Photocosm

The Dogs Of Summer Days

 

 

Dogs are wonderful beings, even if they don't know all the words to American Pie, can't name all the states in the U.S., and can't even sink a three-foot putt. 

We've entered the dog days of summer 2011, which affect canines in the Bay Area. We wake up to cool overcast clouds or fog, but then the clouds burn off and the high temperatures stay the rest of the day. How hot? It hit 75 degrees yesterday.

 

A dog tried to sit upright at Paradise Foods in Marin County, but collapsed from the heat. "I am so thirsty," it said, "Does anybody have a Snickers bar?"

 

This is Max, a Berkeley resident. He was happy to see me. "Do you want to take my photograph?" he said, "To make sure we get the best possible snapshot, could you please remove the fence?"

 

Moments later, Max felt the strain of posing for the camera, "I'm sorry, but something is making me sleepy.  Can you see the heat waves coming off your camera? Can you please get me a Corona?"

 

I saw another local dog, Ruby, sitting  in the back of a station wagon. I chatted with her new owner about the dog's development. Ruby has lived in a couple of homes, but those owners gave up on her, didn't see her wonderful qualities. For example, she is rarely ruffled, doesn't care to bark.

 

"You want to take my photograph? Sure, let me sit upright. My pedigree is better than it seems, members of the Ruby clan have always exhibited fine posture."

 

"I don't know what's happening, but that camera just transmitted a strange light. I think it's a sleep ray. What have you done to my posture? I need a cat nap. Cats invented the nap, that's why I never chase them. This cat nap is going to feel so ...zzzzz."

 

I found a couple of dogs sitting in their pickup. The driver dog was the strong silent type, but the passenger dog was willing to talk. It eyed me with suspicion.

"You want to take our photograph? Why? Who owns the copyright? Did you bring some model release forms? Is this a guild job? Didn't you work for News Of The World? I don't trust you, mister. You remind me of Richard Nixon. He didn't know how to use a camera. I don't think you do, either."

 

I got the camera out, and the dog was happy to pose. "You do know what you're doing. People say this is my good side, what do you think? Did you bring a comb? I could use a touch-up. Love your camera. I like Canons, too."

A moment later....

 

"Wow! Nobody has ever photographed me from this angle! Say, you look just like the cinematographer for Inception. Are you Wally Pfister? Congrats on your Oscar, Wally, you make me look like Rin Tin Tin!"

And then I learned why this dog was so animated and photogenic.  The license plate on the white pickup was "FILM BUFF".

 

 

 

 

 

 

Silver Sunrise In Corte Madera, Lithium Daylight In Berkeley

 

In the early stage of Saturday morning -before sunrise- I passed a theater in Marin County that had left its doors open. There had been a showing last night of Harry Potter And The Wheezy Hollow Shallow Gallows. The orange doorway attracted me. It resembled a scene from the movie, American Beauty, which featured a yellow doorway.

 

Turns out the cleaning crew starts the morning after a late showing. Since it was Harry Potter, I  figured the moviegoers had cast spells and thrown lightning bolts and torn the place apart. Nope, somebody left an empty box of Hot Tamales candy on the floor, that was the worst you could see.

But that's the trick, isn't it? The best spells are never scene.

 

It was also a day spent dodging obstacles in the streets.  Here's a milk crate that somebody dropped in my path. It contained equipment used by a construction worker.

 

And when I visited Berkeley, a toddler dropped his red ball. It rolled recklessly toward the end of a parking lot. So sad to see a child go bad so early.

 

Here at the Berkeley Marina, you can spot the distant Berkeley hills.

 

Another view of the Berkeley hills.  Isn't that a beautiful Tesla roadster? Sweet Electric Vehicle.

I remember the first time I met a Tesla owner. He was driving from San Rafael to San Jose. The color of the car was red, the plate was TESLAAA. After we said bye, he hit the electric gas in the empty parking lot and hit 60 or so in a couple of silent seconds.

 

A silent zebra scarf on a Berkeley sidewalk. Looks like a monochrome snake.

I saw a snake about that long crawl toward me in New Mexico in 1988. Its markings were the poisonous kind, but I stood my ground and got some photos before it went down a hole next to me and the mission walls.

I learned later the snake wasn't a rattler but a mimic, a king snake or something that looks lethal but has no poisonous venom. King snakes don't need to bite humans because they feed mostly on field mice and cotton candy.

 

Also at the Berkeley Marina, a car with the license plate LAX TAXI.  Could be a lacrosse reference, but I'd like to think this is a driver from Los Angeles who escaped Carmageddon and the closure of the 405 this weekend by visiting boating friends in Berkeley.

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And a photo from earlier this week. I met a woman in Novato who was waiting for her friend.  She passed the time reading the book, SAIL, by James Patterson. She let me photograph her book and my ipod photo of the license plate, SAIL.

 

If you look carefully at the license plate SAIL, you can almost see me. Or maybe that's Batman from The Dark Knight.

 

Here's another self-portrait on a sail.

This week, the marketing representatives from Tillamook brought their "Loaf Love Tour" to Berkeley. This is their company logo on the front of their van. You can see me above "Farmer Owned Since 1909" and below "County Creamery."

Say Cheese!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fourth

 

I spent yesterday revisiting a San Francisco park where they shot fireworks into the sunshine once, AT&T. It's the home of the San Francisco Giants. I was there on opening day back in 2000. They had a fireworks show in the hazy sunshine just before the game. Points in the sky exploded into hundred-foot pastel blooms that hovered over the San Francisco Bay. No burning wheels in the sky this time, I went there for the atmosphere.

So I visited AT&T Park yesterday on the 4th of July.  Didn't watch the game inside the park, a shame, but the Giants lost to San Diego. You wouldn't have known it from the fans who filed out of the park.  Shiny happy people. 

The sky was vibrant blue, there was a glow around the diamond and across McCovey cove.  About that loss to San Diego, baseball writer Tom Boswell observed you have to have a sense of pace when you're a baseball fan, 162 is a long number. It's 1....6....2.....

...and besides, the Giants are the 2010 World Series champions. Theirs to lose.

There isn't a more beautiful baseball park on earth. Four bases on the edge of the San Francisco Bay, and it's earthquake ready!  If we have another big earthquake here, I want to be sitting in the stands. The view will be fantastic...and safe.

Fans were kicking a beach ball near the marina gate to AT&T.

 

A bird at Pier 3032. In the distance, the San Francisco Bay Bridge.

 

Back at the baseball park, the giant-sized Coca Cola bottle and the giant baseball glove.

 

 

AT&T Park from across the channel at China Basin State Park.

 

Kayakers and other boat people followed the game on sonar.

 

My final look.  AT&T Park from Third Street Bridge, then a long walk back to the BART station at Powell.