The Rain has Arrived

     I was looking out the window at the first rain of the winter season here in Cali.  I suddenly notice the patterns the raindrops made on the window pane.  Some of the drops appeared as if they were frozen, while others remind me of broken glass or spider veins .  Nice abstract.  

POTW52 Themes for February and March

Our black & white challenge ends in  2 weeks.  Here are the themes for February and March.

01/29 through 02/04:         Food

02/05 through 02/11:         Silhouettes

02/12 through 02/18:         Romance

02/19 through 02/25:         Experimentation

02/26 through 03/03:         Reflections

03/04 through 03/10:           Windows

03/11 through 03/17:         Macros

03/18 through 03/24:           Spring Flowers

03/25 through 03/31:         Portraits

I look forward to seeing to everyone's images.  

Happy Shooting.  

Photo Walkabout: Mountain View Cemetery

I spent the day at Mountain View cemetery.   I grew up a couple of blocks from this place and I use to walk the grounds all the time but never pay too much attention to the history it held.   This place is huge and there are so many winding roads that I got lost trying to get back to the main one.   It's an awesome place to go for a walk or a hike and it's filled with so much amazing history that there is an official docent tour that happens twice a month.   The main image below is of Gothic Chapel.  Not sure how it got that name.  I couldn't go inside the chapel but was able to take a few images through the front door.

      One the main section at the cemetery is “Millionaires Row” where some of California's wealthiest and historical people are buried.   Millionaires Row sits high up on a hill and has some of the largest crypts in the cemetery, not to mention a magnificent view.  Some of the names I recognized there were; Warren Bechtel, Charles Crocker, Freda Ehrmann, J.A Folger and Domingo Ghirardelli.
The other section I visited today was the “Civil War Veterans” section.  There were a few other sections I wanted to see but ran out of time.

This is a series that I've wanted to shoot for over a year.  I think I’ll do one more trip before it's complete.

The other thing I learn today was the cemetery was design by famed architect Fredrick Law Olmsted who also designed New York City’s Central Park and much of Stanford University and UC Berkeley.  
I had a great time walking around and talking to the daily walkers and getting a  great history lesson from them.

Gothic Chapel

Sunshine through the trees

Inside Gothic Chapel

Chapel Windows

Millionaires Row Crypts

Millionaires Row

Civil War

Civil War

Tombstone

Peppers

From Farmers Market

Fortune

Rubik

My last year brain teasers were Suduko and Cricklers. This year it's the Rubik's cube. I can solve it in 48 minutes.   My goal is to solve it in 20 minutes or less by the end of the year.

Wall of Plates

I spotted this wall of plates embedded  in concrete outside a storefront in Berkeley.