Saturday is beer making day

For a while now Saturday has been beer making day. I usually act as the assistant but beer making involves a lot of hurry up and wait so I decided I could turn it in to a fun photo shoot too. So, here are some images I took today in no particular order.

Macros
















Pouring, and pouring, and pouring.









Mash.





The assistant has a tasty beverage while we wait.





The mad scientist... er master brewer... and his assistant captured in a bubble.





It looks like beer.





The mash once it is done and ready to be composted.

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Cactus

When I think of the desert I think of mountains and emptiness. Places like Death Valley come to mind. Once you cross the Colorado River on I-10 from California to Arizona you notice something new all around, cactus. It is as if they walked west across the Arizona desert but couldn't figure out how to cross the river.





The saguaro cactus are like trees. It is hard to imagine how tall they are as you fly down the interstate. You have to stop, stand in front of one and look 30 feet up to the top.

In Big Bend the cactus did not tower like the saguaro in Arizona, but they covered the ground like a harsh and sharp carpet. The whole view screams "go away".





Unfortunately for my legs, I ignored the warnings the cactus were clearly giving and got as close as I could. It was worth the many pokes and stabs. Cactus are so pretty they are worth the pain of getting too close.

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Desert Sunrises and Sunsets

I never get tired of sunrises and sunsets. The picture above is from Big Bend. It was a test shot. I was using a medium format Yashica that my dad found in his old camera equipment. We're not even sure if the camera works. The meter was not working and we did not have a hand held one so I used my 5D to meter the shot and set the Yashica the same. I have 2 more shots left to finish the roll and then I'll see if anything came out.

This is the sunrise over the Boquillas Del Carmen. The mountains are on the Mexico side of the Rio Grande.





In Tombstone, Arizona, we got up before sunrise one morning to take pictures of Fremont Street without all the people. I got this shot down Fremont Street just as the sun was coming up.






Another shot of the sunset over the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend.





Finally, one of the sunset and a Saguaro Cactus in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona.

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I found out what happens...

... when you give a software engineer a camera, a blog, and two demanding jobs.  The camera and the blog collect dust.  In May I started a new job.  I thought I might be able to juggle staying at the non-profit, this new job, and still having a life.  After 6 months I realized I couldn't.  With much sadness I chose to leave my non-profit job.  The good news is that I found my pictures again!  So, without further rambling let's pick up where I left off.

I was somewhere at the edge of the desert... wait, wrong story.  We were in the desert though.  Big Bend National Park out in the middle of nowhere in southwestern Texas. Some of the most spectacular sites in Big Bend are the canyons that the Rio Grande River has cut through the mountains.





Boquillas Canyon is at the eastern most edge of the park. On the other side of the river is Boquillas, Mexico. The locals cross the river on horseback or by boat to leave craft items for sale.





The other is the famous Santa Elena Canyon at the west side of the park.









Hiking the canyons was a great way to cool off. The girls made themselves comfortable and no one wanted to leave.

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Desert adventures, Part 1

(Moonrise over Las Cruces)

For Spring Break this year, we spent almost 2 weeks in the deserts of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.  Our destination was Big Bend National Park in southwestern Texas, along the Rio Grande River.  Our 3-day drive out followed I-10, Highway 90 southeast, and then Highway 385 south to Big Bend NP.

The Colorado River:

Old Pinal County courthouse, Arizona:

Ocotillo flowers:

Ruins of the Langford house near the Hot Springs in Big Bend:

 "The Window" in the Chisos Mountains:

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Gardens and umbrellas

The day after we got the umbrellas at Olvera St., we took the kids to Descanso Gardens to take pictures of them with the umbrellas.

It is tricky to get 5 little kids to look at the camera at the same time. 

Take 1

Take 2

Take 3

Take 4 - good enough

Next time I need to bring something shiny for them all to stare at or something. 

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Olvera Street

I am in love with the metro lines in LA.  It has made it so easy to get to places like downtown where parking is usually a major headache.  One beautiful day in July we decided to take the kids for a ride on the Gold Line to Olvera St (the Union Station stop).  Among the many treasures we found were those colorful umbrellas.

We also found colored eggs,

guitars,

and ceramics.

At the end of a long afternoon, the kids cool off in Union Station (did I mention it was an unusually humid July?)

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