2009 Year of the Ox

 

Prosperity through fortitude and hard work. (Let's hope, anyway.)

Salutes to our Troops for the New Year

 

That's USS Ronald Reagan, CVN 76, with a tender and a supporting destroyer. Awesome that there are probably 6,000 men and women on these three ships.

Now, where America's Day Begins, here's Apra Harbor, Guam with the USS Ronald Reagan entering:

Sometimes...

on a chilly, quiet, day-after-Christmas, I just feel like burying myself in a good book:

Breakfast Food!

Before:

 

And, after:

And now, I'm getting hungry, even though it's a long way from breakfast. Mmmmm

Compare & Contrast

 

That's the classic Hiroshige above. Great painting of water, with Fuji-san in the distance.

Now, consider HDR, or High Dynamic Range imaging:

I, at least, noticed some strong similarities.

Christmas Ornaments

 

Hope that you and yours are enjoying the celebration.

Merry Christmas To All

 

A redwood church in Yosemite valley.

Mt. Rushmore, SD

The celebrated presidential sculpture on Mt. Rushmore has never drawn me to its view. However, I was attracted to the seldom-seen view of the back of the mountain.

 

Happy Birthday, Giacomo!

 

Hey! It's Puccini's 150th Birthday Anniversary. My Dad absolutely loved this guy. He also had somewhat mixed feelings about Italians in general.

Have a listen:

Winter Solstice 2008

Tonight is the longest night of the year, at 4 minutes after midnight Universal Time. Congratulations, I guess; it's all downhill from here, until the next solstice.

 

For no logical reason (except that it was very dark inside the tree) I attach a picture of the famous Wawona Tree in Yosemite, which collapsed under a two-ton load of snow in 1969, at the young age of 2300!

The Navy's Latest Toy!

 

That's Pegasus! It's the Navy's X-47B UCAV (Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle.) It takes off from, and lands back on an aircraft carrier. Flies at 40,000 feet for hours, and hours, and hours. No toilet needed.

I don't know what it costs, but it sure is neat!

Final Years of the Shuttle

Discovery on the Pad:

And, Endeavor returning from California to Florida:

 

Don't you just love this stuff?

Floating Over the Bay Area

on clear days, is this lovely blimp:

Which causes concern, questioning, and worry among the citizenry:

 

(I'm trying to get rid of old images.) (You might have guessed that.) (It's Year's end, after all.)

Foggy Bridges

Just having fun, that's all.

Our Fighting Men

Michael Yon has changed his focus from Iraq to Afghanistan, with similar, fascinating results. He notes, for instance, that the troops retain their sense of humor.

 

(click to enlarge, and read)

TOKYO

From the Sky Lounge at Roppongi Hills:

 

And then, an evening shot on a clear day with Fuji-san in the background.

 

And that's a view not often seen.

(I'm tempted to imagine being there about two centuries ago, when the views of Fuji-san were more often seen than not. Oh, well.)

Automobiles in High School

My Headmaster's modest attempt at an automobile:

 

Ah, but then there was Mr. Ruge, the English Master. Now, he had style!

 

And, he paid great attention to detail:

 

We've tried to keep focused on style.

When Is A Tree Not A Tree?

 

 When it's a living fossil, of  course. (Or a mostly-useless herbal medicine.) It's the famed Ginkgo Biloba tree. I remember this from a long-ago Landscape Architecture course. Imagine my pleasure when I found that we had one on the property. It's a great tree to watch during the late Fall.

Bucolic Pastoral Scenes

 

But, once you have built a vinyl fence, you can always spot another one.

Today, Cameras!

I'm still (obviously) trying to learn the *new* and *improved* blogger. Not, I confess, easily. Anyway, today we have two camerapersons taking pictures (of each other?)

Into Automobiles Again

Here's my Dad's Roadmaster, waiting on a Union Pacific train in Wyoming. 1963?

And here's our gardener's old Packard, from (quite) a few years earlier:

Ah! Those were the days.

Last Gasp of Easy Money?

 

This is the Burj, in Dubai. It is to be the tallest building in the world. The crane operator at the tippy top of the construction is said to have not set foot on terra firma  for the last 5 years...it just takes too long to travel up to work each day.

There is no market for this building, no large group of companies clamoring for acres of space on the upper floors, and nothing to see from up there except sand and the flat waters of the Gulf anyway. This is being built because someone had the money.

Not a good sign. Anyway, here it is in context:

 

Disturbing, is it not?

Celestial Celebration

 

Mercury, or Jupiter, Venus & the moon.

That's neat, hunh? Must be early December.
(UPDATE: Click to enlarge, and it's still not a very good post. I'll leave it up, however, because, from the front driveway, it was very impressive.) (So, there!)

Live Sea Urchin! (echinoid)

 

Live sea urchin, fresh from the Pacific. M asked the fish monger to open and clean it, but he said (in broken Spanglish)"No. Do it at home." There it is, up above.

Get the cleaver ready...

And hit it, hard!

 

Voila...

 

So now we have very fresh uni .

The Piedmont Winnackers were able to enjoy it with us. Happy Saturday after Thanksgiving!

8 Minutes Wishing On A Star

Jarrett is a poseur, but he's good. So, if you have eight minutes to spare, close your eyes and listen to piano, bass and rhythm.  They're very good:

You're welcome.

Thanksgiving 2008

Down Home In Tennessee

Question: What to do when you have an outdoor gig, and your drummer doesn't show up?
Answer: You crank up the old John Deere!

(except John Deeres are green, no?)

Maybe it's an Allis Chalmers?

 

I guess I need some help.

A Puzzle

 

Some things just look too big to fly

Autum - California Style

 

Granted, it's a bit more subtle than Vermont, slightly nuanced compared to New Hampshire, but we enjoy it and celebrate the bright red leaves when spotted.

Karma?

 

I thought I saw a strange relationship between the picture above, and Ed Hoopers 1928 painting below:

 

What's the common theme? Nighttime? Loneliness? Light? Maybe, it's just me.