Summer has arrived!

This past weekend Summer arrived in the Sunset District, for San Francisco in general. I was in charge of my daughter over the weekend, my Wife declared a "staycation" weekend - a break from the family to focus on and pamper herself - she deserves it. So with all the good weather (and good waves) my daughter and I hung out around the neighborhood. We walked to the beach, did some dune climbing and snapped some pictures together. Turns out an 18 month old can be pretty handy in pointing out the good set waves as you can see below.

I took my daughter down to the Sloat parking lot. Wanting to make sure she did not either fall off the cliff edge or get run over, I kept her in the car with the windows rolled down. It actually worked well and she was content for all of 10-15 minutes. Just enough to snap off a few pics of the "Choi Wan" super typhoon swell that originated just off central Japan last week.

My wife was kind enough to let me sneak out on Sunday for a quick paddle out. Had a great time, saw a lot of good waves come through but did not connect with anything to write home about. Hung out with the dolphins/porpoise for a short time - neat to see them out there.

Summer/Fall is here and life is good.

Mike Stone JUSTICE!!!

So this is what I'll call the Mike Stone JUSTICE editorial section of my BLOG. After having just gotten through the second season of "The Streets of San Francisco" (don't get me started on how great this program is) I find myself wondering how Mike Stone would handle some of the BS we City Dwellers contend with on a daily basis. In my mind I fantasize hearing these words come out of Mike Stone's mouth...

Now of course Mike Stone was too classy of a cop to talk like this but a guy can still fantasize right? So my nominee for the first ever Mike Stone JUSTICE award is...

...THE GUY WHO LETS HIS DOG TAKE A DUMP IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE AND DOESN'T PICK IT UP AFTERWARD!!!

Look out Buddy Boy, with some good old fashioned investigative work, I'll track you down and make you feel the wrath of Mike Stone!!!

FOG of a World Class nature

DAMN!!! There it is again, lazily hanging and ever so slowly creeping into the contours of the City, almost tar like in it's consistency. The past several days, while the entire Bay Area "suffers" from a heat wave, us hearty residents of the Sunset District have been dealing with some truly World Class FOG.

This is not the wind whipped FOG that we typically get pushing through to the East Bay, this FOG bank has just hung over the City's low points and through the Gate. Talk about a change in climate - 60s, wet and dewy when I start my commute to the East Bay, arriving to clear sunny blue skies already tipping into the 70s. Fantastic example of the Bay Area's micro climates.

Carol Schulz, Queen of the Beach, recently stated, "Jeez Dickson, I'm usually a pretty positive person, but this Summer has been pretty bad with the FOG.". This is someone who has lived in the Sunset her whole life and knows it like the back of her hand! You know it is bad if Carol complains about it. Typically by this point in the year we have shaken off our FOGGY weather.

All I can do now is pray for a cold front to sweep through the Bay Area, dust the Sierras with a layer of the Winter Season's first snows and then it will be on... yes our (San Francisco's) Summer will then arrive being blown in via the East! Bye, bye FOG don't let the Gate hit you in the ass on your way out!!!

Grouse Ridge Lookout = BW Inspiration

Took some time away from home to attend my Brother's "Boys Weekend" up in Tahoe / Truckee. Good times. Great food, ample amounts of beer, some serious BS'ing and as always, card playing. Great weekend, short of the serious lack of card abilities, in turn leaded to a deficit by the time I pulled out of the driveway to go home. 

Took a couple of the fellers up to Grouse Ridge Lookout off of HWY 80 and the 20. Great spot to go for a hike. By the time you get up to the parking area you have a seriously commanding view of the scenery 270°.

Was a terrific day of moderate day hiking and lake swimming. There was some weather just off from us the whole time which made for some good photographic opportunities.

Enjoy!

Overcast Skies = BW Inspiration

The dreary weather around San Francisco has served as inspiration for some black and white photography. This is a small collection of images from my recent adventures in and around Golden Gate Park and up in the Marin Headlands. Enjoy.

Lone Battery, Marin Headlands

Lone Sentry, Marin Headlands

Sentry Escape, Marin Headlands

Sunrise, Sunset District

Eucalyptic Ghoul, Golden Gate Park

Ghoul Guarding Trail, Golden Gate Park

Shady Bend, Golden Gate Park

Fall's Start, Golden Gate Park

For those of you that appreciate BW Photography I highly recommend checking out Marty Knapp's work. He is a photographer from Point Reyes Station here in Northern CA. I really enjoy and appreciate his work and have collected a couple of his pieces. A true Artist with a keen eye pointed toward the CA landscape.

Marty Knapp Photographer

Session No 2

Traveled down the coast last weekend to a break that has been good of late. Got down there and was welcomed by semi-overcast sky. My buddy I went down with knows his way around cameras and encouraged me to shift to B/W mode. While I like the feel of the shots I took, unfortunately there were not a lot of really good pics snapped. Below are just a few "interesting" shots. The tide was really high this day and caused the waves to break on the mushier side. And of course, by the time we had to leave (had to be back home on time) the tide started to drop and the waves were getting better and better. We left with our buddy from SC telling us, "another hour or two and this place will be firing!".

Just good to get out.

Some things don't change in CA

I started this blog with the comment that CA has changed so dramatically over the course of it's relatively short history and that even dramatic changes are evident within two generations of my family. Rather than focus on what has changed about CA, I'd like to highlight something in CA that has not changed for 5-6 generations.

In the latest issue of Bay Nature, a great local magazine (and website) dedicated to, "Exploring, celebrating, and understanding the natural world of the San Francisco Bay Area", they highlight one of the largest and oldest Blue Oaks in CA. This amazing 400 year old tree (pictured above) is located within the Ohlone Regional Wilderness, located near the South East corner of the East Bay near Sunol, CA.

Just think about that, 400 years old, puts the tree just springing up out of the soil around 1609. I'm no historical scholar but I believe that Spanish explorers were just beginning to ply the waters off the CA coast and only up to Monterey at this time. So this tree was really only surrounded by its natural environment and any human contact would have been with the indigenous CA Native Americans of the area for the first half of it's life.

Pretty amazing what this tree has been through, humans, animals, disease, development and just about anything that mother nature could throw its way. Its good to know there are some things within CA that are greater than US and they can withstand the pressures our modern societies place on them. Fine examples of both natural selection and our East Bay Regional Park system at work.

Here are a few pics from my first hike with my Daughter this past Spring in the Sunol Regional Park not too far from where this tree is located. I highly recommend a Spring time hike through this area - simply amazing - you feel like you have stepped back 400 years.