Stone Mountain, Atlanta

Somehow, I find the story of Stone Mountain interesting.

 

Stone Mountain is the largest granite outcropping in the world, although much shorter than our El Capitan. This hunk of rock was there when General William Tecumseh Sherman, one ugly dude, burned his way through Georgia during our Civil War.

Nowdays, the mountain is used mainly as a public outdoor recreation park.

Whatever, I love the sculpture of Lee, Jackson, and Davis.

Somewhere, Over The Rainbow...

Skies are blue.

 

(click to enlarge)

We certainly needed the rain, but this weekend was fascinating. Showers early on Friday, Halloween, but they had mostly cleared out by the time the neighborhood kids came, and it was pleasantly warm. A good evening.

Saturday was wall-to-wall heavy, cold, windy wet rain. Probably about 2 inches, more or less.

And then today, Sunday, I woke up to the sound of rain on the roof, but it soon stopped. There were patches of blue between the gray, and then the sun came out intermittently and, with it, the inevitable rainbow.

Let's hope we have a wet winter, with lots and lots of snow in the Sierra. 

HALLOWEEN!

Have at it:
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/timages/page/pumpkin_sim.html

(cut and paste)(sorry)

Algore Hits England!

 

Hanako reports that it is snowing in Bromsgrove! In October!

Bromsgrove is South of B'r'am, but this photo shows that indeed it does snow in Birmingham.

Stay warm, Tempdisplaced.

You Want Bridges?

We got bridges! Here's the Martinez-Benicia span during construction:

The bridge is completed now, and open for traffic. Too bad that we can't see the beauty of the spans unless we're fishing down underneath it.

Today's Puzzle

Here's the question. The guy in the photo is obviously a chef, or a sous-chef. He's taking a break, and looking at the sun, low in the sky.
Question is: Is the train traveling East or West? (I discount North or South.) Note the position of the arms, and the direction of the light. Consider a chef's duties.

(Neat photo, isn't it?)

Discuss.

Golf is a Humbling Game!

I've been working on my golf swing, which needs a lot of work. Mieko says she found this black-and-white photo of me in the tee box. Notice the lithe body, the full swing, and resistance to the tendency to look up until the swing is complete.

Actually, according to this morning's WSJ, that's Pres. Taft at the Chevy Chase Country Club. His predecessor, Pres. Teddy Roosevelt, told him to quit the game and he refused. "I need the exercise!" So, Roosevelt ran against him in the next Presidential election, and they both lost.
Indeed, a humbling game.

Montclair's Sunday Farmers Market

This is a roof-top view that I thought you might enjoy. The oyster guy is top right, somewhere.

(click to enlarge)

Giclee

Giclee (there's an accent on the first "e") is an ink jet rendering of a digital photo. Interesting stuff, at least to me.
Consider this, a pleasant photo of a French restaurant:

 

And then, with Giclee:

(You must click to enlarge)
Don't know about you, but I'm very impressed!

Rudy & Sunil At GreenHorn Creek

Frost in the early morning, but the Big Heater in the sky warmed us all up. This is on the 18th tee.

Financial Insight!

'Nuff said.

Poach That Egg!

I thought I'd ask DW to try a device I spotted hanging over the aisle in Safeway last week. It's a microwavable egg poacher. Two eggs, dropped inside, puncture the yolk, add some water, and voila! It sure looks good:

 

The problem is always that the yolk is hard boiled, not runny. And we've cut the microwave time down from 1-1/2 minutes to 45 seconds. Maybe I'll buy some Bernaise sauce to make it at least taste better.

If we succeed in this thing, I'll let you know.

Oh How I Wish...

that I could play the guitar...

California Gold Country

Working golf in and around the somewhat elevated temperatures, we did lunch in Jamestown, California. Nice town:

That's Lemon Drop Lane,

 

And that's the National Hotel (1859). Good escargots, lots of garlic.

(The Silverado belongs to the Owner, I think.)

Reap What Has Been Sown (Sowed?)

It's that time of the year again:

Number Four appears to be going a bit fast.

Not Photoshopped!

This is the launch of the Celebrity Solstice, a 3000-passenger dinghy available to entertain one and all:

 

I think these things may be getting a bit too large.

What On Earth?

Alright, gentle readers. I need some help here.
What on earth is this 4" insect I found on the front stoop last night? It looked like a grasshopper, but it was light brown/tan in color. Is it a grasshopper/chameleon? An albino?

All information proffered will be studied and appreciated.

Sights & Sounds In Scotland

The Falkirk Wheel is on my short list.

 

Read the Wikipedia article. An eighty-foot lift! It must have been a wonderful design challange.

My First Car

(Don't I wish!)

Autumn!

Taken early this morning. (Notice the shadows.)

Christ The Light Cathedral, Oakland

This appears to be a wonderful building. Reminds me why I like architecture. (Pix are from CoCoTimes)

This is a super execution.
(and I'm not a Roman Catholic.)

Daddy, Where's Our House?

Hurricane Ike

Missing Them Already

Gosh! It's quiet around here.
Anyway, from earlier this week, that's Mark and Henry (George John is behind the camera), Cousin Randy, and the Wondrous Hanako.
(Randy is into computers, and speaks in tongues with Rudy. Sigh.)

Friday lunch

 

Quick Friday lunch, leaving Daughter & her 3 boys at home. Sister-in-law suggested Persian, so we headed into Walnut Creek and found Bijan Restaurant 1. Service was slow, slow, slow (the place was understaffed, it appeared) ranging from C to B-, but helpful and friendly when the waiter finally had time to show up.

Started with a delightful, hot, fired hot bread and an assortment of dips/wraps, including cilantro leaves, fresh onion, goat cheese, and olives. A separate plate of mushed eggplant. Great stuff!

Accompaniment was a bottle of 2006 Wente Reisling from their Arroyo Seco vineyards down in Monterey County. A bit too sweet for my tastes, but perhaps I shall learn. Perfect wine for a sunny lunch with Mediterranean food.

Two kabobs, beef and chicken, with saffron rice and lima beans, and a further combination of dipping goodies, made up the lunch.  Good choices, all.

Food A, ambiance E (knotty pine indicates an earlier incarnation for the building).  We shall return.

Politics . . .

I know, I know. We try to avoid politics here, particularly during an election year.
However, I've been hearing more and more from beyond the Pond, that the EU really is rooting for Obama to win this one.
I checked the electoral vote map. This is what I found:

We may have to answer this one by ourselves.

First Day In California

Two friendly nations, divided only by one language.

I'm having a composition problem with this new version of Blogger. Anyway, here's Henry with that bl**dy golf ball still off its tee:

Arghh! Now, I'll have to wish that Blogger had a tutorial. Anyway, so far, so good. Nice to see/meet the grandsons.

Vice-President?

Guess Who's Coming To Town!

A hearty hip, hip, hooray!

Neighbourhood Pub

I may take Mark and Hanako here.  Just thinking...

Chris Wolter, D.D.S.

This is my neighborhood dentist.

With his favorite drill.

I love my dentist.

Sand

These are two of many Iraq photos on the internet. I have never been to Iraq, but I did spend two 1-month periods in Saudi Arabia, many years ago.

While there, I saw a lot of sand, a few wind-driven events, but never a legendary sand storm as photographed here.

I consider myself fortunate. In'shallah.

Stick Built

When someone says that a house, your house, is "stick built", this is what that person is referring to:

Now, that's a whole lot of sticks!

(We won't get into balloon framing, platform framing, single-wall, etc.)

And, yes, that's our new neighbor to the Northwest of us, in Lafayette.  It's the final house in the Hidden Oaks subdivision.

Soon, very soon, the sounds of hammers will cease. And the sounds of lacrosse sticks will take their place.

Good Old Days!

Update! (Sat.eve.) I just added up the costs, and it looks like the manager is skimming an extra 1/2cent per gallon!  Lawsuit!

That's about $1.87 in 2008, inflation adjusted.

My kind of prices!

Our Fiftieth State!

49 years ago today. Welcome & Aloha!

Rising Again

Earth Rise

(Click to enlarge.)

One Guy In Ohio

It's easier than it looks! Just follow me, here:

I'm going to the back yard now.

Just pictures, for a while

Moon Rise

(click to enlarge)(I think)

Kenichi Pacific

I can't spend a week in Kona without at least one visit to Kenichi Pacific. This time, we went to the original in the Keauhou Shopping Center, and the new outlet at The Shops at Mauna Lani.

I love this restaurant. Very good food, great service, delightful presentations, and good wine. 4 stars = heartily recommended.

I'll let the pictures tell the story:

These are delightful scallops in a tomato cream sauce with curry powder. Some sort of cabbage leaves on top.

Dynamite shrimp, to die for.






Not bad at all.

Hey, they have restaurants in Aspen and Austin, so they're available to all!

Mauna Kea Beach Hotel

I remember when the Mauna Kea first opened in 1965. I was an architecture student at Cal, and I deeply admired the S.O.M. (Edward Charles Bassett) design. Based on a "haole" affection for Hawaii, it offered pristine views, marvelous sequences on "interior" spaces, lots of Asian art works, and a signature lack of air conditioning. It was an instant star in the architectural firmament.

A south wing, and a lot more air conditioning, was added later. You see, it takes a human body about 7-10 days to become comfortable in Hawaii's climate, and most tourists spend only 1 or 2 weeks on the island.

I, as well as several family folks, have stayed at this hotel. We enjoyed it tremendously, especially the friendly hotel security folks who reminded us frequently that we weren't the only guests in the hotel.

Anyway, in October 2006 a 6.9 temblor hit a few hundred feet offshore, and the southern (new) wing of the hotel collapsed, and the remainder was deemed unsuited for human occupancy. The place shut down.

There is hope, and some faith, that the newly remodeled hotel will reopen later this year.

Time will tell.

Julian Beever

This is a rather focused artist. He works with chalk on sidewalks, employing a form of perspective drawing that must have a name, which I do not know.

Something strange, going on here, but, without question, the guy has talent! (That's him, standing on top of the globe.)