Japan 5 08

Just back from Tokyo where I went to celebrate the event above - M's first birthday. Prior to this momentous celebration I had some fine adventures with J and O that included a 5 day ryokan journey, temples and shrines, mountain villages, japanese food that one had to a formal introduction to . um, Jolie, ask her what this IS! - and always the lovely M. whose default is charm.

It is no exaggeration to say that went along or travels with a sea of admirers focused on lil M. who looks you in the eye and grins for all she is worth. We have decided that whatever she ends up doing in life a lot of people will be watching. She makes everyone, not just her Grannie Annie, feel like the most special person in the world.
More to follow!

SF - Tokyo

Had hoped to add more SF but am well out of time now.
Leaving tomorrow for Tokyo. If possible I will blog from there.
Please stay tuned!

San Francisco 5/08

Of course country folk like us come to town for a multitude of reasons.

san Francisco 5/08

And, of course, it is always show time at the fine restaurants of SF. Above you see Frank who has been a waiter Sam's Grill on Bush Street a very, very long time. Ah! but not as long as Sam's has been Sam's. This restaurant, one of our big time favorites for seafood ( and cozy ambiance with the little booths ) has been feeding the discriminating hungry since 1867.

San Francisco 5/08

Applause! Applause!
Lucas Studio is not the only show in town. I went out to City College to a reading of Reckonings, an anthology of writings by Native American writers. AND, most importantly, it is Lauren's book, edited over a span of quite a few years with her friend Heurtha. As you see by the first image, the reading was well attended - SRO in fact - and genuinely appreciated.

Lauren is head of interdisciplinary studies at City College and, fortunately for me, had arranged this reading while I was in the city. In addition to seeing City College - with all of it's campuses it is the largest community college in the US -I was able to see Lauren in her milieu, meet her friends ( and hear wonderful things about her), see her present this event and see her at work in her office.

San Francisco 5/08

Guess you need no introduction to the fellow above. My friend, Nancy (also above), who works at Lucas Pictures ( or studio or Film...not sure as to the actual title ), kindly invited me to lunch and a showing of brief and very clever film at the plant. Guests of employees are welcome at what is called Friends and Family Friday.



The building on the site of The Letterman Military Hospital was impressive with equally impressive security check points through out. The theatre where the film was shown was, as you would expect, top of the line. The sound system was spooky. Took great grown up discipline not to look around to see who it was behind me that was yelling out the lines.

Pictures were not allowed beyond the entry but fortunately Herr Vader guards the lobby and is therefore available for picture taking.

Nancy is pictured above with a fellow whose name I dont recall.

Lucas will release Clone Wars in August. It is a animated feature and, if you look today on Yahoo! you will find the trailer.

San Francisco 5/08

The Changing Light

The changing light
at San Francisco
is none of your East Coast light
none of your
pearly light of Paris

The light of San Francisco
is a sea light
an island light
And the light of fog
blanketing the hills
drifting in at night
through the Golden Gate
to lie on the city at dawn

And then the halcyon late mornings
after the fog burns off
and the sun paints white houses
with the sea light of Greece
with sharp clean shadows
making the town look like
it had just been painted

But the wind comes up at four o'clock
sweeping the hills
And then the veil of light of early evening

And then another scrim
when the new night fog
floats in



And in that vale of light
the city drifts
anchorless upon the ocean




Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Field Workers, 6:45 AM

Field Workers, 6:45 AM

When I arrived at the field, the workers had already been picking beans since the first light of day.  Their backs were bent over and their hands moving rapidly.  They stood only when a bucket of beans was full and needed to be carried to the waiting Hidden Harvest truck.  www.hiddenharvest.org

The bandanas and the broad hats are for protection from the dust and the relentless sun.

It is always dusty and sunny for pickers and while desert days begin cool and fresh the sun and heat can be brutal during the day.  During the summer months pickers work day after day in temps that can reach 120.  Hard for many of us to imagine but just last week a woman told me that she actually cooked an egg on pavement on a 108 degree day.  

Reminder:  these pickers, as mentioned in earlier posts, are picking produce that has been given to Hidden Harvest for its mission of feeding the poor.  This produce, while appearing perfectly fine to my eye, would otherwise be turned under because it is not flawless enough for consumer demands.  

East of Eden?

And east of Palm Desert another reality.

The next few posts will be from an early morning shoot in a field well east of Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Indian Wells and La Quinta ( where the ducks have their pick of pools to swim in).

I am haunted by the juxtaposition of these realities.

Palm Desert - is about....

....pools.  It appears that pools are so prevalent down here that even the ducks have their own.

Those of you who know how ridiculously invested we are at having duck couples and their babies on the pond at home can imagine the glee that was felt ( cats included ) here this morning upon finding this couple at home in our wee duck sized pool.  We are leaving the desert tomorrow and wish there were some way to convey to these patas that nuestra picina es su picina!

Palm Desert - is about....

Massages and facials.  In other words indulgence land.

Palm Desert - is about....

Golf x 150  -  the rumored number of golf clubs here.  I dont know the actual number of clubs and I dont know golf either so I hired some talent for these shots.