As you know, I took my friends Jim and Wendy to Oakland’s Middle Harbor Park a few days ago. Whenever I’m there, I always tell the story of the first time I ever saw the park - at Jack and Tres’ wedding. This reminded me that I was one of the photographers at the auspicious event, which made me decide that I’d like to look at the pictures again, which inspired me to create and post this photo album full of memories.
The fact that there is not a drop left of the 3600 cases of Absinthe bottled late last year at St. James Distillery was was more of a disappointment to us than the blustery weather, but the fruity vodkas and liqueurs helped ease our sorrow. Good thing we laid down a substantial grease and carbo base at Jim’s Coffee Shop an hour before the tour. None of us had the stomach for Jim’s Super Burger though.
Later on, I took my guests to a little-known Middle Harbor Shoreline Park for no particular reason. Even on a good day, this park feels deserted, and today was no exception. There were fewer than 6 people anywhere in sight. We were all quite happy about that. What a lovely day!
Andrew, Jeri and Jim plan to leave Oakland very early on Sunday morning to attend a super-nerdy event at the NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field - home to Hangar One - a truly ginormous dirigible hangar. I’ve been told that it’s OK to bring my camera, so I promise to make a blog entry about the event in the next day or two!
To get in the mood for tomorrow’s trip, Jim, Wendy and myself are making the 5 minute drive to St. George Distillery Alameda. There we’ll be sipping vodka made in another hangar with the same name, grappa, fruit-infused Eau de Vie, Whiskey, and perhaps most interestingly, Absinthe!
On the way back from Alameda, maybe we’ll pop in to Dashe Cellars - just three blocks from here. Woo-hoo! Sounds like a fun day ahead! <br clear=”both” />
We drove to Strawberry, California (Pop. 50) yesterday to take part in a 50th birthday celebration for Kelly’s long-time friend Jeff Marshall at the historic Strawberry Lodge. Along the way we enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Heyday Cafe in Placerville.
We arrived at the lodge just in time to see the moon bouncing toward Lover’s Leap. I grabbed my Sigma 80-400 mm lens and caught this shot just as it tumbled over the edge.
Not terribly pleased with the original image, which looked flat, I decided to give it the Ansel Adams treatment. I converted it to black and white in PhotoShop and performed a bit of dodging and burning here and there trying to emulate the master. You’d probably be surprised to see how easy it is to get this effect.
I’ve been too busy to post anything in such a long time. Then, my pal Dave sent these images from Wisconsin. Seems the snow on his truck either slid or was blown into this amazing magic snow carpet. How cool is that?!?
