Often called “The Legion of Honor” by Bay Area residents, The California Palace of the Legion of Honor is a fine art museum of San Francisco, located in Lincoln Park, with views over the Golden Gate Bridge. The building is a three-quarters scale imitation (not an exact replica) of the Palais de la Légion d’Honneur in Paris, France. The Legion of Honor is the gift of Alma de Bretteville Spreckels, wife of the sugar magnate, Adolph B. Spreckels.

The surrounding Lincoln Park Golf Course is on the site of a potter’s field called the “Golden Gate Cemetery,” which the City of San Francisco purchased in 1867. The cemetery was closed in 1908 and the bodies were relocated to Colma, but during seismic retrofitting in the 1990s, coffins and parts of skeletons were found.

The museum contains a collection of mostly European art, and has a distinguished collection of sculpture by Auguste Rodin. The forecourt of the museum contains Rodin’s “The Thinker.” There are individual works by many other artists, including Rembrandt, Gainsborough, David, El Greco, Rubens, and many of the Impressionists and post-Impressionists—Degas, Renoir, Monet, Pissarro, Seurat, Cézanne and others. There are also representative works by key twentieth century figures such as Braque and Picasso, and works of contemporary artists.

The Palace is seen in the Alfred Hitchcock film ”Vertigo“ (1958) when Scottie follows Madeleine Elster to the museum. Of course, Mission San Juan Bautista is central to that film.

The Palace of the Legion of Honor is one of my favorite museums in San Francisco, and we visit it frequently to see exhibitions that are hosted there. Visit the museum if you have an opportunity.

-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™

You can view higher-resolution photos (*generally* 7-30 megabytes, compressed) at the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™, where you can also order prints and gifts decorated with the photos of your choice from the gallery. Apparel and other gifts decorated with some of our most popular photos can be ordered from the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Store on CafePress®. Both Shutterfly™ and CafePress® ship to most international locations worldwide! If you don’t see what you want or would like to receive an email when new photos are up on the site, send us an email at info@cheshirecatphoto.com.

“Let us consider that we are all partially insane. It will explain us to each other; it will unriddle many riddles; it will make clear and simple many things which are involved in haunting and harassing difficulties and obscurities now.”

-Mark Twain

-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™

You can view higher-resolution photos (*generally* 7-30 megabytes, compressed) at the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™, where you can also order prints and gifts decorated with the photos of your choice from the gallery. Apparel and other gifts decorated with some of our most popular photos can be ordered from the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Store on CafePress®. Both Shutterfly™ and CafePress® ship to most international locations worldwide! If you don’t see what you want or would like to receive an email when new photos are up on the site, send us an email at info@cheshirecatphoto.com.

Governor Schwarzenegger told attendees that they can balance environmental protection with economic growth and can cut emissions by forming partnerships, as he has done while Governor of California. His comments were reinforced by a taped video by President-Elect Barack Obama.

Th United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has stated that temperatures worldwide could increase by 4-11 deg Fahrenheit by 2100 unless emissions of greenhouse gases are reduced. According to a University of California, Berkeley study (PDF) released last week (1), the yearly cost of warming-related damage to public and private property in California alone could exceed $23 billion (USD) if actions are not taken.

The UC Berkeley report is prefaced with a quote by Charles Darwin, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” (You might want to use this quote with businesspeople who have not studied biology, but believe that business is Darwinian. )

The summit is co-hosted by the Republican governor of Florida and the Democratic governors of Illinois, Kansas, and Wisconsin.

-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™

You can view higher-resolution photos (*generally* 7-30 megabytes, compressed) at the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™, where you can also order prints and gifts decorated with the photos of your choice from the gallery. Apparel and other gifts decorated with some of our most popular photos can be ordered from the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Store on CafePress®. Both Shutterfly™ and CafePress® ship to most international locations worldwide! If you don’t see what you want or would like to receive an email when new photos are up on the site, send us an email at info@cheshirecatphoto.com.

1) Actor Christopher Lloyd, of “Back to the Future” and “Taxi” fame, was one of those who lost homes in the Tea Fire in Montecito, in the hills above Santa Barbara. Lloyd’s $11 million home was destroyed, and he discussed the loss with “Good Morning America.” Fire officials said that firefighters will need at least until midweek to control fires that have destroyed over 900 homes across southern California.

2) Suspect Jing Hua Wu, 47, of Mountain View, allegedly shot and killed three people at his former place of business after having been terminated (originally reported as a layoff) from his position as an engineer for SiPort, which makes digital multimedia broadcast chips for mobile markets. Sometimes, the only difference between a layoff and a termination in Silicon Valley is a lawsuit or the threat of one. It is also important to know that not all layoffs in Silicon Valley “make the news.” In any case, CNET presents a grisly scorecard of layoffs in technology companies since the beginning of October 2008. Tech workers are reeling from the news of layoffs and the tragic news of violent deaths.

3) Apple has issued a firmware update to fix a problem in which “clicks” on the new glass trackpads of the latest MacBooks and MacBook Pros reportedly did not register.

-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™

You can view higher-resolution photos (*generally* 7-30 megabytes, compressed) at the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™, where you can also order prints and gifts decorated with the photos of your choice from the gallery. Apparel and other gifts decorated with some of our most popular photos can be ordered from the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Store on CafePress®. Both Shutterfly™ and CafePress® ship to most international locations worldwide! If you don’t see what you want or would like to receive an email when new photos are up on the site, send us an email at info@cheshirecatphoto.com.

I uploaded 73 photos from Fort Funston to the San Francisco, Outdoor Recreation (hang gliding and radio-controlled gliders), and Flowers albums on the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™. I added photos to the blog entry for the Fort Funston shoot. I will add Fort Funston shots to the Portfolio over the next few days. I also updated the slideshow on the Home Page.

As always, links to low-resolution copies of ALL photos are in the Stock Photo Table.

-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™

You can view higher-resolution photos (*generally* 7-30 megabytes, compressed) at the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™, where you can also order prints and gifts decorated with the photos of your choice from the gallery. Apparel and other gifts decorated with some of our most popular photos can be ordered from the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Store on CafePress®. Both Shutterfly™ and CafePress® ship to most international locations worldwide! If you don’t see what you want or would like to receive an email when new photos are up on the site, send us an email at info@cheshirecatphoto.com.

The Sayre Fire, in the northern San Fernando Valley, forced 10,000 people from their homes and burned 8000 acres. As of this evening, the Sayre Fire is only 20% contained. More than 5000 residents of Sylmar were ordered to flee their homes today, and 165 homes plus 500 mobile homes were destroyed today. At least 1000 more homes were threatened. At times today, interstate highways 5, 405, and 210 were closed by the fires.

A brush fire that began in Corona, south of Los Angeles, moved into Yorba Linda and destroyed at least 265 apartments and homes and burned 800-1000 acres. The fire caused at least 14,000 people to flee their homes. A second fire is also burning through Orange County.

High voltage power lines along the I-5 corridor were also threatened today, and rotating power outages, as well as re-routing electrical power, were used as workarounds after power through the threatened lines was turned off for the safety of firefighters.

CNN has provided a map to assist folks unfamiliar with the area.

-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™

You can view higher-resolution photos (*generally* 7-30 megabytes, compressed) at the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™, where you can also order prints and gifts decorated with the photos of your choice from the gallery. Apparel and other gifts decorated with some of our most popular photos can be ordered from the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Store on CafePress®. Both Shutterfly™ and CafePress® ship to most international locations worldwide! If you don’t see what you want or would like to receive an email when new photos are up on the site, send us an email at info@cheshirecatphoto.com.

The oceanside enclave of Montecito, which was affected by the fire, contains the homes of a number of celebrities, including those of Oprah Winfrey, Michael Douglas, and Rob Lowe. Hundreds of students at Westmont College spent the night in a fireproof gymnasium, as the fire destroyed eight campus buildings. (Note added November 17, 2008: A later report said that the campus itself was spared, but that fire burned 15 faculty homes nearby.)

(Note added November 15, 2008: I remember driving through Montecito with my family when one of our children attended the University of California, Santa Barbara. My recollections are of VERY steep streets, sweeping views of the ocean, and tall shrubberies (1, 2) blocking views of the multi-million-dollar mansions described above. Also, I suspect that the “modest ranch style homes” described above cost in excess of $1 million, and they may fall into the category of “multi-million-dollar-modest-ranch-style homes” that is so common a category in California.)

Less than a week ago, I wrote about the end of the 2008 fire season in a number of California counties that have received significant rain. The hills of the East Bay are starting to turn green from the growth of new blades of grass after a storm on November 1 brought significant rain to the Bay Area.

The fire season in California ends on a county-by-county basis. We wish firefighters good weather conditions for fighting the blaze in Santa Barbara County.

-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™

You can view higher-resolution photos (*generally* 7-30 megabytes, compressed) at the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™, where you can also order prints and gifts decorated with the photos of your choice from the gallery. Apparel and other gifts decorated with some of our most popular photos can be ordered from the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Store on CafePress®. Both Shutterfly™ and CafePress® ship to most international locations worldwide! If you don’t see what you want or would like to receive an email when new photos are up on the site, send us an email at info@cheshirecatphoto.com.

More than 5 million people registered to participate in the drill, which is billed as the largest such drill in history. The drill was part of the Great Southern California ShakeOut, which is a week-long series of events organized by emergency officials and scientists to prepare people for a major earthquake, which is “overdue.” There is a 99% chance of California experiencing an earthquake of magnitude 6.7 (that of the 1994 Northridge earthquake) or greater within the next 30 years, according to the Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast sponsored by the USGS.

-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™

You can view higher-resolution photos (*generally* 7-30 megabytes, compressed) at the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™, where you can also order prints and gifts decorated with the photos of your choice from the gallery. Apparel and other gifts decorated with some of our most popular photos can be ordered from the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Store on CafePress®. Both Shutterfly™ and CafePress® ship to most international locations worldwide! If you don’t see what you want or would like to receive an email when new photos are up on the site, send us an email at info@cheshirecatphoto.com.

I was quite honored this evening to accept an “Honorable Mention” certificate and ribbon for a photograph that I submitted to the Livermore Art Association “Bank on It” art show at the US Bank in Livermore, California. I had submitted two photos, and the award was given for the photo above (11×14 inches, matted and framed to 16×20 inches), taken at Dana Meadows on the Tioga Road through Yosemite National Park.

One of the most interesting things about the photo (and several others of the scene) to me is that the series of photographs almost did not happen! As I said in the orginal blog entry about the trip to Mono Lake by the Tioga Road, way back in September of 2007:

“After reentering Yosemite, we stopped so that I could photograph the two mountains to the east, reflected in an alpine lake, and becoming brightly lit in the setting sun. At this point, I had to make a decision - should I photograph one more location before dark?…or should I stay at this location for what promised to be a spectacular sunset? I moved on, capturing a mountain stream lit by the sunset, which turned out to be spectacular, although I rushed to set up equipment so that I would not miss it. I hoped that I will be able to return, another year.

Hopefully, I made the correct decision.”

I revisited the decision about staying at this place to photograph Mount Dana and Mount Gibbs, or to move on to the place I took the Dana Meadows photo, in a later blog entry. It was the classic “should I stay or should I go” decision that photographers, who wonder, “how can you be in two places at once, when you’re not anywhere at all” have to make all of the time. I am glad that I moved on and was able to photograph a scene that judges deemed worthy of an honorable mention and that one person liked well enough on a calendar to walk off with a sample! (She later paid for it.) I guess that I made the correct decision that day, but you never know until later!

The “Bank on It” art show has many, many pieces of art, of exceptionally fine quality. I am honored to have my work in the presence of works from these other artists! I thank the Livermore Art Association and the judges for the honor! The show will run until November 19. If you are in the area, please stop by, and be sure to thank the folks at US Bank for their support of the arts!

(Note added November 16, 2008: The “Bank on It” art show has been E-X-T-E-N-D-E-D to December 4! Thank you, US Bank!)

-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™

You can view higher-resolution photos (*generally* 7-30 megabytes, compressed) at the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™, where you can also order prints and gifts decorated with the photos of your choice from the gallery. Apparel and other gifts decorated with some of our most popular photos can be ordered from the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Store on CafePress®. Both Shutterfly™ and CafePress® ship to most international locations worldwide! If you don’t see what you want or would like to receive an email when new photos are up on the site, send us an email at info@cheshirecatphoto.com.

Current Media, a cable network co-founded by Al Gore, laid off 60, with 30 new positions created, in its San Francisco and Los Angeles offices. Also, the blogging software developer, Six Apart, laid off about 8% of its 200-plus staff today. Interestingly, in the Six Apart case, managers have taken 15% pay cuts, something that I have not seen or heard about in high tech. The cases that I have seen or heard about usually result in a decrease in middle-wage jobs with an increase in lower-wage jobs and very little (in any) effect on the higher-wage positions (i.e., “management”). This personal observation was also the finding reported in the 2008 Index of Silicon Valley.

Since unemployment is a “lagging” economic indicator, the large increase in unemployment seen nationally in October and continuing into November seems to be in agreement with Steven Levy’s (director and senior economist at the Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy in Palo Alto) earlier statement that we are at the end of the housing-driven recession and at the beginning of the “consumer-driven” recession. The unemployment numbers for California and other states for October 2008 will not be released until November 21, at 10 A.M. Eastern Time.

-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™

You can view higher-resolution photos (*generally* 7-30 megabytes, compressed) at the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™, where you can also order prints and gifts decorated with the photos of your choice from the gallery. Apparel and other gifts decorated with some of our most popular photos can be ordered from the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Store on CafePress®. Both Shutterfly™ and CafePress® ship to most international locations worldwide! If you don’t see what you want or would like to receive an email when new photos are up on the site, send us an email at info@cheshirecatphoto.com.

In it’s FQ4, Apple reported selling 6.9 million iPhones, more than during all previous quarters combined.

In another study, RIM Blackberry had twice the failure rate of the iPhone, and Palm’s Treo had ALMOST three times the failure rate of the iPhone.

See, it is no wonder that one of my earlier employers had standardized on Treo! (Yes, they had standardized on XP, too!)

-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™

You can view higher-resolution photos (*generally* 7-30 megabytes, compressed) at the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™, where you can also order prints and gifts decorated with the photos of your choice from the gallery. Apparel and other gifts decorated with some of our most popular photos can be ordered from the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Store on CafePress®. Both Shutterfly™ and CafePress® ship to most international locations worldwide! If you don’t see what you want or would like to receive an email when new photos are up on the site, send us an email at info@cheshirecatphoto.com.

The Point Montara Lighthouse was first established in 1875 and originally had a kerosene lantern, which was upgraded to a fourth order Fresnel lens in 1912. The tower of the lighthouse in Montara was first built in Wellfleet, Massachusetts as the Mayo Beach Lighthouse. When the lighthouse in Wellfleet was discontinued, the tower was moved to Yerba Buena and moved and rebuilt as the Point Montara Light station in 1928. The lens was transferred to the San Mateo Historical Society when the lighthouse was automated in 1970.

In 2001, the hostel at the Point Montara Light was used as a location in the film “Bandits,” which stars Bruce Willis, Cate Blanchett, and Billy Bob Thorton. The location was converted to resemble a small roadside inn.

I will add photos of the lighthouse to this blog entry when they have been processed.

-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™

You can view higher-resolution photos (*generally* 7-30 megabytes, compressed) at the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™, where you can also order prints and gifts decorated with the photos of your choice from the gallery. Apparel and other gifts decorated with some of our most popular photos can be ordered from the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Store on CafePress®. Both Shutterfly™ and CafePress® ship to most international locations worldwide! If you don’t see what you want or would like to receive an email when new photos are up on the site, send us an email at info@cheshirecatphoto.com.

The Monday end date will also coincide with the end of fire season in Sonoma, Lake, Napa, Yolo, Solano, and Colusa counties. Fire season ended for Cal Fire’s San Mateo-Santa Cruz unit last Monday.

The end of fire season is one thing to celebrate in California amid few others, during the increased unemployment nationally in October that seems to be continuing in all economic sectors of the country in November.

-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™

You can view higher-resolution photos (*generally* 7-30 megabytes, compressed) at the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™, where you can also order prints and gifts decorated with the photos of your choice from the gallery. Apparel and other gifts decorated with some of our most popular photos can be ordered from the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Store on CafePress®. Both Shutterfly™ and CafePress® ship to most international locations worldwide! If you don’t see what you want or would like to receive an email when new photos are up on the site, send us an email at info@cheshirecatphoto.com.

The next information release on regional and state unemployment will be on November 21, 2008.

It would be interesting to learn whether the theoreticians of Harvard Business School still believe that up to 42% of U.S. jobs could be offshored. There should be a lot fewer of those jobs in existence by now… and we have seen what unemployment in the mere 6-7% range has done to the economy.

-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™

You can view higher-resolution photos (*generally* 7-30 megabytes, compressed) at the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™, where you can also order prints and gifts decorated with the photos of your choice from the gallery. Apparel and other gifts decorated with some of our most popular photos can be ordered from the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Store on CafePress®. Both Shutterfly™ and CafePress® ship to most international locations worldwide! If you don’t see what you want or would like to receive an email when new photos are up on the site, send us an email at info@cheshirecatphoto.com.

The Livermore Art Association (LAA) is sponsoring the “Bank on It” Art Show (FREE, open to the public) at the US Bank, 2125 Second Street, Livermore, CA 94550 from today through December 4. There is a reception on Wednesday, November 12, from 3:30-5:00 PM. Today was “Receiving,” and I got to catch glimpses of a few of the literally WONDERFUL paintings and photographs as they were being received for the show, as well as a chance to submit two of my photographs (11×14 inches, matted and framed to 16×20 inches) of Dana Meadows, Yosemite (on the Tioga Road), and Point Sur.

Quite coincidentally, the photography team that I captain (one of two photography teams in LAA) currently has 15 photographs (of which four are mine) on the walls of the bank SURROUNDING the “Bank on It” Art Show central exhibits. The photos on the walls will be at US Bank until January 7, 2009. The wall photographs are also for sale, along with many of the paintings and photographs on exhibit at the show.

I personally would like to thank the US Bank in Livermore, on behalf of LAA, for being such a strong champion of the arts in Livermore, along with some of the other local businesses in town!

If you live in Livermore, near Livermore, or are visiting the area, plan on a vist to the “Bank on It” show!

You won’t be disappointed! (And “you can take THAT to the bank!”)

-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™

You can view higher-resolution photos (*generally* 7-30 megabytes, compressed) at the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™, where you can also order prints and gifts decorated with the photos of your choice from the gallery. Apparel and other gifts decorated with some of our most popular photos can be ordered from the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Store on CafePress®. Both Shutterfly™ and CafePress® ship to most international locations worldwide! If you don’t see what you want or would like to receive an email when new photos are up on the site, send us an email at info@cheshirecatphoto.com.

Crichton was also controversial, with his skepticism of global climate change. He won an Emmy, a Peabody, and a Writers Guild of America Award (for “ER“).

-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™

You can view higher-resolution photos (*generally* 7-30 megabytes, compressed) at the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™, where you can also order prints and gifts decorated with the photos of your choice from the gallery. Apparel and other gifts decorated with some of our most popular photos can be ordered from the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Store on CafePress®. Both Shutterfly™ and CafePress® ship to most international locations worldwide! If you don’t see what you want or would like to receive an email when new photos are up on the site, send us an email at info@cheshirecatphoto.com.

1) California is not a “battleground state.” For that reason, we did not get to see all of the contentious TV commercials that were directed to you folks in battleground states, for which I am very thankful, indeed! California is a state in which Presidential candidates or their proxies “dropped in, grabbed a few million dollars, and flew out.” California is very divided though. The heavily populated coast votes Democrat, and the inland areas are predominantly Republican. I have commented that the Central Valley “looks a lot like Indiana with mountains on both sides” and the resemblance extends to politics.

2) The words “…when you’ve got to choose, anyway you look at it you lose” of the Simon and Garfunkel song, “Mrs. Robinson” kept running through my mind during the whole campaign.

3) California LOVES laws (and some folks even think that people OBEY them)! I have mentioned that the California General Assembly loves to pass laws, but cannot seem to pass a budget. A lot of times, the failure of the General Assembly to deal with politically sensitive issues means that these issues wind up on the ballot as initiatives, etc. There were 14 of these beasts (my wife told me that one was printed on our ballots by mistake and will not be counted) on the ballot that I cast - it was probably even worse in places like San Francisco. Many of these are poorly written (read “will wind up in court”), with only “guesstimates” of how much they will cost taxpayers.

4) Proposition 8: One of the issues was “Proposition 8″ which (and I quote), “Eliminates right of same-sex couples to marry. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.” Needless to say, there was a lot of controversy over this one, and record amounts of money spent by both sides. When I arrived at my work this morning, there were folks picketing with regard to this issue, and they were standing too close to the polling place. An administrator had them move to a legal distance from the polling place.

5) My computer voice, “Vicky,” just told me that it is 5 o’clock. Since daylight savings time expired on Sunday morning, even places like Arizona that do not “celebrate” daylight savings time are one hour ahead of us. Since it is 5 PM here, the polls in the Eastern Time Zone, which extends to Ohio and Michigan, are closing! (I never can figure out Indiana, which at one time decided on daylight savings time on a “county-by-county” basis. The reasoning was, “The cows know what time it is.”) So soon, I will walk downstairs, flip on the TV and find out who won! Meanwhile, the polls are open for three more hours in California.

6) The best news for me is that the commercials about the issues will be stopping soon! I received a phone call about a candidate for the California General Assembly at about 4 PM. I cut that call short by telling the person that I had already voted.

Happy Election Night folks! And let’s hope that we don’t get the kind of government that we truly deserve….

-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™

You can view higher-resolution photos (*generally* 7-30 megabytes, compressed) at the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™, where you can also order prints and gifts decorated with the photos of your choice from the gallery. Apparel and other gifts decorated with some of our most popular photos can be ordered from the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Store on CafePress®. Both Shutterfly™ and CafePress® ship to most international locations worldwide! If you don’t see what you want or would like to receive an email when new photos are up on the site, send us an email at info@cheshirecatphoto.com.

We heard Neil Young with Crosby, Stills, and Nash on my birthday a few years ago at “Whatever-the-name-of-the-week-is” Coliseum (”Who cares? They’re always changing - corporation names.”) in San Jose, where the San Jose Sharks play hockey. The band has special meaning for us from our college days, and we never thought that we would be able to hear them live, for the first time, in our 50s.

The CNET article above and the accompanying YouTube video are fascinating. Neil Young seems to be bringing that passion and “youthful” energy to the greening of this classic vehicle that he has always brought to his music. Young is working with Jonathan Goodwin, who has a history of greening Hummers and “muscle cars,” on the project.

-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™

You can view higher-resolution photos (*generally* 7-30 megabytes, compressed) at the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™, where you can also order prints and gifts decorated with the photos of your choice from the gallery. Apparel and other gifts decorated with some of our most popular photos can be ordered from the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Store on CafePress®. Both Shutterfly™ and CafePress® ship to most international locations worldwide! If you don’t see what you want or would like to receive an email when new photos are up on the site, send us an email at info@cheshirecatphoto.com.

Fort Funston defended the San Francisco Bay Area for a long time. We paid a short visit to the fort a few years ago - just long enough to see some of the fortifications and to learn that Nike Ajax missiles had once been stored under the site of the current parking lot. Today I decided to test nature photographer John Shaw’s assertion that bad weather is GOOD weather for photography, and to shoot Fort Funston during a period of scattered showers, after the major rains of the weekend had moved on.

Around 1890. army engineers who were planning new defenses of San Francisco Bay proposed the construction of two mortar batteries between Laguna de la Merced (Lake of Mercy, Lake Merced) and the Pacific Ocean. A “friendly” condemnation suit resulted in the purchase by the Federal Government, in December 1900, of about 45 acres of land at $900/acre, from the Spring Valley Water Company. The land became the Lake Merced Military Reservation. No construction occurred until World War I, when in February 1917,  a temporary battery for four 12-inch mortars (Battery Howe) and another for two 5-inch rapid fire guns (Battery Bruff) were constructed. On June 26, 1917, Lake Merced Military reservation was renamed Fort Funston for Major General Frederick Funston, who had died in February.

Today, two of the most dramatic features of Fort Funston are the remnants of Battery Richmond P. Davis (San Francisco Defense Area Site SF-61R). Two (1, 2) 16-inch guns comprised the battery, which was the first of such 16-inch batteries in the Bay Area and the first casemated heavy caliber battery in the United States. The shells fired by the 16-inch guns weighed 2100 pounds each. Each of the two barrels weighed 146 tons. Construction of Battery Richmond P. Davis began in October 1936. The tubes for the guns were ones that had been manufactured for the 35,000 ton battle cruiser U.S.S. Saratoga, the construction of which had been stopped by the Treaty of Washington. The ship was converted into an aircraft carrier, instead. The guns had a range of more than 26 miles, an effective range of 44,000 yards, and a field of fire of 145 degrees (1). Each gun was attended by 35 soldiers. By 1948, the guns were obsolete as the result of air power and nuclear weapons. The guns were cut up and sold as scrap.

The Nike Ajax (Western Electric SAM-A-7/M1/MIM-3 Nike Ajax) launch area SF59-L was located between the Administration Area and the former Battery Richmond P. Davis area. The Launcher Area is now part of the parking lot (1, 2). The Launcher Area consisted of 12 launchers and three magazines (underground storage bunkers) that held a total of 30 MIM-3 Nike Ajax multi-stage surface-to-air missiles. The Administration (1) and Launcher Areas of San Francisco Defense Area site SF-59 were turned over to the National Park Service on October 27, 1972 and are now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Today, however, it seemed that all of Fort Funston was occupied by the dogs of San Francisco, and their owners (1). I started out by photographing the southern view from the park (1, 2, 3), described by this article (note the caveat). I then shot portions of the Nike Ajax Launcher Area and some views of San Francisco neighborhoods to the northeast (1, 2). I shot one of the Battery Davis 16-inch gun emplacements (1), and a dog ran up and barked at me from immediately behind, while I was looking through the viewfinder! I yelled at him and threatened to bite him (I’ve had my shots)! I then made my way to the other gun emplacement (1). The path through both gun emplacements was flooded (1) by the heavy rains of yesterday, so I traveled back the way I came (1), along the sandy bluff (1, 2). I met several dogs and owners along the way. I finished the shoot with photographs of hang gliders on the ground (1, 2), World War II observation posts (”end stations” 1, 2, 3) surrounded by a modern observation deck, and folks flying radio-controlled gliders from the bluffs (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). (Web cam and wind conditions are here.)

I will add photographs to this entry when they have been processed (done), and make them accessible from other areas of the site. The clouds, fog streaming UP the bluffs (1), and all of the people (1)and dogs (1) made the day quite remarkable and enjoyable!

-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™

You can view higher-resolution photos (*generally* 7-30 megabytes, compressed) at the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™, where you can also order prints and gifts decorated with the photos of your choice from the gallery. Apparel and other gifts decorated with some of our most popular photos can be ordered from the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Store on CafePress®. Both Shutterfly™ and CafePress® ship to most international locations worldwide! If you don’t see what you want or would like to receive an email when new photos are up on the site, send us an email at info@cheshirecatphoto.com.

The storm may have enough rain to bring rainfall totals to “normal” for the entire month of November and make up for a dry October, which would be really great news after two years of severe drought!

Rain started to come into the Bay Area on Thursday early afternoon, as I raced the storm home on my year 2000 Honda Shadow Spirit. Although a good bit of water rolled off my windshield and visor, I got only slightly wet. The bulk of the rainfall is coming to the Bay Area today! Those of you who receive rainfall during any month of the year probably cannot appreciate our excitement, especially since announcements of cutbacks in water allocations.

I usually monitor rain in the Bay Area at the National Weather Service site and at the KCBS Doppler radar site. From the National Weather Service radars, I can see that rain is falling over much of the state of California!

-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™

You can view higher-resolution photos (*generally* 7-30 megabytes, compressed) at the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™, where you can also order prints and gifts decorated with the photos of your choice from the gallery. Apparel and other gifts decorated with some of our most popular photos can be ordered from the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Store on CafePress®. Both Shutterfly™ and CafePress® ship to most international locations worldwide! If you don’t see what you want or would like to receive an email when new photos are up on the site, send us an email at info@cheshirecatphoto.com.