San Clemente Surf

Rolled out early, and all the way to San Onofre...I wanted to see how much it costs to camp there at the State Park...35 dollars a night...and to see if my day use senior discount annual pass is good there after Labor Day (it is it seems)...Rangers didn't know, and would check, but I said I would on the web...rolled back to San Clemente Pier...parked around 4pm and paid up to 11pm, which I think I didn't need to do, as sign seemed to indicate parking was free after 5pm...this in the big lots overlooking the Pier...hungry, so went to the Pier restaurants...prices high...more a dining out place...fish chowder, bread, and coffee, like fifteen bucks...but very nice restaurant, and crowded in evening...thought to fish, but got to fiddling with the 70-300 DO lens...it's really broken now...the extending part is just wobbling loose, and auto focus can't work at all...and I was really surprised I could manually focus it by aligning it while it rests on my forefinger, and focusing it by turning the ring with my thumb and second finger...time was before auto focus, this must be how photogs managed these long lenses...it still works, but sometime shutter doesn't go off, and sometimes, if it dips, or moves, the extension I mean, it goes out of focus...hmmph...found a repairman in San Clemente in last visit, and they're about on Mondays...this Monday holiday, so following one, I'll see about repairs...and I sat on the Pier taking surfer pictures with the lens until sunset...practicing...surf was like a foot...what a difference!...you know, I thought from times when I saw the Wedge years ago, that I had seen it big...but I've never seen it like it was on Wednesday morning...reviewed my clips this afternoon, and there are some okay ones, and it'll be a lot of work to process them for posting...for sometime...Sunset came, and I switched to the D10, which took pics up...clear warm light breeze...on the way back, bumper to bumper through Laguna, and pretty much all along the coast...listened to Angels and Padres...both won...Laguna has a thriving upscale nightlife...sidewalks full, restaurants crowded, lots of shops still open...very festive!...San Clemente is the furthest south Orange County Town, and I think the most peaceful...south of it, the nuclear power plant and the marine base have preserved the coastline from development all the way down to Oceanside...thanks to President Nixon for the State Park!

quote

Created in 1971 by Richard M. Nixon’s presidential decree and supported by then-California Governor Ronald Reagan, San Onofre State Beach is among the top five most visited State Parks in California, with annual attendance exceeding 2 million.

http://www.sanonofreparksfoundation.org/site/

unquote

River Jetty and Newport Pier

During the rideabouts on the Busses, I wanted to include visits to the Santa Ana River Jetty, but skipped them because they were problematic--no rest rooms, no places to eat. Those two things, especially the first, influence where about photogs gather!...anyway, parked Silver in the neighborhood near the Jetty (there are metered lots here, I learned, on the ocean side of PCH), and peddled over to the River, and as far as Talbert Nature Reserve...quietquiet...Osprey nest very empty...faraway Reddish Heron pic, I think--haven't downloaded 50x pics yet...a kinda desultory effort along the River..wanted to get over to the Pier for sunset...turned about, and was a bit late...got a Pier and Moon pic...haven't taken a Moon pic in awhile!...purchased a bike light for the the peddle back in the dark at the beach gear shop...and while snacking on hot dog and lemonade, puzzled out how to attach it ...nice light, and on peddle back, I was one of the few safely lighted...dodged more than a few who weren't on the sidewalk section, and saw a few near collisions...joined the Pier Promenade before return...Mackerel, buckets full at Pier's End...Newport Pier is short...didn't realize before, but can compare now...and the environs beach funky...an attraction for the young, and a nuisance to the residents further down the Peninsula, I gather, from overheared conversations!...I overhear a lot of conversations!--everyone on their cell phones...clear warm light breeze...breeze was a chore riding back into it on the River Trail...a long peddle, and another 'glad to find Silver' in a dark strange neighborhood...oh...the second pic down is PCH bridge...had to crouch down and walk the bike under it to get to the ocean side and beach...now and then, I find myself in the odd nooks and crannies of  Town!

Big Fish Fisherman

Kid fishing on the Balboa Pier was wonderfully happy, swinging his catch over the railing, resting the line and fish on the Pier deck, and saying to his mom, "I caught a fish! I caught a fish!"...I smiled, and asked if I could take a pic of the fish, and the kid grinned, "SURE!"...camera flashed, and I said "Thanks"... kid answered, "SURE! THANK YOU!"...and as I continued, kid's mom smiled, and said kindly "thank you"...

Yesterday evenning, rolled out to Balboa with a purchase in mind...achievement reward loot for the Wedge effort, I'd say!...beach gear store by the foot of the Pier still open, and I went in and browsed the Boogie Boards...one with Dolphins illustration I picked, and stored it in Silver's loot box...paddled out to Pier's End...Sunset pics on the way...surf was still big, like during the first cyclone...snacked on chicken wings, Pier still swaying when swells came through, and, with hot chocolate, joined the Promenade making the return loop...clear warm light breeze...so clear one could see the Big Orange Ball setting to the very very last crescent...

Wedge Wednesday Morning 643 pics

Well, I got the 643 up...and one last snag...here in the blog...it's okay over in youtube, but here in the blog, the clip is too wide, and the 'open to full screen' button is hidden...there's probably a keystroke for that...

there's no soundtrack, but as it happened, by shortening the duration to 2 seconds, and the rhythmic transitions, it has its own metronome beat, and goes well with one song I sing to myself often: Trojans in My Head by Atlas Genius...one can make one's own playlist...open a second youtube window and set some songs playing, and then open the clip on the first youtube page...or just put your ipod or mp3 player on...

clip can be found on youtube here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZiL0zIit7Y&list=UUjXAk71lLu-S_lc4tVafvrQ

...best seen full screen on a big lcd tv screen!...much fun!

Wedge Wednesday

Tuesday at the Wedge, I couldn't get the 70-300mm DO lens to extend..knew that day was coming, as it's been snagging ever since I got it...four or five years ago!...set on the rebel T1, it's my favorite camera...it's been time a long time for the repair shop...but...but...on Wednesday Morning, before sunup, and on two hours sleep, I took the lens out of the pack, and tried one more time...and the lens like fell open to full extension!...hoorray!...and off I rolled to Balboa, found parking near the bay side fishing dock again, and peddled over to the Wedge, via the Alley...when the whole world sorts itself out, everyone will have alleys like this one!...at the beach, a crowd was already gathering...I took a couple pics and clips with the D10, and then tried to think through how to take pics and clips...not enough light for clips, as the auto focus would lag when zooming...for later when more sunlight, I thought...so set the 300mm to 1600iso and 250ss, then 400iso and 1600ss...and took a lot of pics...when the sun came up, first over the foothills, and then over the jetty, splashing on the surfers and waves, the lighting was fine...the pics are very soft (blurred), but have a kinda pastel look, which I like, and there's 643 of them!!!...reviewing them on the little camera screen, I thought them not much to keep, for printing and such I mean...but when I downloaded them to the computer, opened them in windows pictures, clicked on 'do slide show', which has the ken burns effect--panning and moving in and out very slowly, the 643 pics are a marvel!!!...and I don't know how to present them, it would take forever to process them for youTube, which I started to try, and I don't think I can get just the same sorta ken burns effect that windows does...and right now there are a lot of eager surfers and onlookers browsing youtube for Wednesday Wedge pics...and more than likely one of the 100s of photogs will put up their 643 still pics, so I guess I shouldn't fret...but mine all together viewed on the big lcd screen linked to my computer are really really cool!...thought is I can copy them to thumb drives or discs and just tell folk how to open them in the windows slide show...anyway, as the sun came up, and more light, I started to take clips with the 50x...Tuesday, I had been able to kneel down at the edge of the berm, and the clips were okay, but Wednesday, with so many onlookers, I had to stand, and dodge between everyone, and I don't even think I have one clip I like, least wise not like the pics earlier...I went back in the evening after a nap at home, parked on Balboa Island this time, and took the Ferry across, and peddled to the Wedge along the now familiar route--Alley was full of bicyclists and walkers...and there were thousands at the beach!...tried to use the slik tripod, put the 50x on it, extended it full height like a periscope, but I took even fewer keeper clips than in the morning...oh..in the morning, I took a break and went back to the Pier...breakfast at Ruby's...surf was sometimes splashing on top of the Pier...back to the evening: I knew I wasn't getting good clips, but waited for the Sun to go down behind the Lifeguard Tower for another sunset pic...pic up...picked up and peddled back to the Ferry...there had been a line of bicyclists and walkers to wait behind before coming over from the Island, and there was an even longer line going back!...bike handlebars have a cup holder, and I sipped on a strawberry smoothie while waiting...forgot where exactly I parked Silver, and no lights on the bike, so strolled a bit around the Island, and happy finally to put the bike up on Silver's rack...and glad to get back to my bit of Town...the tract my home is in has always been a kinda quiet oasis to come back to!...pohono...sunny clear hot...next big Wedge day, I'll take along four five gallon buckets, fill them with sand...stand on two, and put the tripod up in the others...should be able to see then!..."it's like all the tall folk want to stand in front of me..." ..it's tiny to see, but in the sunset pic the photog at the center about is standing on a step ladder...for clips and pics by others go to youtube, and put this search in the search box: wedge Newport august 27 2014...and maybe this link will do just that:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=wedge+newport+august+27+2014

Leaping Surfer

Bigger Wedge Surf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAzfAp25qRI&list=UUjXAk71lLu-S_lc4tVafvrQ&index=5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQwr-KOsp_U&list=UUjXAk71lLu-S_lc4tVafvrQ&index=4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAkmG27nHaA&index=3&list=UUjXAk71lLu-S_lc4tVafvrQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX1DsS44P2w&index=2&list=UUjXAk71lLu-S_lc4tVafvrQ


Posting a big mix of clips and pics is maddening!...thought was to make an interweaving narrative, but each clip I put up after the first one, youtube would make it link to the whole playlist...I'd figure this out, but I want to go back to the Wedge at First Light...rolled out today, well, after midnight, yesterday!, early on, which was good to find a parking spot, which was still far away, but I was prepared and had the big tired beach cruiser bike with (they make some much bigger tired ones now!), so peddled out to the Wedge, and joined the throng...first show was the bodysurfers, then after 4pm the bellyboarders and surfboarders could go out...took pics and clips for a couple hours, then peddled back to the Pier environs for a snack, and back again to the Wedge for Sunset...I'll have to come back to this post and fix it, and add the things I've left out, and unexplained...clear warm sunny...crowd narrating the clips is much fun...I've linked most of them, they're just not embedded like the one, and at youtube one can locate all of them...update: clips are all linked here now...:)

Dana Point Sunset

Rolled out Yesterday with plenty of time, and thought to go as far as San Clemente...or even Oceanside Pier!....but Sunset Time was approaching as I was approaching Dana Point, so pulled into Jack in the Box to get a snack, cheeseburger coke and fries...and while in the drive through line, another jeep, yellow, was in front...top off, and something in the back, which after some study, I discerned  was a wooden beach chair..very upscale, I'd say...and I thought on this, as I had stopped at Big 5 on the way, and I looked over foam bellyboards, swm fins, some interesting swim gloves...notion has been of late to just go to the Beach and sit in the sun, read a book, swim and body surf a bit...and become a beach bum...the Ocean has that allure...Jack London would build yachts from his book earnings, he was highest paid author of the time, and just sail off to the South Seas...the old guy in the yellow jeep looked to be a fellow travel, and then I heard the music he was playing, Allison Kraus and Union Station, my! favorite cd...a doggone doppelganger...hmmph...free parking at Dana Harbor, and paddled out to the Benches and snacked...Sunset blocked by the Point, which is looking more like a face each visit..two raptors flew overhead, but too dark to id...and flocks of seagulls flying south to somehwhere...on the roll outs to the Ocean, I listen to radio baseball, Angels and Padres...I can't find the Dodger station, and it may not be on the air, like the TV coverage, which is messed up because of cable company asking exorbitant fees...'no Vin is a Sin' seems to be the hew and cry!...clear warm light breeze...last Friday, rolled over to the laundromat, and thought to take the cameras, but shrugged, 'it's the middle of town' (don't know if there is anything but 'middle' in Town!), and didn't take them, and of course when I got to the laundromat, two Hawks, Redtails, came soaring overhead from above the roof...remembered I had the iphone camera, and it actually got a pic...Piebald Grebe at the Donut Shop Pond...selfie at Zachs in Old Town GG...by the Donut Shop is a Print Shop, and every time I walk past it I think of having things printed...at least a calling card, as I'm always caught up short without a pen, or scrap of paper to write things on when folk want to exchange emails and such...so I had a thousand calling cards printed up...I like very much the kinda plastic paper they are printed on...it looks to be waterproof, and one can wipe dust and such off easily...

The First Tweets

quote

A Greek chorus (Greek: χορός, khoros) is a homogeneous, non-individualised group of performers in the plays of classical Greece, who comment with a collective voice on the dramatic action.^[1] The chorus consisted of between 12 and 50 players, who variously danced, sang or spoke their lines in unison and sometimes wore masks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_chorus

unquote

quote

A loud cry from within.

Voice of Agamemnon:

O I am sped--a deep, a mortal blow.

Chorus:

Listen, listen! who is screaming as in mortal agony?

Voice of Agamemnon:

O! O! again, another, another blow!

Chorus:

The bloody act is over--I have heard the monarch cry--
Let us swiftly take some counsel, lest we too be doomed to die.

One of the Chorus:

'Tis best, I judge, aloud for aid to call,
Ho! loyal Argives! to the palace, all!

Another:

Better, I deem, ourselves to bear the aid,
And drag the deed to light, while drips the blade.

Another:

Such will is mine, and what thou say'st I say:
Swiftly to act! the time brooks no delay.

Another:

Ay, for 'tis plain, this prelude of their song
Foretells its close in tyranny and wrong.

Another:

Behold, we tarry--but thy name, Delay,
They spurn, and press with sleepless hand to slay.

Another:

I know not what 'twere well to counsel now--
Who wills to act, 'tis his to counsel how.

Another:

Thy doubt is mine: for when a man is slain,
I have no words to bring his life again.

Another:

What? e'en for life's sake, bow us to obey
These house-defilers and their tyrant sway?

Another:

Unmanly doom! 'twere better far to die--
Death is a gentler lord than tyranny.

Another:

Think well--must cry or sign of woe or pain
Fix our conclusion that the chief is slain?

Another:

Such talk befits us when the deed we see--
Conjecture dwells afar from certainty.

Leader of the Chorus:

I read one will from many a diverse word,
To know aright, how stands it with our lord!

The scene opens, disclosing Clytemnestra, who comes forward.
The body of Agamemnon lies, muffled in a long robe, within a
silver-sided laver; the corpse of Cassandra is laid beside him.


Title: The Oresteia
Author: Aeschylus
(Translated by E. D. A. Morshead)
* A Project Gutenberg of Australia eBook *
eBook No.: 0700021h.html
Language:  English
Date first posted: January 2007
Date most recently updated: September 2011

http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks07/0700021h.html

unquote

and here's link to youtube clip about the 'crocodile', my term for the chorus!

42nd Street

Rolled out kinda late, and first stop the Big Bookstore at the Mall at Edinger and 39...purchased Call of the Wild...in south lanes thereabout on 39 is centered in the road from a curve in the distance a huge American Flag, and I've been wanting to get a pic, but all the lights went green, so pic up was taken while rolling...reached the Beach at sunset, and tried for pic, pulling into the parking near the Santa Ana River Jetty...gate was down, no parking, so looped through, another pic taken in a hurry, and then found myself stalled while police straightened out a fender bender...both drivers standing apart with arms folded, and police moving with caution--even fender benders look laden with tensions!...diverted by the no parking (I had thought to just sit on the Beach awhile), and continued to the Peninsula...thought to maybe find parking at 42nd Street, pic up, but that was an 'of course not', and Newport Pier too...another gathering of police there, like four squad cars parked with flashing lights..."when the sirens sound, the neighborhood dogs howl"...bit of doggerel I thought up!...continued to Balboa Pier, and Pizza Pete's ...two slices and a soda...admired the mural around the walls, too bad wall was cut into in the Wedge part...paddled out to Pier's End...hot chocolate at Ruby's...night pier pic...cloudy warm breeze from the west and small waves too...there was an old photo of the Peninsula in Pete's showing things when first graded, sectioned, and being offered for sale--an aerial view...lots were tiny, being offered as vacationing properties I imagine...side streets are narrow, alternating one ways...all the houses, apartments, are different, and cottage like, and right beside one another...towards the Wedge are larger homes, but still close beside, and bayside they all have docks with boats...and it's the ninth wealthiest neighborhood in the country...family story goes that pop was debating a home purchase in Garden Grove or Newport, prices the same then...Garden Grove had a backyard...oh!...fire rings near the River Jetty...thought maybe rings were all gone, not seeing them where I used to...