 On our trip to Yosemite Valley, we took a camera walk led by instructor Julia Reardin. She is a staff photographer at the Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite Village. Let us pause to ponder that: her job is to walk around Yosemite Valley and take pictures.
Lucky for us, she also leads the occasional camera walk. She urged us first to look for interesting light, and then to decide what to take a picture of. That simple idea put me in a different frame of mind as I walked around the valley that day. Otherwise, I don't think I would have noticed this scene; after all it is not one of the named attractions like "Bridal Veil Falls" or "Half Dome." Another highlight of our visit was a "Bear Walk" with U. S. Park Service Ranger Shelton Johnson. He posed and answered such questions as, "Why do bears ignore what is going on around them?" (Hint: the answer has to do with food chain). During the tour, his abilities as a teacher and performer made it clear we were in the presence of genius; later, when I read his wikipedia page, I realized he is also a celebrity. I guess he was too modest to mention that visit to the White House. Finally, a shout-out to the anonymous conductor of Amtrak 713 from Merced to Emeryville on February 24. The ride through the fields and orchards of the Central Valley is pleasant enough, but he he made it more entertaining with announcements such as, "Next stop: Modesto. Modesto passengers, we love you, but you gotta go! So prepare yourselves physcially, mentally and spiritually to step off the train in approximately 59.9 seconds!" There are people in this world who wake up every morning and think, "I love my job!" It was a pleasure to meet a few.
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 The corner of Sacramento and Fillmore is one of my favorites, because I can get most of what I need there. Plus, our favorite restaurant is right across the street, and there is a neighborhood movie house a block up. Across the street the other way is a nice old apartment building, and when we moved here I checked it out -- nothing available. It's probably just as well; if we lived here, I would be in lousy shape. As things are, we have a twenty-minute walk to get here, and it's up hill -- much better for the old cardio-pulmonary.
 Donuts by All Star has gone out of business, despite being located on a lively commercial strip. Meanwhile, across the street and one down, Susie Cakes is thriving:  Also, a block in each direction, Starbucks and Peet's has customers lining up. So there is plenty of demand for a sweet treat and a bitter brew in this neighborhood.
Which leads us to a question: who killed Donuts by All Star? |
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