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According to weather expert Chris, The San Francisco Bay Area was the coldest spot in the US this Fourth of July, with the possible exception of a few locations in Alaska. Along with temperatures in the 50′s came the famous fog, which obliterated any hope of seeing any fireworks. Oh well… We did get to meet Ben’s lovely sister and two children on their first ever visit to the States. Welcome!
I was lucky enough to be asked to take a photos of a few kids on prom day. They chose Oakland’s serene Morcom Rose Garden as the venue. We spent some time spent looking for the “perfect spot for pictures”, which turned out to be a waste of time, because as you can see, I could have shot these kids up against a cinder block wall and gotten great results. Seeing these terrific-looking young people brought back some fond memories of my own, and made me realize just how much some things have changed.
I think it’s safe to say that prom dresses and human beings are getting better-looking. If you need further proof, check out the rest of the pictures.
If there’s one gift that won’t wind up in a landfill in three months, it’s pictures of the grandkids.
We spent the last day of our four-day weekend at Muir Woods with Andrew, Jeri and the girls. After a hike through the breathtaking redwoods, we stopped at the Pelican Inn for fish & chips, bangers & mash and a few pints. A delicious way to end the holiday weekend!
Yes, I’m still taking pictures, and Kelly is still volunteering at Xenophon, where we get to hang out with the nicest imaginable kids, horses and volunteers. Wonderful.
The normal state of affairs as up to eight birds jostle for a seat on one of the two perches.
A couple of these buggers probably eat half of the seed I put out.
Anyway, I had no idea how pretty doves are until I saw this shot.
I mostly prefer birds that live outside to those that will live indoors with us – forever, it seems.
Here’s one I shot through the living room window.
I’ll admit it – I’ve been spending time on Facebook in the last week. (OK – I’m a little slow when it comes to adopting certain technologies.) I’m conducting a little research to see why this social networking site is so popular. What’s that? 200 million active users??? I’m slowly beginning to understand its appeal. It’s dead simple for anyone to “publish” their thoughts and whereabouts. It’s easy to share images and video clips. Grampa can see the latest image of the kids, we can all see what our friends ate for dinner. Long-lost friends can be located – and then (thankfully) just as easily removed from our Facebook feeds forever.
The question I seek to answer concerns the value of time spent on Facebook. I’m sure I have the world’s greatest friends and am subscribed to all the right groups, but still, less than one entry in twenty posts leads me to anything memorable or worthwhile. The rest of the time is well, I won’t say “wasted”, but something close to that. Sort of like the time spent watching YouTube Featured Videos – 20% entertainment, 80% annoyance.
Another problem with Facebook can be blamed on Twitter culture. Too much of Facebook content consists of 140 or fewer character rants or blurbs. Facebook and its ilk have sucked a lot of blogs dry as ex-bloggers now devote too much of their time to sharing iPhone snapshots of their pets.
Whenever I hear something described as the latest craze in social networking I’m reminded of the CB radios we all had to own in the seventies. We all loved imagining all those other CB’ers clinging to our words as we revealed the location of the smokey in the westbound lane. What power! What fun! Eventually though, CB channels became “intolerably noisy“, and the fad died out.
So, is Facebook a fad? Yes, but it will be supplanted by something similar. Intolerably noisy? Guess that depends on your friends. Does this sort of application have a role in the workplace? Most definitely!
Bottom line? Would I recommend Facebook? Yes, actually, I would! For most people – especially those who never will have a blog – it’s better than nothing.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen Lhotse. She’s growing up fast.
Andrew caught this fantastic shot of Sophie and Ursula on their first visit to Disneyland.
thedude and Kellster like the shot so much that we made a magnet out of it and hung it on our refrigerator. That’s saying quite a lot, because like at least nine other people on planet Earth, thedude also hates refrigerator magnets!
