Larry Frantzen

The Magic of Lanterns

2009-10-26T14:11:00.000-07:00

Every year in the Montreal Botanical Gardens Chinese Garden a celebration of light is presented. This years celebration is from September 11 to November 1. The lanterns created for the 2009 edition are inspired by classic images from Chinese astronomy and instruments from the Beijing Ancient Observatory. The Lantern Festival, as celebrated in China, is a tradition that dates back to the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.), the second and the longest dynasty in Imperial China. This evening celebration is held during the New Year cycle of festivities, as adults and children carrying lanterns stroll through the streets at dusk. Traditional motifs of plants, animals and mythical scenes, once fashioned from paper and silk, are now often made out of nylon and other modern materials. The sight of all these people out strolling with their own sources of light is splendidly festive. The lanterns at the Botanical Garden are handcrafted by skilful artists here and in China. They are designed in Montréal and produced in Shanghai, with traditional methods. Then they are brought by ship to Montréal and painstakingly arranged at the Botanical Garden to create an absolutely magical spectacle. Joan and I were fortunate to be in Montreal during the celebration. Although we were not able to be attend the evening show, we were there in the late afternoon and got an idea of the effect. Even at that time of day, the lanterns and displays were really beautiful.

Reno Balloon Races 2009

2009-09-16T15:16:00.000-07:00

September 18, 2009 opening day 7:00 am at Rancho San Rafael Park in Reno.

Just got back from a fun weekend chasing (and riding in) balloons. Justin Kingsinger is now flying his grandfather's balloon know as Bob's Cat, which is shown in the next 2 photos. Bob Kinsinger was one of the pioneers of hot air balloon meets in the US. He has flown his balloon in 32 different countries. We will have to wait and see if Justin can top that.

Bob's Cat.

Justin in on the right and he has 2 students from UNR flying with him.

The Mayflower balloon

This is Joey Little Bee. His sister Lilly Little Bee is close by.

The Energizer Hot Hare keeps on going and going and going.

Centre Stage presented by Wells Fargo Bank

This is a replica of the Breitling Orbiter 3, the first balloon to circumnavigate the globe. The original balloon was 180 feet high and used a combination of hot air and helium to fly.

I didn't get the name of this beautiful balloon.

Idaho waterfalls

2009-06-20T19:24:00.000-07:00

We are on a trip thru Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Washington and Oregon. These are pictures of some Idaho waterfalls.

Shoshone Falls is among the most spectacular of natural beauties along the Snake River. At 212 feet, the falls are higher than Niagara Falls.

Idaho Falls in the city of the same name is created by a man-made diversion dam used for hydroelectric power. Before the dam was created, this was just a bunch of small rapids. Now, the Snake River makes a drop of about 20 ft. or so over a width of 1200 ft.

Sculptures, Flowers & Fountains

2009-06-11T09:04:00.001-07:00

Fountain at Heavenly Village, South Lake Tahoe

Fountain at Squaw Valley

The Blues Brothers

These 2 horses are from Gallery Keoki in Squaw Valley

Lake Tahoe Views

2009-06-10T21:02:00.000-07:00

Joan and I recently spent the weekend at Lake Tahoe to watch Bob Newhart's show on the one day he was appearing at Harrah's South Shore Room. Stayed at a hotel on the shores of the lake and the following pictures are views from the hotel beach and the pier. These short trips are a great way to get away from it all.

Be sure to scroll around to get the full view after you click on the picture.

Harrah's and Harvey's Clubs across the lake.

These are not rubber duckys!

A few Monterey peninsula scenes.

2009-04-24T10:37:00.000-07:00

This is the requisite shot of the lone cypress tree on the 17-mile drive. Several million pictures have probably been taken by now.

Following are some of the sheep at Mission Ranch, which is owned by Clint Eastwood. You can rent rooms in the bunkhouse or stay in several of the old farm buildings.

Carmel & Monterey flowers

2009-04-22T14:36:00.001-07:00

Spring is a wonderful time of the year to visit the Monterey peninsula in California. The flowers that bloom by the ocean are gorgeous.

Edgemere Cottages

2009-04-22T14:20:00.000-07:00

This is Piccadilly cottage where we stayed in Carmel-by-the Sea. It is part of the Edgemere cottages property and was built in 1912. The owner grew up here, left home for 20 years, and then returned to manage and update the property. It will be beautiful when they finish all of the renovations in a year or so. It is one block from the beach.

This is Magenta, one of 2 resident cats. We only saw the other one once. Magenta likes to come in and visit the guests.

Yard ornaments are scattered about the property. I didn't ask where they came from.

Point Lobos

2009-04-16T17:55:00.001-07:00

I took these pictures on our recent visit to Point Lobos State Reserve.

Information about the reserve can be found at

http://pt-lobos.parks.state.ca.us/

Flutterbys

2009-04-16T13:11:00.001-07:00

Following are some Monarch butterflies sitting on, what else, butterfly bushes! These butterflys overwinter in Pacific Grove, where these pictures were taken.

Just Ducky

2009-04-07T22:00:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across this car in the parking lot of The Inn & Links of Spanish Bay in Monterey. It proves that some people will collect just about anything!

Chrysanthemums

2008-11-18T21:27:00.000-08:00

It always amazes me how you can live in one place for nearly 40 years and still not be aware of some of the interesting places that exist in the surrounding area. I just read in the newspaper that after more than 40 years, Ted King was selling his nursery and the operation was moving to Oregon. King's Mums is know throughout the nation for its stunning variety of chrysanthemums. His was the last nursery in the country catering to retail business. Since it was closing at the end of the month, we decided to take a look and were astounded at what we found there. I had no idea there were so many varieties of mums. Enjoy the flowers!

The above flowers are trained by tieing them onto chicken wire. It takes one season to achieve this look.

As you can see, mums can also be trained as bonsai.

Autumn in Apple Hill

2008-11-03T16:02:00.000-08:00

Autumn is in the air. What better time to go up to Apple Hill in Camino, California and see the sights.

Lots of apples just waiting to be taken home.

Cute crafts for sale.

Pretty flower baskets.

Need a pre-decorated pumpkin?

Spaghetti squash.

The above is probably the largest collection of apple peelers in the world!

Pretty good crop of pumpkins.

High Mountain flowers

2008-07-18T15:22:00.001-07:00

These pictures were taken July 13th in the Mammoth Lakes area. The wildflowers in the area are just gorgeous, as you can see from the following photos.

Best Show on Tracks

2008-06-26T16:45:00.000-07:00

I attended the Best Show on Tracks at the Dan Best ranch in Woodland, California on Sunday, June 22nd, just before the State of California went up in smoke! It was the largest collection of Best, Holt and Caterpillar tractors assembled in one place. There were over 400 tractors from all over the world in attendance. I only took 129 pictures of which I have included some examples here.

The first pictures are of a 1905 Holt harvester being pulled by a 27 mule team.

Lots of steam tractors were operating during the day.

Note the size of these tractors!

This is a bale press. Hay from the stack is raised onto the platform and raked into an opening. The horses are then driven around in a circle which causes a press to push up from the bottom and form a bale in the box above the opening. The bale is then manually wrapped with baling wire and then the press is released, the door is opened, and out comes a bale of hay. As you can imagine, it took a long time to process all of the hay into bales.

California Poppies

2008-04-22T21:32:00.000-07:00

My wife and I were driving along east of Palmdale, California recently and noticed a reference on the map to the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve. Although we didn't stop at the reserve itself, following are some of the scenes in the area. The last 2 years these fields were all brown due to drought conditions, but this year the fields have come alive with poppies. Since it was extremely windy, the flower petals are closed up, but the orange color of the poppies was a sight to behold. They only bloom from March thru May so we were fortunate to be able to see them. You can see why they are the California state flower.

California State Flower

California Poppy

Eschscholtzia californica

California Indians cherished the poppy as both a source of food and for oil extracted from the plant. Its botanical name, Eschsholtzia californica, was given by Adelbert Von Chamisso, a naturalist and member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, who dropped anchor in San Francisco in 1816 in a bay surrounded by hills of the golden flowers. Also sometimes known as the flame flower, la amapola, and copa de oro (cup of gold), the poppy grows wild throughout California. It became the state flower in 1903. Every year April 6 is California Poppy Day, and Governor Wilson proclaimed May 13-18, 1996, Poppy Week.

More roses

2008-04-22T21:11:00.000-07:00

I have been traveling around for the last few weeks and when I returned home, the rest of my roses had bloomed. Due to favorable weather conditions, they are truly spectacular this year.

This rose is called Ultimate Pink.

This one is called Mellow Yellow and is one of the most fragrant roses available.

The above are called Double Delight and have pink, white & yellow blossoms.

This rose is called Honor.

The roses are all hybrid tea roses.

Joy of flowers

2008-04-07T14:34:00.000-07:00

The weather this year has been perfect for flowers! Following are a few random shots from our yard.

These flowers really are crocus although they grew much taller than usual this year!

This hybrid tea is known at In The Mood and is the first bloom of 4 different bushes that line one side of my driveway.

Spring has sprung again

2008-03-19T15:19:00.000-07:00

This article appeared in the Sacramento Bee so Joan and I decided to go have a look. Following are photos of what we found.

It's easy to miss the short driveway into the Jensen Botanical Garden in Carmichael. Traffic on busy, bustling Fair Oaks Boulevard flies by with hardly a sideways glance. You have to look closely for the small wooden sign and the iron gate.

Make the turn, though, and you'll be spilled into a different world. Suddenly you're in a small dirt parking lot tucked among oaks and redwoods and a garden of uncommon beauty. In front of you, a garden paradise entices you to explore, to walk along the wide dirt paths and enjoy spring's crisp beauty.

A creeklike drainage ditch, lined with bright green tufts of white-flowering allium, meanders along one side of the parking lot. Choruses of croaking frogs almost drown out the hum of the road noise. Birds fill the trees with cacophonous chatter.

A slightly dilapidated covered wooden bridge, an Eagle Scout project from many years ago, lures you into the garden where thousands of daffodils grace a swale at the top of the garden. A thousand tulips, just beginning to bloom, carpet the ground beneath a towering, gnarled heritage oak. The deciduous magnolias, snow white and deep purple, are already open. There's tomato-red quince, bright yellow forsythia, lavender and purple violets hugging the ground, and glorious camellias, some so old they've grown into small trees.

The site was once home to Charles and Marguerite Jensen. The couple moved to the 3.5-acre site in 1958, and Charles Jensen vowed to turn the blackberry-choked property into a garden paradise. And he did. He planted 900 azaleas, 100 rhododendrons and 30 varieties of magnolia, as well as numerous dogwoods, Japanese maples, camellias and more.

More patterns

2008-03-06T20:24:00.001-08:00

I am still experimenting with pictures of various patterns of everyday objects found around my yard.

Patterns, etc.

2008-03-03T15:14:00.001-08:00

It was such a beautiful weekend that we decided to enjoy the false spring and take a wander thru Old Sacramento. We had lunch on the deck at the Rio City Cafe and watched the muddy river flowing buy. There was no boat traffic for some reason. I decided to experiment with the camera and take a few pictures of patterns. I think I may explore this a little bit more. Following is a potpourri of boardwalk, patterns and floral things.

Capay Valley

2008-03-01T21:18:00.000-08:00

We took a ride to Capay Valley on Saturday since the weather was so pretty this weekend. Following are some valley scenes.

Fields of mustard look pretty in the sunshine.

Almond trees are starting to bloom.

Not sure what these are, but they look interesting.

Sonoma Valley

2007-12-05T19:33:00.000-08:00

Interesting building in Cloverdale

on the way to Sonoma Valley

Closeup of the chimney in the previous photo.

Above are more flowers found in the Sonoma Valley

Below are 2 varieties of grapes with their fall leaves

More Sonoma coast

2007-12-02T18:55:00.001-08:00

The watch guard!

Interesting growth on the rocks at the beach.

Mussels

Sonoma coast trees and flowers

2007-12-02T18:47:00.000-08:00

Trees at Point Arena

Interesting formation at Sea Ranch

Following are plants at Seacliff Motel

Sonoma coast

2007-11-28T19:13:00.000-08:00

My wife and I went to the Sonoma Coast on November 11 to celebrate my birthday. We stayed at the Seacliff Lodge which is on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

This is the Point Arena lighthouse, which was built in 1870, destroyed by an earthquake in April 1906 and rebuilt and resumed operation in 1908, 18 months after the earthquake. It was the first lighthouse to be built using reinforced concrete and was built by a company that built factory smokestacks. The lighthouse stands 115 feet tall.

This is looking up from the base of the lighthouse at the 133 steps I climbed to get to the top.

This is a 1st order Fresnel lens. It is 6 feet in diameter and weighs over 6 tons. It is composed of 666 hand-ground glass prisms which were carried up the steps one piece at a time! Everything else was brought up with a winch. More history of the lighthouse can be found at www.mcn.org/1/palight/about.html

Waves alongside the lighthouse.

The view from the top of the lighthouse.

These signs were seen on a cafe on the way to and from the lighthouse.

This was the scene outside of our motel.

Sunset at the end of a beautiful day from our motel room window.

Graphic design

2007-09-10T20:31:00.001-07:00

I have been experimenting with my CorelDraw software to see what king of graphic designs I can make with it. This is my first attempt. There will be more to follow as I get more proficient with design. FYI, if you are creating a jpeg for Blogger, you have to use the RGB color palette and not CMYK for the colors to show correctly.

This is a variation of the center part that I started out with:

Fall flowers

2007-09-06T14:43:00.000-07:00

Ah, the rewards of patience. I caught this fellow sitting on one of my Arizona Sun Indian Blanket flowers. He is know as a metallic green bee, genus Agapostemon.

The foregoing show the Arizona Sun Indian Blanket flowers in their various forms as they prepared to spread their seeds. They really get some interesting shapes
Found these out amongst my primroses.

Wild sweet peas which we obtained from seed in Elko years ago are near the end of their blooming season.
This is the first dahlia I have every grown. The flowers are about 2 inches across. Maybe they will be bigger next year.

I love the vivid colors of these plants. I think they are dianthus.
Fuschias are really pretty this time of year.
Looking pretty in red and white.
The holly tree is really happy right now. I have never seen so many berries forming on it. Must be a sign of something, maybe a long, hard winter?

I have removed all of my vinca majors (periwinkle) from the backyard planting area which I am redoing with plants and pavers. Should have pictures of the results next spring.

Queen Victoria Building, Sydney, Australia

2007-08-15T13:57:00.000-07:00

The Queen Victoria Building, now know as the QVB, was designed by George McRae and completed in 1868. It replace the original markets that were on the site. It was built as a monument to Queen Victoria during a time of recession in Sydney. The Romanesque architecture was specially designed to employ the craftsmen of the time. The QVB fills an entire city block. It was remodeled in the 1930's and threatened with demolition in 1959. It is now filled with shops and is perhaps the grandest building in Sydney.

These stained glass windows are over one of the entrances to the building. The dominant feature of the building is a large dome but I didn't get a picture of it.

There are 3 large clocks in the building, one in the middle and one on each end.

This is the most interesting clock in the building. It is the Great Australian clock and weights 4 tonnes and is 10 meters tall. The dioramas include 33 scenes from Australian history. Everything revolves in a circle. If you look closely on the right side you can see an Aboriginal hunter who revolves around the clock and represents the never-ending passage of time. The various sections indicate the time, day of the week, and date. I spent a lot of time watching things move. It is very fascinating.

And here is the queen herself, prominently displayed in a glass cabinet on the second level.

If you have a fear of heights, don't climb these stairs!

New Zealand waterfalls

2007-08-01T15:36:00.000-07:00

I thought you might enjoy looking at some cool waterfalls during this hot summer weather. Please excuse the bus window reflections in the first 2 photos.

These were taken at the Chasms on the road from Te Anau to Milford Sound.

The following are pictures of Stirling Falls on Milford Sound.

New Zealand flora

2007-08-01T13:17:00.000-07:00

You have probably heard what a beautiful place New Zealand is. Following are some of the reasons.

This is a typical backyard in Christchurch! The Avon flows in front of it and one of the pastimes in the area is punting on the Avon. Christchurch is known as the most English city in New Zealand

This is the Futuro house. Finnish architect Matti Surronen designed and built 96 of these ovaloid flying-saucer like houses in the 1960's. This one happens to have landed in the Christchurch Botanical Gardens.

Sydney Harbour & Opera House

2007-07-29T19:13:00.000-07:00

This is the traditional view of the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
These bridge photos were taken on March 19, 2007, which was the 75th anniversary of the bridge. Yes, those are people on top of the bridge. They are taking the famous bridge walk. We didn't go because all the spots were reserved for the day. Maybe another time!
Following are some views of the Sydney Opera House. It is one of the most spectacular buildings I have ever seen. They didn't allow photos in the theatres, so if you want to see them, you will have to go to the official website.

As can be seen by this picture, the roof sails are spheroidal, like being cut out of an orange.

One of the first things you notice about the roof when you get up close is that the tiles on the opera house do appear white like they do from a distance. There are actually several different shades of tile on the roof. We also learned that the tiles are coated in such a way that they are self cleaning.
There is a wealth of information about the opera house on the web and I can't even attempt to cover all of that. Suffice it to say that if you ever get a chance, it is well worth the 16 hour flight to get there.

New Zealand's Southern Alps

2007-05-02T17:02:00.000-07:00

These pictures were taken in the Southern Alps of New Zealand, some of the most beautiful mountains in the world.

Morning mist

As you can see, everything is covered with vegetation

The following picture is what is known as a hanging glacier on the side of the mountain

Taken on the flight to Queensland in the Cessna. Not a good place for a landing!

Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne, Australia

2007-04-05T15:09:00.000-07:00

As long as we are on the subject of flowers, here are some pictures I took at the conservatory in Melbourne.

I will have more photos later as soon as I organize the 355 that I took!

I am not sure what these green things are, but they caught my eye.

More signs of spring

2007-03-13T15:46:00.000-07:00

Oh, no! The flowers are starting to bloom in my yard and I won't be here to see them. I will be gone until the 1st of April. Oh, well. There may be a few surprises left. The roses and the snowball bush should be in full bloom by the time I get back. Hopefully some of the bulbs will wait for me. Meanwhile, this is what is happening this week around the yard.

Another primrose grouping.

The fiddleheads are starting to unfurl.

The grape buds are bursting out all over.

Lilacs will be in full bloom soon.

And here is the first tulip of the year!

Spring is Bustin" Out All Over

2007-03-04T14:34:00.000-08:00

Signs of fall are fading.

But with spring comes renewal and fresh flowers are beginning to appear.

Japanese Kites

2007-01-02T11:17:00.000-08:00

Kristen gave me two miniature kites from Japan for Christmas. There are at least 61 different styles of kites in Japan. The ones she gave me are some of the more popular shapes. I decided to create shadow boxes to display them in. Although it is hard to tell from these photos, I placed a picture of several kites in the background and then suspended the kites in the front of the frame. They are really quite pretty if you see them in person.

ROKKAKU(SANJO)

Rokkaku means hexagon, and is famous for its excellent flight feature, stability and simplicity of the construction among Japanese kites. They are typically called Roks. This kite was bone in Sanjo, Niigata prefecture, in the northern center of Japan and is also called Sanjo-Rokkaku. Today, this type of kite is made by variety of materials and seen around the world. These kites are taller than they are wide and their cross spars are traditionally bowed. Any size can be built and its flight feature is very stable at any wind speed.

YAKKO

YAKKO-dako is one of the most popular kites in Japan. It is also know as a footman kite and depicts the lowest-ranking retainer of a samurai household, a person mocked by commoners and made famous on the Kabuki stage in the Yakko-odori, footman dance. The kite usually represents a favorite Kabuki. The T-shape of the Yakko may be the oldest kite shape in Japan. It is very difficult to fly without tails, so children attach a 2-4m length of tails made by cut newspaper or other tape.

Nutcrackers

2006-12-08T22:40:00.001-08:00

You have heard the old saying: It all started with one...... Well, in my case it all started with my wife giving me one Nutcracker for Christmas. Since then, my collection has started expanding. I just acquired 2 more a couple of days ago. I am increasing my number by 2 to 4 a year. Some day, I hope to acquire some nutcrackers from the Black Forest in Germany. Right now, I am content with the offerings in the local shops.

Christmas Toy Run

2006-12-08T22:40:00.000-08:00

Every year the Cappuccino Cruisers car club has a car show and toy run at Les Schwab tires to benefit the Folsom food bank. Due to the great weather, this year was a resounding success.

This is the mechanical singing Santa at the display.

Santa and Mrs. Claus arrived in their 57 Chevy!

The old grey mare, she IS what she used to be.

Yes, that is Santa's real beard.

This is the pile of toys that were collected.

Towe Auto Museum Christmas Tree Trimming

2006-11-26T22:05:00.000-08:00

Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, we can start thinking about Christmas, unlike the stores who started a couple of months ago. Every year the Sacramento area car clubs gather at the Towe Auto Museum to decorate a Christmas tree and enjoy a pot luck dinner.

The photo at the left is the one that our Mustang club decorated.

The following are trees that other clubs decorated. If you look close, you might catch a glimpse of Elvis.

BMW Ultimate Drive

2006-09-27T15:04:00.000-07:00

Monday, Sept. 25 & Tuesday, Sept. 26, I participated in the BMW Ultimate Drive. Monday I was at Roseville BMW and Tuesday I was at Niello BMW in Sacramento. Tuesday evening I was one of the drivers who helped transport the cars to Sonnen BMW in San Rafael. We were given box lunches to eat before the trip and then were transported by shuttle bus back to Sacramento. We were also told that we had to stay behind the lead car and in front of the support van at the rear and that we were responsible for our own speeding tickets. Of course, none of us were speeding!!!

Following is the description of this years drive. I raised about $200 in my 2 days of driving. It was great fun. If they ever come thru your town, take the opportunity to drive some of the cars. You would have to inquire at your local BMW dealer (if you have one) as to the dates or you can search for BMW Ultimate drive on the internet. There are 2 fleets of cars each year, one goes across the northern half of the U.S. and the other goes across the southern half. This year they are going from the east coast to the west coast. Next year they will probably go the other direction.

Come celebrate the 10th Anniversary of The Ultimate Drive® with BMW and our partner, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, by driving a new BMW vehicle of your choice. Choose from the sporty 2006 3 Series or the luxurious 7 Series, or better yet take them both out for a thrilling test drive! For every mile you drive BMW will donate $1 on your behalf to Komen. Since the program’s inception in 1997, The Ultimate Drive® has raised over $9 million dollars for breast cancer research, education, screening and treatment programs. In 2006 you can continue to make a difference by taking a test drive to help us reach our 10th Anniversary goal: donating a grand total of $10 million!

This is the signature car. Everyone that participated signed their name on this car. It holds about 34,000 signatures.

It is hard to take a close-up without a tripod! For what it's worth, this is my signature on the car.

Following are some of the cars that were available to drive. We made quite a hit with the colorful paint jobs.

The following pictures are views from the X3 at the start of our caravan to San Rafael.

Animal Ark

2006-09-14T17:48:00.000-07:00

I recently visited the Animal Ark wildlife sanctuary and nature center which occupies 38 acres Northwest of Reno, Nevada.
The sanctuary provides a safe habitat for non-releasable wildlife and allows the public a unique opportunity to view the animals in natural habitat. It was established in 1980 and continues to grow with acquisition of more wildlife.

One of the sanctuary's programs involves rehabilitation of orphaned black bear cubs so that they can be released back into the wild.

Since I visited the facility on a hot sunny afternoon, most of the animals were sleeping so there wasn't much of a chance to take photos. To learn more about the sanctuary, go to www.animalark.org

Reno Balloon Festival

2006-09-12T11:59:00.000-07:00

The 25th anniversary of the Reno Balloon Races was held September 8th thru 10th. There were 120 balloons entered and approximately 140,000 spectators attended over the weekend. I am part of the chase crew for a balloon called Bob's Cat. The pilot is 82 years old and has flown all over the world, including Antarctica, Russia, Nepal, and most recently, China. This was his last balloon event and he is retiring from ballooning and turning over the reins (and the balloon) to his grandson. Each balloon has a sponsor. This year our sponsor was the first place winner of last year's photo contest. She received an $800 sponsorship that allowed 1 person to ride in the balloon each day.

The winning photo

The dawn patrol took off at 5:30 am on Saturday and Sunday. They are operated by 5 specially trained pilots. They take off in the dark and then cannot land until the sun starts to come up so they can see where to land. They have special burners that allow them to light up the balloons. The whole thing is set to the music from Chariots of Fire and is quite spectacular as the balloons light up on cue either individually or all together.

Following is a series of photos showing the balloon being inflated.

Obtaining clearance to fly from the launch director (lady with the yellow stripes)

Bob's Cat in the air.

The little bee balloons, Joey and Lilly. These are the hare balloons. These balloons take off before the other balloons, land somewhere away from the launch site, and put a target (usually a large white x) on the ground. The other balloons (the hounds) try to navigate as close as they can to the spot and drop a marker. Points are given according to the distance from the x. At the end of the week, the pilots with the most points win. They are competing for $20,000 in prize money!

This is "Sushi" one of 13 special shape balloons at the event.

Packing the balloon back in the bag after a successful flight.

The basket with the burners on top prior to loading it onto the truck. The pilot, Bob Kinsinger, is on the right. His grandson Justin, who piloted the balloon on Friday and Saturday, is in the yellow vest.

This was one of the most successful weekends we have had in quite a few years. The flights on Friday and Saturday lasted about an hour and one half. Our sponsors were great. The crew consisted of the sponsor and her husband, her mother and father and two other friends. We flew her on Friday, her mom on Saturday, and her husband and father on Sunday. We flew one person and then landed, changed passengers and went up again. The pilot's son Bill, his wife Diane and I were really happy to have all of the help. Our sponsors in the past have just come for the ride, but this year they pitched in and did most of the work.

The weather was outstanding, no heavy winds so the balloons hung together real well giving a great view to the spectators.

For more about the Reno Balloon Races, go to www.renoballoon.com

More Balloons

2006-09-12T11:00:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more pictures just to give an idea of the various styles and shapes of balloons at the festival, such as Cent'r Stage, Airabella, America Bald Eagle, Hazelnut, and Strawberry.

Labor Day Parade

2006-09-05T18:41:00.000-07:00

On Labor Day, our car club traveled to Nicolaus, California, population 750, to participate in their annual parade and festival. We thought our leader was lost on the way but later found out one of the parade people was leading us. Since you could not exit from Hwy 99 into town because the road was closed due to the parade, we took the back roads which slowly deteriorated from a 2 lane paved road to a 1 lane paved farm road (yes, there were farm trucks traveling in the opposite direction) to a gravel road. A great place to be driving classic cars! Eventually we got back to the paved road that lead into town. The parade started at 10:00 am and lasted probably until about 11:30 am. It was the slowest parade I have ever driven in. We had been forewarned about the crowd, but still couldn't believe it. As we approached the reviewing stand there were more and more people lined up on both sides of the parade. There were literally hundreds of people in this small farm town. We named it the biggest little parade in Sutter County. Following are some of the cars carrying the royalty:

Below is my trusty steed.

After the parade, our cars were on display in the pear orchard by the festival grounds while members watched the rest of the parade, looked at the crafts on sale, and ate lots of good food. We forgot to check out the giant vegetable contest, however. Maybe next year.

One of the festival favorite desserts, ice cream brownie sundae, with my white horse and Mustang in the background and Joan standing by the car.

Coincidence or luck?

2006-08-31T12:53:00.000-07:00

Do you believe in good samaritans? I do, after my recent trip to Elko from Sacramento to visit my 91 year old mother.

Joan and I left Sacramento at 9:00 am driving in our trusty 1994 Thunderbird with 130,000 miles on the odometer. Driving in the Sierra Nevada mountains on I-80 between Auburn, California and Reno, Nevada, I approached a semi truck which was driving in the right hand lane. As I neared the truck to pass I heard a loud whining noise. Joan asked me what the noise was and I remarked that it must be coming from the truck but as I sped up to pass him, the noise got louder. Sensing something was not right, I slowed down and the noise got quieter. This was when I realized it was our car. Hoping it was not the transmission, I pulled off onto the shoulder, got out and looked and, to my dismay, I discovered the left rear tire was flat. Not only was it flat, it had a 3-inch hole in the side of it. The tires were 5 year old Michelins and I was planning on replacing them next year. I had read that tires have a life of 6 years regardless of how much tread was left and I now believe them. The fact that the car sits outside in 100 degrees weather in the summer further compounds the problem. Since I was parked in a precarious place, I drove to a wider area and pulled off. I looked around for a rock to put under the rear wheel to keep the car from rolling back when I jacked it up. Lo and behold, the only good sized rock in sight was sitting right by the car! I then proceeded to unload the trunk to get the spare tire out. As I was doing that, a pickup truck pulled off the road and backed up to the car. A man and his wife got out and the man asked if I needed help. I said sure and proceeded to jack up the car. He undid the lug nuts, removed the wheel, installed the spare and I lowered the jack. During all of this, he remarked that he always stopped to help older people (I guess he meant me) in trouble. He said young people needed the experience. While this was going on, Joan was talking to his wife and discovered that her husband was a mechanic that lived in Auburn and grew up in Applegate not far from where I was parked. Upon finishing, he handed me a wet cleaning rag to wipe off my hands and then told us there was a good tire shop just up the road at Colfax where they would treat us right and not try to rip us off. We proceeded to the tire shop. The owner looked at the other tires and said the sidewalls were showing signs of cracking. I told him to go ahead and put 4 tires on it and asked how long it would take. He said about 45 minutes and he was correct almost to the minute. The price was only $50 more than I paid for tires 5 years ago at Costco.

We then headed down the road to have a late lunch with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, wondering what else could go wrong today. We turned at Truckee and went around Lake to Tahoe to I-50 and encountered a short delay due to road construction, not realizing this was an omen of things to come. Leaving Carson City, we proceeded to Winnemuca where I discovered it was now 6:30 pm, the time I should have arrived in Elko, so we decided to stop for dinner. Without going into any detail, I proceeded to accidentally dump the ice chest on the passenger seat which was now covered with an inch of ice cold water. I got what I could off of the seat and then rummaged around the trunk and discovered I had a bunch of plastic bags which I had forgotten to take out and a bath towel. Coincidence? These were used to give Joan a dry seat for the ride home. After dinner, we headed for Elko.

After we left Winnemucca, we began encountering Nevada's famous system of miles and miles of one lane traffic with large barricades on one side and 55 mph speed limits and not a sign of construction anywhere. After it got dark, we went thru a few sections that had concrete barricades with reflectors on top on both sides of the road, sort of like driving thru a tunnel with a thousand lights in your eyes. I swear, I will be dreaming of barricades for days. We finally reached out destination at 9:00 pm, 12 hours and 450 miles later. The good part is that we got 28 miles per gallon due to the long slow stretches, it didn't happen at night in the middle of Nevada, and no harm was done (except to the tire). Either someone was looking out for us or there was a whole lot of luck on this trip. I tend to believe the former. So what do you think? Coincidence or luck?

Horse & Feathers picnic

2006-08-13T18:22:00.000-07:00

Sunday, August 13th was the annual Horse and Feather's picnic at Micke Grove Park in Lodi, California, so named because it is a joint meeting of the Sierra Mustang Club, River City Falcon Club, and Northern California Vintage Thunderbird Club. There were plenty of hot dogs, hamburgers, sodas, water, and side dishes to fill everybody up. We have been doing this for so many years that I have lost count.

One of the Mustangs with ponies and kids.

Bet that wine is getting a little bit warm!

Cars lined up in the parking lot.

Yes, we are partial to Mustangs. Falcons & T-Birds are waaay down there in the background.

Another shot of Mustangs. Mine is the red one on the left.

Action at the raffle table.

Kids and friends. Michael, Lizzy & Jim Nickels; Ruth, Toria and Ted Mackey. Check out Ted's $70 Tilley hat.

Listening intently for the next raffle number to be called.

Ice Cream Safari

2006-07-30T13:44:00.000-07:00

Saturday, July 29th, I volunteered to sell food tickets at our Zoo's annual fund raiser. After a blistering run of 102 to 110 degree days, the weather cooled down with the high for the day being 89 degrees progressing to the high 70s as the event continued. This is a fund raiser, so it is a bit pricy at $15 for adults and $12 for kids, although you get all the ice cream cones, sundaes, freezes, soft drinks and water as you can eat. The most popular flavor this year was a chocolately mixture called Mississippi Mud. You can try it out at your favorite Baskin-Robbins store, assuming there is one in your area.

As with most events, the people in charge never listen to the volunteers as to where and how to do things, illogically placing our tables where it was thought people would buy tickets and then proceed to the food line, when in fact they went to the food first, backtracked to where we were, and then returned to the food. In spite of everything, the event was a huge success. The only unhappy creatures were the Orangutans who wanted to go to bed around 6 o'clock but were not allowed to return to their caves. Like most small children, they screamed and hollered and threw things until the keepers relented and let them go back in. I wish I had pictures to show, but I did not take my camera.
It was interesting observing human nature. Tickets were clearly marked at $2 for a hot dog and $2.50 for a veggie burgers. Of course, by now, with the amount of volunteering I have done, I know that people do not read signs. A lot of people mistakenly assumed that each ticket was worth $1 and continued to confuse saying they wanted 4 tickets when what they really wanted was 2 tickets.
On one good note, a friend of mine lost her cell phone and it was recovered and turned in to lost and found within the hour. She could not describe her phone to the lost and found people, so her husband called the phone to verify it was hers, a clever way of doing it.
The zoo is a great place to take kids and this event exposes a lot of people to the zoo that have never been there. They are just completing an on-site verterinary hospital which is very impressive. Much work is being done to update the zoo from the way it was with animals in small cages.

And that's the way it is!

Nature

2006-07-21T15:31:00.000-07:00

I was just thinking about how interesting nature is. We go thru a long drab winter and then spring comes along and everything gets pretty again. I am especially surprised by things such as my red flame grape vine. In the spring, it looks like a dead t-shaped branch with no sign of a bud or anything on it as a result of the fall pruning. Then buds start to form and next thing you know it is growing about a foot a day until it looks like this. (That is my periwinkle bed in the foreground. It has already flowered this year. My hummingbird wind mobile is standing guard over everything.) Then, in a few months, the vine flowers, tiny grapes begin to form, and soon you have large clusters of grapes.
This is just a small portion of this year's crop which I picked this morning. Looks like we will have lots of table grapes to eat again this year. And this is only from one grape vine!

Thought I would throw in a picture of my turtle herd. Seems like every time I look, I have a few more. Who knew turtles could be so prolific.

Sundial Bridge

2006-07-21T11:11:00.000-07:00

Recently our car club took a trip to see the Sundial Bridge in Redding, California. This is not a comment on the whys, wherefores, or political ramifications of the bridge and the effects on the river or the general population. It is rather an introduction to the beauty of the bridge and its surroundings.

The bridge is a real sundial as can be seen from these next pictures.

This is the shadow crossing the time mark.

This shows the time. If you look closely, you will see that this picture was taken at what would have been 12:45 on June 21. The time varies from day to day due to the changes in the earth's axis as it rotates around the sun.

For more about the bridge, go to the following url: http://www.turtlebay.org/sundial/sundial.shtml