Author: Wolfgang

At Night at the Mono Lake, north of Lee Vining

Yes, there was a Super Blue Moon on August 19th, 2024. But the following photos were taking on August 21st, a few days after the Super Event. Yet, with a Blue Moon Beer, a Belgian White Wheat Ale close by … Super!

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Before the Moonrise, somewhat north of Lee Vining, looking over part of the Mono Lake, towards the town.

In the distance, the moon is slowly rising, already a Waning Gibbous. A photo in Old Wild West Style. “Let’s Saddle the horses and ride to the Blue Moon Saloon for many happy hours!”

On the way to the camp, slightly blue and quickly just another look at the Moon shining over the Mono Lake.

After the 4th of July Fire

Unfortunately, my Rogge Mountain Ranch got substantially burned, roughly 20 acres. Luckily, the airplanes dropped many loads of fire retardant to keep the fire away from house and home. Here are some iPhone impressions I collected a few days after the fire and some more just a few days ago.

Wildfire, the sculptor…

Wildfire causing pure devastation

Nearly untouched….

And… a new morning is rising…

Architecture – The Art of Living & Surviving & Designing

Living in the open or in caves, used to be for thousands of years the modus operandi, the normal thing. With the accumulation of wealth, pretty artful building was possible. Likewise, with the decline of wealth of the working class (AKA: middle class), once pretty and well livable homes fall apart and show the scars of time.

Old and Pretty: I was born in this little town, Waldenburg. With its simple medieval architecture, it survived for more than 800 years, adding artfully new onto old.

And then there are those homes that had charm years ago, before wealth and living conditions declined.

And then there are the wonderful cities, like San Francisco, where a cheap apartment starts at $1.2 millions with no limit to the top.

Cruising by Alcatraz, former Federal Penitentiary

From 1939 until 1963, Alcatraz housed the most fearsome prisoners in the US. By inmates, often called “Hellcatraz” for its brutal living conditions. An unknown writer described Alcatraz as “the great garbage can of the San Francisco Bay, into which every federal prison dumped its most rotten apples.” Here, in this picture you see the Warden’s House and the Lighthouse. A house of luxury, the warden’s house often held lavish cocktail parties. In 1970, the island was occupied by Native Americans, and the Warden’s House burned down, before Red Power Activists were forcefully removed from the island. The protest group chose the name Indians of All Tribes (IAT). IAT claimed that, under the treaty of Fort Laramie between the U.S. and the Lakota, all retired, abandoned, or out of use federal land was to be returned to the indigenous peoples.