G. Krebs and a kid with a rampant case of ADHD, the concept of work and standing still is unfamiliar to me. However, occasionally I screw up the willpower and bolt on the old macro, and voila!

Minolta 700si
Minolta 24mm macro
Kodak HD

Happy Anniversary MontereyJohn Blog Thingie

I do not think that a year ago I would have supposed that I would still be faithfully posting away now. But this has been a great outlet for my more "creative" side. A lot of life's comings, goings and just sitting still have been captured in that time. There also has been some time of just jotting down what is going on in the moment, some of which have been kind of traumatic and others beautiful.

In the last year I became a grandfather, I have dealt with professional ups and downs, I have continued a spiritual journey, I have dealt with health issues and never in all that I have I let go of my love for photography.

Well, what will the next year bring?

Fort Ord and the Salinas Valley

Just back from Ft Ord where I was running a short errand. Of course I had to shoot a pic or two. It was a lovely afternoon, and about five o'clock the fog started to roll in. I'll put up a few posts of the scene overlooking the Salinas Valley.

These are for my friend Tarty over at IlluminousJon and her Mom, who I am told went to Bezerkley and knows this area well.

Pigeon Point Light

This shot pleases me. It amply demonstrates what a polarizer can do. That filter brought out the wispy clouds that would not otherwise have been captured.

Minolta 700si
Quantaray 70-300mm w/ polarizer
Kodak HD
Phtoshopped to gray scale.

And Speaking of Trevails... One Down

Just because the job went away, that does not mean the cancer went with it. So, off to the skin cancer guy this morning. It was called a MOHS procedure, and I never thought it was going to end. Ended up having an egg size hunk of me taken off. The suture line is about two inches long.

But hey, at least that is over with!

Time for bigger and prettier things.

Aye Laddie, Sometimes Life Deals Us Trevails... Now Let's Move On!

Well, darn, it's hapened again!

Two years ago I was laid-off from an insurance company in a down-sizing. Never mind that, I decided to make lemonade out of a lemon and move to California to be near family and return to my place of birth which I love so much.

I got here and found a spot with a small law firm. It seemed a perfect fit. The day after my birthday the firm shut down. So much for the perfect fit.

So it's time to strike up the band again. Time to hear the skirl of the pipes and the beat of the drums. The Wilsons are coming. We Scots-Irish are not known for faintness of heart.

Carnival of Film - Day 11 - Yosemite

This really isn't fair, is it? So many of my blog-buddies have to go around searching for subjects and I just have to go out my back door, or get in the car and drive a few miles, and then point and shoot. Jeeze, what a place to live.

Here is Bridal Veil Falls in Yosemite.

This weekend, fog permitting, I'll head up to Pigeon Point Light and try to catch a sunset.

Minolta 700si with a Quantaray 70-300mm Kodak HD 200.

Happy Birthday to Me! (?)

Jeeze, 59 years old! If I had known I'd live this long etc...

Well, today will be lunch with a good friend who happens to share my birthday, so that will be fun.

But before that, I have to go beat some sense into an attorney for one of those rapacious insurance companies. They are resisting, frivilously, a subpoena. This gets so old. the judge is going to make them give me what I want.

Now if you want to know the truth, for many years I defended insurance companies against unscrupulous and over-reaching widows and orphans. I have got to tell you, being on this side is a LOT more fun. Still, it's frustrating to fight the same battle over and over again. I'm getting too old for this stuff.

And that brings me back to my birthday...

Carnival of Film - Day 10 - Point Bonita

This is the end of the line, as far west as you can go. On the north side of the Golden Gate are the Marin Headlands and the Point Bonita light. This is the path out to the lighthouse.

Small Town 4th of July

An old fashioned 4th of July here in California, who would have thought it? A very pleasant surprise. I won't bother to tell you what was going on up the road in San Francisco. But here it was flags, ice cream, strawberries, kids, dogs, fire fighter review, old car parade and good music. America lives! God bless the USA. Happy Birthday!

On the Road Again... Happy 4th of July!

Or Felice Quatro de Julio as we say here in California.

On the way out of town to spend a couple days with my younguns and granddaughter.

Have a great holiday.