I’m preparing this set of film photos for printing and changed the digital development settings for them.

After a lovely day celebrating Kaori’s birthday in the City yesterday, we got up early and went to Campbell Farmer’s Market this Sunday morning to slow the pace and just walk around the street, soaking up the vibe.

There were lots of girly, flowery things.

Plenty of brightly colored fruits and vegetables.

Some earthy things.

Peopley things playing very good jazz.

And great textures here and there.

It’s such a nice way to spend a Sunday morning!

It was Kaori’s birthday yesterday and I really enjoyed spoiling her.

After making a breakfast of ricotta pancakes, fruit salad, and turkey bacon, we went shopping for her gift. We’d been planning it for a little while. We enlisted the help of a friend, Jay, who is in the jewelry business and used to work in the pearl industry in French Polynesia, and we came away with a set of Mikimoto pearls: necklace, bracelet, and earrings. They are stunning to see on Kaori and will be cherished forever.

We’d already done some window shopping for a gift, and had some nice times taking breaks in coffee shops and restaurants while talking about it. And here are a couple of pre-birthday shopping trip photos.

During the afternoon of Kaori’s birthday, we drove into San Francisco for dinner at La Folie, where someone (I wonder who) had arranged for red roses to be delivered to her table. We had a wonderful time and laughed so hard for most of the night – especially on the way home, but we won’t go into that.

With my nine-year old digital camera, it was hard to take technically decent photos in the very low light of the restaurant, handheld, with no flash, and top-lighting putting shadows in the wrong places. But here’s one that’s not so bad. Isn’t she beautiful!

I had a 35mm color film lying in my desk drawer and sent it to be developed this week. I didn’t know what was on it. Some of the photos were from a trip to Carmel Kaori and I took on a gorgeous spring day. The sun was out but we also had to wrap up warm. Sakura aka smiles ran unleased up and down the beach, and then we just wandered around the little alleyways and art galleries. It was a lovely day.

Our next-door neighbor, Susan, owns a gorgeous second home at Sea Ranch on the Sonoma coast. She offered us a chance to stay there for a few days, and being in need of rest and relaxation we gratefully accepted. Neither of us had been there before and we were in for a treat.

Susan’s house is a couple of minutes walk across a field to the rocky shoreline in the first two photos. I didn’t have any filters with me but by being there at sunrise I could still get a long-ish exposure to soften the ocean movement. Note: All the photos below are digital and I have some film photos taken with my lovely Hasselblad medium format camera coming in the next few weeks.

The mood at sunset is completely different.

The color of the ocean changes so much with the time of day and location. These next few are futher down the coast taken from Highway 1, considered to be one of the most beautiful drives in the world. We are so lucky to live in a place with such spectacular beauty all around us.

This is a rookery of harbor seals, enjoying the sunshine on the bank of a river just before it flows into the ocean.

When the wind comes up, even without large waves the ocean can be choppy, sending up salty sea spray that creates a haze.

The drive along Highway 1 can be quite treacherous. It has sharp turns with no barriers to prevent you from plummeting down to the ocean. Using your cell phone or taking in too much of the beauty is frequently fatal on this road.

The four of us on this trip had a lovely long weekend. Thank you Susan. You are awesome!