Tag: Photography

Over Labor Day weekend the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (Bay Bridge, for short) was closed for a seismic retrofit project featuring an unprecedented construction feat. A football field length, double-deck section,  weighing 3,200 tons was excised and a new section slid into place to form an S-shaped detour.  The huge pieces moved verrrrry slowly on specially built rails. A distance of 100 feet took several hours not including delays when the rails needed to be adjusted.  All of this took place 150 feet above ground.  

Here is a picture from a few weeks ago in preparation for the detour.  The scene is looking west where the East Span of the bridge meets Yerba Buena Island.  The detour is on the left and the old bridge on the right. The connecting piece that was installed this weekend is shown below.

^{from baybridgeinfo.org}

Lucerne is somewhere close to paradise. In the 14th Century, it helped lead central Switzerland to independence from the Hapsburgs. Today, with good reason, it is a popular tourist destination.  

Behind the town is the 7000 foot Pilatus.

Amsterdam means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but to me it is the city of Rembrandt van Rijn. More on that, but first the modern city.

Monaco

Monaco is a tiny independent nation, tucked into the southern French coast. Its national defense is the responsibility of France, but it is a constitutional monarchy, ruled by the Grimaldi family since 1297, and a full member of the United Nations. The vast majority of its population is wealthy foreigners, who live there because it is a tax haven. Its chief industry is tourism, and its botanic gardens and casino are world famous.

We stopped in for just a couple hours, on a drive from Torino to Nice, and the gardens already were closed.

(Photo-intensive after the jump…

Near the town of Nimes, and built either in the last century BCE or the first century CE, the aqueduct and bridge known as the Pont du Gard may be the best remaining example of the genius that was Roman engineering.

A few distractions in light.

Think Evolution

Some of my Halloween images & artwork.

The “LITTLE WITCH”  is my grand daughter`s doll, & she directed me in post production.

Today was a special day for me as I picked up my granddaughters for ice cream.

After work, they were hiding behind the door in the entry, & scared me half to death (ya, right) when they jumped out in halloween masks.

We went down into Malibu, for ice cream, & stopped at the memorial to the people who perished on 911.

They had a great time & the memorial was really beautiful.

I was actually surprised at the number of people who`d stopped & parked on the side of the road to enjoy the view over the ocean & sit down to rest, talk, remember etc.

Here is how it felt.

Have a nice day.

You all know I`ve been extremely busy, but I`ll be taking a break, within the next month, & you`ll be seeing more of my images.

Whether that`s a good or bad thing is not up to me to say.

Please click on the main image to see many more images of this day which I will not soon forget.

My girls were a laugh a minute. Their innocence is what keeps me sane, in a real crazy sort of way.

I love them.

http://frenchpirate.blogspot.com/

Well here is a larger version of the “port-holed header” from last night.

Although Olivia guessed correctly that the header image was a “form of caterpillar”, my friend Dave in Okinawa, guessed it as a “Tomato Worm” which I believe it is.

I`m going with that hunch, since I saw it on a tomato plant here, along with it`s partner, laying waste to dozens of tomatoes.

It is over 3″ long & very beautiful if you like green.

Hector Protector was dressed all in green,

Hector Protector was sent to the queen.

The queen did not like him,

no more did the king

so Hector Protector was sent home again.

Obviously some people don`t like green.

On Planet Earth, a beautiful large format Hibiscus. There are more beyond it.

The header shows that you can pick up the pieces of a broken heart, but you can`t put a flower back together.

Please do go see the character actors beyond the main post.

Their expressions are strange. I don`t know if you can tell, but there are two “Tomato Worms” (Olivia)

So Dave, tell me which one you want a print of.

As for Olivia, you get one also for being so “hot”. That`s what the judge ruled

http://frenchpirate.blogspot.com/