This was a party I was something like four years late to. That is, Casey has it every year, and every year on 3/14 since the first one I was invited to, something prevented me from going. COVID lockdown was the first year (although the party happened, I had a small fever that morning from something and stayed away out of an abundance of caution), I think the next year I was somewhere for work, etc etc. I’m very lucky that my friends tolerate me, I know. This year I forgot yet again, and scheduled a trip to Texas that week, but as luck would have it I was landing at SFO in time to go directly to the party.
Touched down, texted Sophie the wrong address from my cab, got there and was greeted by just the nicest, warmest group of folks you could want after a couple days away from home. And I want to say soup? And pie. A lot of pie.
Sophie texted to say she was there and I went down and she wasn’t and we figured out she was at the wrong place, and so got her headed to the right place, went down again, let her in and went to park the car while she went up to get some wine to relieve the effects of San Francisco rush hour.
We sat, we talked, pie was had. And I marked my dang calendar for next year.
Posted on 2024-05-12T04:48:14Z GMT
Shot these one day back in… December? Went up to Santa Rosa to meet Cason and Ryan for brunch at the Flamingo. I had the edit ready a couple weeks ago and then forgot about it. Been working on the San Pablo edit. I had some vague vibes-based categories and then got some help from my friend Michela to put them in order… unfortunately it kind of fell flat when I looked at it again with Sophie. I think the groupings made it too much of the same thing all at once. So now they’re shuffled together again and I need to try to sequence them again.
Speaking of putting things in order, I’m also working on a bunch of different stuff for the motorcycle trip this fall. I picked up ten yards of high-viz yellow (if you’ve seen the yellow I use in most of my bags, it’s that) to make some saddlebags, and I’m trying to figure out what camping gear and other things to take. I realized it would be a much better trip if I didn’t do it out-and-back, instead shipping the bike to Minnesota and taking the full time just to make my way back home. I need to get a different set of tires on the new moto, and probably half a dozen other things I’m forgetting.
I’m also thinking about doing some kind of email newsletter while I’m on the road, maybe a few editions before then. Modeled after Craig Mod’s walking practice. The road versions will be photos and field notes from that day; if I made a couple posts before then it’d be preparation, what I’m taking, how I’m routing, stuff like that. It’d be difficult to do I think, but pretty rewarding to have that record at the end. And I know at least some people would like to be able to follow along, so there’s that. But I have to come up with a name for it and pick a newsletter platform that isn’t for fascists, but I have a couple to pick from.
Anyway, these clouds: just sort of bursting with energy. There’s a pattern here in the bay where it’ll rain for the first part of the day, and then gradually it’ll kind of clear up, but in the middle of the day the clouds do this wild thing. In other places, you see clouds like this before the weather comes in, but here it’s often the opposite. A quirk of living out here on the west coast, I suppose. Surrounded by mountains and ocean.
Posted on 2024-05-07T04:45:27Z GMT
So we got to Santa Fe and had lunch with the family that was gathered in town. I’ll post those photos eventually maybe, but I’m feeling these right now. After lunch, there was a storm moving in, to dump a couple inches of snow on the town (more up on the mountain). Incredible light. So I grabbed the nikon and ran down to the river.
OK, maybe I didn’t run. Walked quickly. But the clouds! Wild clouds. I really love Santa Fe, just for the light they get there. I mean, also the green chile and the people and the art and the smell of the desert, especially after the rain. Mountains, love mountains too.
The weather there though seems to come in wild rages; cold and wind and clouds bursting across the landscape. I was out for half an hour, walking along the banks of the river and up on the trail. I started and the clouds were pretty far off; by the time I was heading back, they were overhead and the first flurries were falling. It felt a bit like the late summer/early fall monsoons in that way, coming in fast.
This storm actually didn’t even stick for very long. It wasn’t cold enough I don’t think? Sure felt cold, despite my layers.
Posted on 2024-04-08T05:24:19Z GMT
well it’s after midnight again (it’s literally always after midnight), and it’s time to blog… I started this post like a week ago, and then couldn’t decide what pictures to post. still hitting stumbling blocks I’ve set up for myself. The edits are too big, so the posts would be too big. I’m forgetting the first rule of blogging, which is always be blogging. The second rule, which I’m also breaking, is talking about not blogging (getting distracted by whys instead of doing the damn thing. well. anyway.
These are from the flight down to LA when we were going to Santa Fe over xmas break. I’m pretty sure I haven’t posted them? I did allow myself the liberty of slightly cropping these first two. I know, it’s kinda blasphemous, but when you’re in a banking aircraft shooting out of a tiny window, it’s a lot to keep track of the horizon. Pilots even have a special little gyro they watch instead of watching for the actual horizon.
Then we flew over LA, where there was much traffic and I was glad, once again, to not be in it. The next flight was over huge stretches of empty desert. The Mohave, Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts, just the harshest, most beautiful places, but nothing to see at night. And then we were in Santa Fe to see family. More on that later.
Posted on 2024-04-07T21:40:49Z GMT
