Men Do Laundry

Yes, men do laundry.  Gobs of laundry; bundles and trundles and oodles of laundry.  Seriously, this was a scene at Mission Linen Commercial Laundry in San Francisco.  This particular place has since closed, but when open was awash in humidity and machinery and old industry.  It was a piece of old San Francisco now put out to pasture, moved out of the city due to the cost of doing business in the City.  Progress?

 

Crowly the Tug in Seattle

Seattle's a great city.  Water, hills, water, rain, clouds, gray.  But this day is blue, and beautiful, and even tho October, is warm; relativly. 

I took some time this day to head out to west Seattle near Alki Beach, then wound my way in just to find myself drawn to Harbor Island; hardly an Island where a lot of heavy lifting type industry makes its home.  This tug, bisecting the city caught my eye.

Snow in the Canyon!

The Grand Canyon is really Grand!  And it's desert, right?  Well, this day we left the river to hike up to Thunder River.  This involves a hike up above the river and following a creek through this beautiful mini canyon.  Half way to our destination the clouds thickened, got lower, and at our level it was raining.  But, up higher we could see snow!  You can just see a little, here, in the desert!  How awesome.

Kearsarge Lakes & Kearsarge Pinnacles, Kings Canyon NP

What a beautiful place.  In August we drove to the Onion Valley trail head off Highway 395 on the eastern slopes of the Sierras.  The trail head is over 9000 ft. to begin with!  We hiked steadily up to the high point of almost 12,000 ft. at Kearsarge Pass.  Then it's back down to about 10,000 ft. to reach the lakes.  This is the middle lake near our campsite.  A spectacular place to be and well worth the hike.

Cold Morning Moon, Joshua Tree NP

Believe me, it was COLD out this morning.  I had set up my tent the previous evening a couple miles from the trail head.  In the middle of the night the wind picked up and the temperature plunged.  About 4:00 AM I got up, broke down my tent and headed out into a stiff head wind with the temp. around 30.  It was cold, but not cold enough to stop and set up for a photo or two.

Cafe DeLunch, San Francisco

While wandering around San Francisco, we ran into this unique looking restaurant in the Italian district.  We didn't go in but it deserved a photo none-the-less.  Maybe next time for trying the menu.

After the Storm, Bellingham Bay, Washington

I was up in my home town of Bellingham, Washington last early spring.  The weather, all week, was incredible!  Massive storm clouds, interspersed by sun, then rain and cold, and back and forth.  I love stormy weather.  In California we have such long periods of totally blue skies; exactly what I longed for when growing up in the damp NW.  Now, I really appreciate the power of a good storm.



King Frederik VII & Christiansborg Palace, Copenhagen

I found Copenhagen to be quite elegant, clean, the people friendly, and very easy to get around in.  We were there in the spring of 2008 for a friend's wedding across the bridge in Sweden and got to spend 2 days exploring this beautiful city. 

One morning I went off wandering by myself, taking in the ambiance and shooting pictures.  I love wandering, going where my legs take me, then catching something out of the corner of my eye and following that.  I spotted the King in front of the palace.  During his reign, there were no streets made for cars.  Was I standing where the horses used to graze?  Where he addressed his court?  Ah, the imaginings of another time.

 

Sunset over El Cap, Yosemite NP

Since getting home from the Grand Canyon trip in May, I've been taking quite a few HDR shots.  I'm really enjoying this mode of processing and after 4 months I'm just starting to get shots that I like. 

A couple of weeks ago I was up in Yosemite with some of my family.  We wanted to hike up to Sentinel Dome for the sunset and chose to go the loop route of 4 miles.  A great little hike that took us to the edge of the south canyon wall, then up the hill to the Dome.  From up here, there's a 360 degree view to get lost in.  The air was getting cooler the longer we stayed, but the color of the sky seemed to increase in direct proportion.

 

Glorious Morning, Colorado River, Grand Canyon NP

I'm so lucky!  In May I was fortunate to spend almost 17 days in the Grand Canyon, 15 of them rafting down the Colorado River with a group of very dear friends.  What an incredible place to be; the ancient, daily changing face of the rocks; the cold, flowing snow-melt waters of the river always a constant companion.  Sometimes the water was gently flowing, carrying us down deeper into the canyon.  Other times she was bright and quick, bubbling with energy and force at one of the many rapids.  On this morning, somewhere in the middle of the adventure, morning broke  with such color and softness.  I can still taste it.  I'm so lucky.

Water Resevoir, Central California

Last winter I was up in Yosemite and decided I would come home a different way.  I wound my way through the central California backroads, quickly into and out of small rural towns.  The weather was quite dramatic and the clouds were changing constantly.  On my way through one of the towns; I forget which one, maybe you recognize it, I spotted this resevoir next to the RR tracks.  Is it still in use?  Maybe not.

 

Sonoma Coast Setting Sun

I love the Sonoma coast!  There are so many little cubby-hole beaches.  It's one of my favorite places to make photos.  Nothing could be quite so dramatic and powerful than a storm along the ocean.  Of course we're lucky not to have such huge ones as many other areas, but that's just fine with me.  This winter scene was quite a bit more tranquil, but powerful none-the-less.



Bodega Schoolhouse

This schoolhouse was used in Alfred Hitchcock's movie "The Birds".  It's in the tiny town of Bodega, just a few miles from the California coast.  I didn't see many birds here on this day, but I could imagine....