designs in nature

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photo by Donald Kinney

These are "Horsetails" and they grow abundantly near moist bogs.   I've always assumed that Horsetails were part of the Bamboo family, but they're not -- they are a primitive form of Rush.

I found this info on the net:   "Another common name for horsetail is scouring rush. Due to high concentrations of silica crystals in the epidermis, the stems are very abrasive and have in the past been used to scour cooking utensils and polish fine furniture. Musicians who play reed instruments know this plant as reed rush and it is still sold today as a fine sandpaper substitute for the purpose of adjusting and sanding the bamboo reeds used on clarinets and saxophones."



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photo by Donald Kinney

I found these water ripples in sand out at Bolinas the other day.   Mother Nature is quite artistic, as I'm sure you already know.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Ah yes, one of my favorite places -- Lagunitas Creek...   Liquid art?



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photo by Donald Kinney

Out at Roy's Redwoods, another of my favorite places, ferns sometimes play the roles of dragons...


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San Francisco dining

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photo by Donald Kinney

When I stopped by, the restaurant was still closed -- but it looks like someone -- when they get there -- is all set to start working on the crossword puzzle.



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photo by Donald Kinney

This, and the three that follow, aren't new shots -- they're two or three years old -- but I thought I'd show them again anyway.

((( notice the more squareish hieght-to-width aspect ratio of 1:1.33, whereas my new Canon5D photos have an aspect ratio of 1:1.5 )))



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photo by Donald Kinney

I don't know about you, but I love this sort of stuff...   That shaker looks like it's full of cinnamon -- and yep, cinnamon toast sounds pretty good right now...



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photo by Donald Kinney

The windows of The Stinking Rose are always fun to peer into.



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photo by Donald Kinney

These are the boys down at Molinari Delicatessen -- I don't think they appreciated my snap-and-run technique for getting their picture.


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around San Francisco

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photo by Donald Kinney

You've got to hand it to the architects -- they really know how to make a statement...



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photo by Donald Kinney

Artists and sculptors follow the architects...



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photo by Donald Kinney

And the graphic minds of the sign painters are next in line...



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photo by Donald Kinney

A slightly different view of the San Francisco skyline, in the vicinity of VanNess and California, looking from west towards the east.

That dark chunky building on the other side of the hill is the top portion of the BankofAmerica Building -- 52 stories, and at 779 feet it's the second tallest building in San Francisco.   It occupies a full city block, and is absolutely massive.


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SPECIAL EDITION - Patrick Dougherty installation

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photo by Donald Kinney

I'm posting this photo mainly for S.F. Mike, my blogging buddy at http://sfciviccenter.blogspot.com.
Mike likes Patrick Dougherty's intallation of willow branches woven into large birdhouse-like structures propped up in the (already tortured) sycamores in Civic Center Plaza, but personally, I hate what the "artist" has come up with here.   It's total non-sense!   Not to insult fifth-graders, but it looks like a fifth grade craft project gone terribly wrong -- and the thing that blows my mind is that Patrick Dougherty has perpetrated this kind of bad-art world-wide and is highly respected and widely exhibited.   It just amazes me what the San Francisco Arts Commission will accept...

Anyway, you might like Patrick Dougherty's work -- I'm just saying that I don't...   Here's another photo if you'd like to see another view

By the way, S.F. Mike has a great blog of all the activity -- and there is a lot of it -- in the Civic Center area of San Francisco.   As mentioned above, you can catch his blog at: http://sfciviccenter.blogspot.com.

Looking in Windows

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photo by Donald Kinney

As Mrs. Slocombe used to say on Are You Being Served;
"Oh my, the things you see when you haven't got a gun"



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photo by Donald Kinney

You're not going to want to use this fabric for blowing your nose.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Oh my goodness.   A leg...   A leg on Fillmore Street.



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photo by Donald Kinney

And all of that looking-in-windows made me a bit hungry, so I stopped by Johnnie Rocket's for a bit of through-the-window dining.


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patterns

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photo by Donald Kinney

Window shade fabric, Fillmore Street.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Ceiling or roof, depending on how you look at it...   Found at the end of Talbert Lane, middle of nowhere, Montezuma Hills, California.



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photo by Donald Kinney

About thirty years ago I met the old lady who lived in this ranch-house -- those were the days when I was using my large 4x5 view camera and she wanted to know why I was photographing "just" a field of wheat.   I tried my best to explain that I was photographing patterns in the wheat field, but she looked at me like I was some sort of a nut...



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Although Shaklee Products moved their headquarters to Pleasanton years ago, this is the very curvy Shaklee Building (sometimes erroneously called Bank-of-the-West Building), Market Street, San Francisco.


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Montezuma Hills windmills

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photo by Donald Kinney

If you thought you knew California pretty well, but have never heard of Montezuma Hills, don't worry -- it's a secret area -- only the kind of place that sheep-herders, wheat-growers, duck-hunters, and the occasional photographer knows about.

Generally speaking, Montezuma Hills is in the lower Sacramento Delta area.   It's the rolling hills on the west side of Highway12, between Fairfield and Rio Vista.   The towns are microscopic -- with names like Collinsville and Bird's Landing.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Ranchers have always taken advantage of the area's persistent winds for pumping water, but about thirty years ago the first wind-turbines started popping up.   Ranchers soon found they could make a tidy sum selling excess electricity to the power grid.



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photo by Donald Kinney

The current generation of wind-turbines is massive and tall.   The Solano County Municipal Utility District has been operating their own set of windmills since 1994, generating 39 megawatts of power.



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photo by Donald Kinney

When the price of oil and natural gas rise, wind-power stocks surge -- but of course, vice-versa is true too.   Many of the wind-power companies now own thier own land, but ranchers who rent space and access to the wind-power companies are making out like bandits...


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extra, extra, extra...

SPECIAL EDITION
Make sure your SOUND volume is SET FAIRLY LOW, then...
Mouse-over keys for famous quotes --
or click on key to repeat 3 times...
Keys are draggable to the right side to create key combinaions.

down low at Roy's Redwoods

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photo by Donald Kinney

Bugs are usually very obliging subjects...   I found this little guy while we were both crawling around the meadow at Roy's Redwoods.



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photo by Donald Kinney

I'm sure this plant has a more specific name, but for now I'll just call it a Daisy...   The tips of the petals turn a beautiful shade of magenta as they age.

These photos don't show size very well, but it's a small blossom, only about an inch-and-a-half across at the most.



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photo by Donald Kinney

For you photo gear-heads, I was using extension-tubes (37mm) with the 70-200 "L" on my Canon5D, but I wish I owned a nice macro lens.



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photo by Donald Kinney

You know, if you don't mind sacraficing one, a Daisy can an answer most any yes or no question.   When I was a kid I used to tear Daisy petals off one by one, and about half the time, when I got to the last petal, it would turn out that -- yes-- Susie Fitzsimmons did love me...


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roses

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photo by Donald Kinney

May your life be filled with roses...



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photo by Donald Kinney

I applied Photoshop's "Smart-Blur" effect to the shot above and the shot below.   Not that these roses needed any help, but Photoshop's "Smart-Blur" retains edge sharpness while smoothing the interior.



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photo by Donald Kinney



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photo by Donald Kinney

no special effects on this one...



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photo by Donald Kinney

nor this one...


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sunrise

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photo by Donald Kinney

Taken a few minutes later, this is a less ominous version of yesterday's header.



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photo by Donald Kinney

You've gotta think that birds enjoy sunrise too...



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photo by Donald Kinney

This is San Pablo Bay, looking towards Vallejo.



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photo by Donald Kinney



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photo by Donald Kinney


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sunrise at China Camp

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photo by Donald Kinney

I'm seeing a Piper-Cub airplane in those clouds...   I'll let you know when I start seeing UFO's...



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photo by Donald Kinney

nearer...



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photo by Donald Kinney

and farther...


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a little rough around the edges

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photo by Donald Kinney

King of the neighborhood...   The Transamerica Pyramid.



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photo by Donald Kinney

Something tells me this store hasn't always been a botique, nor quite that red...



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photo by Donald Kinney

You probably have better things to think about, but I can't keep from wondering what goes on inside the Metro Hotel.   Probably none of my business...



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photo by Donald Kinney

I'm not 100% sure, but I think someone was going for the word holiest here.   I could probably help the Reverend get that light back into position.


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upper Lagunitas Creek

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photo by Donald Kinney

more on the top and less on the bottom



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photo by Donald Kinney

less on the top and more on the bottom



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photo by Donald Kinney

spilling and getting ready to



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photo by Donald Kinney

green water



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photo by Donald Kinney

oversharpened abstract water


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