La lune reflected in the Bay over Point Isabel, as seen from le balcon Chez la Vache. The lights of Sausalito and Tiburon are in the background.
samedi 31 juillet 2010
Weekend Reflections
La lune reflected in the Bay over Point Isabel, as seen from le balcon Chez la Vache. The lights of Sausalito and Tiburon are in the background.
vendredi 30 juillet 2010
Le Vendredi Sky Watch
THERE*
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* THERE: A hazy view down Telegraph Avenue toward downtown Oakland, viewed from the Campanile at UC Berkeley.Carolyn at Oakland Daily Photo seeks to counter Gertrude Stein's famous put-down of Oakland, "There is no there, there". So, there, Gertrude...
jeudi 29 juillet 2010
Qu'est-ce que c'est ?
The question today, as last week, perhaps should be Où est ce?
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Hints:1) It is NOT in California
2) It is NOT in Japan
What are your guesses?
Answer à demain...
UPDATE:
The "prize", such as it is, this week goes to Olivier at Evry Daily Photo, who "guessed" the Baltic Sea. When he enlarged the image, he noted the location was in the link. ;-D
Good detective work, Olivier!
The photo was taken by «Louis'» cousin, Mary Ellen, who is quite the world traveller. Mary Ellen wrote: "I love the "northern" light! This little arm of the Baltic Sea reaches into one of the larger islands of the Swedish Archipelago--and the photo was made after dinner--as late as 9:30 p.m., there's still this much light."
mercredi 28 juillet 2010
mardi 27 juillet 2010
Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley
lundi 26 juillet 2010
Sather Gate
Sather Gate at the University of California, Berkeley.From Wikipedia: Sather Gate is a prominent landmark separating Sproul Plaza from the bridge over Strawberry Creek, leading to the center of the University of California, Berkeley campus. The gate was donated by Jane K. Sather, a benefactor of the university, in memory of her late husband Peder Sather, a trustee of the College of California, which would later become the University of California.
Designed by John Galen Howard, Sather Gate was completed in 1910. Atop the gate are eight panels of bas-relief figures: four nude men representing the disciplines of law, letters, medicine, and mining, and four nude women representing the disciplines of agriculture, architecture, art, and electricity. They were sculpted by Professor Earl Cummins.
Originally, the gate served as the terminus of Telegraph Avenue, and marked the University's south entrance. (The circle in front of the gate served as a turning point for the trolleys coming from Oakland.) The University later expanded further south of Strawberry Creek, and the gate is now well separated from Berkeley's city streets by Sproul Plaza.
Sather Gate has undergone restoration beginning in October 2008 that focused on its bronze and steel metal work, which had deteriorated over time. During its restoration it remained open to pedestrian and vehicular traffic. Restoration of Sather gate was completed in April 2009."
dimanche 25 juillet 2010
samedi 24 juillet 2010
vendredi 23 juillet 2010
Le Vendredi Sky Watch
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Evening comes to the San Francisco Bay. The lights of Sausalito and Tiburon begin to twinkle in the falling darkness.jeudi 22 juillet 2010
Qu'est-ce que c'est ?
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Many funny guesses - "Mt. Coffeemate", etc. but Photoblogista got it right:
Mt. Fuji in Japan. Mme la Vache snapped the photo in her last visit to Japan.
mercredi 21 juillet 2010
mardi 20 juillet 2010
Campanile
Sather Tower, known to most as the Campanile, is perhaps UC Berkeley's most famous symbol. Visible for miles, it stands 307 feet tall and is the third tallest bell and clock-tower in the world. The observation platform, located 200 feet up, provides visitors with a spectacular view of the entire Bay Area and of the campus. It is reachable via the combination of an elevator and stairs. The Campanile was completed in 1914.
lundi 19 juillet 2010
Ding-a-Ling!
dimanche 18 juillet 2010
Série du pont de dimanche XVII
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The Golden Gate appears to be wearing a crown of fog - note that the fog extends only to the deck of the bridge, allowing us to see the ship under the bridge passing through the Golden Gate.
samedi 17 juillet 2010
Weekend Reflections
vendredi 16 juillet 2010
Le Vendredi Sky Watch
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Richmond Harbor and Marin County as viewed from the Campanile at UC Berkeley. In the distant background is the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Mount Tamalpais is partially obscured by the clouds. Eyes familiar with the Bay Area will spot Marin General Hospital below Mount Tamalpais. In Richmond Harbor, the World War II Victory ship that was built in Richmond in the Kaiser Shipyards, Red Oak Victory, is visible. In the foreground, Albany Point and Point Isabel, so often seen in the photos taken from le balcon Chez la Vache are seen. The tanks on the hillside are at the Chevron refinery.jeudi 15 juillet 2010
Qu'est-ce que c'est ?
Enter your guesses in the comments.
Answer à demain.
UPDATE: Congratulations to Bibi at A Yankee in Belgrade for her correct guess that it is the moon. Mme la Vache was trying to take a photo of the moon sans tripod and got tons of camera shake - and a candidate for Qu'est-ce que c'est?. «Louis» is looking for next Thursday's post....
mercredi 14 juillet 2010
mardi 13 juillet 2010
Angel Island
lundi 12 juillet 2010
Dunsmuir House
Do you remember when things were just ducky? The pond those ducks were happily swimming in is located on the grounds of the Dunsmuir Estate in Oakland. At the time, «Louis» promised you more about the Dunsmuir-Hellman Estate, and here it is.The house was built in 1899. It has 37 rooms and is set on 50 acres. Dunsmuir House was built by Alexander Dunsmuir, who came to the Bay Area in 1878. The son of Robert Dunsmuir, a wealthy coal baron from Victoria, British Columbia, Alexander oversaw the family business in San Francisco.
n 1906, the estate was purchased by I.W. Hellman Jr. who worked for Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco, as a summer home for his family. By 1913 the mansion was remodeled to accommodate the growing Hellman family and their acquisitions from European travels.
The Hellmans enjoyed the estate together for fourteen years until Mr. Hellman died in 1920. Mrs. Hellman kept the estate until the late 1950s.
At Christmas, each room is decorated with a tree. The home is open for guided tours.
dimanche 11 juillet 2010
Série du pont de dimanche XVI
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On a hazy morning, «Louis» caught the contrast between the old and new sections of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. A portion of the cantilever section fell into the Bay in the October, 1989 earthquake. «Louis» will spare you his rant about the delays in replacing this section of the bridge other than to say it is a text-book example of how special interest politics have driven the once-great state of California into the ditch...samedi 10 juillet 2010
vendredi 9 juillet 2010
Le Vendredi Sky Watch
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Sea Princess calls on San Francisco on a fine, clear day.jeudi 8 juillet 2010
Qu'est-ce que c'est ?
Post your guesses in the comments.
Answer à demain!
UPDATE
The answer is that this is a modern interpretation of a Packard that was never actually built - a 1934 Packard Twelve Boat Tail Speedster. LD at Monterey Daily Photo and Mary Beth at Small City Scenes guessed the answer! So who says cars are a "guy thing"? ;-D
Here's the story on the car. Fran Roxas owns a noted antique automobile restoration shop and has done a number of 1934 Packard Twelves. In 1934, Packard offered the Twelve in a closed body fastback sport coupe - but it wasn't a boat tail. They also built a Twelve boat tail convertible. But there was no Twelve boat tail coupe in the catalog. In 1996, Roxas asked retired automobile stylist and Art Center School of Design instructor Stother MacMinn to draw what a '34 Packard Twelve boat tail sport coupe might have looked like. The result was a beautiful fastback boat tail design. The drawing was put under glass on top of Roxas' desk, where it sat for some ten years. MacMinn died in 1998 at the age of 79.
In 2006, Roxas decided to build the car. The design was modified by Scott Knight, a sheet metal master who had been tutored by MacMinn and did much of the sheet metal fabrication for Roxas. Knight made the body look "chopped" at the roof, making the windows smaller, giving the car something of the look that might have been done by a West Coast hot rod shop in the 1950s. (Truth be told, «Louis» prefers MacMinn's original design - it is more elegant.)
Roxas had a genuine Packard Twelve to install in the car, but wanted more power, so the engine's displacement was increased from 445 cubic inches to 500 cubic inches. He fitted it with triple Weber two-barrel carburetors.
The frame and suspension components were custom fabricated and Knight built the body. The wheels are Kelsey-Hayes 15" wire wheels fitted with genuine Packard cloisonné hub caps. Part of the instrument panel is from a Packard. The leather trimmed interior was fitted with matching, custom made luggage that straps in behind the front seats.
As on the '34 Packards, the shape of the headlamp trim mimics the classic Packard grill. The windshield is a split-screen design taken from an actual LeBaron body. The two-tone paint is 2008 Lexus Tiger Eye Mica and 2005 Bentley Orange Flake Metallic.
Amazingly, Roxas is offering the car at auction in Monterey California. Perhaps «Louis» actually will be able to see Roxas' dream-come-true car.
mercredi 7 juillet 2010
mardi 6 juillet 2010
Packard Twelve
Founded in 1899, The Packard Motor Car Company for many years made prestigious luxury cars. The original Packard, "Old #1", still exists and runs. To own a Packard was to make a statement to the world that one had truly arrived.Early in the company's history, Packard built a twelve cylinder engine they called the "Twin Six". For a variety of reasons, the Twin Six was dropped and Packard's straight eight became their mainstay engine.
In the early 1930s, Packard re-introduced its Twin-Six, later re-naming it the Packard Twelve. In the opinion of many Packard enthusiasts, the 1934 Twelves were the pinnacle of Packard design for the era. More graceful than the offerings of the 20s and early 30s, but not yet 'streamlined' as were the Packards of the late 30s, the 1934 models even today are beautiful cars. Only 960 Twelves were built in 1934, the country being still in the depths of the Depression.
The Packard Twelve is a 445 cubic inch engine. Developing only 160 horsepower from all that displacement, the engine is decidedly under-stressed, just as Packard engineers intended. However, it does develop plenty of torque to haul the 5,000 pounds of Packard around. The engine is silky-smooth and quiet, exactly as one would expect of a car of the Packard's status.
«Louis» spotted this beautiful 1934 Packard Twelve LeBaron Sport Phaeton in Emeryville. Only three such Packards were built. Note how the headlamps echo the shape of the classic Packard radiator shell. In the photo, the car appears to be a two passenger vehicle, but if you look closely, you see the rear doors and the the rear cowl folded down. It is, in fact, a four-door, four-passenger car.
«Louis'» dream car is a Packard of a later vintage - a Packard Caribbean.
Photos courtesy of Fantasy Junction, Emeryville, CA
lundi 5 juillet 2010
Rodin at Stanford - Jean d'Aire, Burgher of Calais
Jean d’Aire, his jaw set, the second to volunteer after Eustache de Saint-Pierre. Eustache de Saint-Pierre was the richest, oldest and most prominent of the Burghers.The two heads shown in this series are in the Rodin Garden outside the art museum at Stanford. The full sculpture of The Burghers of Calais is outside The Quad.
dimanche 4 juillet 2010
Série du pont de dimanche XV
samedi 3 juillet 2010
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