It turns out that cartoon me is kind of a jerk… part 3…

a 2

It also turns out that this was a bad idea, giving Hulk a wedgie. Your cartoon you can’t die, but it does feel pain. Also, this isn’t just a travel blog again!

Posted in cartoons | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

It turns out that cartoon me is kind of a jerk… part 2…

a 5

Posted in cartoons | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

It turns out that cartoon me is kind of a jerk… part 1…

a 4

More to follow…

Posted in cartoons | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Bay Area Christmas adventure… part 3… special ‘flashback’ edition…

a 1

Now, when I say ‘flashback’, I am definitely probably not implying in any way shape or form that I used to drop a lot of acid and go to Grateful Dead concerts, on this family friendly blog, and you should not infer that I am saying that I ever did or didn’t do things like that, just because I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area during the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.

a 2

But I did find an awesome store in the Haight Ashbury district in the city, that did cause a ‘flashback’ of sorts, in a non-old-acid-trips-coming-back-into-your-head kind of a way… you know, more just like good memories.

a 3

I mean, you either get ‘The Dead’, or you don’t…

a 4

But I sure did. Also, I want that tree for Christmas next year.

a 5

Both my daughters had tie dye outfits when they were little. They still wear tie dye now and then, and so do I. I think my older daughter, Jessica, the one we visited in New York, came home from the hospital in a little tie dye onesie. Onesy? One-sie?

a 6

And I don’t mean that off-the-rack tie dye, the painted-on, mass-produced crap.

a 7

Plaid… the original tie dye!

a 8

I mean real tie dye, made by old hippies in their back yards, in vats, with rubber bands and love. Like these.

a 9

Tie dye never goes out of style.

a 10

Everybody loves bright colors.

a 11

If you are ever in San Francisco, check out ‘Love On Haight’, and say high… uh… hi… to the nice old hippy lady who runs the place.

a 12

We bought most of our tie dyes at the street fair on Telegraph avenue, over in Berkeley.

a 13

You support your local artists. Also, if you are a messy eater like me, tie dye is a must-have. It is also good for dentist visits if your gums bleed a lot.

a 14

Okay, see you soon.

 

 

 

Posted in My travels, Stories of my life | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

New York City… day 3… part 16… a drunk blogger with a head full of crack squirrels and a camera, what could possibly go wrong?… part 3…

a 1

Me, drunk, in Times Square.

a 2

I know, as a tourist and a blogger, I had to go there. But I had mixed feelings about it once I did. It is like conspicuous consumptionism had a love-child with a rave.

a 3

My older daughter and I, on the last night of my 3-and-a-half-day visit.

a 4

My daughter, son-in-law and I. I was still pretty drunk.

a 5

So I put them in a cage. Funny how a mere photo-op can bring back bad memories.  I should have made them hold up cards with numbers on them, and then do a profile pic.

a 6

I know there are stage shows and shopping and food and such.

a 7

But for me, it was all about the lights… so I took a few of my patented wiggly light pictures.

a 8

Because who doesn’t like those, am I right?

a 9

This really does sum up American culture in a way.

a 10

Here we are, wasting tons of energy, glorifying mean girls, as advertisements fight for our oh-so-brief attention span.

a 11

I bet people living with a view of Times Square have really thick drapes so they can sleep.

a 12

Yes indeed, we should all feel….

Posted in My travels, Pictures of me, Stories of my life | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Bay Area Christmas adventure… part 2…

a 1

More photos, in random order, of our Christmas in the Bay Area.

a 2

Two of my daughter’s best friends came and stayed with us at my mom’s house, between Christmas and the New Year.

a 3

We went out to dinner at a local pub with some of my friends from when I was younger than the girls are now. I hope they are still friends when they get to be my age.

a 4

You should keep a few friends that knew you before you even knew yourself.

a 5

That is my opinion.

a 6

So do stuff with your friends.

a 7

Keep that bridge open. Ha! See what I did there?

a 8

Okay, I promise that the next post in this series won’t be of the Golden Gate.

a 9

Or a Civil War fort under a bridge.

a 10

Or pictures of the city taken from the bridge.

a 11

But I do have a few of these left.

a 12

Look, the spot on my lens moved… what the heck?

Posted in My travels, Stories of my life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

New York City… day 3… part 15… a drunk blogger with a head full of crack squirrels and a camera, what could possibly go wrong?… part 2…

a 1

Meeting my older daughter and her husband for fancy drinks in Manhattan. Everybody was feeling good.

a 2

I was feeling particularly good…

a 3

We was gettin’ our drink on!

a 4

I took some normal pictures.

a 5

The view was spectacular.

a 6

But then I noticed something…

a 7

It was the weird lights on the ceiling of the fancy bar, reflected in the windows.

a 8

I tried to focus on the view as the sun set.

a 9

I tried to be a normal human being.

a 10

But the lights and the reflections triggered the crack squirrels living in my head…

a 11

I started taking some of my ‘wiggly light’ photos… where I use the longer shutter time of low light to wiggle the camera to achieve weird effects.

a 12

And I was having fun… the squirrels were satisfied.

a 13

I was making art out of darkness and light.

a 14

Or maybe I was… you never know until you look at the photos.

a 15

a 16

But now my family was pretending that they didn’t know who this strange fellow was, who was wandering around the bar, wiggling his camera about.

a 17

Story of my life.

Posted in My travels, Pictures of me, Stories of my life | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Bay Area Christmas adventure… part 1…

a 1

There I am. Can you tell where I am standing?

a 2

Right! Smack dab in the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge.

a 3

My daughter, Mollie, the one studying pre-med, looking at the bridge.

a 4

I just got back to San Diego, and finished unloading the car. Because I am still posting pictures of our adventure in New York, way back in October, and because, unusually for me, I am doing that one in order, I decided to do all the Bay Area posts and pictures in random non-ordered order.

a 5

A red tail hawk, taken with my telephoto lens, from the cliffs overlooking the bridge and the mouth of the bay.

a 6

I love that lens. It is like having a superpower.

a 7

This trip was a little weird. I didn’t go down to the dog park and take pictures of dogs, even though I missed my two dogs terribly. I didn’t take any flower pictures. I didn’t go up to the top of the Berkeley hills and take photos of the sun setting behind the Golden Gate.

a 8

But we did do a lot of fun stuff, and the Christmas was awesome.

a 9

Alcatraz, the famous old island prison.

a 10

A quintessential photo of San Francisco, from the bridge, on a foggy, drizzly day.

a 11

A cormorant, taken from the bridge with the big zoom lens.

a 12

And Fort Point, an actual Civil War fort nestled under the footing of the bridge. Okay, see you soon, for more Bay Area adventures… and New York adventures… and whatever else happens.

 

Posted in dogs and other animals, My travels, Pictures of me, Stories of my life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

New York City… day 3… part 14… a drunk blogger with a head full of crack squirrels and a camera, what could possibly go wrong?… part 1…

a 1

Oh yeah, let the consumption of adult beverages begin! As evening fell, my wife and I met our daughter Jessica and our son-in-law Jason at a fancy place called The Aviary. They had been working. We had been all over Manhattan.

a 2

There were many fancy, overpriced drinks served and enjoyed.

a 3

My main adult beverage involved fancy booze in a round bottle with a ship in it, and a candle.

a 4

You heard me. A glass boat, floating in a fancy drink inside a glass bottle… and a candle.

a 5

So this guy comes to the table and sprays some smoke-extract stuff inside a drinking bowl, and uses the candle to light the smoke stuff on fire.

a 6

Then, he pours my drink into the still smoking bowl filled with smoke-flavored smoke.

a 7

Then, I drank from the bowl.

a 8

And I swished the smoke-scented beverage around in my mouth.

a 9

I and the crack squirrels living in my cranium were pleased.

a 10

Oh, there were also some light snacks.

a 11

Yup.

a 12

Uh huh.

a 13

Well, guess what…

a 14

It turns out that fancy, overpriced adult beverages get you just as drunk as the cheap ones do. So, the rest of the pictures of the last day of our three-and-a-half-day New York adventure might be a little weird… even for me.

Posted in My travels, Pictures of me | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

We interrupt our series of posts about my adventures in New York to start randomly adding in posts about my Christmas adventures in the Bay Area, which is where I am now…

a 1

See, there is the table at my mom’s house, set for Christmas dinner, just like I post about every year.

a 2

And that looks like…

a 3

Could it be???

a 4

Yup, it’s San Francisco!

a 5

And that is… well… hard to explain, but it is splashing water and a big Christmas tree, a photo I took after drunk bowling… so… uh… yeah…

a 6

There, on the old player piano, nestled among other weird art, is that orange vase I made for my mom back when I was taking glass blowing lessons.

a 7

And just like every year, the two tikis I carved for her get their Christmas crowns.

a 8

Hey, you don’t mess with tradition.

a 9

My older daughter, Jessica, and her husband, Jason, are the ones whom we visited in New York… which is good, because I am still going to finish the posts about that as I start doing the Christmas ones. And Mollie is still in college, studying pre-med.

a 10

Same table setting every year. Same food served. Only the candles change.

a 11

Flaming plum pudding, with the usual bad photo due to low lighting.

a 12

Jason, doing something that is way beyond my understanding.

a 13

And why the bad photo of Jess? The shadow on her chest is a good hint. It is the very first time I used one of my new Christmas presents. Here are some more hints…

a 14

That looks like me and Jason. What are we up to?

a 15

And why are we getting smaller?

a 16

And why haven’t I upgraded this blog so I can post videos? These and more questions will be answered soon… maybe…

Posted in My travels, Pictures of me, Stories of my life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments