Ruth Bancroft Garden - Walnut Creek, California (June, 2015)

The Ruth Bancroft Garden is having their annual sculpture show right now. We saw a few large-scale artworks getting installed on this afternoon walk. It was painfully hot this day—102 degrees would be my guess. My camera, with its tiny lens, struggles in the bright light of the summer sun. And the garden, with its crazy array of sculptural plants (never mind the sculptures, which are varied and plentiful—the plants are just as sculptural in my opinion), still alludes my ability to find a fixed focal point when I'm shooting here. Maybe it's one of those places that has to be experienced in person. Or I should try shooting people standing next to the plants to give the sense of scope.

Bear with the exposures and experience the textures.

Sundial Bridge - Redding, California

I recently visited the beautiful Sundial Bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava in Redding, California. This pedestrian span crosses the Sacramento River and leads to 300 acres of trails and parkland. An arboretum and interactive museum seal the deal. Worth a visit. Like functional sculpture.

 

Iron Tunnel - Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, Berkeley

Part of the large and lovely vegetable garden founded by Alice Waters' Edible Schoolyard project at MLK Middle School.

Patterns in Nature

Lan Su Chinese Garden - Portland, Oregon

I take my son to the Lan Su Garden
on a city block in Portland
we frame our views
through multiple windows
watery leafy bridges surround
mountains the size of my son
this doesn't have to be here, I think
yet here it is


Poem #15 - NaPoWriMo

Chapel of the Chimes Columbarium - Oakland, California

A columbarium is a building full of niches that hold cremated remains. Oakland happens to have a very beautiful one, designed by Julia Morgan—The Chapel of the Chimes. The older section of the chapel—a Moroccan-style maze of a building dates from 1928. Additions have been added and all sections contain a multitude of skylights, gardens, fountains and mezzanine levels.

The Chapel sponsors a jazz-concert series and holds a surprisingly weird annual Summer Solstice ambient-noise concert throughout its mysterious hallways and secretive rooms. A strange and enchanting experience.

We found the resting place for John Lee Hooker, a Bay Area blues master.

We took a hike up the hill at the adjacent Mountain View Cemetery, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.

The higher you go, the more elaborate the monuments on "millionaire's row"

A view of the San Francisco skyline—pyramids galore

Sunflowers are a gift that keep on giving

Man, the bees love these sunflowers. They're at 'em all day long. Little finches are pecking at the leaves as well, leaving them ragged and limp. I imagine the squirrels will be next once the seeds start to ripen and dry. If you want to feed the wildlife, plant some sunflowers.

More blurry flowers from Heather Farm Park

Heather Farm Rose Garden

I promised myself I wouldn't be one of those photographers who takes photos of blurry flowers, but this "miniature" setting on my camera takes such pretty flower photos! It boosts the color somehow too. Even though these are all true-to-life colors, they look "glowing." The problem I have with flower photos, roses in particular, is that their "glowing" quality (which probably comes from sunlight bouncing off the petals) makes for some bad, blown-out photography with very little detail or depth. But this camera setting kind of helps fix that.

Here they are: blurry roses from the Heather Farm Park Rose Garden. I commend the volunteer gardeners who keep this patch of land so beautiful throughout the year. Flowering plants survive by attracting pollinators so pretend you're a bee or a butterfly—this must be your personal heaven.

Labyrinth and community gardens - United Methodist Church

Jackson and I did a lot of driving and getting lost while driving yesterday, so today I tried to figure out something to do nearby that was cost-free and outdoors. Turns out there were NO scheduled events in the area today that I could track down. There's usually quite a few, so I blame summertime laziness and the upcoming 4th of July holiday.

Ultimately I thought it was the perfect day to finally pay a visit to the labyrinth at Walnut Avenue United Methodist Church in Walnut Creek. It's made from brick and gravel and modeled after the one at Charles Cathedral in France. It's open to the public and the adjacent Art Whipp Community Garden is a treat. Some plots are mostly roses or other long-stem flowers. Some are all vegetables. And one was solid tomato plants, creating a tomato-plant forest. Who will be eating all those tomatoes, I wonder? They are sure to be delicious, coming from this sunny plot of land.

Jackson and I walked the labyrinth and when he made it to the center stone, he was triumphant. Then we ran all the way back through it, because that's what ten-year-olds (and their mothers) do. Some of these photos are Jackson's.