In Patagonia

Many years ago, my roommates made me a gift of Bruce Chatwin's book In Patagonia. The book itself is fantastic. Worth reading and rereading. And it made me want to go to Patagonia someday.

Last year, our kids, who were working and studying in Buenos Aires, invited me to come join them for a week of hiking and exploring in Patagonia. I jumped at the chance, and I was not disappointed with either Patagonia or with Buenos Aires.

El Chaltén, Patagonia

My only regret is that we did not have clear enough weather to see the peaks looming right behind the village of El Chaltén. The panoramic view above shows what we missed (click on it for the full-sized image). We'll just have to go back.

El Niño comes to Santa Cruz

This past weekend,  El Niño brought more rain and big surf to Santa Cruz. This spot, just around the corner from the surf spot at Steamer Lane, is popular with some swimmers who dive off the rocks into this small cove. No diving today.

The toilet bowl at Lighthouse Point, Santa Cruz.

(As always, you can click the picture for a larger image.)

Update: a friend pointed out that Winslow Homer painted a scene in Maine that resembles this one. The interesting thing is that Homer painted a stop-action image before most cameras (and films) could support the low shutter speeds (less than 1/30 of a second) needed to stop action like this. He had vision.

Winslow Homer, West Point, Prout's Neck,1900.
The Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts.