YOUR HOST in 1957

This is a photo taken on Easter Sunday in 1957. I was all dressed up to go to church. My girlfriend Rita was also dressed in her "Sunday Best". I was really stuck on her. After all these years we are still in touch. How do you like my hair? It was combed in a DA! I never really thought of myself as being cool. I was way too insecure for that. Somehow combing my hair that way was a way of fitting in although most of guys I hung out with didn't comb their hair that way.

BOUGAINVILLLEA

For many years, this redwood and bougainvillea were inner twinned in a spectacular display that people from all around the county would come and see. It was so popular with tourists that postcards were sold of its image.













The building adjacent to the tree and vine is the"Heiner House". The City of Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation Department administrative offices occupied the building. After the 1989 earthquake that destroyed much of downtown, it was discovered that the building was damaged so severely that repairs would be too expensive for the City's budget. It sat empty (except for the homeless that occupied it most of the time) until 1993 when it was sold to another government agency and transported to a site about 10 blocks away. After the building was removed it was discovered that the redwood tree root flare that had already been tilting the building had very serious crown and root decay making the tree unsafe. To make matters worse, in December of 1990, a very cold period of a week with temperatures in the low teens killed the bougainvillea! In the hopes that it would eventually recover, I waited until 1994 before removing the tree and vine. Around that time I was in a UCSC extension video-arts program so I decided to do a documentary on the condition of the tree and memories of people that worked in the building. It was called "Old Friends". After the tree was removed it was determined that it was only 86 years old. It was expected to be at least twice that age. The sheltered area and a great source of ground water were ideal for the tree's growth and health. The tree was turned into park benches, picnic tables, an arbor, and a sign at the municipal golf course. There are still slabs of it in storage.

This photo was used with the permission of Phil Rupp, the photographer. He drove the blue van parked at the curb all over the US of A including Alaska and the Arctic Circle. He and his wife put over 245,000 miles on it. Thanks Phil.

EL SANTUARIO de CHIMAYO

This is a small church a few miles northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is known as Chimayo. I've been here twice and each time there were no crowds. The locals say that the place is overwhelmed each year at Easter. Thousands come to pray at the site of a "milagro" (miracle) that occurred here several years ago.
Milagros are also small silver sculptures representing different parts of the human body like this cross with milagros covering it.

It's a very unassuming church and grounds but beautifully tended. The architecture is very typical of Catholic churches at the time it was founded between 1814 and 1816.
There is a small pit in a dirt floor in a small room attached to the side of the main building. There, people can gather some of the dirt and put it in small ornate boxes that are sold at a nearby gift shop. The soil is said to have extraordinary healing powers. After I collected some I went outside to find a man digging up soil behind the church to replinish the pit. I would think that if that has been going on over the years there should be very large open pit nearby but I found none. Is that part of the milagro?

ME 'N TINY TIM

Yep! That's me on the right with singing sensation Tiny Tim. I was working for Trans World Airlines at the San Francisco Airport as a public relations representative when this photo was taken by Steve Duncan in 1969. Tiny Tim had just arrived from Sydney, Australia where he was on tour. He was on his way back to New York to be with his beloved "Miss Vicky". He and I are carrying bags filled with perfume! Lots of it. He reeked of perfume. Apparently he didn't like to bathe very often so he used the scents to cover up his B.O. He was very congenial and talkative considering the long flight across the Pacific. I was very surprised to see how tall he was. I guessed around 6' 5" and over 250 lbs! Tiny Tim wasn't tiny.

MONTEREY CYPRESS WINDROW

My wife and I were in Mendocino County for her birthday and stayed in a great Bed and Breakfast place. Just outside was this windrow of trees that made a great silhouette against the setting sun. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a photo. As an ISA Certified Arborist I have been working with owners of Monterey Cypress windrows in Santa Cruz, CA. I have noticed that 60 years is generally considered to be the effective lifetime as a windbreak. Lower branches and gaps due to elimination of individual trees, limit the effectiveness of the windrow. When a gap is created by eliminating a tree it creates a funnel that concentrates airflow through it like a venturi effect. Branch tips of trees desiccate and die. As the windrow declines, dead branches add to the fuel load around the base of the trees creating an undesirable fire hazard like the conflagration of the Oakland, CA hills fire of 1991. This same accumulated fuel load debris can harbor fungal and other pathogens that damage healthy trees. One of the most common diseases of Monterey Cypress is "Cypress Canker". It is difficult to replace trees in the gaps of a mature windrow because seedlings and small plantings cannot effectively compete for sunlight and nutrients. The trees in the photo are rapidly approaching that critical point.

MINER'S CABIN - WHITE MOUNTAINS

I spent a week at the UC White Mountains Research Station studying photography with an excellent teacher, Stuart Scofield. It was a series of photography theory and practical exercises aimed at fine arts photographers. Didn't stop me though. I drove up to the Crooked Creek Laboratory at 10,200 ft. It took two days to acclimate. I also discovered that I probably won't be an early morning photographer, at least at high altitudes. Too cold and early for me. I'm a night person. I spent most of the practical exercises photographing the Bristlecone Pines. They are the oldest living things on earth. I have a blog entry that addresses that. One day I set off from the classroom to see what I could find to photograph besides trees. A came over a rise and there was a great old abandoned miner's cabin. It was filled with all kinds of things to photograph. I was very excited to have an opportunity to work with the cabin but it was my last afternoon there and I was running late so I just took a few shots in hopes of getting something I liked. I liked the photos above. Hope you do as well.

CLOUDBURST

I was driving down Highway 1 from San Francisco, CA when I spotted this intense concentration of rain falling from one cloud. Although I had seen occurrences like this many times, I was particularly impressed with this display.

COIT TOWER

The beautiful Coit Tower in San Francisco, CA. It's image is synomous with "the City". I enjoy visiting the City and have had fantasies about living there one day. The photo on the upper left is of the tower and a statue of Christopher Columbus. Upper right is the parking lot and a view of famous Alcatraz Island where several famous convicts were held until it's closure in 1963. The island is the small distinct feature in the bay. Above is a shot of downtown from the south window of the tower. It was a beautiful day that day.

PACK TRAIN IN CALLE

I heard lots of clomping hooves that startled me from a nap andI stepped out of our room into the calle and saw this packtrain of donkeys. There were several trains like this in and around Guanajuato, Mexico. Calles (alleys) are the most common "streets" there. It really added to the charm of the place. I would recommend Guanajuato to anyone that can get around on foot and doesn't mind walking up and down hills to get where they want to go.

MAN IN A RE-BAR CAGE

The Soquel Avenue Bridge in Santa Cruz, CA was replaced in 1997. Working for the City of Santa Cruz gave me access to the site to take photographs. There are lots of interesting features to the bridge and the equipment that was used to construct it. Here are two men wiring a re-bar column that was used as part of the bridge support. The cages were lifting into place and concrete was poured around them while they were in a form. I just couldn't resist this geometric shot opportunity.