Item 7 - A decorated mail box

Princeton by the Sea - Decorated Mail Box

Yikes, I’m running out of time! I took this picture 7/2/11 at the start of the hunt and forgot that I needed to post it! Well, I wrote the essay in my head and didn’t ‘ post it.  Or did it and did I forget? It all seems so familiar, but I can’t find it in my posts! Is my cheese slipping of my cracker?

I’m told by a reliable source that the decorations on this box changes at times and the angles at the base move around. I wonder if it is the owner or a neighbor that just likes to mess with the Watsen’s?  It reminds me of the Garden Nome that lived San Leandro. The Nome was taken for an extended “trip” and his “companions” sent his owner postcards from his travels and tidbits of his adventure. At the end of the adventure the Nome found his way home and rumor has it that he even brought presents home. The owner, obviously with no sense of humor, promptly cemented the Nome’s feet into the garden so there would be no more adventures.  I, for one, would think it a huge hoot to be getting postcards from my garden Nome. Heck, I might just buy a Nome to see if he wants to travel!

I’m down to needing pictures of:  A camp fire (or fire in a fireplace), a Unicycle, an aunt farm or bee hive with live vermin in it, a cemetery of historical significance or an interesting story. I think I should be a bye on the last one as my photography teacher cancelled the cemetery trip, or maybe I should get an extension!  This has been so much fun, it has got me thinking, searching and most importantly, filling a goal to use my blog more. Stay tuned for more, although time is running out as the contest ends 9/23/11.

Item 8 - My Countries Flag (far left)

Up the White Horse Trail they came, the Yukon Gold Rush Miners.  This is the border between Alaska and Canada as you enter Yukon Country.  There are 5 flags in total, but I could only catch 4 in my frame and so you don’t see the Canadian Flag. Does anyone know who the blue & green flag on the far right belongs too?  The dark blue is Alaska but it is so cloudy, yes, it is clouds at the top of a mountain where the pass is cut by a glacier.

We rode a narrow gauge railroad from Skagway to Carcus and toured the Yukon. It was 22 miles long and we climbed into the clouds and a rain storm. It took a little over an hour. When the gold miners did it it took almost 4 months with pack animals. The Canadian Mounties would not let them enter the Yukon until they could prove they had a years worth of provisions, so it took many trips up and down to achieve that goal.  The ascent went through forest and shear rock walls and followed a glacier fed stream that had class 5 rapids at every turn. All of it was spectacular!

Bonus Picture - Item 11 - Forrest - Not only do you see a picture of the Forrest outside of Juneau Alaska but you see a picture of a Bald Eagle and the Mendenhall Glacier! Two for One! Recently returning from a 10 day cruise to Alaska on the Sea Princess I think Juneau was my favorite day on the trip. Not only did the day end up sunny, but we saw Glaciers, Eagles, Humpback Whales and Killer Whales.

We didn’t see many Eagles in flight and the reason is that Eagles don’t have a waxey covering to their feathers like ducks, so when it rains, they get wet. The longer it rains, the wetter it gets and the heavier their wings become, thus limiting their flight time. Bald Eagles in Alaska can have up to a 7 foot wing span and to imagine thier mass think of your averag 11 year old 5′ girl in a crouched position and you have approximately the size of a Bald Eagle when they perch. Naturally, this picture was taken from far away with my new telephoto lens (70 x 300) fully extended. The Eagle is drying off since it had been raining for days prior to our arrival in Juneau. 

When we arrived in Juneau at 7:00 AM in the morning of 9/1/11 we were greeted by rain and clouds so low you couldn’t see much higher than the smoke stack of the Sea Princess. Our tour’s meet time was 1:20 PM, so we came off the boat at 12:30 to investigate the dock amenities.  I had the opportunity to buy gloves and ear muffs as I’d forgotten them and I was also treated to finding Juneau specific scrapbook paper and embellishments. I found the same in Ketchikan so needless to say I was thrilled with that aspect and clearly scrap booking has hit it’s pinnacle when you can find specific papers and books in the local trinket store along with post cards, magnets & T-Shirts! (But I digress).

As we waited for our bus to arrive, the clouds began to lighten up, and patches of blue sky appeared. As we drove to our whale watching disembarkment the sun came out and by the time I was on the boat I had to take off my heavy coat and never did wear my gloves or ear muffs that day (Skagway was another story, for later publishing). On the way to the boat dock, a catamaran for those keeping track, we passed a Safeway parking lot and from that lot you could see the Mendenhall Glacier. The picture above was taken from the bus window as we stopped at a traffic signal. Again, the lens is fully extended, but imagine going shopping at Safeway, parking your car and seeing this!?! Do you think they ever get tired of it like I do some days when I round the bend on Hwy 1, Devil’s Slide, and see Montara Beach stretched before me?  Maybe.

We had only been on the water about 10 minutes when the captain called out “Killer Whale pod at 11 O’clock (they use the face of the clock to point out which direction to look as calling port and starboard in a little confusing for the tourists who don’t sail or even know their left from right). We immediately idled down and there they were! A pod of maybe 5 or 6 with an adult male with them. Killer Whales are family members, staying with their birth mother for life, so it was hard to tell the smaller members male or female since their dorsal fin is curved (like a shark). The dominant male is a different story! His dorsal fin stand erect, sometimes as tall as 6 feet and is straight, with no curve, and clearly there was one of these in the pod. The naturalist on board (let me point out that the crew was all female, quite impressive) told us that they had seen few Killer Whales all summer. They are highly unpredictable (humpbacks are very predictable) and can cover upwards to 100 miles in a day (humpback are not that fast). They are a matriarchal society and the “babies” stay with their mothers all their life. When it becomes time to breed, they socialize with another pod so the youngsters can breed and the off spring are not interbreed.  We stayed with this pod about 30 minutes as ascribed by law so they are not harrassed and I took about 300 pictures! Really, I had my finger on auto-wind and found that using this plus the “running man” setting (yes, sports/automatic) was the best possible selection available. The weather was perfect and I had to go outside on the top of  the boat as it was TOO WARM in the main cabin.

We then moved on, had several humpback (maybe 5 different individuals, small groups) and found the eagle in the tree. Before I say more about the eagle, let me tell you that humpbacks are not social, do not live in pods of related individuals. They do travel in “loose” pods for protection and hunting opportunities. There have, however, been several sightings of sisters meeting year after year to feed together for a number of days, and other such events but for the most part, they calf in Hawaii, bring the calf back to Alaska for the feeding season, take it back to Hawaii and part company. The calves have 1 year with their mothers whereas the Killer Whale calves live their live out as a family. Interesting huh?

The Humpback were not nearly as exciting as the Killer Whales mostly because we had been told not to expect seeing Orcas and that if seen they would be there and gone quickly. Our pod was leisurely “grazing” and easy to follow. They also “float” more out of the water than a humpback and are easier to spot. Humpbacks lumber along with just a little of their back showing, maybe a dorsal fin, occasionally a fluke (tail) breaking the water. We did see a juvenile humpback breach (jump out of the water) which is rare and I didn’t have my camera up to my eye, but saw it, most other’s only saw the splash. The splash was sizable if you can imagine a Volvo Station wagon jumping out of the water.  The mother was the size of a 50 passenger tour bus and lumbered along. The juvenile jump was to get his mother’s attention and she immediately came to it’s size. I guess it was a whale temper tantrum. Another myth busted is that the throat of a humpback is only about the size of a cantalope so they swallow their food whole (so much for Jonah).

Back to the Eagle! He was sitting in a tree drying off and at first we couldn’t see him clearly until he turned his face to us and the white among the trees was unmistakable. We  hovered in his location for quite some time but all he did was watch us as if we were prey. Eagles are monogamous, however, they do not mate for life as rumor has it. They pair up, usually a female will have 3 “husbands” and as she ages she becomes more attractive and takes the males away from her younger counter parts. Their nests can weigh up to 2,000 lbs and assume the size of a VW bug. No, seriously, I saw one but was on the bus and couldn’t get a picture! Sometimes the next is so large it brings the tree down in which they build and it is reported that they return year after year to the same nest even if it is on the ground.  I do wish I could have caught a picture of one in flight. I did see one in flight but was inside the cabin of the tour boat and couldn’t get a good shot through the glare of the glass.

So there you have it, my bonus pictures of the Forrest and your natural history of Alaska. It really is all that they say about it! Beautiful, Immense, Untamed and Underpopulated. More later on the trip as I still have several pictures to find and post and can anyone tell me where I can find an ant hill or bee hive with live vermin? Wait, what about a Unicycle!

Roadside Shrine Item 20

Item 20 - Handmade roadside memorial or Shrine - location East Bound Sharp Park Boulevard

I’ve passed this Shrine so many times as it has been in this location for at least 4 years as I remember riding past it on my bicycle over 4 years ago.  Sharp Park, for those of you that don’t know, is a windy road that leads from Hwy 1 in Pacifica, “over the hill” to Daly City and eventually to Hwy 280 (although I think it changes names when you cross Hwy 35/Skyline Blvd at the crest).  Back in 1981 it was 2 lanes and VERY treacherous. Then it was closed for a while and “modernized” into 4 lanes with a center divider which is much safer, but still treacherous in the fog or rain or any other wet condition.

In a car, you hardly have time to notice the shrine as you are going at least 35, the posted MPH, and all you notice is when it’s been “changed” for a holiday or freshened up with new flowers. However, on a bicycle you can view the shrine for quite some time and have time to wonder. What happened here? Who are they honoring? I hope it wasn’t a cyclist that was lost here.  Wonder who is keeping the memory aliver. However, even on a bicycle as  you labor up to this spot, I have never stopped to actually look at the shrine closly.  I guess I’m focused on getting to the top as this is a challenging  hill.

On July 9th, on a shopping trip “over the hill” with my husband I stopped (look closley, that is his red Mustang in the uphill picture). Overriding or ignoring all of his objections about my safety when I got out, I ran back to it to grab these few pictures. I looked for a name, but there was none and it makes me wonder why the family & loved ones that keep up the shrine, change it for each holiday & season failed to leave the person’s name. All their careful, attentive work, and no name and believe me I looked for one as I wanted to tell you the “rest of the story”.  Maybe it was written on the inside of the guard rail or maybe it was under the cross or  maybe it was vandalized and has gone missing.

I only know that each time I pass this location, either in a car or on a bicycle, I wonder who and what it is honoring? Maybe the next time I stop I’ll leave a note asking “what happened and who are you honoring” although I already know that it must have been a car accident since the road is far from safe especially in the fog.

Item 10 - A Wooden Bridge

This bridge is on the grounds of the Castle in Pacifica. I had meant to post it earlier when I posted about the Castle and have a “two bagger” but I forgot, or wasn’t in the same place as the picture was when I posted originally.  The Pacifica Historical Society has raised a lot of money to maintain and renovate the Castle and they hope that their next round of improvements can include the garden and grounds around the Castle. This little bridge is being overtaken by ivy and as near as I could tell it was over the remains of what was a pond or “stream” before the grounds fell into disrepair.

Truthfully, they really don’t like you on the grounds when you tour the Castle since they haven’t been kept up. There are lots of statues and stairs leading to no where and it might be a liability hazard to let “everyone” walk out there, so it’s discouraged. However, I was allowed because I’m friends with the President of the Pacifica Historical Society, Kathleen Manning.

I only hope that this next round of fund raising will allow the grounds to be restored and I’m sure, once restored, they will be regal again as they were in 1908 when the Castle was constructed.

PS: This Historical Society of Pacifica is also working on restoring the Little Brown Church and an original railroad car from the Ocean Shore Railroad. They do great work and appreciate any donations they receive and will gladly take donations of trade or other historical items.  You can investigate by visiting http://pacificahistory.org/

Item 6 - persons dressed as a Pirate

Left to right - Lesli, Cindy, Maureen, Linda & Jenifer

This must have been the most challenging and nerve racking assignment.   I’d tell people about the hunt and mention the Pirate they would undoubtably say “Oh, you should have been here on Friday, Jason (sic)went to a party and they all came home as Pirates” or, “there was a Festival in Marin last weekend where everyone in attendance dressed like a Pirate. RRRRRRRrrrrr! 

While on vacation on a Princess Cruise to Alaska I thought I’d struck gold (RRRRRrrr) when we docked in Ketchikan and there was a bar on the dock called “Fish Pirate’s Saloon”. Hopeful, I entered but the only Pirate in site was a skeleton dressed in torn Pirate gear. I went to the bar and said “You wouldn’t be having a Pirate hat below the bar now would you matey?”  Well, he got my humor and answered back “No, matey, no hat”. The closest I got was a picture of the sign which will follow at a later date if you really want to see it. BTW, they had the cutest idea for holding silverware, condiments, napkins etc., on the tables; Empty paper beer six pack holders (but I digress).

So finally, I threw myself a sunset party and we dressed like Pirates. We ate off of Pirate Plates, had Pirate Patches, talked like Pirates and told Pirate jokes! My favorite was from Maureen as told to her by one of her patients (I think 5 years of age).

“Do you know what a Pirate’s favorite letter of the alphabet is? You would thing it would be R, but it is the Sea!”  RRRRrrr me matey.

Although the scavenger hunt is not quite over and I may still stumble into a Pirate, I’m posting our Pirate party picture and marking this of the list.  As a sidebar, I learned how to use my self timer to take this picture.

Item 14 - A Castle

Pacifica's own Castle

Number 14 - Picture of a Castle. Pacifica California has it’s own castle. Located in the hills overlooking the Pacific Ocean, just visible through the Cypress trees, you can see the Castle. It was built in 1908 by the McKlosky family. They wanted walls that could withstand an earthquake and built a castle. You must remember that 1906 was the year of the Great Earthquake and fire in San Francisco, so the builder knew what and why they wanted a home with thick walls. Over the years the Castle has been home to many things: Families, a home for unwed mothers,  Annie Eakin and her 20 cats,and headquarters for the Coast Guard. 

Consisting of 20 rooms the Castle is now owned by the family of Sam Mazza and recently restored through the efforts of the Pacifica Historical Society and their President Kathleen Manning. Sam was a collector and is reported to have worked in the movie industry where he collected some items from movie sets.  He also attended estate auctions whenever he could to add to his collection. The Castle contains this collection and is beautiful to see. The recent restoration included weather proofing the exterior and restoring the circa 1900 window coverings. A must to see and tours are available through the Pacifica Historical Society.

San Francisco Recyled

I’ve been working on a series of collages entitled “San Francisco Recycled”. There are a total of 9, but here are 3 of my favorites.  (Top to Bottom)

The Ferry Building made out of a Muni Transfer; Centennial made with a registration arm band from the 100th running of the Bay to Breakers; Golden Gate Park - made with a Muni Pass cut into two rows of houses and a “bush” cut from a Starbucks card (the background just happened to have GG Park in it) birds punched from a Ginger Ale can.

These are all made with interesting ephemera that I find on the streets of San Francisco as I commute 3 days a week. I then make backgrounds out of maps, music, architectural plans, whatever and “apply” the buildings.

I envision each piece of ephemera as a building andthink of my favorite sites around San Francisco andthem apply the buildings withgel medium, draw on them if necessary to create doors, windows, etc, then let it all dry overnight. Then I “butter” the whole piece with a heavy layer of gel medium andcarve around the details. It is at this point I might put more found objects into the piece like buttons, or Starbucks cards (which I find a lot of on the street) to show San Francisco details.

I’ve sold 2 of the series thus far as I exhibit my art with COCA artists at La Nebbia Winery the 2nd and 4th Sunday each month of the summer 2011.

Painting in the Garden

Ellen painting in the garden

I’ve temporarily lost my list of what number on the scavenger hunt this photo is supposed to match, but I do know it is on the list. This is Ellen, a member of the Colony of Coastal Artists (COCA) that I belong too. She is painting in the garden at LaNebbia Winery. While not technically her yard, she is here 2 times a month painting, so I’m deeming it to be part of “her garden”.

COCA participates two times a month at LaNebbia Winery located off of Hwy 92, just north of the town of Half Moon Bay (HMB). LaNebbia has a lot of activities going on that include: Music and Art (that’s when COCA participates, bottling parties, glass blowing and private parties just to name a few.

I’ve lived North of HMB for over 30 years and NEVER stopped at this winery. I always thought it would be too difficult to get back on Hwy 92 (it’s not) and that there was little if any parking (there is ample parking in the back of the winery, just to the right as you enter).

This weekend as we packed up to leave I saw a guest leaving with a piece that a fellow artist, Barbara, had for sale. I loved the piece, showing a full moon with the outline of a hill with trees and houses in the foreground. The moon was exquisite in it’s detail and I had coveted buying the piece and wondered “where will I put it”.

I commented to the guest “you bought the moon!” and she turned, smiling to me saying “Yes! I bought the Moon”! Looking at her smiling, slightly flushed face (lots of sun this day) I realized that I had shared a lot of memories with this person, not just this random comment on the moon.

I said “I know you!” and lifted my visor and took off my sun glasses. She removed her sun glasses and looked at me and a smile spread across her face and she said “Cindy?” I responded, “Yes, Debbie!” and we hugged.

Debbie was my neighbor when I first moved to Montara in 1981. She was a young  wife, mother of 2, and shared my taste for Champagne. I cannot tell you the amounts we drank together and the things we discussed, including how we’d evacuate in case of a tsunami (her husband had a fishing boat, on a trailer, in the front yard. We planned to take our Champagne to it and float away with the tide. Giddy on bubbles we failed to see the fallacy of this plan, but I digress).

Debbie was at LaNebbia with a friend, tasting wine and on her way out, she had bought the moon and met with me. Although I was an exhibitor, she hadn’t been down my way, only purchasing the moon as she walked to her car. She said “I had no idea why I came here today, but now I know, I was meant to see you”.

We exchanged contact information and I smiled all the way home with the thought of our next visit with bubbly and catching up on the last 20 years since Debbie and her family moved from Montara to El Granada where they still reside.

Just like I never thought I’d never get a picture of someone painting in their “yard”, I never thought I’d ever see Debbie again and I did on both counts. It shows me that my intentions are stronger than I think and that I should continue to write them down. Once they are on paper, they materialize.

All because someone “Bought the Moon!” What a lovely thought, I’m smiling right now just thinking about it.

Fouth of July

Fireworks on my Deck

Well, here it is the 17th of July and I haven’t posted this picture as yet. I wanted to do it immediately after the 4th but I returned to work without my camera.  Then it became about downloading my camera and the camera sat on my desk till today. I thought I’d be able to post it for Bastille Day on the 14th and it would be appropriate since I’m am French, but the camera still sat there until this morning when I downloaded the pictures. I think the only reason I finally did it today was I put it on “The List”.

When I was doing the Artists Way workbook I made lists every day and felt like I was accomplishing a tremendous amount of “things” that I wanted to do. I should have saved those lists so I could brag about what I did accomplish. The point is that since I started reading my Kindle on the way to and from work I don’t write lists anymore and don’t feel like I accomplish as much. I’m also 3 months behind in reading my magazines. All of this is due to the Kindle.

In defense of the Kindle in the past 3 months, I have read Water for Elephants, Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Pride & Prejudice, Stories I Only Tell My Friends, and they were previously “on a list”.  As an aside, that doesn’t look like a lot of reading in 3 months, but it was done in 20 minute segments twice a day, 3 days a week.  All that said,  I feel I’ve gotten off track by not writing pages every day and hereby affirm that I’m returning to writing on my way to work the 3 days I do commute and the structure of the lists. I don’t know how I’ll get caught up with my magazines because the Kindle still holds many books to be read. I guess I’ll reserve my vacation cruise for only the Kindle. 

Then there is also my art and the card classes I teach. I have spent all of yesterday and part of today creating cards to teach at my next class on 7/28 at C Andrews Studio at Princeton-by-the-Sea. I’ve also committed to showing art twice a month at La Nebbia Winery thru September. Then there is the creative things I do, like take classes, play with my camera and the not so creative like watching TV. In my defense of doing the latter and therefore not doing the former, it is the only block of time I spend with my husband, since it’s his favorite thing. Writing this just now I just remembered that I have committed to a Personal Trainer and 5 days a week workouts starting on 7/21. Something has to give, maybe I should be committed.

Who knows? So much planning and structure goes into getting everything done. However the sense of accomplishment is well worth it, but as stated above, maybe I should be committed and therefore my life would slow down a bit. What do you think? Is it just me, or is everything going so fast its hard to keep up?