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Similarly we skipped Mountain View & the San Francisco Symphony and Santa Clara & the World Cup stragglers to head to the occasional DMZ of Milpitas. Not sure the band’s horns to pants ratio was correct.

Such a great day. The best group of people. I think Rini and Dorothy made some new friends of my coworkers.

Went all the way to Tiburon in an abortive attempt to see the 4th July Fireworks on The Golden Gate Bridge. Abandoned the attempt, due to the Bridge being enveloped in fog. So we came home. To watch YouTube Happy Birthday America

Some moar webz pics. Found a fun FB group for interesting signs.....

A little while back I posted somewhere on here about a very exciting project. Some of my work at a San Fransisco book store just happened to have been noticed by Linda Ronstadt and her longtime friend and carpenter. That carpenter happens to live in Fairfax, and is a regular customer of mine at the lumber store. Once my name was mentioned by the store owner ( this owner has become a great friend, and I've now done two of her homes, and her book store), this carpenter said " wait, I know him. He works at Fairfax Lumber. " Long story, still long, he talked with me about collaborating on a large set of bookshelves for Linda. Linda's health isn't great, and that has affected the scheduling of this project. However, we are now into this project. I have not yet met Linda personally, but we have started working on the shelves at Andy's shop. He took great measurements of the space. Usually the sign of a good carpenter, and I'm sure he is. But for me the most difficult part of the project thus far has been slowing him down. He wants to hurry through and get it done. I want to build the best shelves that I can build. Time, though maybe an issue in the long run, isn't really an issue now. She's not pushing this to be quick. Money clearly isn't an issue, so I think I'm winning this little battle. I've made it clear that I'm not interested in blowing out some average shelves. I want to make something that I'm proud of, especially considering the client. We've spent two whole days working together in Andy's shop, and I think he's starting to get it. He's around 80 years old and I'm very respectful of my elders, except when it comes to sacrificing my quality. We will continue working tomorrow and I'm guessing about two more weekends. Then most likely at least 1 day of install. That's when I'm going to meet Linda. That'll certainly be a fun day for me. As most things concerning music or movies, my trivia knowledge is vast. Ask me something about anything important and I'll come up blank, but ask me about a music or movie artist and I can talk forever. This is even tenfold for me on Linda, because the Laurel Canyon crowd, and the beginning of the Southern rock genre really peak my interest. All of the crossovers of the people of this era are just fascinating to me. Linda met Graham Parsons early on, who I consider the Father of this genre. Graham discovered and then worked with Emmylou Harris, another favorite singer of mine. Linda met Emmylou and Dolly Parton at different times, and then introduced them to each other at lunch one day. They of course started harmonizing on favorite songs, and were so impressed with the melding of their voices that they decided to create music together soon. Soon turned into more than a decade, but the results were phenomenal. Linda was also a guest on the Cher show back in the 70's, and started a lifetime friendship. I being a gay man of course adore me some Cher! And anyone who is an Eagles fan owes something to Linda, because she had a lot to do with putting that band together. I could go on and on, but I'm hoping that I can reign it in a bit on the day I meet her in person. Although I doubt that I'll be successful there. Anyway, this project is coming to fruition, and what a way to crown a career that I have deeply loved for over four decades now. This will be a story that I will, well I guess I'll have to tell your Grandkids about it, because I won't have any, but I'm sure that I'll have to be told to "shut up about it already ". I will certainly try to take pictures upon install. More to come later.

Lemon shortbread. Joanne on sampling it, said it goes well with Sauvignon Blanc.

Giving the Everybody STILL Digs Bill Evans CD box set a listen.

Got up around 6:30 and made a batch of chili. Al's Sister Rini and Neice Dorothy and myself are making chili dogs, smash burgers, corn on the cob, potatoe salad, fruit salad, some type of blueberry angel food cake with mascarpone whipped cream, blueberry custard pie, watermelon and who knows what else? A few of my coworkers are coming by to join in the feast.

A bit of excitement, and met more neighbors, thanks to this. Due to this Watch DutyWatch Duty - Wildfire Maps & AlertsReal-time information about wildfire and firefighting efforts nearby https://web.pulsepoint.org/?agencies=21105&incident=2513876157&tab=3 Watch DutyWatch Duty - Wildfire Maps & AlertsReal-time information about wildfire and firefighting efforts nearby

Reflectin’ back

Nibbles for / with the neighbors

25 Photobooks That Define America https://aperture.org/editorial/25-photobooks-that-define-america/

RIP, RIP

^probably about the same for Wimbledon too.🎾

I was not prepped for the Tour this year - it has been many years since I have followed it. But after watching the Highlights of the first two stages, I may get hooked again. I will probably stick with highlights for now, but I may catch a live stream here and there. Good to hear Phil and Bob and again.

Nice article on Pogi and what he means for cycling to coincide with the start of TDF. Guy is hard not to cheer for. https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/49207337/tour-de-france-tadej-pogacar-greatest-all-lance-armstrong

The first 3 were that good?

4th tomahawk

Smetana: String Quartets No. 1 & No. 2 by Pavel Haas Quartet (2015) https://open.qobuz.com/album/qqnxnrnwvtgqa Example: Recommended by my friend Jerry who just got it on Vinyl. Very nice. Also Qobuz updated the Windows app, and now it shows the Library counts... 843 in the queue?? well minus ^^ this one. I thought I was still in the 600s.

So great -- reminds of my favourite band's alter ego: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ8-ZgxB55A

That's a new feature 🤣 I haven't seen that, but I do agree that the missing forum icons are taking a lot of space, I'll see what options are available to hide those, etc. I am not sure what caused some avatars to disappear, I haven't seen anything that points to a specific bug for the time being re-upload them if you have them.

^ Some video from Novato Fire District. nextdoor.comOn Tuesday, July 7, at approximately 3:49 p.Join Nextdoor, an app for neighborhoods where you can get local tips, buy and sell items, and more From reddit re: The Chopper "There was smoke at the start but it was quickly put out by the firefighting helicopter that is a joint effort between PG&E and the county of Marin. I was watching it on FR24 and it was fortunate they had the pond so close, as they were able to quickly refill their tank and dump, then repeat, over and over until it was out. [https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/n606pg#408ddcd7](https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/n606pg#408ddcd7) From two years ago: >Marin Fire will have use and control of a wildfire-fighting Blackhawk helicopter from today until October 31, and it will be based at Gnoss Field. N606PG is on loan (with flight and support crews) from PG&E under a trial agreement to provide immediate assistance to the county and keep wildfires small. This UH-60A has been modified to carry (and drop!) 850 gallons of water with a 15-minute response to a wildfire anywhere in Marin County. Marin Fire and PG&E have since formalized the agreement beyond that trial. It looks like PG&E bears the cost of the aircraft." Handy to have a useable water source so close by. https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/n606pg#408ddcd7

Not to keep pushing The Rest Is History, but they have a four-part series on the Ku Klux Klan that is quite informative. https://therestishistory.com/episodes/the-rise-of-evil-part-1 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rest-is-history/id1537788786?i=1000755744707

We've updated the forum software to the latest major release. This release includes speed, security and visual improvements. One big change is that you can no longer login using your username - you must login using your e-mail address. Since this is a major upgrade please post any issues that you run into. -Your Friendly Neighborhood Forum Admin

Did you see the picture? Of course they were that good! Are you really Doug trolling us?

I’m not sure, but probably not as I never started For All Mankind. Same with the friend who encouraged me to try Star City (he instead talked about Chernobyl). Either way it’s likely the time period covered in the SC first season you’ve already seen in FAM. Its creators address “new” watchers below.

I tried a bunch of different browsers, but nothing worked. I also looked for a way to hide them, but no luck.

Star City https://variety.com/2026/tv/reviews/star-city-review-for-all-mankind-spinoff-1236761675/

Love your stories, Steve. Forrest Gump comes to mind. Looking forward to the pictures.

Sonoma Plaza dessert With a nice cup of Tea

Dirty Cello @ Music in Place,Sonoma Plaza

Experiments with monochrome (mostly), smoke and flares yesterday. Leica SL2-S and Light Labs Lab 35 f/1.4 AA "11873".

^hehe, Mine is ”summertime”. I would put it on heavy repeat and let it flow over me. Which was the main reason it was in my queue.

PetaPixel re-reviews the first consumer (under $1,000) digital SLR camera, the 6MP Canon EOS 300D from 2003:

Scattershot, but fun doc on street photography.

I just like this one. Kids doing good stuff with the old material?

Attending Wilco's Solid Sound Festival in North Adams MA. Billy Bragg opened proceedings and it started raining about three songs in but nobody cared much. Gang of Four soon and then Wilco with Billy Bragg who will perform music from their 1998 Mermaid Avenue album of Woody Guthrie songs live for the first time ever.

I’m still testing the R6 Mark II against the 90D by taking photos of the moon. Last night I used 90D + 2x extender + 100-400 f4.5/5.6L. ISO 800, 1/800, F11 What do you think?

I snapped this photo without tripod. It has a fairly high ISO, but nothing the R6II can´t handle.

Although I'm short on time (I've started renovating my second home), I'm doing some tests with the 70-200mm lens and I photographed this blackbird in my garden. PD. I'm quite bad, I keep trying to improve my technique.

Nate’s on Marsh, my first Michelin star restaurant.

RIP Bonnie Tyler. One of my first artist crushes, if not the first.

RIP Louise Lasser, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/07/arts/television/louise-lasser-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.wFA.xaqL.j5dyVhLRp_GN&smid=nytcore-ios-share (Gift article)