This time lapse video was taken by Simon Christen over the period of one year in the San Francisco bay area. It really brings out the beauty of the place. It’s very mesmerizing to watch. I never realized how beautiful it is to see the moon rise or the cloud of fog rolling in across the landscape.
The Unseen Sea from Simon Christen on Vimeo.
Music by Nick Cave - Mary’s Song from the Soundtrack of “Assassination of Jesse James”.
Here is how Simon explains what settings to use for the night shots:
“I am always shooting in full manual mode and then adjust the exposure as the light changes. I take care of the “jumps” later in post. The exposure really varies depending on the shot. For example a bright city needs shorter shutter speeds then fog illuminated by moon light. The shutter speeds ends up being around 4-5 sec with the aperture wide open and high ISO settings. This way I get to take a picture every 5-6 seconds.”
Find more of Simon’s work at simonchristen.com
On September 25th, I was really looking forward to visiting the California Academy of Science in San Francisco.
I knew it was “Free Museum Day”, but I didn’t expect this much crowd. The line was going along the side of the building. It was a warm day for San Francisco and it seem everyone felt they wanted to enjoy it.
We skipped the museum and decided to head to the coast instead. M and I spotted some dolphins diving from a distance. We wanted to get a closer look and started to hike closer to the coastline. But unfortunately the dolphins had already left.
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I’ve always been amazed at the Pacific salmon’s cycle of life. After being born in the rivers, they head out to sea only to be come back again in their adulthood to spawn. And after the purpose of laying new eggs is over, they die.
This year’s salmon run hit a record high. This is good news for all that feed on the salmon. From people and bears to other wildlife. Plant life also benefit too. To keep the cycle going, we must have healthy and clean oceans.
Reuters News reported that the last twenty years saw a decline of sockeye salmon in the Fraser River. The reason for the bumper harvest of salmon this year remain a mystery. But Carl Waters, a fisheries expert at U.B.C. zoology’s department mentions that it coincided with a “dominant-run” year.
Every fourth year is the dominant year when the biggest run comes in. The year after that is sub-dominant. Then you get two really low runs,” Walters told Reuters.
Out of the five migratory species of Pacific salmon, the sockeye travels the farthest.
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Last weekend, M and I went to visit Lodi in northern central California. I had really wanted to visit the cactus garden in Walnut Creek, but decided on a zoo trip instead.
Micke Grove Zoo is located in Lodi, just next to Stockton. It’s a small friendly town surrounded by vineyards. Ripe grapes were hanging left and right. And it looked like they were about to be harvested soon. I usually think of Napa Valley when I think of vineyards. But Lodi has some nice vineyards of their own too.
The last time we visited the place there was a lonely seal swimming in a pool. The swimming pool is gone and the seal has been replaced by lorikeets. They are pretty birds, but made so much noise.
I spotted these two Lorikeets enjoying a bath. Must be nice to enjoy a bird bath without having to worry about predators (such as cats!).
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I just found out a few cool new ways to send postcards from your computer or iPhone, iPod, or Blackberry. No more worries about finding a postcard at the tourist shop, searching for stamps or mailbox either.
For iPhone and iPod user, there is an app which lets you take a photo and send it as a postcard with a personalized message. But only for U.S. address. Check out goPostal.com
“Simply choose a photo, add your message, and select a mailing address. goPostal will automatically print and mail your postcard to your friends and family.
Each postcard costs $1.29 when using the iPhone application, which includes postage. goPostal also uses state of the art SSL security to verify that all of your information is securely transmitted.” - goPostal.com
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In this 2009 film, 180° SOUTH, Jeff Johnson makes a road trip to Patagonian Chile. Johnson retraces the steps of Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins’ 1968 trip to Patagonia. But instead of taking the Pan American highway, Johnson hitches a ride in a sailing vessel from Ventura, California and heads south.
“You learn that what’s important is how you got there, not what you’ve accomplished.“Â - Yvon Chouinard.
Johnson’s real trip begins after they are shipwrecked off the coast of Easter Island. After the sailboat gets patched up, they continue on towards Patagonia. Jeff’s goal is to climb the peak Corcovado. In many trips that are worth remembering, things usually don’t go according to plan. But of course that is what makes it an adventure.
It’s a narrative film following Jeff and his crew. The soundtrack is a nice addition too. What I found funny is how Jeff mentioned growing up in Danville, California as being very far from the ocean. I drive pass Danville sometimes, it is one of the wealthiest suburbs in the San Francisco Bay Area. Danville is only 31 miles form San Francisco and there are great surf spots out in SF’s Ocean Beach. And he thinks that is far from the nearest ocean!
Anyway, the film does have beautiful scenes of the land, mountain, ocean, and some wildlife too. I especially enjoy seeing the dolphins swimming along the sailboat.
In this film, Jeff also has the chance to meet up with Chouinard and Tompkins. They have discussions on the the state of progress and it’s impact on the environment. At the moment, Chile continues to plan on building more hydro-electric dams (where much of the power is used for heavy industry and mining). Many environmental organizations oppose the dams.
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I don’t mind a little bit of milk in my coffee, especially in my cafe au lait. I also don’t mind goat milk in my cereal or handmade soap.
I actually really prefer goat milk anytime. As it’s easy to digest and is much more nutritious then cow milk. Just when I was happy with goat milk, I came across this article about camel milk.
It’s the king of milk in north African and Middle Eastern countries. Doctors in Russia and India often prescribe it to convalescing patients. It’s perfect for ailing patients as the milk is rich in vitamins C (three times that of milk). Loaded with vitamin B, unsaturated fatty acids, and also has 10 times the iron that’s found in cow’s milk.
Smiling mother and baby camels. Notice there is no sand here, just green pasture. Photo from Oasis Dairy Farm. It’s America’s first camel dairy farm!
I’ve never tasted camel milk. But it’s been described as being much more salty then regular milk. A reporter for the BBC news wrote, “The taste is akin to walking through a burnt-out building, eating a smoked ham and smoked cheese sandwich.” That is a funny way to describe it.
But the owners of Oasis Dairy in southern California describe the taste as more like low fat cow milk, but very fresh and mildly sweet. But it’s also noted that with any milk, taste can change depending on what the animal is eating.
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It would be nice to visit the Huntington Library & Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California.
There is a collection of 14 theme gardens, including a jungle garden, subtropical garden, Japanese and Chinese garden. What I look forward to seeing the most is the succulent garden. And based on the what’s in bloom, August would be my favorite month.
The following photos seen here are gathered by The Huntington Gardens flickr group. It’s amazing to see such nice blossoms coming out of something as spiny as cactus.
The Huntington has one of the world’s largest and oldest collection of succulents. The most significant collections are agave, aloe, terrestrial bromeliads, cacti, echeveria, crassula, sedum, euphorbia, and fouquieria.
So there is a good chance of seeing a real Dragon Fruit plant here as well as the Queen Crown of Thorns (Euphorbia milii) too.
The bright pink blossoms of this cactus looks almost like a rose/peony/tulip. Simply beautiful!
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The German news magazine show DW, which is broadcast in English, is one of my favorite shows. I don’t really catch it too often, but am happy to find they have a channel on Youtube.
This series is from the “Great Gardens of Europe.”
The Loire Valley is also known as the Garden of France. The valley is filled with world-famous castles (chateau) and beautiful botanical gardens too.
Chateau Villandry was completed toward 1536 and was the last of the large chateaus built in the Loire Valley during the Renaissance. Balloon ride over the geometric garden would be amazing. Image source.
The misty garden of Chateau Villandry, looks like a nice place for a walk. You can take a virtual tour here.
“The Loire Valley was made a UNESCO world heritage site in 2000. We report on two examples, the Gardens of Villandry and Chateau Rivau. Known for their strictly geometric settings, romantic rose gardens and medieval plantation and innovative landscaping, Villandry and Chateau Rivau are two classic examples of the renaissance garden design.” - DW
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We had a one day storm here in northern California. Not a real storm because there really wasn’t much rain. Mostly high winds and lots of fallen tree branches. So I say, “Let it rain!”
The day of the storm wasn’t cold, temperature in the 70’s and a bit humid and warm then anything else. So it’s not yet time to take out the sweaters and scarves. Maybe next month. But it is nice to enjoy the warm weather for a little bit longer.
What better way to remember summer, then images of Greece.
Seaside alley in Mykonos. The contrast of the white washed walls and turquoise ocean is beautiful. What’s missing here are cats! Photo by Marcel Germain of .
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