Carrera de San Rafael

 

Yesterday's 'Carrera de San Rafael' Bike Race.

KICKS, CHICKS & AND PORNOFLIX

I took pictures for the SCOPE at the Carrera de San Rafael - the annual Criterium through the streets of downtown San Rafael. A Criterium is the most common form of American bike racing. It is a multi-lap race of 25 to 60 miles held on a closed course, generally a mile or less in length.

 

I'll send pictures of the race to the paper, but for you I have a special treat, the rear view of the sound engineer, or is it mixer, who was providing the music (?) for the event. On his tee it said "KICKS, CHICKS & PORNOFLIX". Leaving no stone unturned, no quotation unGoogled, I found that you can buy this tee from ~

 

http://www.individualsole.com/2008/05/18/dissizit-spring-2008-quickstrike-kicks-chicks-part-deux-tees/

 

But, if you prefer, they also carry tees that say "HEIDI LOVES LA COKA NOSTRA".  I don't know what that's supposed to mean, but it sounds sick (supposedly the new term for 'cool').

 

Beetle on Gumplant

This beetle looks very much like the Yellow Douglas Fir Borer I shot a few days ago, though I'm not sure. I am more convinced that what it is sitting on is a Gumplant. I took the picture at the Corte Madera Marsh. But mind you, I am less interested in identification than I am in the scene and the beauty of the insect and the flower. "Art for art's sake". Note that "ars gratia artis", is used as a slogan by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and appears in the oval around the roaring head of  Leo the Lion in their motion picture logo.

 

 

 

Almost

In honor of the Olympics, scheduled to start tomorrow, I contribute this picture of the start of  "The Shanghai Cup Marathon" which I ran on March 26, 1988. Not quite the Olympics, and not quite Beijing, but what the heck, it was a marathon, and it took place in China. So don't nit-pick. Yours truly ran a memorable 3 hours and 26 minutes, my slowest of 40 marathons! It poured the entire time and was colder than cold. In fact, it was so cold, that I was unable to raise my arm and wave to the few brave onlookers along the route. By the way, I'm the guy with the number 5 on the Stars and Stripes tank-top.

 

The Long and Short of It!

 

We met these two on the Bear Valley Trail in Point Reyes at &:15 yesterday morning. We were just starting our hike, while they were coming out from Sky Camp. They said it had been very wet, though there had not been any precipitation. "We slept in a cloud!" is the way the young man put it.

 

Please file this picture as "The Long and Short of It!"

 

Warning - Horses May Bite

 

Warning - Horses May Bite

 

Girls and sign at the Morgan Horse Ranch in Point Reyes. This morning.

 

East Bay Hills

 

The East Bay Hills as I saw them yesterday from the Corte Madera Marsh. Yes, I do have friends who approve only of my land- and seascapes!

 

Great Egret

I have conveniently misplaced my "Rules of E-mail Etiquette", and don't remember what it says about how often one may politely present pictures of Great Egrets. Ignorance is bliss, so here's one I took yesterday morning at the Corte Madera Marsh.

 

Xiao Ling

Today's picture shows my beautiful friend Xiao (Small) Ling. She is a native of Shanghai, living in Mill Valley. I get to practice my Shanghai Dialect with her, though she keeps chiding me "they don't say that any more, that's old-fashioned"! No surprise. I left Shanghai fifty-nine years ago and, while my retention of the dialect is fairly good, the Shanghainese have had the audacity to make changes! For example, the common greeting was "have you eaten rice?", which actually meant "have you eaten yet?" The required answer was "I have eaten". Just like our answer to "how are you?" is "fine!" Well, prosperity has obviated that little formality, and now the Chinese say "Ni hao?" - "You well?", the only Mandarin words Westerners learn, no matter how long they vacation in China.

 

I regret to tell you bachelors, that Ling is married and has two great kids!

 

Olympics

To those of you who lack imagination, this is the picture of splatter, of an unknown origin, on the sidewalk of Throckmorton Avenue in Mill Valley. Which is precisely what it is.

 

But to me, and I hope most of you, it was a manifestation of the Olympic Games, now only seven days away. A case of accidental art, coinciding with an upcoming event of major importance. Simply put ~ a sign from heaven.

 

I will not try to interpret the picture for you but will rather leave it up to your own creative genius. At the very least, you must agree, that the image packs a wallop! Good luck!