Dug Out My Old Olympus Camedia

This week we had a visit from a friend of the kids who is seriously into photography (examples here: http://lamb-on-the-lam.tumblr.com/archive).  That inspired me to take out my Olympus Camedia which gives me more flexibility than the camera on my iPhone 3G (no, I haven't bothered to upgrade). The Olympus has an optical zoom.  So you'll see more close ups in the photos below.

Views:

Bay view  with barges

Mt. Diablo

Golden hills

Color variations in the hills

Round Top - Sibley Volcanic Preserve

Another of the many moods of the canyon at dusk:

"Impressionist" night time photos:

(meaning it's hard to hold the camera steady during longer exposures.  ;-)

Bay side

Mt . Diablo and towns beyond the canyon

iPhone critter photo:

(had to use what was handy)

Antlered Black-tailed Deer

Bird close ups:

House Finch with sunflower seed

Happened to be in the right place at the right time for this one.

And for those who have been asking how Ziggy and Sunny have been adjusting to their new home:

Favorite spot to soak up sun

"Are you finished?  Can we go back to napping now?"

14 Hours and 46 Minutes - Our Longest Day

Summer is officially here.  Our first one in California.  According to the almanac, our family and friends in Pennsylvania and Michigan enjoyed longer longest days (15 hrs & 3 min; 15 hrs & 16 or 31 min) and family in Texas, shorter ones (14hrs & 2 or 6 min).  The farther north, the longer the longest day.

On the eve of the Solstice, we were treated to a mini-rainbow and lovely sunset colors.

Chunk of rainbow above the tree on the right - bayside

Glow around Mt. Diablo - sunset reflections

Mt. Diablo is about 15 miles east of us as the crow flies

Just a bit later, closer to sunset

I started out the first day of summer working with Friends of the Montclair Railroad Trail on a project to roll back and cut out invasive ivy to make more room to cultivate native plants along the trail.

Posing with the pile of ivy I just trimmed

I use the trail every time I walk to the village (see previous posts), picking it up at about the half way mark of my trip.  It's paved and shady with no cars, only walkers, runners and dogs on leashes to encounter.

And, here's a favorite sight of mine along the walking route to the village:

Bougainvillea loves the Bay Area climate

Focus on Flowers

The past week was one in which flowers kept catching my eye.

Here are a few from my walks around the village and our neighborhood:

Canas and Roses

Vine in bloom

Hollyhocks

Carefully cultivated

Just popping up

Inspired by what I saw on my walks, I added more flowers to the bayside balcony outside my work and exercise room.  

Sun Star - bright orange flowers - joined the Primroses and Pansies

Lantana and Alyssum are the latest additions

Not a flower, but this caught my eye on a recent walk up from the village:

Are you old enough to have seen one of these when they were new?

And finally, a bit of wildlife.  This photo from Wikipedia shows the flashy side of the Western Fence Lizard that's common around here:

Home Improvement

We were missing those great "banana chairs" we had on the deck back in Chelsea.  So, Erick searched for and found something similar.  When the chair and frame arrived, we found that part of the strapping on the chair had been damaged.  Erick emailed the company and instead of having him return it, they sent a new chair for the frame - a more than acceptable solution from our perspective.

Erick made a track for the replacement chair which enables him to move it out of the sun when he's working on his laptop.

Track above on the lower deck. Plant care area at the back.

Erick enjoying the fruits of his labor.

I get the benefit of the original chair (which I patched up - dark area just above my left hand) and frame.

A great place to relax.

One final innovation on the lower deck.  A collapsible "stand up desk" that Erick created.

The desk is also a convenient place to put his coffee cup.

Inside the house, Erick resealed the grout in the shower in the bathroom that's next to our bedroom. Renovation of that room is just about finished now.

We put in the cabinet and European-style
low-flow toilet a couple of weeks ago.

I did some repainting in our bedroom - changed the trim from a left over dark grey-blue to chocolate brown, and the doors from streaky yellow to natural cream.  Glad the former owners left lots of good quality paint for us.

Our reward for the week and Friday night's adventure in dining was going to an Italian restaurant in Montclair Village.  Good Eggplant Parmesian, great Tiramisu!  And a really nice trumpet vine.

Walking to the Village

On Thursday, I decided to try walking to Montclair Village via Shepherd Canyon Road and the Montclair Railroad Trail.  The distance from our house to the Oakland Library branch in the village is 2.9 miles and takes about 60 minutes on the downhill journey and about 10 minutes more on the return trip.

Scenes from the walk:

The scenic road that is part of my walk was saved in the 70's from becoming a highway.

The trail part of my route was built on the rail bed of the Sacramento Northern Railway.
From 1912 to 1957 passenger and freight trains ran between
Oakland and Chico, California

Along the trail:

Outside the library:

Almost home:

The last leg of the walk.  Parts of Shepherd Canyon Road
are even steeper than our driveway (shown here).

Morning in the hills. Before the sunshine, the fog.

Canyon side

Bay side

Painting - Last Week's Projects

I wish I had taken some "before" pictures of the indoor area I worked on last week.  But, here's a description: The landing on the way to the top floor has a display niche recessed into the wall about 16 inches.  The previous owners had covered the wall with a large wicker mat to which they attached art objects.  Unfortunately, it was old and musty smelling.  We decided to take it out and repaint the area prior to putting in display shelves. The process included removing adhesive from one section and lots of nails from the rest, spackling and sanding, and applying two coats of primer to cover the dark brown paint that was under the mat.

The newly primed niche area looks like this:

The outdoor painting project was applying a solid stain to the horizonal wood surfaces along the stone path on the canyon side.

Before:

And after:

New railing Erick put in at the top

Crane statues we brought from Chelsea are on the left.

Last Sunday we took a trip to Regan Nursery in Fremont - famous for its selection of roses.  They display them in alphabetical order according to variety.  The place has a nice selection of annuals and perennials, too.

Here's what our car looked like after we finished buying plants:

Most are now happily in place on the upper deck:

Parrot's Beak

Happy Chappy Rose

Henry Fonda Rose

Paradise Found Rose - very fragrant

Marigolds & blue Lobelia - Hail to the Victors :-)