Back from our road trip...

Click on image to enlarge - © 2008 jim otterstrom

We are home after five delicious days tucked away in the Owen's Valley between the Eastern Sierra Nevada and the Inyo Range.

This view of Owen's Valley is to the south from a bit northwest of the town of Independence.

I captured this image at sunset last Saturday and made a simulated watercolor on canvas image from the photo (with Photoshop).

Directly behind me, from where the photo was taken, is the driveway entrance to the home of the family we stayed with. Our dear friends, Brad, Amy, Claire & Hannah.

We spent most of our time there hiking in peaceful solitude or exploring along roads much like the one you see above.

More pictures to follow, right now I have to catch up on chores around here.

Thank you Brad, Amy, Claire, and Hannah for a wonderful extended weekend!

The Postman Always Rings Twice...

Jimmy The Postman

September, 1971

Click on photo to enlarge - © 1971 & 2008 jim otterstrom

I made this self-portrait 6 months into my 30 year postal career. If the patch on my left shoulder was more visible you'd see that it's not the stylized Postal Service eagle, but the old Post Office Department design with the maroon & blue embroidered Pony Express rider.

Been a lot o' water under the bridge since them days...

Still Delivering The Goods Though!

March, 26th, 2008

Click on photo to enlarge - © 2008 jim otterstrom

An ancient photo from the dregs, and one from yesterday's United Natural Foods co-op order arrival, tie 37 years of my life together with the delivery of goods.

I haven't been a very responsive blogger of late, and my only excuse is that it's a busy time around here and the computer isn't getting much attention.

Now we're out of town for 4 days, to the Eastern Sierra again for another visit with Brad, Amy, Claire & Hannah.

We'll catch a David Lindley performance in Bishop, do some hiking for sure, and I'm hoping to get some more photos of the lovely Alabama Hills!

See you Sunday evening, and maybe I can catch up on some of the comments then.

Both photos were taken by Jim using a tripod. Some things don't change much!

We Made The Front Page!

Click on article to enlarge - © 2008 Big Bear Grizzly & Kathy Portie

Our local newspaper, the Big Bear Grizzly, has been doing some recent stories on the high cost of gasoline and how people might cut back on their fuel expenses.

The paper got word of our car-free lifestyle and called us over the weekend to arrange an interview about our experiences.

So we knew this was coming out today but were surprised to see our mugs on the front page.

Peggy and I think the article is nicely written, simple and to the point, and we feel honored to be featured in our local paper.

There is one slight error in the story that I will correct here. It says that we retired from the Postal Service in 1997, but I retired in 2001, and Peggy retired in 2004.

A Day In The Life...

Yesterday's Sunrise

Click on photo to enlarge - © 2008 jim otterstrom

At 7:08 yesterday morning Dallas and I were walking westward along the north shore of Big Bear Lake into an icy wind as the sun rose from the east to reveal the front of a storm moving over the ridges into the valley.

I was bundled up in several layers, with two pairs of mittens on, and still had to guzzle my dandelion/licorice root/ginger/turmeric tea down so I could put my insulated mug in my backpack, thus enabling me to keep my hands warmer in my pockets.

Furry ol' Dallas was unfazed though, alternating between wading in the ice water, and curiously sniffing through the brush along the shore.

I should've worn Thinsulate gloves and a parka instead of the mittens and thermal vest, but the storm was moving in earlier than predicted so I didn't really expect it to be that cold and windy on the lake yet.

Throughout our 2+ hour walk I was on the edge of discomfort but it was such a beautiful morning I didn't want to turn around, and besides, Dallas was having a blast.

So, I just occupied my mind with other things than the bitter cold and we made it all the way over to Juniper Point and back, about 5 miles round trip, with many stops to take photos and enjoy the scenery.

When we got home Peggy scrambled up some home grown eggs, with baked garlic, onions, tomato, green chili pepper & turmeric, and we juiced up a blend of beets, carrots, kale, parsley, cucumber, apple and ginger.

Once breakfast was over we bundled up again and went outside to prune the pear tree and clean up some winter debris in the yard & gardens.

We let our hens, and Boris the banty rooster, out of the chicken yard to roam the native plant garden in search of chicken delicacies.

We then uncovered our beds of winter greens, which were getting too warm this past week or so, with the spring like daytime temps, and decided to leave them uncovered to reap the benefits of the coming snowfall.

The greens (several types of lettuce, spinach, kale & green onions), have survived the frozen winter in their covered raised beds and are certainly hardy enough to withstand a March snowstorm or two. Very cold temps may slow them down a bit but the greens will spring back with the slightest warming daytime temperatures, especially after a healthful natural drenching.

We had some cord wood that was too long for our woodstove and I had cut that down to under 18" on Friday, so I cleaned up the scrap and sawdust from that project before snow started falling in the early afternoon.

The rest of the day was spent indoors by the warmth of a fire while Peggy put together a delicious Mushroom Tofu Stroganoff for dinner (see recipe at bottom of post).

By late afternoon snow was falling heavy, but intermittently, with patches of blue sky in between. We woke up this morning to enjoy our green tea with a view of 4 1/2 inches of fresh, light, white powder.

For breakfast today it's cooked buckwheat, quinoa flakes & oats with hemp hearts, banana, raspberries, blueberries and almond soymilk.

The appetizer was another juice blend of beet, carrot, kale, apple & ginger.

MMMMMmmmmmmmm!

Today, at 8:30 A.M.

Click on photo to enlarge - © 2008 jim otterstrom

~

MUSHROOM TOFU STROGANOFF

Adapted to our own particular tastes from

The Tassajara Recipe Book

Note-

Prepare yogurt cheese* and marinate tofu** at least 24 hours before you plan to prepare the meal.


1 16-ounce block of tofu, pressed, drained, and marinated**(see marinade recipe below)
3 tablespoons avocado (or sunflower seed) oil
1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce
1 tablespoon Bragg’s liquid amino’s (or substitute with more tamari or soy sauce)
1 large yellow onion, diced medium-small
1 pound Crimini or Shiitake mushrooms
5 cloves minced garlic
½ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
¼ teaspoon dried thyme (or ½ teaspoon fresh thyme, minced)
½ cup of dry sherry or red wine
1 cup of vegetable broth
1 ½ cups of yogurt cheese* (drain 32 oz. of plain yogurt through cheesecloth overnight in refrigerator)
salt & freshly ground pepper to taste.

Drain the marinated tofu (see recipe below)** on a slanted board while you gather and prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Cut the tofu into strips or cubes and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or so.
Remove and set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons of avocado oil in a 12-inch sauté pan.
When the oil is hot, add the onions. Sauté them on a high heat until they begin to brown, then turn down the heat and cook the onions carefully until they begin to caramelize, stirring frequently. This will take about 15 minutes. They should be soft. While they are cooking, slice the mushrooms about ¼ inch thick, chop the garlic, and warm the vegetable broth.

Mix the garlic, paprika, and thyme into the cooked onions. Add the remaining tablespoon of avocado (or sunflower seed) oil, the tamari and the Bragg’s liquid amino’s. Add the mushrooms, sprinkle on the turmeric, and salt & pepper to taste while carefully stirring.

Once the mushrooms begin to cook, add the marinated tofu** (see below), the sherry or wine, and let bubble & simmer for 8-10 minutes.

Add the heated broth to the yogurt cheese. Once the mushrooms are sufficiently cooked, add the yogurt cheese & broth mix to the mushroom pan.

Cook until the sauce is hot (just a few minutes) and reduced to the thickness you want. Try not to boil the sauce for too long or the yogurt cheese will curdle.

Check the seasonings and serve over brown rice.



Tofu Marinade**
Also adapted to our tastes from The Tassajara Recipe Book

2 blocks of firm tofu (the stroganoff recipe only calls for one block of tufo but you can marinade the second one and save it for another meal)
½ ounce Crimini or Shiitake mushrooms
1 cup vegetable broth
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 gloves garlic, pressed or finely grated.
½ cup avocado (or sunflower seed) oil
½ cup red wine vinegar
½ cup sherry
½ Bragg’s liquid aminos (or tamari soy sauce)
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
pinch ground cloves
black pepper to taste

Drain & press the tofu to remove excess water.
Simmer the mushrooms in vegetable broth for 15 minutes
Toast the oregano in a small frying pan over a medium flame until it becomes aromatic (without burning).

Combine the remaining ingredients, including the oregano, to the simmering mushrooms.

Bring to a slow boil and simmer a couple of minutes longer.

Cut the tofu into four slabs.

Pour the hot marinade over the tofu slabs & marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

The tofu can marinate several days.

If the tofu was reasonably fresh and fairly dry when it was marinated, the marinade can be boiled, strained, and kept refrigerated for reuse.

I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of this delicious meal, which included steamed brussel's sprouts, and a green salad with avocado & tomato, but the wonderful aromas permeating the house all afternoon had me so distracted that the only thing on my mind was, is it time to eat yet?

Peggy said she'd been wanting to try out this recipe for quite some time, and as far as I'm concerned, this one is a keeper!

Sunday Sunset

Click on photo to enlarge - © 2008 jim otterstrom

A Visionary Architect, Humanitarian, Writer & Philosopher

Nader Khalili 1936-2008 Click on photo to enlarge - photo credit unknown
Borrowed from Kelly Hart at his Green Home Building Blog

"No one can prove there is a meaning to life. I must make my own life meaningful. That is all."

One of the ways Iranian born and educated architect Nader Khalili made his life meaningful was by designing and building beautiful earth-friendly super-adobe structures at his Cal-Earth Institute Of Earth Art And Architecture in nearby Hesperia, California. And by sharing his ideas and enthusiasm not only with his Cal-Earth students, but also within a larger global community of thoughtful, creative & hopeful people from all walks of life. People who are concerned about a viable future as they take deliberate steps toward sustainable living.

Peggy and I had been admiring Khalili's work, through photographs, newspaper articles, and websites for some 15 years before finally visiting Cal-Earth last April for a first-hand look at his delightful creations.

See photos at our post here.

We didn't get to meet Mr. Khalili when we were at Cal-Earth, we missed him by a day, and figured we'd get the chance on our next visit, but that's not going to happen.

Nader Khalili passed away last Wednesday, March 5th, he was 72 years old.

Much has been written about Nader Khalili by the people who knew, loved, and worked with him.

Yesterday morning, one of those people posted a comment at my previous post.

I have re-posted the comment below---and I thank 'anonymous' for the information---because Nader Khalili was the rare kind of human being this over-populated world needs more of.

"Nader Khalili, internationally renowned architect, author, and educator, passed away at the age of 72 on Wednesday, March 5th.He died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Hospital, of congestive heart failure.

Khalili was known for his innovation into the Geltaftan Earth-and-Fire System known as Ceramic Houses and the SuperAdobe Construction (sandbag and barbed wire) technique also known as Earthbag.

He developed his SuperAdobe technology in 1984, in response to a NASA call for designs for human settlements on the Moon and Mars.

He had been involved with Earth Architecture and Third World Development since 1975, and was a U.N. consultant for Earth Architecture.

In 1991 he founded the California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture (Cal-Earth), in Hesperia, CA, which teaches his SuperAdobe building technique.

His sustainable solutions to human shelter have been published by NASA, and awarded by the United Nations, the Aga Khan award for Architecture, amongst others. (see http://www.calearth.org/khalili.htm, for more.)

He authored six books, including his international best-selling auto-biography, "Racing Alone," (his newest book "Emergency Shelter," available this summer) as well as two highly-acclaimed volumes translating the poetry of Rumi, "Fountain of Fire" and "Dancing the Flame."

Born in Iran as one of nine children, his quest was to empower the world's poor and refugees to build homes using the earth under their feet.

He was a prominent American leader on the value of ethically based architecture, where the needs of the homeless are considered above all else.

Inspired by the mystical poetry of Rumi, (whose poems he studied and translated, from an early age) his architecture was distilled from the timeless principles of this universe and its timeless materials -- the elements of earth, water, air, and fire, and has been described as "Poetry crystallized into structure."

Laura Huxley, Aldous Huxley's widow, called Khalili the "practical visionary."

He was a quiet hero and a gentle humanitarian, who wrote: "No one can prove there is a meaning to life. I must make my own life meaningful. That is all."

He is survived by his wife Iliona, son Dastan, daughter Sheefteh, eight brothers and sisters and extended family.

~~~The Burial Ceremony will take place at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday March 11th at the Sontag Greek Amphitheater, Pomona College, 300 E. Bonita Avenue, Claremont, CA, 91711. North-East Parking Lot entrance.

Burial and wake to follow after the ceremony.

10:00 - 10:30 am arrive at the Sontag Greek Amphitheater: For directions call: (909) 576-9830 (The Sontag Greek Amphitheatre is adjacent to the Seaver Theatre due east of Oldenborg Residence Hall.

Located in a wonderful wooded area known as the Wash, it is secluded from traffic yet a five minute walk from the center of campus. There are many theaters in the college but only one open air amphitheater.)

Ceremony until around 12:00 noon.

Then to Oak Park Cemetery for the burial. The main entrance is at the end of Oak Park Drive, cross street with Sycamore Avenue. (909) 399-5487

After the burial, the wake/refreshments at the Seaver House, Pomona College close to the amphitheater and the organic garden."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRANK!

cELeBrATiNg 62 yEArS

Click on photo to enlarge - © 2008 jim otterstrom

My buddy Frank celebrated his 62nd yesterday and now we're in the same club again.

The 62-Club Fashionistas!

Air up those tires Frank, it's time for another bike ride!

;~)

Predatory Capitalism Is Nearing Its Ugly Peak While The American Corpocracy Runs Amok!

Video courtesy of BLIMPTV.net

Click on play button twice to view video.

Click on X to close Google text ads.

Click on monitor icon for full screen viewing.

I just had to share this spot-on hilarious lambasting of the perfectly ludicrous Bush Oiligarchy.

And please excuse the iPod advertisement at the end of the video, ironic confirmation that even a freely shared parody of capitalism must be contaminated by the quest for $$$$!

Jamie & Adam come to visit...

Our Daughter Jamie Click on photo to enlarge - © 2008 jim otterstrom

Adam & JamieClick on photo to enlarge - © 2008 jim otterstrom

~A Smile to Brighten Our Living Room~
Click on photo to enlarge - © 2008 jim otterstrom

Our 23 year old daughter, Jamie, and her boyfriend, Adam, are down from Lake Tahoe for a visit. Jamie and Adam met here in Big Bear when they were both working for the local ski resort.

Their love of snowboarding and the outdoors led to their moving to the Lake Tahoe area, where they get serious snowfall every year, and where, in the warmer months, they find plenty of places to hike, camp, and pursue Adam's other passion, fly-fishing.

Adam's best friend got married yesterday and they came to Big Bear be part of the wedding.

The pictures were taken yesterday morning in between breakfast, showers and getting ready for the wedding.

~

15 minutes

in black & white

~

9:46 A.M

9:50 A.M.


9:54 A.M.



10:01 A.M.

Click on any photo to enlarge - © 2008 jim otterstrom

These photos were taken in the Mojave Desert town of Victorville on Thursday, February 28th.

It was time for my neighbor Cheri's doctor appointment again, so, while I was waiting for her, I took our dogs for a walk and came across these scenes within two blocks of the doctor's office.

There's so much in the world to look at, to think about, and I wonder how it is that people come to be bored.

"May You Live In Interesting Times" An old Roman curse

The pictures were shot in color and converted to black & white in Photoshop.

YES, WE CAN!

Click on image to enlarge - Logo © Obama '08

Modifications conceived by Peggy Otterstrom and rendered by Jim Otterstrom on Valentines Day, 2008.

~An Open Letter To Our Friends~

Dear Friends,

Many of you know Peggy and I don't usually get involved in political campaigns, but I believe this election is the most important of our lifetime.

As Americans, we have a clear choice in how we face the next several years. Very difficult years where we must deal creatively and constructively with huge challenges, including climate change, environmental degradation, growing anti-American sentiment, increasing resource scarcity, peak oil and a faltering economy.

We need new ideas, and a sense that America can cooperate with the rest of the world in addressing our very urgent problems, by some means other than unilateral pre-emptive perpetual war.

Right now we have the chance to choose a president who is honest, personable, intelligent, courageous, wise, and hopeful, a man of the people with fresh ideas. Or, we can continue onward with politics as usual and the failed policies of the status quo.

Barack Obama spoke eloquently against the War In Iraq from day one, while Hillary Clinton voted for it.

This is a needless and costly war where nearly 4,000 Americans have already lost their lives, along with countless thousands of innocent civilian Iraqi men, women, and children.

We have squandered nearly a half-trillion dollars of our hard-earned money on this war so far, enough to have rebuilt much of the deteriorating public infrastructure of the United States, our crumbling highways, bridges, levees, power grids, hospitals etc.!

America was once respected around the world as a Beacon Of Freedom, but now we are more often feared as self-serving war-mongers bent on world domination.

We need strong visionary leadership that also understands the struggles of the average person. Someone who believes in Democracy and will work to restore our credibility on the world stage with good will and diplomacy instead of threats and violence.

A lot of people have stopped believing that is even possible, but we support Barack Obama because we believe he can be that leader.

His grassroots funded campaign for the presidency is unparalleled in history and our need for an honest, fresh-thinking leader could not be more urgent.

Americans are hungry for change and Barack Obama will bring that change when he is elected.

If you still believe that ordinary people can make a difference please take a moment now, and click here to visit our Obama '08 fundraising page, to make a donation of any size, $5, $10, $25, whatever you can do.

It all adds up, and this is how Barack Obama has come so far, with support from average people like you and I.

Thank You,

Jim & Peggy Otterstrom

A few days ago Peggy asked me to design a T-shirt for her with the Obama Campaign Logo.

She wanted one created in rainbow colors over a sunburst with her own slogan, "Obama Gives Me Hope".

I took a picture of the sun and then spent a couple of hours playing in Photoshop to turn her idea into reality. The designs above, and on her T-shirt below are the results.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY HONEY,

YOU GIVE ME HOPE!

Click on photo to enlarge

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PEGGY!

Click on photo to enlarge - © 2008 jim otterstrom

Today is Peggy's Birthday and she shares it with two other great human beings who were also ahead of their times with unconventional forward thinking ideas, Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin.

Abe & Charlie were both born on February 12th, 1809. Peggy was born a bit later.

~Happy Birthday Honey~

;~)

Yes We Can - Barack Obama Music Video

Hope Springs Eternal...

I am always moved when people rise up in opposition to the satus quo.

Peggy and I support Obama because he has the ability to inspire people.

We're under no delusion that any one person might change our world, that's up to us.

It's the desire for change, and the longing for a new America that makes this candidacy so powerful.

One can hear the voices of America crying out for a brighter more hopeful future.

YES, WE CAN STILL HOPE!

Eleven Years Car Free...

Click on image to enlarge - © 2008 jim otterstrom

Today is the 11th anniversary of our decision to live without owning an automobile!

Another year in which we did not contribute approximately 6.5 tons or 13,000 pounds of CO2 to our communally shared atmosphere.

Read last years 10th Anniversary rant here.

What more can I say?

The 76 gas pump is one of the altars in a little outdoor shrine we call our

Temple To A Lost Civilization.

Two Views Of Yesterday...

Rainbow Over Lucerne Valley - Monday, 9:48 A.M

Click on photo to enlarge - © 2008 jim otterstrom

One of my obligations as a friend and neighbor is to take Cheri, who lives across the street from us, down the mountain to her monthly doctor appointments. Cheri owns a car but she's disabled and cannot drive herself.

Yesterday I drove her down to Victorville for an appointment and we were treated to this breathtaking view as we came down the Cushenbury Grade, just below the Mitsubishi Cement Plant, and descended into Lucerne Valley.

It was snowing heavily when we left Big Bear Valley and made our way slowly through a white-out of wind-blown powder as we skirted Baldwin Lake (normally dry) and then began winding our way down a very slippery Highway 18 toward the Mojave Desert.

When we came around the last bend, where the narrow pass finally opens to the desert, snow and clouds gave way to a big desert sky being cleansed by fierce winds. A fine mist blown from the clouds behind us allowed the landscape to be decorated with the magical whimsy of a rainbow, of sunlight refracted through atmospheric water.

Oh, the Blue Planet!

3 Hours Later - Back On The Deck At Home

Click on photo to enlarge - © 2008 jim otterstrom

We got between 6 and 8 inches of new snow Sunday night and Monday, but it was somewhat difficult to estimate that measurement because the wind was blowing so hard that the snow piled up in uneven drifts.

A Window on Green Way Drive...

Click on photo to enlarge - © 2008 jim otterstrom

I noticed this window trimmed in green while I was walking with Dallas, and my camera, along Green Way Drive in this morning's early light.

When I got home and looked at the morning's photos I really liked this one. So I decided to post it 'old school' when I remembered that I never answered Lavonne's question from the "Just Another Brick In The Wall" post about how I round the corners of pictures in Photoshop.

Well, Lavonne, I'm sure there's an easier way to do it, with masks or something, but I'm not really all that proficient in Photoshop so my method is nearly as primitive as the way I cut & sanded my prints back in the '70s.

Once I have the picture in Photoshop I select white as the background color and make the canvas size 2 inches larger than the image size on all sides. This gives me room to work on the corners. Then I select the clone tool and set it to a fairly large diameter, and, using the background color, chew away at the corners until they look evenly rounded to me. Then I crop the image so there's only a hairline of white at the edges. When that's done I change the background color to black, and, once again, make the canvas size 2 inches larger than the image size.

Repeating the process I select the clone tool using the black background color to bite away at the rounded white corners until they are the same hairline width as the straight edges.

To get my signature in there, I write it in black ink on white paper and scan it. Then I bring it into Photoshop, invert the colors to white on black, size it to the right proportions, and copy it into the photograph I'm working on.

I hope this gives you some idea of how to proceed, Photoshop CS3 is a huge and complex program and I only dabble at the fringes of what it can do.

~HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEVI~

Click on photo to enlarge - © 2007 jim otterstrom

Winter Sunrise Walk...

TODAY, at 6:45 A.M.

Click on photo to enlarge - © 2008 jim otterstrom

6:50 A.M.
Click on photo to enlarge - © 2008 jim otterstrom

7:12 A.M.

Click on photo to enlarge - © 2008 jim otterstrom

Three views along our sunrise walk this morning as Peggy, Dallas, and I happily trudged a few miles through nearly a foot of snow that fell Sunday night.

We came across two coyotes right after the second picture was taken and Dallas took off after them, having a ball and getting more than his share of the morning workout.

We saw the coyotes again on the way home, a few blocks from our house, after Dallas was back on the leash. One of them sat there just 25 feet away posing for us, but my camera batteries picked that particular moment to go dead. Dang It!

But what a brisk and exhilarating way to start the day!!!

Little Red Rooster...

Our Bantam Golden Laced Cochin Rooster crows this morning in the chicken yard. If the forecast storm actually moves in later today this may be the last time the chickens are out for while. They won't come outside of the coop when there's more than about an inch of snow on the ground, but there is a covered open area attached to the coop where they can be out in the fresh air until the snow melts.

Cozy Winter Coop...

~YARDBIRDS~ Click on photo to enlarge -© 2008 jim otterstrom

Some of our hens and the recently rechristened Boris Major, a bantam Golden Lace Cochin Rooster, enjoy the chicken yard before the approaching storm hits.

This is predicted to be a major winter storm so I decided to clean out the coop yesterday, laying down fresh alfalfa litter, and refilling the nest boxes with wood chips.

I also consolidated our three stacks of firewood into two, covered them with tarps, cleaned out the raingutters and generally straightened up the yard.

HENSPECTION!Click on photo to enlarge - © 2008 jim otterstrom

One of our Black Australorp hens carefully inspects the nest boxes after I freshened them up.

Everything Seems To Be In OrderClick on photo to enlarge - © 2008 jim otterstrom

The Black Australorp is soon joined by a Light Brahma and a Barred Rock who all seem to approve of the housekeeping efforts.

Food (check), water (check), edible litter (check), comfy nests (check), perches intact (check), OK, let's go back outside while we can!

ME FIRST!!Click on photo to enlarge - © 2008 jim otterstrom

The storm was supposed to hit last night but it was still clear and relatively warm when Peggy & I took our walk at 7 this morning.

It's clouded up now though and getting quite cold so it shouldn't be long now. Let's hope we do get some substantial precipitation, whether rain, or snow.

The chickens are ready...

HAPPY NEW YEAR

~From Jim & Peggy~

at

~ Click on photo to enlarge~

Embroidery by my cousin, Sheri, from a small pillow she made us for Christmas.

Just Another Brick In The Wall...

Downtown Los Angeles - 1972

Click on photo to enlarge - © 1972 jim otterstrom

Downtown Alameda - 2007
Click on photo to enlarge -© 2007 jim otterstrom

Brick wall photos, old & new.

I was a newly-hired Postman (a Special Delivery Messenger to be exact), back in the early 1970s when I took the "No Comment" photo at the top, but I still had delusionary ambitions of making a living as a free-lance photographer/artist/craftsman (before I realized that would also entail becoming a businessman, something I have absolutely zero talent for).

In those days I mounted, signed, framed, and hung my pictures in any joint that was interested in having art 'for sale' hanging on their walls, and I actually sold quite a few too, at funky little galleries, restaurants, saloons, grocery stores, and craft fairs.

At that point in time, when I prepared my photos for framing, I always rounded off the corners of the prints (using a quarter as a template for the radius), then sanded a thin white border around the edges before mounting them on black mat board (you might say it was my signature style of matting).

Those ancient mounted prints are either long gone, or, too deteriorated to display anymore, so, just for fun, I thought I'd try to duplicate the look of my primitive old technique in Photoshop.

So, if you enlarge the 1972 photo at the top, you will see it presented exactly as it was 35 years ago, when I was 27 years old.

Then I decided to take one of my recent photos, from this past November, and 'mount' it the same way.

There's 35 years of life in between those two pictures, yet they look to me as if they could've come from the same roll of film.

"Some things change very slowly, if they ever change at all."

But the art of photography has sure changed. In 1972 you actually had to acquire some skills & knowledge to make a good picture, where any of today's digital cameras capture near perfect images in simple point & shoot auto-mode. I still like to compose my shots with manual settings though, which is why I have a digital camera that allows me to do so.

I love the way color photos look against a black background (similar to the way Earth looks against the blackness of space) which is also why I chose this particular blog template (although I've noticed that, on some laptops, Earth Home Garden comes up with a white background??).

The days are short and the weather's cold, so it's as good a time as any to be messing around with photographs, old or new.

The Los Angeles photo was taken in 1972 with a Nikon F2, and probably a 24mm wide-angle lens. All exposure data is long forgotten.

The Alameda photo was taken on November 12th, 2007, with an 8 megapixel Canon S5IS, in manual mode. Settings - ISO 80, f /8.0, 1/160 second, 32.2mm zoom (35mm equivalent).

~Christmas Dawn~

Click on photo to enlarge - © 2007 jim otterstrom


~PEACE ON EARTH~
Click on image to enlarge - © 2007 jim otterstrom

Wake Up Call - Earthquake At 4:14 A.M.

~A Mild 4.0 - This Time~

Click on map to enlarge

All maps in this post are courtesy of the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

I added some of the text to personalize the information.

Peggy and I were jolted awake by a shaking rattling house at 4:14 this morning.

It was a relatively mild quake but it served, once again, to remind us of where we live and what we can expect from the geology of our locale.

As life-long residents of Southern California, and most particularly, because we've always lived on, or at the edges of, California's Transverse Range, we're both well experienced with earthquakes.

The above map shows significant earthquakes in Southern California over the 25 year period between 1970 and 1995. I have added the numbers 1 through 4 to the map to show where I've lived my life, in close proximity to the most frequent and strongest quakes. Peggy has lived her life in the same places, except that she was born in the San Fernando Valley, where we grew up within a few miles of each other.

Todays little temblor (shown on the USGS shake map below) was a polite wake up call for us to make sure we're as prepared as possible for the impending disaster somewhere ahead of us.

In the last map of this post I've highlighted an oval which shows a 100+ mile section of the San Andreas Fault that is way overdue for a major quake, and, where we live in relationship to the fault.

It's not a matter of if, but when.

You can read a related National Geographic News article, by clicking here, which explains the known history of this segment of our infamous fault, and what we might expect in the very near future.

This isn't lunatic fringe doomsday prophesy, it's the factual reality of the geology of places like this, which straddle the edges of tectonic plates.

Today's Mild Temblor

The closer you are to the red areas on the above map, the more frequently you can expect earthquakes to occur.

Click on the above map to see the highlighted overdue section of the San Andreas Fault, which could very well bring us the next Big One,