NOTES: 12/30/10

Last Ginko Leaves of the Season

1. Pruning

Blunt ended apple twigs form a filigree

Against the frozen sky

The last mummified fruits hold tight

My fingers lose their feeling

As I grasp the cutters

Each cut is a decision

Crossing branches must be cut away to limit

damage from winter wind

Long ungainly sprouts – careless growth

...they must go

Center twigs are snipped away to allow sun to enter

Twigs broken by too much fruit are trimmed back

Summer growth thinks anything is possible -

Winter is a time of making judicious choices

Each cut is calculated to stimulate new growth

( JZ 1988)

Cedar waxwings resting during their migration

2. When we first moved into our house 35 years ago the gravel quarry behind our house was fenced and patrolled – NO Trespassing!. In 1997 construction began to transform the quarry into part of the East Bay Regional Park system.The topography was reshaped, it became a classic case of ecological restoration with both native and specimen plants reintroduced. The gravel pits were flooded as part of a system to percolate ground water into the water table aquifers to push back salt water intruding from the bay. It became part of my daily ritual to hike one of several routes through the park with our dogs. We walk for an hour and a half – my most usual route is about 3.5 miles (5.6 km). I could do it in less time but I have to stop and talk to many "trail friends" as I make my rounds.

Wind Gusts coming across one of 5 ponds that make up the park

3. Adventures come in all sizes and flavors. Yesterday morning we started off with clear skies and a fierce cold wind… I was bundled up and the pups have good winter fur. I love being out there in all seasons, all weather conditions... it is amazing to see the slow regular progression of changes – as the plants and animals respond to seasonal changes in light, rainfall, and temperature. I learn when it is time to look for migrating birds...animals and birds are selective about their habitat and I learn where to find each species. The seasonal responses of plants are written into their DNA. When conditions are right they sprout and grow, When conditions are right - they flower... fruit... produce seeds. Only when its time will the life stage be expressed... and that is passed on within the inheritance.

My quickly arising dark clouds

4. Just at the furthest point in our walk – a cloud came out of “nowhere” and suddenly the wind hit us with icy needles of cold rain… The pups looked at me pleadingly … We took shelter for a time in the lee of a a thick pine tree and then pushed on… (The wind howling through that pine was fine music!) The shower was short lived – and we did see a supurb rainbow…

Birds gathering - mostly gulls and pelicans

5. I recently identified 23 different species of birds in one morning walk. Many are migratory birds making their passage – some are winter visitors, some are permanent residents. It is in fact the season with the highest species count – more than spring or summer. Yesterday I saw only the water birds… makes me wonder where do birds go to get out of the wind and rain? I’m quite sure they seek out thick cover - but they become invisible during a storm.

Great White Heron

6. I will remember 2010 as a good year – Judy and I have much to be thankful for … we have enjoyed many good times together this year, it has been a year with satisfying work, a fine year for travel, we have been healthy…

It has been a rollercoaster year in national politics. We support and agree with several major pieces of legislation this year – The much needed health care plan while not perfect is an important move forward. We support the end to “don’t ask don’t tell” in the military. It is right that unemployment compensation be continued, also the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. I am concerned that the tax cuts on the very rich have been continued. The wealth of the top 1 percent of the richest Americans is equal to the wealth of the bottom 90 percent. (UNICEF Socio Economic Report 2011). It seems obvious that those with the bulk of the money be expected to pay their share. I don't understand our national phobia on taxes - we have to pay for what we get –(Our founding fathers were opposed to paying taxes to England - but had no problem taxing themselves...) Taxes are necessary if we want quality services and infrastructure.

Capital Building - Washington DC

I am concerned for the gradual disappearance of the middle class in America.... the growing disparity between rich and poor. Judy and I have seen third world conditions abroad and we don’t have to look far to begin to see such conditions here. We are concerned that the Dream Act bill was blocked. We live in a multicultural world here in the Bay Area – and we see bright young people with much to offer America who have been deprived of an education. I hope for a revision of the filibuster rule ( which was not part of the original constitution- first used in the 1890's ) … this past year one political party adopted the policy of attempting to block all legislation introduced by the opposing party… it appeared they were doing so for political reasons rather than the good of the American people. This is not what our founding fathers had in mind. We live in a time of world wide economic restructuring - its not just the US economy that is "challenged"... I hope for new vision in job creation in the year ahead... I hope for new vision in Iraq and Afghanistan... that we can find new ways to deal with the root causes of the conflict.

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Christmas Season Notes

1. A drizzly San Francisco rain had starting to fall just as we entered the great cathedral. It was Dec. 21 the night of Winter Solstice and the upper reaches of the central hall had already grown dark.

Grace Cathedral in early nightfall

We found our seats and soon every seat was filled, even folding chairs set up around the outer margin of the cathedral. The lights dimmed, the hum of conversations stilled and the great swell of brass instruments and organ filled the space. Some music is so “large” that it requires a great space with high pillars, broad walls, and high vaulted ceilings to fill and reverberate.

Cathedral Organ Pipes - Grace Cathedral

All the details came together to make this a wonderful Christmas season moment... rainy nighttime – the lights and color inside the cathedral– the mixed people of San Francisco – the classic beauty of the cathedral, and especially the familiar and powerful music... all contributed to create a feeling of "time apart". The music was just the answer to the hectic scurrying of our recent days. I wanted to hold on to each moment. Of added interest to the program was a number that featured two Swiss Alpen Horns. They are about 12 ft. long and made of tapered hard wood, ending in a large open "horn" It was amazed to hear the range of tones that could be produced with no keys and no holes to cover!

2. Hearing old familiar Christmas carols returns me to when I first learned the melodies and words. In my mind I see images of my sister playing at the piano in our family home, and of my family and neighbors singing together in our little country church. It is amazing how memories can be triggered by a song! These carols are part of me. The language, symbols and images of the lyrics, come to us from times so long ago - well before my time. Never mind if my beliefs don't exactly match up with all of the ancient words - I still resonate with all that the songs do to connect me with who I am.

Mary and Baby Jesus - Russian Icon

3. Earlier in the evening we had taken the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) into the city. I am still like a little kid to be carried by esculator out of the ground and be suddenly deposited on Powell and Market in the midst of the Christmas season… colored lights – street musicians – cable car bells - shoppers looking like the proverbial Dagwood loaded with bags and boxes, office workers on their way home, panhandlers asking for money… it is a sea of motion, sound, and light.

Christmas Tree - Union Square

We walked up Powell past up-scale shops, past Union Square bright with decorations, past skillful street singers and musicians hoping for a donation, walking for 20 minutes up the hill (which got steeper and steeper with each block) until we reached California St. – then a few blocks more to Grace Cathedral.

4. It was been a good Christmas season – Once more this season, Judy has been up to her ears busy! She has been the sole buyer for a project to provide gifts to 28 people identified by the Human Services branch of the Fremont City Offices. The local Rotary club picks up all the bills – but Judy first had to interview all the families to see what they needed – then she has to buy what she can, attempting to stretch the money as best she can.

These are families that are desperately poor and truly in need. A big help has been the local “e mail group-send” in our community – Judy has put the word out – “Help I need a bed!” …Or "a winter coat for an 8 year old", …or "a rocking chair for an expectant mother"…! And the response has been terrific. All the purchases and donations have made our house look like a warehouse.

A pleased young mother

One of the children on seeing her gift...

But Judy has not missed a beat and has packaged up each persons gifts in time for the Rotary Santa/Pizza party last week… The delight in the eyes of the children and older family members on receiving just what they needed is wonderfully heart warming. The follow up with others will continue until Christmas day. ( Judy is also preparing "stockings" for the kids to discover Christmas morning. Like Santa, Judy will need to sit by the fire and have a nice glass or cold milk and cookies when this is all over!!

Judy and a good friend

5. Our rainy season is full upon us- La Nina years are unpredictable – they can be wet or dry – so far this one is giving us good rain and snow in the mountains. This morning as I walked the dogs I saw a “mating dance” between two grebes on the lake… it is beautiful to behold –after preliminary head bobbing, they swim side by side flapping their wings they rise up out of the water and “walk on the water” beside each other … then more head bobbing and they do it over again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdxxZgxWPt8

This front yard decoration wins the cake - but I'm not sure what category it wins

6. In case you have one last minute problem gift to buy - Here is the solution: http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.204586/

Christmas is a comin' and the goose is getting fat...

Christmas in Mexico

Imagine Christmas without Christmas trees, familiar Christmas carols, and no gift giving… A few years ago we were without Christmas plans and so we travelled to Oaxaca Mexico. That Christmas we found bright colored banners and lights decorating the streets, music in many forms, and a festive feeling every night in the central plaza. New friends and old invited us to join them for food and conversation. Special Christmas celebrations in the churches often included special music or joyful parades in the plazas and streets.

Oaxaca - Central Zocolo - people talking, playing, enjoying the evening

Throughout the week before Christmas, there were festive street calendas (parades); and a few days before Christmas we walking in a traditional “posada” – going from house to house with Mary and Joseph looking for an inn. At each stop we sang a Mexican Christmas carol (we could read the words)…finally in the last house we were granted entry and came in for wine and cookies.

Judy and I walking in a Christmas Eve "Calenda" - holding candle lanterns

Christmas eve we joined a parade (complete with our own brass band ) and walked from our neighborhood to the central plaza… along we way we merged with other parades and other bands until we all converged together on the central plaza. It was a wild cacophony of bands and fireworks…color and excitement! Christmas morning we ate fresh fragrant sweet tomales wrapped in banana leaves. On twelfth night, the night when the wise men traditionally visited Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus - on this day gifts are given to the children.

Christmas Growing up in Kansas

Road out to the Zlatnik homestead (In winter this would be deep in snow)

There was a stand of junipers growing on the old Zlatnik homestead in North Eastern Kansas. When I was a boy growing up, a week or so before Christmas I would go with my father to cut a free growing juniper for our Christmas tree. The trees were always fresh and so sweet smelling when we sat them up in our home. Decorations were simple, old ornaments were brought out from storage, to this we added strings of fresh popcorn and cranberries, also paper chains made of red and green construction paper . My mother was especially busy in the days before Christmas baking and cooking food for us and food to share. The smell of fresh baking Kolaches (traditional Czech festive breads) remains one of my fondest memories of the Christmas season.

Bohemian style "Kolache" - now baked in California

Christmas dinner was a highlight of the season- we often invited the Bellman family (my Mother’s sister and her family) to join us. Typically my father killed a big fat hen and my mother prepared the chicken with noodles. There would be mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, home canned vegetables, cabbage-walnut-apple salad, and fresh baked rolls. For desert it might be mince meat pie!

Zlatnik family with the Bellman family - about 1947 - Early Color Photograph

After washing the dishes we would gather around the piano and spend the afternoon singing together. This was before TV, Christmas music on the radio was an important part of the Christmas season. Our small Presbyterian Church generally set up a simple Christmas tree. I remember how we and sang special Christmas carols on the Sundays before Christmas. The entire Christmas season was focused on the birth of Jesus.

Delia Kansas - Presbyterian Church

Once I recall a special Christmas eve pageant and we children performed – I was a shepherd. Christmas morning we opened presents, generally clothing or practical things that we needed, for the children a few toys. And if we were really lucky we woke Christmas morning to a fresh snow fall – a White Christmas.

John (9 yrs. old)

Reclaiming Christmas

So how did things change in America? How did Christmas get so commercialized and how did the “Christmas Spirit” get so packaged? It is sad because it doesn’t have to be this way. I suspect that it’s “all about the economy”. Makes me wonder if public spending patterns have been skillfully manipulated by "financial interests". Is it possible that this change has gradually over the years been engineered toward causing us to believe that it is right and necessary to buy bigger and better (and more) gifts?

For two thousand years we who are Christians have been celebrating the fact that new hope can come into a troubled world. It is a message that appears contrary to reason, but if we allow ourselves to see beyond the simple story it is possible to discover something more. I now live in a diverse culture, I know people with strong spiritual interests who are not religious. I know Christian people of different traditions who are intolerant of interpretations other than their own… I do believe that all of us who are human have a great need to make sense of our lives. For many today, it is a time of spiritual hunger.

First Presbyterian Church - Palo Alto CA.

For me, I find meaning in the stories and concepts of my Christian tradition. The stories take on profound significance when I go beyond a concern for literal accuracy – when I allow the stories to speak to me in their deeper symbols and meanings they provide new meaning for my life today. To reclaim Christmas we must rediscover that there is something wonderful to celebrate about the audacious belief that new hope and promise can be born in the darkest night. Christmas is about the unbelievable good news that the transcendent grace of God does break through into this world. That is what makes celebrating the birth of Jesus special for me.

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P.S.: Community Message has been issued by the Fremont Police Department (CA).

This is where I walk the dogs daily!!

A mountain lion sighting on Sunday, near the Quarry Lakes Regional Park area has been confirmed. East Bay Regional Parks has posted fliers on the trail notifying the public. Fish/Game said that the animal presented no public danger and that mountain lions have been previously spotted in the same location. It is believed that the mountain lion was female and pregnant.

Should you come into contact with a mountain lion, the Tri-City Animal Shelter suggests that you follow these tips:

Do not approach the lion.

Do not run from the lion.

While facing the lion, wave your arms slowly and speak in a loud voice.

Do not crouch down or bend over

Do all you can to appear larger

Back away slowly, giving the lion an opportunity to escape.

Fight back if attacked.

Confessions of a food chameleon

Fremont has a sizable Asian population, also a East Indian/Central Asian/Middle Eastern group, as well as Latino folks, and a healthy dose of African, African Americans and Europeans… and each of these different peoples has established restaurants. Within a couple of miles of our home we can get a good sample of the world's flavors!

So lets consider one category – soup - Here it is getting to be cold weather - soup weather. A good bowl of soup can be a meal in itself.

· I think my current favorite is a largebowl of Mexican chicken soup from Los Dos Gallos Restaurant (served with warm corn tortillas, rice, lime wedges, and cilantro.) Plus I also like the non stop football ( soccer ) and novelas that they play in the restaurant (Spanish only). I'm not even telling you about two other favorite Mexican soups: Menudo and Pozole!

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· But sometimes I just get a hankering for spicy Tom Gai Thai soup - served at the table in a clay or metal pot atop a burning gas flame. Served into small bowls from the pot at your table. Thai soups have many variations in meat/ fish/ vegetables, coconut milk, spices – But beware the sliced sections of chilies’ and hunks of herb stems - they are not meant to be eaten – they are there for flavor – so you must be alert to fish them out.

Just recently a neat little Japanese noodle shop - simple elegance - opened a few blocks from home. - A large bowl of light chicken soup comes with the proper amount of rice noodles, chicken, shrimp, tofu, fish cake, and vegetables. This is eaten with chop sticks and it is perfectly good etiquette to pick up the bowl and use the chop sticks to guide in the noodles, slurping them up! Japanese noodles come in many forms, sizes, and ways to present.

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· Ah – but I didn’t even mention Vietnamese Pho soup – ( pronounced like Fun ) … this soup is an art form – beef broth, rice noodles and then a wide choice of variations: meat, fish. vegetables, tofu, fish sauce or soy bean sauce, and hot chilis … Topped with cilantro and asian basil Shops specializing in Pho seem to be everywhere - and each one has it;s own character. People are loyal to their favorite and everyone has their idea about how the best pho should look and taste.

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· The Afghan menu includes a soup that is a meal in itself - Aush – made with lamb broth –lamb meat, noodles, lentils, tomato, other vegetables, and delicious spices. Afghan food borrows from the Persians, Russians, Chinese, India into unique combinations of flavors… incredible! Our son Andrew knew this dish from his stay in the Peace Corp in Kyrgystan. (The bowl I get in the restaurant is much larger than the one in this photo!)

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Russian borscht has long had its loyal supporters. On a cold rainy day it warms you to your bones! Must be served with fresh good bread. · Made with beets, cabbage, onions, flavored with vinegar and sugar, with a dollup ot sour cream and a sprinkling of fresh dill. Everyone makes their own variations of this soup so its a matter of finding your favorite or making your own. A steamy little Russian bistro helps set the tone. Sadly we must go to San Francisco to find ourfavorite. The serving in this photo is too small too.

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I admit it – I am a chameleon when it comes to food. When I enter a cultural restaurant I quickly take on the color, flavors, and expectations of the place. It feels like its an adventure to try something new and discover new flavors and textures. If it’s a new strange cuisine that I don’t know – like Ethiopian food recently… I ask the waiter to make suggestions – they often take pride in their national foods and are only too happy to help.

Most of the places we visit are not fancy restaurants - but restaurants of the people. They are often decorated with a few items from the home country, but the good ones have plenty of peole who consider this "home cooking" - the food of their home land.

Broadening our cultural food horizons is as American as Apple Pie – look how we have assimilated Pizza, Sauerkraut, Chili, Yogurt, Frankfurters, Lasagna, Swiss cheese, Baloney, French bread, and Spaghetti… All of these were once exotic foods introduced by "foreigners". We only stand to gain as we boldly try new flavors - who knows what new favorites we may discover?

December in Fremont!

Bins of sweet good Granny Smith apples and deep orange Fuji persimmons are picked and resting in a cool toolshed. We have way more than we can use and I enjoy giving fruit to people who don't have any. I gave a big box of ripe quinces to a friend in the Afghan Market …in that culture quince are prized for their medicinal value. Six nights of heavy frost have pretty well taken care of any tender plants in the garden… and so now it is the season of cutting dead stems away on my perennial flowers to encourage next seasons growth. New sprouts are already forming. A great pile of prunings is forming and soon I will run it all through the chipper to make wonderful sweet smelling mulch. We are harvesting the very last few tomatoes, lettuce and herbs are still OK, also greens for cooking. Fruit tree pruning comes next in January. Nights are cold.

Thanksgiving was a time for reconnecting with family. Sisters and brothers, nieces and nephews, family friends, and we who have melded into the family by marriage. Everyone has changes in their lives, there are funny stories to tell, sadness to share, adventures to describe. Kids have pushed ahead to new challenges, and there are burdens that we must bear together. If wouldn’t be thanksgiving without a turkey to carve – white meat here – dark meat there. Stuffing, gravy, peas, sweet potatoes, and Pie (Apple, Berry, Pumpkin)…

Kitchen full of cooks, laughter coming from the living room… Football on the TV …Good hard cider and wine to enjoy. There was a sharing of books, fruit, leftovers, and good ideas. Most families also has their own unique ways of celebrating holidays…we do…

This week as I visited student teachers, I travelled into neighborhoods where folks had a much different thanksgiving. … California currently has 12.4 % unemployment (one out of every eight people). Average unemployment benefits for a family are less than $300 a month. Imagine feeding a family and covering rent with that amount! Imagine choosing between supper of Ramin noodles or boiled beans… adding a little spam would be a treat. And what of the ones that don’t have enough money to pay rent … Where do they go?

Today, 18% of Americans who work full-time are below the poverty line ($17, 000 for a family of four). The great curiosity for me is why poverty in America is so invisible to those of us who live comfortably. I see someone asking for a handout occasionally, but I am not aware of vast numbers of hungry people in my neighborhood , my shopping center, or grocery store. I see groups of men hanging out in front of my building-supply store hoping for a days work, when I drive past a food pantry the lines seem to extend farther each time. Hunger is hunger where ever in the world it is found. It is especially hard on Children. …here in California or anywhere.

Why is the American middle class in decline? Profit making decisions that led American companies to export jobs to China? …The increased efficiency of tools that require fewer human workers? The decline of strong labor unions? Borrowing excess money on a personal and national level? The greed of banks and financial institutions? Spending 3 trillion dollars on the Iraq war? Selfish government actions that put party above the good of the people? All of the above?

· 83 percent of all U.S. stocks are in the hands of 1 percent of the people.

· 
66 percent of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all Americans.

· 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved for retirement.


· The bottom 50 percent of income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.

One of my favorite slogans is still “Think globally, act locally” . I can’t solve the problem –All I can do is reach out a little more to the hungry. I can support the local food kitchen, This Christmas perhaps I will adopt a family through my church, I can drop a dollar into a Salvation Army bucket every time I pass one. I can support the local school canned food drive… If that is all I can do to reach out, then I am doing something to make the world a better place-and that’s good – but it makes me realize that perhaps I can do even more. I remember too...hunger and deprivation don’t go away when Christmas is over.

Requiem for a tomato

Besides the smells and flavors of Thanksgiving day, beyond the gathering of friends and family and eating a little too much turkey and pumpkin pie there are three things I associate with the Thanksgiving season.

1. Every year within a week of Thanksgiving Day we have our first frost.

2. Almost all the leaves fall from our Walnut tree between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

3. It is, alas, the end of tomato season...

Frost formed on the fibrils of a garden plant

How I love my fresh tomatoes! I usually get the first one by July 1… and now the season is over. Sweet, full of flavor, and warmed by the sun there are few things on this Earth that surpass them! I eat them fresh like an apple, we put them in salads, I cook them into stews, I blend them into fresh tomato juice..

"Ace" tomatoes

I am a zealot when it comes to tomatoes –My tomato bed is south facing with the most direct sunlight (I call it my Fresno microclimate). In March the soil must be dug deep and mixed with heaps of compost, in April I plant about a dozen little plants ( Ace and Early Girl varieties). The plants are never allowed to dry out once it quits raining, and then I must wait until mid July and early August when we have a rush of deep red perfectly vine ripened tomatoes coming in. Those we can’t eat we wash and freeze whole for winter use. (One fourth of our freezer is now filled with tomatoes).

More tomatoes than you can imagine!

I grow indeterminate tomato varieties that stop growing ( and producing ) only when the night time temperatures reach into the 40 degree range. But now my plants are looking sad – the remaining tomato fruits have large black spots and the leaves are beginning to collect into a gummy green mess within the vine. The flavor of the last ones are way less sweet and generally sad.

And don’t even suggest to me store-bought tomatos – yuck – no flavor – bad texture… gives tomatoes a bad name!!

But it was a good year – great yield and no tomato worms! – And so I must graciously let go – and turn my attention to the bounty of the next season…

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What do we do with all those tomatoes?

After years of searching I have found the perfect Marinara Sauce - (modified from the "Moosewood Cookbook" - by Mollie Katzen)

Marinara Sauce

2-3 T olive oil

2 C chopped onion

1 medium sized bell pepper - diced

2 medium stalks celery, minced

1 lb. mushrooms, chopped

2 medium ( 6 inch ) zucchini, diced

Handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped (if available)

2 t dry Basil

1 t dry Oregano

1 t dry Thyme

1.5 t salt

2 lbs. crushed frozen tomatoes (w/ juice) or you can substitute canned tomatoes (1 large can)

1 6 oz. can tomato paste

1 T Honey

Black pepper to taste

6 cloves minced garlic

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1. Heat olive oil in kettle -

2. Add onion, bell pepper, celery, mushrooms, zucchini, ripe tomatoes, fresh basil, dry herbs, salt

3. Sauté over medium heat until onions are very soft ( 8-10 minutes)

4. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, honey, black pepper.

5. Use a spoon to break up the tomatoes into bite size pieces

6. Bring to boil, then lower heat and simmer, partly covered, for 20-30 minutes

7. Add garlic and cook about 10 minutes more

8. The sauce can sit for several hours or can be refrigerated for up to a week.

9. Heat gently before serving

… I double the recipe and freeze in separate packets for quick meals… good with chicken, vegetables, legumes, almost anything!

A double batch takes a little more than an hour to prepare if you get organized first -then we fill 8 oz jars and we have frozen sauce for the next 2-3 weeks -

Photographs

Imagine being able to capture a moment in the life of a person and to experience the faces and expressions years later. From my earliest years there has always been someone with a camera to record family events. The impromptu snap shots are the best! Now some of those early portraits are family icons from times long ago.

My sister Helen and I with cousins

I am not the kind of photographer that I would like to be. I have worked my way through a progression of cameras – and I love my current zoom-lens digital camera. But the question still remains,“What constitutes a good photo?“ In Tanzania this summer we spent a week travelling with the Heifer study-group. When we returned, we shared the photos we had each taken of the same experiences – It was fascinating to see how we made different photo choices. Some wanted to show the texture of Tanzanian farm life, others focused on faces, another on children, one focused on scenery… Each person had their own “decision making filter” in place to guide them in choosing what to photograph.

Lion - Ngorongoro Crater

Observing the work of a master photographer helps me to see the world through his or her mind. This past week I saw an extensive photo collection by Henri Cartier-Bresson at the MOMA museum in San Francisco. (Go to this web site to see examples: http://moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2010/henricartierbresson/#/homepage/themes.html.) Seeing his life work is an inspiration for an aspiring photographer like me! Monsieur Cartier-Bresson was the master of the “decisive moment”. For him photography was about observing deeply your subject and then choosing the exact right moment to capture the whole story. His pictures are an invaluable record of moments in the lives of common people from the 1930’s to the 1950’s… Europe, America, Asia, Russia…

Two of his quotes:

“Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again.“

“Think about the photo before and after, never during. The secret is to take your time. You mustn't go too fast. The subject must forget about you. Then, however, you must be very quick.”

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This is what I would like to remember and include in my photos, after viewing the exhibition....

1. A good photo is all about light! If the lighting isn’t right – come back when you can get the light you need to make the photo interesting.
2. A great photo can use shadows and reflections for real and effective results.
3. Avoid far away pictures of people – be close enough that you can see features. Human expression in the moment is all-important.
4. Wait until the “decisive moment” to click the shutter. Wait until people forget that you are there. Wait for the “look”... the “gesture”.
5. Photos showing people doing things can be effective even if you don’t show a face directly. In most of Cartier-Bresson's photos the subject is not aware that a photo is being taken.
6. When photographing a group meeting– don’t show the speaker - show the people watching the speaker. Focus on the responses of people.
7. Landscapes and natural still life compositions can be effective with the correct light, angle, and composition. No subject is too small or insignificant to be considered as a subject....it just has to be have the "right balance".
8. Cropping makes or breaks a good photo – This is done on the computer or darkroom after the fact... (iphoto, photo shop, etc.) The goal is to accentuate your focus topic and remove distracting details.
9. Portraits are the most difficult. Most people put on a set-face when they know they are being photographed. A good portrait takes time and involves engaging the subject, having the subject involved in something other than thinking about having their photo taken.
10. Learn to see outside of your usual "this is a good photo" mode - Photography is about being open to seeing in a new way.

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Just for fun I attempted some photos from the airplane as we returned from Oregon. Here are two examples: In both cases I used a telephoto lens and then some editing with iphoto to correct contrast.

Berkeley: UC Campus to left, City center right

Mt. Shasta

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These days I spent a great deal of time travelling back and forth to visit the student teachers that I am supervising. Public radio stations, KQED 88.5 and KALW 91.7, are my regular companions. I can count on an enjoyable balance of new thought, interviews, music, and entertainment. As I travelled this Wednesday - I heard this interview - Here is both a pod cast of the message and the written text... I was so impressed with it I want to share it:

http://www.kqed.org/a/perspectives/R201011170735