a photo a day - photos by Donald Kinney

March 14, 2009

Google has rules

^ ^ ^ Please let me know if you know what this is all about.

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photo by Donald Kinney

Oh, getting kicked out of places I'm not supposed to be is nothing new to me -- so when the rather mellow security guards at Google Headquarters in Mountain View escorted me out on Wednesday it was just another rather mellow adventure...

Like I mentioned to Photowannabe Sue the other day, they didn't taze or pepper-spray me, or anything. They didn't want to know who I was, and the guy wouldn't even take my card -- they aren't allowed to accept anything from strangers...

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photo by Donald Kinney

Anyway I had fun mingling with the lunch-bunch soaking up some sun and mulling over the problems of work and/or cutting loose with wild stories about this and that...

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photo by Donald Kinney

On the good side -- Google cares about expectant mothers...

On the bad side -- rumors abound that Google spies on us, amassing lengthy records of our innermost thoughts and motivations. My file is probably pretty boring...

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photo by Donald Kinney

So, next time you're in Mountain View visiting the Computer History Museum, drive farther down that road and stop by Google. Be a bit more discrete than me with my obvious camera, and you probably will be able to get away with a bit of discretionary trespassing.

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March 13, 2009

lets give 'em some flowers

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photo by Donald Kinney

I was motoring past the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno on my way down the "Peninsula" on Wednesday, when I decided to pull in and have a look around. And look around I did -- at graves that seem to stretch to infinity -- certainly a lot of them...

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photo by Donald Kinney

It looks like our dead at San Bruno could have used some flowers...

Yesterday afternoon I had nothing better to do than spook around the Corte Madera Creek. These aren't growing wild -- they've been scattered over a large area and are now fiercely springing to life.

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photo by Donald Kinney

If you know the name of any of those flowers I'd appreciate hearing from you. My father was a great gardener, but the talent didn't rub off on me... I am an ignoramus when it comes to some of the names of my flowers.

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photo by Donald Kinney

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Your comments are invited and welcome.

March 12, 2009

interesting patterns

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photo by Donald Kinney

The mosaic (above) is the base of a rather colorful obelisk hidden away in a rather obscure part of Maritime Plaza.

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photo by Donald Kinney

These two designs are from the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. More on my visit to that fabulous place later...

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March 11, 2009

San Francisco shapes

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photo by Donald Kinney

Lets all stand up and salute the shapes and designs of San Francisco...

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March 10, 2009

San Francisco designs

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photo by Donald Kinney

I'm not sure if this facade is on First Street or not, but it's down in that area, just south of Market Street.

But there's no guessing when it comes to the Golden Gate Bridge -- it's over there. All you need is a long arm and a pointy finger to get there!

Architecture can be functional as well as very pleasing to the eye. Sometimes those two purposes mingle...

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March 09, 2009

"typical" Vallejo, California

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photo by Donald Kinney

Probably ( ? ? ? ) the very first thing you're going to want to do after arriving in Vallejo, California is to stop by the U-Know for whatever might be your smoking pleasure, and then shuffle-on-over to the TAT2 for a bit of trippy body art or a piercing or two.

Oh, there are nicer sections of Vallejo, California, but this is kind of typical...

Vallejo was in the news a year or so ago with the distinction of a city that had run out of money -- and was, pretty much, going to have to shut down most all government services. Well, I saw a cop car while I was in town, so I guess they still have money to run their police department.

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photo by Donald Kinney

Vallejo used to home to the United States Navy, and in it's hay-day the town was prosperous, with a lot of employment at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard. The shipyard is now closed and unemployment and human-suffering in Vallejo is probably considerably higher than the rest of the nation.

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March 08, 2009

Kitty, and near where we live

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photo by Donald Kinney

Well, there she is folks, the love of my life -- the adorable black and white creature with the rather generic name of Kitty... Kitty came to live with me about a dozen years ago, but I can't pin it down to a specific date, and I've lost all contact with the family -- my former upstairs neighbors -- that gave her to me...

Kitty and I are great pals... She's here right now, pretty much like usual, asleep on my lap -- waking only, now and then, to sink the her razor sharp claws into my limpid flesh...

Over at Pestbouncer.com we use a bastardized version of three dot journalism... It isn't right or grammatical, but it's always been my belief that cats need about three dots to our every one...

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photo by Donald Kinney

By the way, these are scenes from up on Mount Tamalpais, out here in my backyard... The Fairfax to Bolinas Road is finally open again after being closed three months for slide repair... As you can see, it's beautiful up there... The creeks, normally almost dry, are flowing at their peak right now... We've had a whole heck of a lot of rain recently...

March 07, 2009

lets go to San Francisco

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photo by Donald Kinney

Who doesn't love San Francisco?

It's a great place to get happy...

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photo by Donald Kinney

And the views are dramatic...

Don't Worry, Be Happy
From the Movie "Cocktails"
Performed by Bobby
McFerrin

Here is a little song I wrote
You might want to sing it
note for note
Don't worry be happy
In every life we have some trouble

When you worry you make it double
Don't worry, be happy......

Ain't got no place to lay your head
Somebody came and took your bed

Don't worry, be happy
The land lord say your rent is late
He may
have to litigate
Don't worry, be happy
Lood at me I am happy
Don't
worry, be happy
Here I give you my phone number
When you worry call me

I make you happy
Don't worry, be happy
Ain't got no cash, ain't got
no style
Ain't got not girl to make you smile
But don't worry be happy

Cause when you worry
Your face will frown
And that will bring
everybody down
So don't worry, be happy (now).....

There is this
little song I wrote
I hope you learn it note for note
Like good little
children
Don't worry, be happy
Listen to what I say
In your life
expect some trouble
But when you worry
You make it double
Don't
worry, be happy......
Don't worry don't do it, be happy
Put a smile on
your face
Don't bring everybody down like this
Don't worry, it will soon
past
Whatever it is
Don't worry, be happy

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Your comments are invited and welcome.

March 06, 2009

Woodie Woodpecker and Mt. Tamalpais

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photo by Donald Kinney

On Thursday we got a respite from the drenching rains, and it wasn't long before I found myself exploring the hilltop between Corte Madera and Mill Valley. It seems to be popular with people out walking their dogs -- friendly people -- the type that say hello and make eye contact...

The birds were also out enjoying their first nice morning in recent memory -- they were all very busy looking for something to eat...

This woodpecker shot was a total fluke... I was shooting "the mountain" through the out of focus madrone trees when I noticed in my eyepiece a bird land on a branch. I quickly focused on it and had time to snap about five exposures before it flew away. I didn't realize it was a woodpecker until I Photoshopped the image -- I had to bring the bird "up out of the mud" a bit before I could see the red patch on it's head. Always fun to see Woodie Woodpecker...

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photo by Donald Kinney

I kind of like this second shot too... It reminds me of exactly what you'd find on "the Nature Tail" at Roy's Redwoods -- in fact I'm probably going to add it in to that set on my "BIG" site.

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Your comments are invited and welcome.

March 05, 2009

mailboxes at Galilee Harbor

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photo by Donald Kinney

Back in the '60's, if you had anything to live in that would float, you could row, steam, or get towed over to Gate Five in Sausalito -- tie up for free, and spend the rest of your days boogie'n down on your improvised houseboat. Of course, eventually untreated sewage became a problem, and citizenry of Sausalito made it illegal to "anchor out" at Gate Five without the proper facilities -- thus sparking an actual war between those who wanted to stay and those who wanted the dirty hippies out of the area. Well, after a few bashed heads and a lot of name-calling, the hippies cleaned up their act a bit, and guess what? -- they're still there...

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photo by Donald Kinney

Oh, I've got to say that there are houseboats, and then there are houseboats... The funky ones still remain at Gate Five, but there are three other houseboat communities in the area -- each a bit classier and more expensive than the other. The houseboats that you can see from Highway 101 are probably the classiest and most expensive -- but I've never been there and I'm not planning a visit anytime soon...

March 04, 2009

Heather Wilcoxon's "art car"

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photo by Donald Kinney

On Monday I was passing through Sausalito looking for something to shoot -- without much success -- but then I remembered Heather Wilcoxon's "art car" -- it always manages to elevate me from the horrors-of this-ugly-world...

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photo by Donald Kinney

I don't see as many "art cars" on the road here in Marin County as much as I used to -- but gluing all kinds of stuff to the exterior of your car definitely makes a statement. One statement (of many) Heather's car makes is that it's definitely parked, and isn't going anywhere soon...

Folks are invited to drop off additions for Heather to glue on, when and if she gets around to it. Heather teaches art, and of course is a fabulous artist who lives on her houseboat docked at Galilee Harbor.

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photo by Donald Kinney

Henry Wilcoxon is one of the actors that Cecil B. de Mille made famous back in the '30's in films like Cleopatra and The Ten Commandments. All dressed up and painted, he made a convincing Indian. Heather, who I knew years ago, is one of Henry's daughters. Heather Wilcoxon's website is over at: http://www.heatherwilcoxon.com.

SPECIAL EDITION -- EXTRA, EXTRA...

Sparkle Plenty at Dinosaur Casserole (one of my favorite blogs) wanted to see a full view of the art-car, so here it is:

March 03, 2009

at old Point Reyes Station

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photo by Donald Kinney

On Saturday I had nothing better to do, so I headed out to the little town of Point Reyes Station and spooked around some old farm equipment on the Giacomini ranch. I was intrigued by this well worn tire -- it reminded me of the condition of some of the bald tires I used to run on my VW Bugs -- I used to think that it was semi-safe to run around on tires like this as long as I stayed off the freeway.

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photo by Donald Kinney

This brick wall, part of an old creamery, I think, is starting to show it's age -- but aren't we all... I'm guessing that the bricks on the right side are part of a reconstruction. Point Reyes Station is located less than a quarter-mile east of the San Andreas Fault. The town sustained heavy damage during the BIG ONE of 1906.

And while you'd say; "how-you-doing?" in any other town, in Point Reyes Station a common greeting is "what's-shaking?"...

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Your comments are invited and welcome.

March 02, 2009

wildlife at China Camp

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photo by Donald Kinney

A couple days ago after being cooped up here at "Kittyland" I started coming down with a bad case of cabin-fever. Fortuntely I noticed a little break in the weather (it's been raining cats-and-dogs here in California), so I got in the car and headed out to one of my favorite places -- China Camp.

Oh, I wasn't expecting to get any photos, as is sometimes the case when I go out to China Camp, but it's a peaceful get-away -- although the busy little metropolis of San Rafael is just over the hill.

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photo by Donald Kinney

I noticed the deer (in the second photo) watching something with rapt attention. While snapping it, another deer came bounding over the hill, and at first I thought something had spooked it, but after a few seconds of this I figured out that the deer was just running around and having a good time. I had no idea deer did this sort of play -- they generally are SO serious...

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photo by Donald Kinney

So, yesterday I came down with a relapse of cabin-fever, so despite a drizzle I got in the car and went back out to China Camp. This Blue Heron was just standing there in the rain (you can almost see the rain in the larger image), and it allowed me to get a bit closer than they normally do.

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Your comments are invited and welcome.

March 01, 2009

drippy tag

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photo by Donald Kinney

Looks like this freshly painted set of doors was just too much of an opportunity for an enterprising tagger. I can't exactly tell if the white paint was still wet when the tagger came along, or if the newly painted doors were moist from some of our beloved San Francisco fog.

One thing for sure is that someone is kind of grouchy about "graffitists" messing up his pretty pink garage door. Like you're actually going to get caught by his surveillance camera -- yeah right...