Dabob Bay

We visited the bay on the 29th to check out the windstorm damage. The Leyland Cypress near the cabin is blown over, but otherwise things are okay. The view was bright on the ferry, gray and rainy on the drive, but it brightened up again at Dabob. The creek has blasted a straight path past the Bath's. I have posted a slide show of the outing with some other pictures of visits to the bay.

Book & Brew

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides received top honors as Book-of -the-Year at the December Book & Brew gathering Wednesday. Our bookclub has the most wonderful web site possible, visited somewhat regularly by almost half of our nine members. Apparently a quintessential core in this group actually read their email, reviewed the data on our website, and voted five strong for Middlesex, although truth be told, the whole group is monolithic in it's opinion and would have voted likewise if they could read the one sentence request in their various in-baskets.

Which is not to say we don't acrimoniously bicker over what's a chick book, it's just that we all have great taste in books.

Middlesex was competing against:
The Good German - Kanon
Whistling Season - Doig
All Quiet on the Orient Express - Mills
Thank You for Smoking - Buckley
Great Gatsby - Fitzgerald
Collapse - Diamond
Tale of Two Cities - Dickens
Sharpes Tiger - Cornwell

Maritime brew received top honors in a similar "read the instructions and then vote if you remember to" scenerio.

Formula One

My first Grand Prix & first place for Jochen Rindt (above). Apparently, the 1970 Dutch GP was Clay Regazzoni's first GP, managing fourth. The GP event left a colorful memory. I was given a ticket to the race by Raymond Mays, courtesy of an introduction by Jim Elwes, after a friendly chat on the train. I just had to see the circus and it was a great day - and then Piers Courage crashed. Grand Prix was not so grand.

I still follow GP racing on TV some 36 yrs on. Clay died in a road accident Monday. I enjoyed his racing. I have a memory of meeting his cousin George. He told me about Clay's road car, modified to allow him to drive after his injuries. I remember Clay as a star in the circus.

Camp Discovery on Dabob Bay

In 1978 Chris Bath authored a lovely booklet on Camp Discovery. Having enjoyed visits there since 1976, it's wonderful to have the history in hand. The current owners, my family and friends, have chosen to maintain the property as found and so the feel of the place, illuminated by Chris, has many touchstones in the pages. From the native Tarboo to the Navy's torpedos and the tribute to the privilege of the beautiful view, I thank Chris for her writing. Some of the content of the booklet is posted at toandos.org

Rialto Beach

Scans of images of Rialto Beach, Olympic National Park between 1983 & 2002. A DOT webcam is directed at neighboring 1st beach

Book & Brew

Book & Brew has lined up choices through next March and I'll have to read the Good German shortly. For now I've been reading Dona Leon's Venice based mysteries and I enjoy the setting and her lead character Commissario Brunetti. I read over 60 Georges Simenon Inspector Maigret mysteries years ago. I like the similarities of plodding around a wonderful city and dropping into the bistros and eateries. I really wish I could fine a few more Maigrets.

Photography

My brand loyalty to Pentax, derived from 6 familiar old lenses, brought me to buying an *istD body over three years ago. The sensor format meant I gave up 1.5x of wide angle view so I bought a 16-45 lens last June. The camera was used initially to capture the high school sports of my son. My 50 1.4 was right for basketball and my 80-310 (with the wide ISO range of the *istD) was good for lacrosse. Several thousand shots into the DSLR world, I was very happy to have digital photography & web sites to share the fun. My friend is sharing his images this week with a K10D from Baja and although the tools do the same thing I find myself once again thinking about more camera stuff.

Formula One

The series started in 1950 and I've logged results & friends picks since 1970.

Results still linked:

2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000

Chilko Lake

Tsylos Provincial Park

Korcula

Korcula

Book & Brew

2007

Mar	The March	Doctorow	o	o	o
Feb	The Cruise of the Snark	London	o	o	o
Jan	The Places in Between	Stewart	o	o	o

2006

Dec	The Good German	Kanon	o	Columbia City Ale House 12/20	o
Nov	The Last Expedition	Liebowitz &	manley	Feirabend 11/15	good
Oct	Middlesex	Eugenides	crocus	Elysian Pioneer Sq 10/24	good
Sep	Middlesex	Eugenides	object	Stellar Pizza & Ale Georgetown 9/26	good
Aug	Whistling Season	Doig	snirt	Newcastle Golf Club 8/23	not
Jul	All Quiet on the Orient Express	Mills	paint	Mercer Island Roanoke Inn 7/19	cool
Jun	Thank You for Smoking	Buckley	patch	Belle Pastry Main St Bellevue 6/7	waycool
May	Great Gatsby	Fitzgerald	old sport	Pike's Place 5/17	good
Apr	Collapse	Diamond	cool	Lost Causeway Renton 4/19	not
Mar	Collapse	Diamond	deforested	Brouwer Freemont 3/15	pricey
Feb	Tale of Two Cities	Dickens	cool	Norm's Alehouse Freemont 2/15	good
Jan	Sharpes Tiger	Cornwell	dull	Elysian Brewpub 1/11	cool