[A note on the text: This is a little essay I submitted to another publication at the beginning of spring.  It was never published, but I stubbornly persist on liking it and wanting others to read it.  As gray skies have robbed of us this year of our little window of SoCal weather, I suppose reflections on the nature of spring are not very much in demand, but since this essay was written in the mood of Stravinsky much more than Vivaldi maybe it is fitting after all.]   The coming of spring always reminds me of the things that make the Sacramento region important. There are many things that do, but somehow they get overlooked in favor of sports teams, parking lots and human beings -- in ot

The surveillance state is a miracle of convenience. In the old days, if you ran a red light, you had to go through the rigmarole of being pulled over by a police officer. Today, by contrast, you are more likely to see a flash of light from one of the red-light camera mounted at intersections around the county and a week or so later receive a set of photographs in the mail: one of you behind the wheel of your car with a swear word still crinkling your lips; another of your car entering the intersection illegally; and, finally, a close-up of your licence plate. Just think: all the incriminating evidence sent directly to your home, and you didn't even have to ask for it. It's almost as cleve

What: Review of Blow Up, a music and fashion show. Where: Clubhouse 24. Punchline: Pay no attention to the timid man behind the curtain. It was raining Saturday night in Midtown. Not drizzling, raining. It was coming down so hard that any heads of hair not beneath an umbrella or the hood of a raincoat had that fresh-from-the-shower look. Meanwhile, on the sidewalk outside Clubhouse 24, a newly opened party space at 24th and J Street, there was some kind of sculpture/assemblage in the form of a tree. Christmas tree bulbs the size of disco balls decorated its branches, and it was on fire. Well, more accurately, it had been rigged with a large propane tank so that flames shot out of metal

Unseasonable rain showers have kept maypole dancing to a minimum for the first few days of May.  But longtime dwellers of the Central Valley know to keep their shorts and tank tops handy. It is going to be scorching hot soon.  Spring is effectively over.  Like a clock-watcher at the end of her work shift, spring is so out of here the moment the summer sun arrives, and nobody is going to see her mild days and chilly nights again until 2010. So forget looking up at the cloudy skies.  Look down on the ground.  Wildflowers -- or weeds, if you please -- tell us that summer is coming.  If you've done any crawling around in the grass in the last week or two, you'll have noticed that most wildfl

The Midtown Monthly blog is reporting that homeless advocates and charity workers are asking community members vigils this week as the police disband the homeless encampment known internationally as Tent City. In a letter to the Monthly, Greg Bunker of Francis House of Sacramento writes, "We are willing to be arrested on behalf of our homeless folks rather than see them be moved or be threatened with an 'arrest' if they do not move when they have NO SAFE PLACE to go!!!!" Sister Libby Fernandez of Loaves & Fishes, Paula Lomazzi of SHOC and Mark Merin of Mark Merin Law Firm also signed the letter.   The letter calls on community members to "bare witness" to police action at the Tent City

 American River Parkway, 5:33 PM. I'm not saying this bunny is necessarily the one. I'm just saying I photographed him on Easter.

A megalithic ruin, built who knows when -- probably "hundreds of years before the dawn of time" -- the Stonehenge of Fair Oaks is not hard to find. Go to the Sunrise Area of the American River Parkway, walk east from the boat launch until you find an inconspicuous trail head on your right and follow it to the ruin. Other than being a meet-up location for teenagers on four twenty and a canvass for taggers, the ruin has no discernible purpose. Conceivably, you could make a wish there and hope the ruin has special powers to make it come true. Dancing naked near the ruin sounds fun in the abstract, but it is not advisable due to its proximity to the fire road, which the rangers patrol frequen

Good taste prevents me from spelling out for you what it is about spring that really excites us, but the pipevine swallowtail butterflies (Battus philenor) in the photos above will give you some idea what I am talking about. After this all too literal hookup, the female will lay her eggs on the undersides of the leaves of the California Dutchman's-pipe vine, which is endemic to California. The California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica) is hard not to love, being our state flower and all, but to tell you the truth its floppy, orange pedals annoy me. For one, the pedals are difficult to photograph.  Secondly, they are too obviously beautiful. Like movie stars or fiscal years with never-end

 Despite a sore throat, I made a last minute decision to catch some improvisational music at Fox and Goose pub Thursday evening.  I missed most of Antennae's and Kairos's set, but the Lost Trio made coming out worth the trouble.  Ranging from bebop standards to Radiohead and orginal compostions, the trio's set went  for a little over an hour. 

The equinox happens twice a year: once in the spring and once in the fall. Due to the tilt of the earth as it orbits the sun, the relative length of daylight expands and contracts throughout the year. At the equinox, the length of the day is exactly equal to the length of the night. Actually, according to National Geographic News, "The true days of day-night equality always fall before the vernal equinox and after the autumnal, or fall, equinox." Traditionally, the equinoxes mark the beginning of spring and fall, whereas the solstices mark summer and winter.  Photos taken on the American River Parkway, near Sunrise Blvd.  

While strolling beside the American River during my daily walk with the dog this evening, I heard the sound of a siren in the distance. A moment later I spied a plume of blue smoke rising in the sky. My first thoughts were that I had run across a wild fire, and if I were able to get some good photographs of the fire fighters taming the flames, I'd have my first real scoop for the Sacramento Press. In fact, I thought, if the fire got big enough, and I got my reporting done quickly enough, and my step-daughter wasn't playing Sims on the computer when I got home (or if I could bully or bribe her out of the computer chair) and my wife didn't rush home from work, wanting to know what was for di

 The AP is reporting that a pair of college students have proposed a ballot measure that will replace the word "marriage" with the term "domestic partnership" in all state laws.   Secretary of State Debra Bowen said today that supporters can begin collecting the 700,000 signatures to get the measure on the ballot.  Domestic partnerships will retain all the rights of marriage, and all couples will be eligable for domestic partnership, regardless of sexual orientation.   Is this a good or bad idea?  Please express yourself.

These photos were taken at a pond near the American River at Sunrise Blvd.  Birds, who have spent all day feeding in the river,  flock to the pond at sun down to spend the night.  There are turtles, too.  But turtles are much more camera shy than birds.

Besides hayfever, what do weeks of rain followed by blue skies and balmy weather bring to Sacramento? Wildflowers, of course. There are preserves in the area where you can see rare, native wildflowers.  But for people who are taking a walk along the American River Parkway or just poking around in the backyard,  here are four wildflowers you are almost sure to enoucounter.  (The common name of the flowers are linked to hi-res photos) 1.  Shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris)  This pretty weed is a great wildflower to point out to children.  It's unmistakable seedpod appearently looks like a shepherd's purse, but to our modern eyes it looks like a valentine's heart.  The child will

 "The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful." — E.E. Cummings Photos taken ARP/Sunrise Bridge.

 I have a simple suggestion for the Sacramento Bee.  It's an experiment.  It might not work, but since the ad revenues for newspapers are drying up faster than the lakes and reservoirs of our drought-ridden state it's time the Bee took a few chances.  Why doesn't the Bee try to sell ads on its Twitter page?   Now before the Bee did that it would have to promote its Twitter page.  Currently, it has only 468 followers, about half as many followers as the Sacramento Press's Twitter page has.  This fact is indicative of the Bee being at sea where new media is concerned.   Twitter works really well for aggregating the content of the Bee's online paper.  I unsubscribed to its RSS feed in my G

The Bee was full of cloudy skies today with news of soaring unemployment rates and the fiscal undoing of my employer, the County of Sacramento. It put me in a gloomy mood. Yet when I took my dog out for his walk this afternoon the actual cloudy skies brightened my outlook. The clouds were beautiful to look at, for one, and made me feel grateful for the rain they carried, which our drought-ridden state needs so badly. So I took some pictures of them.  

A few pictures from hike I took on Sunday near the town of Cool.  Directions to the trailhead and GPS tracks can be had here.  Apparently, this area is popular among geocachers.  More photos here.  

 Sunrise Blvd Bridge

 AR Parkway, near Sunrise Blvd.