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^probably about the same for Wimbledon too.🎾

Some moar webz pics. Found a fun FB group for interesting signs.....

Thanks, I've been consumed by the World Cup and didn't even know the Tour was happening.

Love your stories, Steve. Forrest Gump comes to mind. Looking forward to the pictures.

A little while back I posted somewhere on here about a very exciting project. Some of my work at a San Fransisco book store just happened to have been noticed by Linda Ronstadt and her longtime friend and carpenter. That carpenter happens to live in Fairfax, and is a regular customer of mine at the lumber store. Once my name was mentioned by the store owner ( this owner has become a great friend, and I've now done two of her homes, and her book store), this carpenter said " wait, I know him. He works at Fairfax Lumber. " Long story, still long, he talked with me about collaborating on a large set of bookshelves for Linda. Linda's health isn't great, and that has affected the scheduling of this project. However, we are now into this project. I have not yet met Linda personally, but we have started working on the shelves at Andy's shop. He took great measurements of the space. Usually the sign of a good carpenter, and I'm sure he is. But for me the most difficult part of the project thus far has been slowing him down. He wants to hurry through and get it done. I want to build the best shelves that I can build. Time, though maybe an issue in the long run, isn't really an issue now. She's not pushing this to be quick. Money clearly isn't an issue, so I think I'm winning this little battle. I've made it clear that I'm not interested in blowing out some average shelves. I want to make something that I'm proud of, especially considering the client. We've spent two whole days working together in Andy's shop, and I think he's starting to get it. He's around 80 years old and I'm very respectful of my elders, except when it comes to sacrificing my quality. We will continue working tomorrow and I'm guessing about two more weekends. Then most likely at least 1 day of install. That's when I'm going to meet Linda. That'll certainly be a fun day for me. As most things concerning music or movies, my trivia knowledge is vast. Ask me something about anything important and I'll come up blank, but ask me about a music or movie artist and I can talk forever. This is even tenfold for me on Linda, because the Laurel Canyon crowd, and the beginning of the Southern rock genre really peak my interest. All of the crossovers of the people of this era are just fascinating to me. Linda met Graham Parsons early on, who I consider the Father of this genre. Graham discovered and then worked with Emmylou Harris, another favorite singer of mine. Linda met Emmylou and Dolly Parton at different times, and then introduced them to each other at lunch one day. They of course started harmonizing on favorite songs, and were so impressed with the melding of their voices that they decided to create music together soon. Soon turned into more than a decade, but the results were phenomenal. Linda was also a guest on the Cher show back in the 70's, and started a lifetime friendship. I being a gay man of course adore me some Cher! And anyone who is an Eagles fan owes something to Linda, because she had a lot to do with putting that band together. I could go on and on, but I'm hoping that I can reign it in a bit on the day I meet her in person. Although I doubt that I'll be successful there. Anyway, this project is coming to fruition, and what a way to crown a career that I have deeply loved for over four decades now. This will be a story that I will, well I guess I'll have to tell your Grandkids about it, because I won't have any, but I'm sure that I'll have to be told to "shut up about it already ". I will certainly try to take pictures upon install. More to come later.

I was not prepped for the Tour this year - it has been many years since I have followed it. But after watching the Highlights of the first two stages, I may get hooked again. I will probably stick with highlights for now, but I may catch a live stream here and there. Good to hear Phil and Bob and again.

Sonoma Plaza dessert With a nice cup of Tea

Nice article on Pogi and what he means for cycling to coincide with the start of TDF. Guy is hard not to cheer for. https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/49207337/tour-de-france-tadej-pogacar-greatest-all-lance-armstrong

Dirty Cello @ Music in Place,Sonoma Plaza

Experiments with monochrome (mostly), smoke and flares yesterday. Leica SL2-S and Light Labs Lab 35 f/1.4 AA "11873".

Similarly we skipped Mountain View & the San Francisco Symphony and Santa Clara & the World Cup stragglers to head to the occasional DMZ of Milpitas. Not sure the band’s horns to pants ratio was correct.

^hehe, Mine is ”summertime”. I would put it on heavy repeat and let it flow over me. Which was the main reason it was in my queue.

LOL at Rick Wakeman peaking up out of the cover of Rhapsodies (one of my favourite albums of his, absolutely adore everything on that album, from "Seahorses" to "Wooly Willy").

Went all the way to Tiburon in an abortive attempt to see the 4th July Fireworks on The Golden Gate Bridge. Abandoned the attempt, due to the Bridge being enveloped in fog. So we came home. To watch YouTube Happy Birthday America

Such a great day. The best group of people. I think Rini and Dorothy made some new friends of my coworkers.

The first 3 were that good?

4th tomahawk

Smetana: String Quartets No. 1 & No. 2 by Pavel Haas Quartet (2015) https://open.qobuz.com/album/qqnxnrnwvtgqa Example: Recommended by my friend Jerry who just got it on Vinyl. Very nice. Also Qobuz updated the Windows app, and now it shows the Library counts... 843 in the queue?? well minus ^^ this one. I thought I was still in the 600s.

Got up around 6:30 and made a batch of chili. Al's Sister Rini and Neice Dorothy and myself are making chili dogs, smash burgers, corn on the cob, potatoe salad, fruit salad, some type of blueberry angel food cake with mascarpone whipped cream, blueberry custard pie, watermelon and who knows what else? A few of my coworkers are coming by to join in the feast.

Reflectin’ back

PetaPixel re-reviews the first consumer (under $1,000) digital SLR camera, the 6MP Canon EOS 300D from 2003:

Scattershot, but fun doc on street photography.

Indeed

So great -- reminds of my favourite band's alter ego: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ8-ZgxB55A

Mmm...beet...hummus?