Tuesday, May 10, 2016

SCHS Tribute





Santa Cruz High School flag at half-staff for Jeffrey Cobb Ewing








Friday, May 6, 2016

LIVING ROOM SET



 LIVING ROOM SET









Thursday, May 5, 2016

TUG



Tug's eyes were glazing over after eating one of his favorite snacks...goat cheese!









Wednesday, May 4, 2016

дед Медвежья лапа.




I remember my grandfather admiring my youthful 6 year old hand as we sat on his sofa in San Francisco while grandma was busy in the kitchen.  How surprised he'd be to see how much it has aged!







Sunday, May 1, 2016

Good Year for the Dogwood



The Dogwood benefited from the heavy rains this year and is commanding all the attention.  In time, the Hornbeams I planted behind it last year will form a green wall and make it that much more dramatic.












Friday, April 29, 2016

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Window in the Shower










My third-floor apartment on Bainbridge Island had a window in the shower. It looked over a forest so there were no privacy issues, and as it faced East, the sun poured in every morning.  In the summer I would lift the blinds and open the window--it was the next-best thing to showering outdoors.  Years later, I was looking at a condominium in Tacoma facing Commencement Bay, but the shower was in a windowless bathroom.  No thanks!





Friday, April 22, 2016

Rhododenron



The Rhododendron is showy this year thanks to a very wet winter and early Spring.






Thursday, April 21, 2016

Mission San Antonio Bell Wall







West Convento Wing bell wall detail, Mission San Antonio de Padua












Tuesday, April 19, 2016

MIR Space Station collision




Fascinating video of the in-orbit collision on June 25, 1997 of the Russian Mir space station with the supply ship Progress during maneuvers.



Calm and clear-minded problem solving is characteristic of Astronauts and Cosmonauts.




The collision caused Mir to spin uncontrollably.







Saturday, April 16, 2016

Mr. Peanut



Planters Nut & Chocolate Company headquarters at Paul Avenue and Bayshore Boulevard


News copy from 1952:

MR. PEANUT KING OF ALL HE SURVEYS

Mr. Peanut, that top-hatted Beau Brummel of the goober world, surveys the area adjacent to the future office and factory location of Planters Nut & Chocolate Company's new San Francisco headquarters. He is 31 feet tall and completely outlined by a tube of tangerine neon. When the sign is lighted at night, Mr. Peanut winks his right eye and the arrows pointing to him flash on and off. Two buildings now are on the site at Paul avenue and Bayshore boulevard and third is under construction. Planters expects to move in about the middle of 1953. Plant expansion investment on West Coast is about $2,500,000.    S.F. Public Library






 When a boy,  I'd look for the Planter's building with all the little Mr. Peanut statues on the parapets   (the Sherwin Williams "Cover the Earth" sign, too) from the backseat of the car when I was entering or leaving San Francisco via Highway 101 .  Looking back, it usually meant change and disruption of my circumstance:  As a kid, I never knew with whom I would be living or where I would be going to school.  Thankfully,  I was always cared for and  never abandoned or abused.







Thursday, April 14, 2016

Vitrvm



I came across these images of a proposed apartment house in Bogata, Columbia, by the architectural firm of Richard Meier & Partners.











Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Requiescat in pace

      










R.I.P. Jeanne O'Hare












Monday, April 11, 2016

The Yaran







Imprisoned Persian Baha'is.



"When the victory arriveth, every man shall profess himself as believer and shall hasten to the shelter of God's Faith. Happy are they who in the days of world-encompassing trials have stood fast in the Cause and refused to swerve from its truth".    --Baha'u'llah





Sunday, April 10, 2016

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

One Note Samba---Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66



Old San Franciscans may remember this as Jim Dunbar's theme song for his talk show on KGO radio.









This is just a little samba
Built upon a single note
Other notes are bound to follow
But the root is still that note
Now this new one is a consequence
Of the of we've just been through
As I'm bound to be the unavoidable consequence of you

There's so many people who can
Talk and talk and talk
And just say nothing
Or nearly nothing
I have used up all the scale I know
And at the end I've come to nothing
Or nearly nothing

So I come back to my first note
As I must come back to you
I will pour into that one note
All the love I feel for you
Anyone who wants the whole show
Re mi fa sol la ti do
He will find himself with no show
Better play the note you know

There's so many people who can
Talk and talk and talk
And just say nothing
Or nearly nothing
I have used up all the scale I know
And at the end I've come to nothing
Or nearly nothing

He will find himself with no show
Better play the note you know

He will find himself with no show
Better play the note you



know




Monday, April 4, 2016

Lawyer Dog



LAWYER DOG














































Sunday, April 3, 2016

Early Spring




The backyard is coming back to life. It's the showiest time of year for the Photinia.





Saturday, April 2, 2016

Loma Prieta



I sketched the clock tower and Loma Prieta looking out the window from my desk on Center Street (across the street from Goodwill) in 1980.  It was one of those long afternoons in a small engineering office in Santa Cruz, and I was watching the clock.







Friday, April 1, 2016

Consider a Tree








Fruit Trees --Malott



Consider a tree: Behold how We plant it in a garden, and nourish it with the waters of Our loving care; and how, when it hath grown tall and mature, and brought forth verdant leaves and goodly fruits, We send forth the tempestuous gales of Our decree, tear it up by its roots, and lay it prostrate upon the face of the earth. So hath it been Our way with all things, and so shall it be in this day. Such, in truth, are the matchless wonders of Our immutable method—a method which hath ever governed, and shall continue to govern, all things, if ye be of them that perceive. None, however, knoweth the wisdom thereof save God, the All-Powerful, the Almighty, the All-Wise.  --Baha’u’llah




Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Monday, March 28, 2016

Paintings from the '30s








Subway by Lily Furedi, 1934 New York



Baseball at Night by Morris Kantor, 1934 New York



In the Barber Shop by Ilya Bolotowsky, 1934, New York









Saturday, March 26, 2016

Friday, March 25, 2016

Flags at Half-Staff







This is from the  latest email from Flags Unlimited:

"The correct procedure for displaying the flag at half-staff is to raise the flag to the top of the pole briskly, pause for a moment, and then slowly bring it down to where the top of the flag is at a position approximately halfway between the top and bottom of the pole."

Option 1 approximates the configuration. I think my Option 2 should become the standard.


















Thursday, March 24, 2016

Business Cat



BUSINESS CAT