Wild Horse Creek Ranch 2009

We are back at Wild Horse Creek Ranch for the annual Tamalpa gathering. For Jakub and I, so far from family, Tamalpa has become a bit of a stand-in , this being a kind of family reunion. Jakub reading over my shoulder said this would be a great place for a family reunion, I thought it might work for my parents diamond anniversary but given that is in October and it is likely nothing but snow here that time of year, I'll need to rethink my plans.

The crowd is gathering here in the living room as I type this and it is getting harder to concentrate so I will write more tomorrow with my morning coffee.

New York New York!

I'm writing this post from my hotel room in TriBeCa, on the southern end of SOHO. Though it is one of those botiquie hotels, the air sits in the room and hangs like a blanket; until the air-con kicks in and an ice breeze rolls over me that is. The subway rattles our room on occassion and I wonder if the other rooms of this **** place do the same.

New York is all I expected - vibrant, busy, noisy, energetic. It sucks you into its arms and you release yourself, as though she were a long anticipated lover. For me she is.

Our first day was spent exploring the area around the park and 5th ave. We rode the subway to Times Square, took a brisk walk to Central Park and then a gentle stroll, meandering through Finally popping out at the Museum of Natural History, which sucked us in for a few ours.

My new best friend, wine expert and foodie extodinaire,Jason Alexander, sent me an email that read more like a food review column of what's hot in New York. High up on the list was the restaurant at MOMA, where we looked forward to sipping one of Sommelier Belinda Changs selections. Unfortuntely our gentle stroll saw us arrive 5 minutes after the kitchen closed, with the entire museum being closed on Tuesday. We got creative about food, ate something that was just alright and decided we would satisfy our craving for something great at Del Posto, in the Meet Packing district, at night.

We stumbled over FIKA, a great little coffee shop that makes a cappuccino to die for and, while Peter headed to the hotel for a siesta, I made my way to Strand Books where I spent the rest of the afternoon.

With only a few hours sleep last night, I am afraid I will need to finish this post later. I'll give you my rave review of Del Posto and try to find a card reader to upload some shots.

Bike Heaven? Well my heaven at least....

Jakub and I have been checking out the new New York Times Reader - yes heaven would have NPR and the New York Times, but that is not the point of my post. While reading the Times on a MacBook Pro this morning we came across an article covering a town near Freiburg, Germany that can only be described as heaven.

Soccer moms and commuting executives here, the article says, have given up their cars! Yes, the whole town is car free. California is trying to get a similar suburb off the ground in Quarry Village, Oakland.

Insects and other obsessions

I have adored insects for as long as I can remember, and, unlike many of my passions which tend to fade, my love of insects seems to only deepen. Insects offer endless hours of enjoyment - they are beautiful, bountiful and beneficial. Just check out these recent sightings in our yard (okay I did not take these pictures, Jakub is our resident photographer and he was not about so these are courtesy of Kathy Keatley Garvey, author of Bug Squad, a very cool UC Davis blog).

Ladybug with aphid on her back.

Soldier beetle eating aphids.

These beneficial insects feast on aphids, keeping our garden plants healthy. In recent years people have taken to releasing high concentrations of these beneficials in their yards - putting them to work so to speak. I recently read another human use of insects, though this one is on the darker side - insect warfare. In "The Scary Caterpillar", not to be confused with the sweet children's book, "The Hungry Caterpillar", Jeffrey A. Lockwood, explores historic use of insects in warfare. It is a gruesome yet fascinating account and one that has prompted me to locate Lockwoods book "Six Legged soldiers: Using Insects as Weapons of War."

After reading either Bug Squad or "The Scary Caterpillar" I'm sure you'll agree that insects are amazing!

Blogging , a worthwile habit

I've realized that blogging can become a habit. I started a blog for our office, well technically I kick-started it as it was already set-up but no-one had starting posting. There are now three of us that regularly contribute and I think I enjoy reading the other two writers posts as much as I enjoy blogging.

It has also inspired me to do a little more posting here at plichta.org so keep your eyes out for some tidbits from our daily grind. Speaking of which, I am off to Peet's to grab a cup of Jo.

New hair & a new glass

Over the last few days I successfully swapped two of my less than desirable lenses for a mint Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens. While Nicole was getting a new hairdo at the swanky Hairplay salon; me and da boys went next door to Chow for some appies and beer/limonade. Between the calamari and steamed mussles I snapped few low light pictures and as you can see the lens does indeed work.

Nicole came back and I had to do a double take to recognize her with straight hair and a sixties go-go girl look. With the black polish she's a new woman. Where's the cat suit?

Winter by Sasha

What's going on?

As you may have seen from our holiday card we are in the midst of a reconstruction effort. The reason for the card design is that if we have no time and inspiration for an attractive, sentimental card we might as well produce the most annoying photo that captures some of our daily realities.

So that's us, dressed in jeans and gum boots standing inside a hole next to our house. Soon that whole will be filled with a concrete retaining wall and slab, expertly engineered to withstand 8.0 earthquake directly underneath. In which case the house will be a pile of rubble but the wall will stand as a testament to our desire to do any construction "the right way". As our engineer puts it: When in doubt, build it stout.

The small drawback is that both Nicole and I are great at swinging the sledge hammer, breaking slab and digging holes. Unfortunately we are less talented in filling those holes and constructing something new. So our backyard is covered with not so neat piles of rubble, soil and old lumber. But we will change that and slowly and steadily make positive improvements starting with the concrete wall mentioned above.

So stay tuned, some before and after pictures should start appearing soon.

New Year - New Resolution

As the new year starts and we look inward to better ourselves a number of sincere resolutions bubbles to the top of the imaginary list. Yet again I will floss every day, raise my voice less, and to you, dear reader, I promise weekly blog updates, sprinkled with delightful images of our daily existence.



Today, for instance, we ventured outside into the light drizzle to look at the newly filled creeks and revived waterfalls. Anticipating the sights I brought along the camera and tripod to capture few images of silky smooth water tumbling over glistening rocks.




One more thing - as you may have noticed - I have recently become a fan of the square. Square aspect ratio that is so you may see more of that in later posts.


In the mean time may the new year bring you love and joy.

Jakub