Mission San Juan Bautista - Part 1

I went to my first Photography Meetup group this past weekend. What is a Meetup group you ask? People with similar interests can sign up online to attend local events hosted by a specific Meetup group. Go to http://www.meetup.com/ if you're interested about a meetup group close to you.

A group about 20 of us met up to photograph Mission San Juan Bautista (The Mission of Saint John the Baptist). Founded in 1797 by Franciscan Friar Fermin de Lasuen, President of the California Missions. This mission was one of four established by Friar Lasuen that Summer of 1797 and the fifteenth of the twenty-one missions in California. The building of the mission commenced in 1803 and was dedicated in 1812, but the interior wasn't completed until 1817. You might recognize this location if you have seen the 1958 Alfred Hitchcock movie "Vertigo".

- AV

Look Up

Paris
Harrah's
Bellagio
Here are a few colorful ceilings I noticed at various Las Vegas casinos.

Happy Friday,
AV

J is for Jellyfish on ABC Wednesday

Japanese Sea Nettle Jellyfish

Umbrella Jellyfish
These two jellyfish photos were taken last year at the New England Aquarium. Click here to see the Amazing Jellies exhibit at the aquarium.

If you ever get a chance to go to Boston, it's one site you shouldn't miss. They have the most amazing penguin exhibit and a 4-story ocean tank filled with 150 species.

For additional ABC Wednesday photos, please visit Mrs. Nesbitt's Place.

- AV

Two Wednesday Heroes

This Weeks Hero Was Suggested by Kathi

Soldiers' Angels Living Legends Team
May No Soldier Go Unloved

Living Legends began in May 2005 with a very small team of seven dedicated angels. The team's mission was to let the families and friends of fallen heroes know that we were here to support them and to honor their loved one. At the same time, they had to make sure that they were sensitive to what the family was going through. While this team has grown tremendously, they have worked very hard to maintain that same level of dedication and sensitivity. This team is staffed with trained volunteers who carry out a very difficult mission for Soldiers' Angels. Due to their dedication, Soldiers' Angels is able to honor those heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation and to pay their respects and offer their deepest sympathies to the families and loved ones grieving the painful loss of their son or daughter; husband or wife; brother or sister; mom or dad; aunt or uncle; their friend.

For more information on the Soldiers' Angels Living Legends Team, you can visit their site.

TSometimes a hero is one who sacrifices everything in their life to help others. And sometimes a hero is one who sacrifices nothing more than their time.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.


**********

Spc. Monica Lin Brown
19 years old from Lake Jackson, Texas
4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team


Army Spc. Monica Lin Brown has done something only a very few female soldiers in American history have ever done. She's been awarded the Silver Star.

Brown saved the lives of fellow soldiers after a roadside bomb tore through a convoy of Humvees in the eastern Paktia province of Afghanistan in April 2007. "I did not really think about anything except for getting the guys to a safer location and getting them taken care of and getting them out of there."

"We stopped the convoy. I opened up my door and grabbed my aid bag," Brown said.

She started running toward the burning vehicle as insurgents opened fire. All five wounded soldiers had scrambled out.

"I assessed the patients to see how bad they were. We tried to move them to a safer location because we were still receiving incoming fire," Brown said. "So we dragged them for 100 or 200 meters, got them away from the Humvee a little bit," she said. "I was in a kind of a robot-mode, did not think about much but getting the guys taken care of."

For Brown, who knew all five wounded soldiers, it became a race to get them all to a safer location. Eventually, they moved the wounded some 500 yards away and treated them on site before putting them on a helicopter for evacuation.

"I did not really have time to be scared," Brown said. "Running back to the vehicle, I was nervous (since) I did not know how badly the guys were injured. That was scary."

The military said Brown's "bravery, unselfish actions and medical aid rendered under fire saved the lives of her comrades and represents the finest traditions of heroism in combat."

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Fremont Street Experience

These are a few photos from Las Vegas last December. If you visit Downtown Las Vegas at night, you can see a interesting light show every hour called The Fremont Street Experience. The main strip called Fremont Street is covered with a canopy of lights consisting of 12.5 million bulbs and a 55,000 watt sound system. It's a must-see unless you're a hardcore gambler who rather watch the light show off of the slot machines. :)

- AV

Egg Hunt

I attended a city organized kid's egg hunt on Saturday. The crowd you see is only a small sample of the hundreds of kids and parents. In the first photo, you can't see all the wrapped candy scattered throughout the baseball field, but you can see some of the plastic eggs in the grass. After much work and preparation, the hunting expedition is over in a few minutes once it starts as hundreds of kids and their parents swarm the field.

Happy Easter to those who celebrate it.

- AV

Indian Blue Peacock

Love that colorful feather span. Is that what it's called?

I assume peacocks use this mechanism to appear larger than than normal to scare away any predators or to impress a mate. In this case, several kangeroos were housed in the same open space as the peacocks so I guess one got too close.

I hope you haven't been too bored with the zoo photos from the last week. This posting will be the last in the series. Thank you for reading.

- AV

I is for Ibises on ABC Wednesday

There was another "I" photo I wanted to post, but to keep with the San Francisco Zoo animal photo series, I decided to post the Ibises photo.

At the zoo, these Ibises were housed in an enclosed area where they were free to roam as they pleased; however, most were happy just perched in one spot. From what I learned, most Ibises are quiet and social birds. The Waldrapp Ibises in the photo are nearly extinct in the wild, but they reproduce well in the zoos and could some day be brought back to Africa and Turkey where they originate. Although I have to say, they have a face only a mother could love. :D

If you are interested in seeing additional ABC Wednesday photos, please visit Mrs. Nesbitt's Place.

- AV

Bird of Prey

I thought this owl I saw at the San Francisco Zoo has beautiful feathers. Looks like he or she was getting a little tired since this is a nocturnal bird of prey.

- AV

More Zoo Animals

I love watching meerkats. Here were two who were just sitting still for us to photograph.

This little muddy prairie dog was posing for us behind his glass cage. You can see a few scratches on him.

Happy St. Patrick's Day if any of you are celebrating.

- AV

Feeding Time on Penguin Island

54 Magellanic penguins live on Penguin Island in the San Francisco Zoo

Dailying feeding time at 2:30 PM

"I got my fish, too bad for you two!"

"Hey, where did everyone go? Was I last in line?"

Ever watchful eagle to scare off any opportunistic seagulls.

Fellow blogger, Neva and her son, Eric, met up with me and my photography group at the San Francisco Zoo last weekend. They were visiting from the Chicago area and I asked them to join our outing. How often do you get a chance to meet a fellow blogger?

Around 2:30 PM, tons of visitors hovered over a man-made cement hill called Penguin Island waiting for the penguins to be fed. Five minutes went by, then 15 minutes, then almost 30 minutes later, a man with a huge eagle tethered to him strolled by. This was to scare off all the seagulls waiting to pick off any dropped food the penguins didn't eat. Still, the determined gulls were never far away even under the watchful eagle nearby.

A zookeeper and his assistant eventually came by with a bucket of sardines to feed the penguins one by one. Each penguin has a number attached to its fin and the zookeeper would call out the number for his assistant to track which penguin ate. I don't believe penguins have any teeth so they swallow their fish whole - bones and all. Some of the penguins were quite picky and spit out their fish to wait for another one. I wasn't sure if they were just clumsy or they could sense the fish wasn't fresh.

Happy Friday,
AV

H is for Happy Hollow Park & Zoo on ABC Wednesday

The Happy Hollow Park & Zoo is mostly catered to kids.

Kid-sized water fountain. How many would stick their head into the lion's mouth for a sip of water?

Colorful stick figure light fixture.

Caught this little guy sleeping on the job behind the cage.

Kid's puppet show, but the audience was so noisy that I couldn't hear the puppets talking.

The Crooked House is a giant funhouse for kids. They climb up the stairs to the 2nd floor and come down a curvy slide.

For additional ABC Wednesday photos, please visit Mrs. Nesbitt's Place.

- AV

Wednesday Hero

Sgt. Steve Morin Jr.
34 years old from Arlington, Texas
111th Engineer Battalion, 36th Infantry Division, Texas Army National Guard
September 28, 2005


From the time he finished high school, Sgt. Steve Morin Jr. made serving in the military his career.

"He always stood up for what he thought was right," Gwendolyn Michelle Morin, his wife, said. "He was a fighter. He would never give up." "He had called me to let me know what he was going to do that day," she said. He expected to be able to call her more often because of the missions he was being assigned. Sometimes they would go 11 or 12 days between calls.

Morin enlisted in the Navy after graduating high school in his hometown of Brownfield, Texas at 17. By 34, Morin had devoted 14 years to the Navy, served in the National Guard for two and planned to attend Officers Candidate School. Morin was still in the Navy when he met his wife. At the time, the two were working for a photo company; he was Santa Claus and she was an elf, she said. Both were attending Texas Tech University. "It was funny because we always kept running into each other. He would hang outside my classes and wait for me with a Diet Coke," recalled Gwendolyn. "He knew how to make me really happy."

Sgt. Morin died when an IED went off, overturning the vehicle he was riding in near Umm Qasr, Iraq.

"He's very strong willed, very determined. Humorous, a clown, but he was also very disciplined and very passionate about what he believed in," Gwendolyn Morin said. "He always wanted to serve his country."

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Rusty Tank

Here is another photo on rust. This one was taken in front of the La Montagne Boarding House in Alviso.

This is the La Montagne Boarding House circa 1890. Originally built as a private home, the house was remodeled in 1904 to serve as a boarding house for PG&E (local gas & electrical company) employees. Today it is fondly known by town residents as the Big Yellow House although it doesn't look very yellow.

- AV

Liz's Love

I saw this scribbled on a rusted metal sign at an old boat dock. I can't quite read the second name. I wonder who they were.

Have a nice weekend!

- AV

Blue Facade

This is a side of a restaurant in Alviso. I have never eaten there, but the mural painted on its exterior is quite eye-catching.

Happy Friday,
AV

G is for Garbage Cans for ABC Wednesday

I saw these interesting garbage cans at the local children's zoo a few weeks ago, but I think a few look downright scary to little kids.

If you are interested in seeing more ABC Wednesday photos or participating, go to Mrs. Nesbitt's Place blog.

Wednesday Hero

Pictured Left to Right
Chief Warrant Officer Mark O'Steen, 43 years old from Ozark, Alabama
Chief Warrant Officer Thomas Gibbons, 31 years old from Prince Frederick, Maryland
Staff Sgt. Daniel L. Kisling Jr., 31 years old from Neosho, Missouri
SSgt. Gregory M. Frampton, 37 years old from Fresno, California

1st Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regimen
January 30, 2003


"They succeeded where lesser men failed," said Chaplain Robert Glazener. "They proved themselves in ways that men out there who never served, never volunteered, never sacrificed, would never understand. They sought neither glory nor special recognition, but they gained both by their actions. They are the true American heroes today and deserve more honor than we can humbly bestow on them."

The helicopter carrying the men went down seven miles east of the Bagram Air Base while on a training mission.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.