Sunsets - Human And Solar

The sun went down as we were driving back from visiting an old friend of my mother's.  And when I say old, I'm not exaggerating.  E is 99.  She lives alone in her home, though her daughter lives not far away.  She walks well.  She looked good - certainly not anything like 99.  She talks like she always has.  Hearing's a problem, but her daughter was there and used voice transcription on her phone to help out.  She gave up driving a few months ago when there was a problem with the steering wheel that she decided not to get fixed.  I've known her at least 65 years.  It was a delightful get-to-gether.  She's one of the last of my mother's generation still kicking.

Even driving in LA traffic, nature puts on amazing shows.  

While it's been sunny and the air has been clear (you can see the snow capped mountains to the east and Catalina Island to the west), it's been a bit nippy for LA (I'm using Santa Monica weather on my phone) - in the 50s (F) today.  I did various odds and ends around the house as we get ready to return home and by 3pm I'd put off my bike ride to the beach. Chilly. But a call to a friend in Anchorage embarrassed me and I put on a windbreaker over my sweatshirt and got on the bike a little after 4pm and rode down to Venice Beach.  The sun was directly in my eyes when there weren't trees blocking it.  I had a right taillight blinking in hopes that blinded cars could see me in the bike line.  Most people biking, skateboarding, scootering, and walking had on sweatshirts and warm coats.  But there were a few bare chested runners as well.  

The sun was getting very close to the horizon - which means there's about 30-40 more minutes of daylight.  The surf was low.  This is just north of Venice in Santa Monica.  

And this is turning around with my back to the sun and the bike and my shadows stretched way out.

And finally, as I went up Rose Avenue from the Venice Boardwalk, I turned around to get one last picture.  This time I was able to get the building to block the main part of the sun.  

And I was home a little after 5.  

Point White Pier

 I went along with my daughter as she ran errands around the island.  The last one was near Point White Pier.  The sun was below the hills and the light was magical.  The clouds were moving and the water was moving and there was a kaleidoscope effect on the water.  

I saved this picture with higher resolution so you could enlarge it to better see the king fisher sitting on the adjacent dock.  

Here's looking down at the rocks through the water below the pier.  

Scarcity On A Windy Day

wind strewn eucalyptus bark

The wind was howling during the night and flags were straining at their harnesses, today.  We went to an event in Golden Gate Park.  The almost three year old was allowed to take her scooter.  This irked the five year old no end.  Things that others have seem to become an overwhelming obsession and it lasted pretty much the whole day.  Well, there was a period when the scooter wasn't at the top of his mind.  When the little one was on the swing.  There were two swings and the second one was occupied too.  Suddenly he needed to swing.  She needed to give up her swing for him.

But grandpa was there to remind him how angry he got when she took the toys he was playing with.  His response:  "Grandpa, you're annoying."

The wind had toppled this dead tree in the park and there were lots and lots of branches all over the ground.  (I'm making an assumption here about how this tree landed on its side.  But it looked fairly newly down.)

The five year old appropriated one - about seven feet long - that was a hazard to anyone walking near him.  We pointed this out and sometimes he would drag it off the path on the ground.  When a young lady walked by and got scratched by the branch, I asked him what he had to say.  Nothing.  You need to apologize.  Glare.  "It was her fault.  She walked into it."  Glare.  When you chose to carry the stick where other people were, you took on a responsibility.  Luckily she wasn't hurt much. But you still have a responsibility to apologize.  Glare.

Fortunately at age five, grudges don't last long and he was giggling soon.

redwood bark in Golden Gate Park

We got back home for the three year old's nap and the older brother went with his dad to a friend's birthday party while the scooter owner napped.  

Later I enjoyed this San Francisco sunset.  

Back Home To Snow And Moose

We left from the D Concourse at SEATAC which has my favorite art piece there - Michael Fajans' High Wire.  I posted about it back in 2008.  (Back then I wrote that it was in Terminal B, but it was definitely in D yesterday.  Maybe the old post was wrong.)

After a couple of gate changes, trying to get in as much of the impeachment hearings as I could, we were in the air above the clouds over Alaska.  It was late afternoon - Anchorage's official sunset yesterday was 3:48pm, but if it's not too cloudy, we have long twilights - and the orange glow was on the western horizon, while out my east facing window there were snow mountains.

And around 4:20pm it was still light enough to capture these exquisite winter scenes with only a slight blur from the long exposure time.  

And as we circled over Cook Inlet to land in Anchorage, the sunset was still painted on the western sky.  

I went out to get our passes for the Anchorage International Film Festival which begins tomorrow night and to pick up some groceries and just on 36th there was a moose crossing the road in the dark.

One of those amazing moments when out of the darkness you realize there's a magnificent

moose and there's no time to react.  Fortunately it was still in the oncoming lane as I passed.  No time to even take a picture, even if I hadn't left my phone at home.  What a great welcome home.




At my dentist this morning this moose was on the wall.  Not quite the same.  But I was sitting still and so was the moose.



















And I'm pleased to say that my studded tires worked like a charm as I rode over to the dentist and back.  I'm getting a little more confident that they aren't going to betray me.  Hoping my trust in them proves warranted.  I won't be reckless, but a little less cautious.









So, let's just leave this post as it is - on light subjects or art, travel, mountains, moose, AIFF2019, and biking in the snow.

Some Things Change Slower Than Others - Denali Sunset

This was the view this evening from O'Malley on the Green where we went for an event.  The day started at six am when I turned on the radio - still in bed - members of the House Intelligence Committee questioning Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire.  I thought he was a reasonable witness - well last one I saw was Lewandowski so the bar was low.  But he seemed respectful and caught in a difficult position.  He'd been recently hired (after much of the subject of the hearings had already happened) and he couldn't come out directly against his boss.

But in bed, I wasn't taking notes, so if I'm going to write about it, I need to review transcripts.  But today I was busy going through a to-do list that's been getting three or four things added for everything I actually get done.

So you get the mountains.  Foraker on the left, Denali on the right.  Everything changes.  These mountains change daily as the weather changes.  And the mountains are slowly wearing down.  But very slowly.


Denali is 20,308 feet tall (6,190 meters).  It's about 150 miles from Anchorage as the raven flies, (or  241 km.)  Unlike Everest and Anaconda,  it's pretty much a free standing mountain, towering over the rest of the Alaska Range..

Crossing The Andes Again, This Time As The Sun Sets. Aconcagua?

Here are some pictures as we leave Santiago and fly back to Mendoza.  We were greeted like old friends by Alberto as we return once again to the Hotel Bohemia.  And we have a morning flight to Córdoba tomorrow.  So just a few pictures.



             

And then, presumably, we were in the Argentina side of the mountains.  When we did the ‘mountain tour’ a week or so ago (don’t think I got around to posting it) we got up into the snow.  In fact it was snowing.  If it had been clear, we would have seen Mt. Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere.  But we didn’t.  So I’m guessing the peak in the next picture could be Aconcagua.  Alberto thinks it could be (and he’s climbed to the top twice over five attempts.). Or maybe he just wants me to feel good.

I also looked on line for pictures to see if there were similarities.  Here’s a picture of Aconcagua from  Unico.

I’m not sure you can enlarge my picture  enough to see the dip on top that’s similar to the picture below it.

I’d also note, that flying over the Andes is a bit like flying over the Chugach as you leave Anchorage, but the mountains look a lot different.  I’m trying to figure out why.  There’s not as much snow.  They seem more jagged.

Pinks and Purples

I was going to just let a day slide with no post.  Lots of things to do.  But then I looked out the window  (it's 9:50pm now and that was ten minutes ago).  The camera just couldn't capture the color on the freshly snowed mountains, but this gives you an idea.  I ran out and got the picture with a telephoto lens.

I did try the panorama setting on my iPhone first, but the mountains looked much further away than they did in person.  That was from the window.  But now that I look at it, the tree patterns are kind of nice.

They're a muted grey now as I look outside.  But these other two pictures were on my camera and there seemed to be a theme.  Well, the second two probably go together better.  And no, those trees shouldn't be right in the middle, but I was after maximum pink.

The geranium petals were from a plant that bloomed inside, and then settled on the counter like this.

[UPDATE April 25, 2019 - Based on Barbara's comment, I'm adding this video of suminagashi]

Some Of The Best Things In Life Are Free

After a beautiful sunny Southern California day yesterday, it was grey most of the day today.  But by 4:45pm as the sun was setting, it made a colorful appearance.   It went from cheery glow to















dazzling in about 15 minutes.  The fact that Night Market Sahm doesn't open until 5pm, meant we were out on the street to watch the show.

We ate here at the beginning of this year when we were working on my mom's house and it hadn't been open long.  The laab was so hot I had to take breaks.  But J, whose tongue is more sensitive than mine, also kept eating it because it was so good.  This time, while it was still spicy, it wasn't nearly as hot and I don't think it was as addictively tasty either. But we did finish it.  We ordered way too much, plus they gave us a complimentary salad.  So we have snacks for the next few days.

[Laab is a northeastern Thai dish.  When I was a Peace Corps volunteer in the late 60's, you could get laab, barbecued chicken, and somtam (very spicy green papaya salad) along with sticky rice (all northeastern dishes) in Bangkok if you went to a Thai boxing match.  'Sahm' means three in Thai.  There's also a Night Market and Night Market Song in the LA area.]

Well Judge For Yourself - " www.bing.com — Lisa Murkowski jewish"

I had a sudden rush of hits today on a 2010  post "Does Lisa Murkowski's Religious Preference Matter?"  Over 60 hits today.  It was a post I put up in 2010 after getting lots of hits from people searching variations of "Is Lisa Murkowski Jewish?"  The post was responding to all those hits surmising why people wanted to know that.

Nowadays, most google search words are no longer visible to the websites the get to, but this bing search made it clear:

Greensboro, Georgia, United States

IP Address:

Hargray Communications Group xxxxxxxxxxx  

Search Referral:

 www.bing.com — Lisa Murkowski jewish

Visit Page:

 What Do I Know?: Does Lisa Murkowski's Religious Preference Matter?

I googled "Lisa Murkowski" and my post didn't show up in the first 13 pages.

I googled "Lisa Murkowski Jewish" and it showed up number 2. Though since google tailors searches for the searcher, that's probably higher than most people would get.   Nevertheless,  I'm guessing many if not most of the people getting to that post today - maybe 50 - googled "Murkowski" and either "jewish" related or "religion."

You can see what they got here:  "Does Lisa Murkowski's Religious Preference Matter?" The comments confirmed one of my suspicions - anti-semitism.

Meanwhile, I saw a Tweet asking people to support a fund for Susan Collins' next opponent.  I understand the sentiment, and I don't understand how she made her decision at all.  But at least she was one of a few Republican senators who even entertained the possibility of voting 'no.'  She's not the one who should be jumped all over.  There were 47 who never gave any public indication they would do anything but vote yes.  Their opponents are the ones to be raising funds for - starting with the senior senator from Kentucky.

It's dark now, but this was my view about an hour ago.

October 1 - Day German Move On Danish Jews Thwarted By Georg Duckwitz German Ambassador To Denmark

LA Times has a bit of history for this date.  It's the story of the German ambassador to Denmark who helped get most Danish Jews to Sweden just before the Nazis were to send them to concentration camps.  From the article:

On Sept. 19, Duckwitz learned from Best that the operation was imminent. He wrote in his diary, “Now I know what I have to do.” When he was told by a fellow sympathetic official that he would risk Gestapo wrath if he were caught trying to countermand Hitler, Duckwitz responded he would do whatever it took to stop the deportation.
The next day, Duckwitz contacted two Swedish diplomats and traveled to Stockholm where he met with Prime Minister Albin Hansson, who agreed to propose to the Germans that his neutral nation would intern the Danish Jews. The Nazis didn’t even bother to respond.
On Sept. 28, Best received the go-ahead to launch the roundup, planned for Oct. 1, Rosh Hashana. Duckwitz immediately telephoned Danish political leaders. One of them later recalled that when they met, Duckwitz looked pale with shame and shock.
“Now the disaster is at hand,” Duckwitz said. Ships were waiting in the harbor to take the Jews to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. “Those of your poor Jewish countrymen who get caught by the Gestapo will [be] … transported to an unknown fate.”

Most were ferried across the channel between Denmark and Sweden by all sorts of vessels where Swedish officials took them in.  

Over the next few days, millions of Danes would shelter, protect and smuggle their Jewish neighbors to Sweden. They were delivered to the harbor in free taxis and hospital ambulances. Fishermen and ship captains made more than 700 trips across the Oresund. Duckwitz had tipped off his Swedish contacts, who were waiting to assist the refugees. And in a final critical action, he convinced German harbormasters he knew to ensure the coast guard sent out no patrols.

But this story, celebrating this Oct. 1, 1943 rescue mission is not just a history lesson.  The author wants to be sure readers get the more universal message.

Many ask themselves whether it is possible to stand up to pervasive evil. The Danes showed that when a nation — from the king to the taxi drivers and fishermen — decide they will not permit atrocities in their midst, even the Nazis could be hamstrung. And Georg Duckwitz, who put his career and even his life on the line, offers an object lesson on how one person can save thousands.

I'd note, as well, that we should look at each individual we've labeled "the enemy" carefully.  Some of them don't belong in that category.  Find them and let them help.

Meanwhile, life goes on.

Just Spent My First Daylight Hours In Maui Watching Senate Hearings, But Reminded That Universe Will Continue Unaffected

We got in late last night.  I didn't set an alarm for this morning, but I woke up early enough to only miss the first half hour - much of which was repeated during breaks.

But as important as the Kavanaugh hearings may be to many of us, really, the universe isn't paying any attention.  My evidence?

We finally took off about 7pm last night from Seattle as the sun was starting to set.  We were headed southwest to Maui so we had a sunset backdrop for a long way.  The picture above - well it really looked like that from my window seat.  The sun and the rest of the universe are oblivious to what we do here on earth.

There’s still a fiery glow along the horizon at 9pm Seattle time (7pm Hawaii time).

These are just a few examples of the changing sunset over the first two or more hours of our flight, though the first picture is by far my favorite.


And as I look out over the cloud covered ocean, the sky and the water seem unaffected by the Senate Hearings as well.

Though here on earth, the activities of humans are affecting the oceans and the wind patterns and how the clouds move and how long they hang over places while they drop their load of water back to earth.  Who gets on the Supreme Court and the decisions they make about climate change, about regulations on carbon, and about various things - like campaign financing and gerrymandering - that affect who gets elected to Congress will make a difference on our planet.

Settling Back In At Home

Chopping ice, the violin concert, taxes, sorting old mail, getting the car tuned, arranging some home repairs, have all kept us busy.  We only made it to the Thai Kitchen tonight for the first time, and only now saw our first moose since we got back last week.  But the light has been spectacular.

Here's a view from in front of our house last night as the sun was setting behind me.  I never get tired of this.  

And walking through the Helen Louise McDowell sanctuary on the way back from dropping off my car.  

Anchorage's first mail only election ends April 3.  Waiting for my granddaughter to arrive so she can help me fill in the ballot and take it to one of the drop off centers (an option if you don't want to mail it.)  At five she's a sponge, absorbing everything she touches, so I'm trying to give her as much to experience as I can.  Need to find some little cross-country skis cause that's what she was most enthusiastic about when I asked what she wants to do here.  

Slack Line Juggler Santa Monica Beach

This post is dedicated to my friend JK.

Another day with workers putting in moulding, doing electrical work, and various odds and ends at the house.  Phone calls to arrange further stuff, moving furniture, figuring where to hang pictures, and other work preparing my mom's house for rental for most of the year when we're at home in Anchorage.

I couldn't wait to get on the bike and ride down to the beach and then north along the beach bike trail.   I try to go earlier, because it gets more crowded as it gets closer to the sunset.  Today I had to stop and take some pictures. First, they had a much longer slack line than I've seen there before - it's the first one you see in the video.  Then on another wire was a juggler.  I also pan on the trail so you can see the traffic I have to navigate in this section of the trail, just south of the Santa Monica Pier (which you can see in the background.  Watch for the roller coaster.)



That spot on my camera is getting annoying. Sorry.

Once I get past the pier, the traffic thins out.  There is one short row of houses, separated from the beach by the public bike trail.

And there was a film crew camped out in one of the parking lots.

And I was getting back to the point where I leave the beach and head home, the almost full moon was rising to the east.

And to the west the sun was slipping down toward the ocean.

Here's why I did the video - you can see that a still shot just do this juggler justice.  You need to see the balls moving while the juggler goes up and down on the slack line.

Santa Monica Sunset

We spent a couple of hours at the play equipment near Santa Monica pier as Z walked the balance bars, crossed the monkey bars, climbed ropes, swang swings, and generally stretched her muscles and worked her balance.  But she didn't know she was exercising, she was just having fun.  We left as the sun was lowering over the Pacific.  (I started thinking about how to say that differently.  We know the sun doesn't lower itself, that it's the earth's rotation, not movement of the sun that causes us to move to dark in the evening.  Yet we still say rise and set.  I wonder how many people really think it's the sun moving.) (Well I googled it.  From Time:

"Does the Earth go around the sun, or does the sun go around the Earth? 

When asked that question, 1 in 4 Americans surveyed answered incorrectly. Yes, 1 in 4. In other words, a quarter of Americans do not understand one of the most fundamental principles of basic science. So that’s where we are as a society right now.
The survey, conducted by the National Science Foundation, included more than 2,200 participants in the U.S., AFP reports. It featured a nine-question quiz about physical and biological science and the average score was a 6.5."

And a bit later, from Venice.

And let me slip in this picture I took as we walked back to the car.  It's one of the murals we saw at the Skirball Saturday in the Ken Gonzales-Day exhibit.  This mural is Dogtown and having seen one of the Dogtown movies explains a bit more of the mural.  

Though having grown up in this area in the late 50's and early 60's when skateboarding was invented and we simply nailed the front and back ends of roller skates to 2X4s and zoomed down the hills (our street was perfect), I'm a little skeptical of getting background from a Chicago based movie critic.