Seems to me a rather dramatic way to attract folks to a VW car lot. It appears that the time frame of that photo would be in an age when everybody already had a VW anyway.
Now if this rather fit looking fellow was trying to tempt folks to either Politics or God or Science or Religion, that would be a different story altogther.
sail the ship
chop the tree
skip the rope
look at me
They made radio famous.
But our ukes were not in tune and wouldn't get in tune.
So we bailed, that day, infamously. Literally.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DktKsP-CYGg]
It rained hard in early May. Just like it did for dear old Bob.
If I counted correctly, then on my aproximately 10,100 square foot lot, I have 7 Eucalyptus, 4 Shamel Ash, 1 Brazilian Pepper, 1 Liquid Amber and 1 Nectarine in the ground and 5 Ficus and 4 Nectarine in containers.
I had to remove one nectarine and one avocado tree due to termite infestation. I didn't realize the little pests got into live wood.
It was pretty hard to climb up in the tree this was taken from. Glad I didn't fall.
In case you're inclined to believe a misconception, it's just plain wrong to say a sycamore is a fancy (London) Plane Tree. A more likely case is that you are as confused as I was before I got the skinny on these "deciderous" trees, related as they are in the distant past to the bushes, and drinking plain water. Or dirty water. From a hollow log.
Went to the Wool Growers in B'field today.
Lost in Shanghai, myself, Ben Robinson of Motown took his big black truck, TaTankA, and had John Muir riding shotgun, Merced to BF. We visited with Tom Rhorer and a caver buddy of Ben's (a major caver), John Hargraves, who used to live in B'field, but is now over to Oildale.
Yeah, you could say down on his luck, but a more upbeat and positive guy is hard to track down, though there are a good number floating around the Taco Stand. John Hamilton Muir of New Hampshire, new to California and a kidney, a family man of near forty with two boys, a climber who was lucky to get a new kidney. He's on relief and extended holiday, in Columbia till the end of April. His life is in flux but he's riding it high. Great to have met you, Jake MUIR. No sh#t.
Sho' nuff.
Credit: mouse from merced
John Muir staring at TaTankA, unsure of what God hath wrought.
Credit: mouse from merced
Judgement. But is he rating the truck or Middle Earth in the distance? Both, of course. Posed, of coarse.
Credit: mouse from merced
Lost in Shanghai you know. Jay's very sharp, appreciates the hell out of the ST, and is one of the heroes, for my money, and it's always gonna be a fun time with LIS, who gets respect in lots of ways. Anyone who's climbed with Tom Cochrane and lived injury-free, he's fortunate! Some stories went down today... I know you'll see this, Jay, so just let me say that today made me look forward to Ben's next little adventure, four-wheelin' in the Tank. Yee-haw! Just the once, though. Don't want to make it a habit.
Tom Rhorer. The maddest Mad Bolter around, the funniest marathoner this side of Carlsbad, NM, just competed and finished his 25th LA Marathon; having finished in them all, he was ready to pack it in this year at mile ten, but as luck would have it, nobody was around to give him a ride! So he said "WTF: Do It!" And he did, in just under the eight hour limit, but HE DID IT! He's like, Donini's age.
A marvelous inspiration to myself with my athsma, just like Royal, Tom's gonna fail falling. Rappelling, anyway. Abseiling he'll likely die in harness. He's enjoying a long (I hope rejuvenating) sleep in Mojave right now, if I am any judge. He'll be hitting the LA scene and then back to NM. He plans returning to California before Facelift for more Rap Hi Jinx.
Photos to follow, naturally. We just now got into Merced and Jay and JM ("Jake") are headed to Tuolumne County and Ben is likely pulling into Motown right now. Another Day Trip, uh-huh, uh-huh, I like them...
There's a posting here on the ST about Tom's epic Nose Escape Route from 1970, I think it was.
John H. at the entrance to the Wool Growth. Something about VWs vs. Porsches, eh? No way! POSED! Wouldn't ewe know it? thx, Johann. PUT AN END TO WAR>EVERYBODY DRIVE A VW!
Credit: mouse from merced
We had some lunch, the family style spareribs, and brought out our spare fibs. We didn't wear bibs.
Ken, here, said hi, Merced, and he has a good friend here in town, the County Counsel, Mr. DENNIS Meyers. Jay didn't see George all afternoon, though he kept looking.
Credit: mouse from merced
"I never want to see you again, Madam. Pay the clerk."
Credit: mouse from merced
More judgement.
Edit: His name is Tom Hargraves, not John. Mea culpa, I trusted my memory instead of writing it down.
I like James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Sycamores, though I must admit to not having read it for years.
You'll notice I don't have any Oak trees either. Still got termites. I hate those little bastards.
You're really enjoying that camera. Makes my heart soar (not sore).
The claim is that this is a photograph of JFC. He died at 61 in 1851, was employed as a novelist for the Curry Company and/or Walt Disney.
Gotta go, headin' up to Choco's to meet with Hag, something about a young 'un's dream (that's quite an abbreviation there son). Thankfully, I turned twenty-one in Berkeley.
A London Plane is just a dumbed down Sycamore. Springtime anthracnose gives the native Racemosa the cool angular branching. Syc on that!
Something about authority figures in golf carts. They're on a trip.
John and I always laugh in the face authority, like I said, I turned 21 in Berkeley.* Ya don't want my trousers to fall down now, do ya?
*Disclaimer: Neither Mr. Mellencamp nor Dr. Wilson, receives any compensation from the Nicorette Corporation and no trees were harmed in the filming of the video.
I went to Applegate Park, forgetting about authoritarian hospitality and grooved on the Tuesday afternoon socializing of the Hmong...
The men gather at the volleyball courts set up near the grand old Heritage Oak in the center of the park, next to the open air theater. They play a style of ball called takraw and the group I shot here use no hands, just feet and head (one case in which two heads might be a problem). The pros usually just spike the plastic sphere with the foot.
At any level, a guy with old knees can only sit and shake his head at these acrobatics and wonder at the relative tameness of hacky-sack...
I'm including some shots of the game of Too Loo, a top-spinning game, and a couple of short instructional videos.
The man on the right lobs the plastic sphere and the server kicks it into the other side's court.
Credit: mouse from merced
And the return attempt.
Credit: mouse from merced
Credit: mouse from merced
Credit: mouse from merced
Credit: mouse from merced
Credit: mouse from merced
Credit: mouse from merced
Credit: mouse from merced
Credit: mouse from merced
Credit: mouse from merced
Credit: mouse from merced
Credit: mouse from merced
Side out.
Credit: mouse from merced
Tujlub, the top-spinning game.
Credit: mouse from merced
Credit: mouse from merced
These fellows seemed rather desultory, but there was no competition going on at this time.
The rest of the afternoon I spent trying to play around with different settings and using the darker light to help bring up whatever was there. It was not the most fun, but I blame it on the fact that I have to go back tomorrow early and shoot that pink tree by the hostpital. I'll dream in green tonight, mostly.
Let us know!