My company’s sponsoring this video for Earth day.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzXRxP7jBSU[/youtube]
Watch it and then take the pledge: http://www.care2.com/oneplanet. I dare you.
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Pledge to Live a One Planet Life!
Friday, April 20th, 2007Weeners on the Beach – Not as Interesting as it Sounds
Wednesday, April 4th, 2007
On April first we headed out to Año Nuevo State Park to check out the elephant seals. This is not the time of year when you see the big males fighting for dominance, the scenes you see on the nature shows. this is long after that. The males are gone. Even the females are gone. The pups (or as they are called after their mother’s ditch them, “weeners”) are left on the beach to fight for survival on their own. As it turns out, fighting for survival in this case really means “lying on the beach and sleeping for a month or two”. This is what we got to see. We could tell that they weren’t dead because sometimes they blinked. But it’s always nice to get out to the ocean.
On the mile and a half hike from the visitor’s center to the beach, Natalie bombarded us with questions about the seals. We answered most questions with “Hmm, I’m not sure, but one of the docents at the beach should know”. When we finally got there.. “Natalie, there’s the docent, do you have any questions to ask him?” Natalie: “Um, no”. Typical. And then.. “Natalie, why don’t you ask him why the seals keep flinging sand on themselves?” Natalie: “Ok”…to the docent: “Excuse me, why do they fling sand on themselves”. Docent: “Well, that’s a good question. Nobody really knows”. So, that was really satisfying.
Natalie Gets Her Mask On
Sunday, March 25th, 2007
Natalie’s working on a big class project. It’s a report on African Masks, and the project finishes up with an art project. Not surprisingly she decided to make a mask. From the photo you can see what we came up with. Pretty amazing considering we did the entire thing today. Natalie had a blast coming up with this crazy construction and making it (and running around the house with it on). It’s made out of paper maché with a frame of styrofoam. Googly eyes made out of recycled ice cream sundae cups.
See a more photos on the Mask in action!
Sorry, no “the making of” photos. Maybe next time.
Natalie’s new Braces
Thursday, March 15th, 2007A little slideshow celebration of Natalie’s new dental hardware…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCBa5bcm9zs[/youtube]
(And yes we stole the idea from this George Lange video flipbook).
A Photo-a-Day on a Three Day Weekend
Monday, February 19th, 2007This President’s Day weekend we had nothing much planned so we played it by ear day to day. On Saturday we got out the game Risk, which Natalie got for Christmas. After an hour or so or reading through the rules, the game commenced. It actually lasted through Monday. I won’t say who won, and I won’t say who was yellow, defending Europe to the bitter end. But I will say that is was great fun. Natalie had a blast.
On Sunday we headed down to the San Jose Museum of Art to check out the M.C. Escher exhibit. The Escher was pretty cool, with lots of his most important prints. The museum itself was small, compared to some of the San Francisco museums, but all of the exhibits we saw were incredibly engaging. Highly recommended.
Monday we baked up the focaccia that I started preparing late Sunday evening. It was my first focaccia, a recipe taken from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, but it turned out pretty stellar. Edie said it was the best bread she’d ever eaten.
Hiking from the Redwoods to the Sea
Sunday, February 11th, 2007
Today was one of those California appreciation days. Faced with the daunting task of cleaning up our house, Edie, Natalie and I decided to go for a little hike instead. Natalie wanted to show her mom some of the landmarks we discovered on our hike in El Corta Madera Creek a few weeks earlier, so we hopped in the car and headed up the hill. Twenty minutes later we arrived at the trail head on Skyline. The anticipated rain never materialized so we hiked the slightly foggy redwoods, revisited the Sandstone Formation and discovered a vista that gave us a view of the ocean.
Back at the car we decided it was too earl to go home, and took the first left, down Tunitas Creek Rd, which we were hoping would take us to the sea. Eventually it did. A few miles north we discovered an amazing little beach called Cowell Ranch State Beach. The trek to the sand from the parking lot was over a mile through a working farm, but was worth it. Beautiful sand and almost completely deserted. On the way we saw bunnies and hawk sitting on a fence (well, the hawk was on the fence, the bunnies were scurrying for cover). By now the day was starting to draw to a close, and we headed into Half Moon Bay for dinner. We ended up eating at Cetrella, a bit pricey but delicious food and great service.
It’s really amazing the fun you can have and the beauty you can discover, in this area without even really trying. Just point your car and go! (or bike, or tennies, I guess :).
Hiking El Corte Madera Creek Open Space Preserve
Monday, January 29th, 2007
Natalie’s soccer game was canceled at the last-minute this weekend due to overly soggy fields, and since it wasn’t really raining we decided to take a hike. Natalie brought along her buddy Arielle, and I brought along my new buddy, a 10-22MM wide-angle lens. I figured the redwoods in the fog would make for great gratuitous wide-angle subject matter. It rained a little, but the trees protected us, for the most part. The fog was amazing and offered us a dark, creepy, quiet and drippy experience. Great fun! We came across this amazing sandstone rock formation (called “sandstone formation” on the map). Much more impressive than the name implied. I think this is the ideal way to experience the redwoods.
Armchair Wildlife Photographer
Thursday, January 18th, 2007
I was home sick for the last couple of days and at one point, while unable to do much besides stare out the window I saw Mr. Squirrel running back and forth along the fence. Well, let’s take a picture of Mr. Squirrel I thought. Even better I decided to use some of the acorns Natalie collected a while back as bait to get Mr. Squirrel to come very near the window.
I piled a bunch of acorns on top of a post about five feet from the office window, but unfortunately for Mr. Squirrel, Mr. Jay was paying better attention. Even before I had gotten back in the house and set up the camera Mr. Jay and his friends were fighting over the acorns. So, I took pictures of Mr. Jay instead.
The fight was classic Mr. Jay. The first Mr. Jay would grab an acorn in his bill and then stand there trying to prevent any other Mr. Jays from take the rest of the acorns. I’m not sure what the first Mr. Jay’s endgame was because there was no way he was leaving that post with more than one nut. The result was all the acorns got knocked on the ground, and out of my view lots of squabbling would ensue. In my weakened condition I found this quite entertaining so I tried it two more times, each time with the same result. Fun with nature! Reenacting Aesop fables.
About an hour later, Mr. Squirrel did happen by. He missed out on the acorns, but because the camera was still set up I did manage to get a shot of him looking right at me. He asked me “Where’s my nut?” and I said “Talk to Mr. Jay”.
Setting the Standard for Style
Wednesday, January 17th, 2007
Not much needs to be said about a photo like this. I’m sure alot could be said, but it’s probably not necessary. Either that, or it’s more necessary than I think. Only time will tell (and perhaps Natalie’s therapist).
Three Ski Cold Ski
Wednesday, January 10th, 2007Our first ski trip of the season was a coooooooold one. There were ten fresh inches of snow, but very little beneath that. Where’s the snow?? Regardless it was a pretty swell trip, hangin’ out with Beth and Ian and their girls. I christened my new skis, introducing one to an enormous rock, leaving a healthy gouge. It had to happen I guess, but on the first day!?!
I didn’t carry a real camera while skiing, so no photos, but my phone does shoot video, so here you go:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA9XpPiBZJk[/youtube]
Natalie, Sophie and Meite blazing down the Mountain Run at Squaw at the end of the day, and a Shirley Lake on-chair interview.