Tuesday, December 31, 2013

New Years Eve, one sunset, & some year-end thoughts.

One last nice sunset for the year, a few days ago.




A few thoughts about 2014?
Well.... i would like to think the world might become a bit more peaceful, sane.
I could play John Lennon's most notable song, "Imagine" in head... and hope it might come true. But I won't hold my breath, and I don't advise you to do the same.

Unfortunately, I think another song written a long time ago, is closer to the truth - 'Gimme Shelter', the Rolling Stones. When I first heard this, it was spine chilling, the Vietnam War has happening, too many guys my age coming back in body bags, all for what turned out to be a last cause.
And this is one of Keith's best guitar works, it has a trembling menace about it, an uncertainty, it descends and then ascends and then starts all over again, never ending.
The 'menace' never ends.

"Storm is threatening my very life today,
If I don't get some shelter, ooo, I'm gonna fade away"

That's the way I felt about my life then... and still do now.
The 'storms' never go away for long, do they?

Another great phrase about the world - "Mad bull, lost it's way"
Yep, just take a look at the Middle east - seems like all they wanna do is kill someone who doesn't agree w/ them. And killing people in the name of god is... kind of an oxymoron isn't it?

Below, the signs and anchors we used to depend on aren't worth much are they?
They point to nowhere.


So an image that describes the world now... might look much more like this, a storm trying to get over the mountains, shot looking west just north of Mojave Ca a few years ago.

Yes, a "storm is threatening my life today."

Let's hope for a few moments of tranquility - if it can be found anywhere, i would think that might be in the desert, like this one, somewhere near Joshua Tree, 10+ years ago.

"Over and out".......
and as the Terminator said most succinctly:
"I'll be back"
Yes, indeed... i sure hope so.



Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Late December - winter, wherefore art thou?

Since the storm just before Thanksgiving, it's been nothing but smooth easy sailing, if I didn't look at the calendar, I'd think it was summer for the most part. We had a stretch of cold recently, but no rain, and we really, REALLY need the rain.
(And by my standards, growing up in Maine, it wasn't really very cold. People in the Bay area? when it goes below forty degrees, they're bitchin and moanin'.)
A big hi pressure system has taken up residence off the coast, and anything stormy in the jet stream has been pushed way north of the SF Bay area.
A few afternoons some cirrus has managed to drift thru after sunset, and made for some very nice viewing, one cloud in particular was fantastic, it's at the bottom.
What i really want to see out my window is something like this:

There's definitely some H2O in that monster!

Or to be awakened at 3AM by a howling wind, and look out my 4th floor window to see rain like this, illuminated by the street lamp:


But I'll settle for some nice sunsets.
This is the one killer cloud from the last month, off to the east,
lit by a sun way over the horizon.
 
 
 I hope to have more to report next month... but if i don't,
I can take you to the desert, through Tehechapi Pass :-)
It's one of the nicest drives I've done in Ca., but dammit there's no turnouts, and it's next to impossible to photograph anything without them.
"I'll be back" - just like 'Ahnold' terminator but i won't drive thru you window,
just land on yer screen :-)


Sunday, December 1, 2013

Winter...but not much of it.

Winter finally arrived in the SF Bay area on Nov 18-20.
'Twas a mild start, incoming front was just grey and featureless, but on the back side, after the front passed thru?...some nice multilayered cloud cover,
which shaped up nicely as the sun set. I could see this one coming.
(I have had much 'practice' watching skies. From '81-'91 I shot archictecture in the Wash DC area, you always watch the sky, it can totally make a shot, and always watch the weather reports, they aren't always very accurate, but it's the best you got. So I've gotten pretty good at watching, and predicting, to some degree.)



...and made it to the 5th floor breezeway facing west in time to catch the sunlight from over the horizon hitting the undersides of the clouds. Niiiice.
 


 

  The very warm light also hit a monster thunderhead,
somewhere to the east.

within a few minutes, it got lit by sunset light too.

And here's a few miscellaneous others, taken I'm not sure when,
but definitely recent, Enjoy all!




Now here's some energy goin' on, fer sure.



But this (below) is peaceful, mellow.



It's only Dec 2, I'm sure there will be more to come.
I plan on takin' it in :-)