Carl S. Gutekunst

#StairsSunday #SilentSunday #Pathways #Walking #Arashiyama #Japan

@andrewbriscoe Here's the other one. This is looking straight east on the MAX light rail line; the museum's excursion line is crossing. Note the excursion line carries the Southern Pacific 4449 “Daylight,” which weighs 555 tons (500 metric tons) fully fueled.

#TrainTrackTuesday #Trains #TrainTracks

Diamond crossing of the Portland MAX light rail and the Oregon Rail Heritage Center's excursion line. There are two of these in front of the museum, one on each side of the street, and I'm always entranced by them.

#TrainTrackTuesday #Trains #TrainTracks

When I remember to water the hibiscus, amazing things happen. 🙂

#BloomScrolling #Hibiscus #DoubleHibiscus #Flowers #FlowerPhotography

Platforms 1 and 2 at Yonago Station as the train for Okayama arrives. I continue to marvel (through my pictures) at the grittiness of the rural rails in Japan. I understand why folks would want to live in Kyoto or Hiroshima; but give me Yonago or Sakaiminato any day.

#TrainTrackTuesday #TrainStation #Trains #TrainPhotography #TrainTrackTuesday #JapanRail #Yonago #Tottori #Japan

I never knew Double Tulips were A Thing. In the nursery of the Yūshien Garden.

#BloomScrolling #Flowers #FlowerPhotography #Tulips #DoubleTulips #Tottori #Japan #JapaneseGarden

An Oak Titmouse was feeding on the ground when I startled it. It flew directly up and onto a vertical fencepost, clinging there and studying me.

I didn't know they could do that.

#BackyardBirds #Titmouse #OakTitmouse #Birds #BirdPhotography

A miniature waterwall, Yuushien Garden, Tottori-ken, Japan

#WaterfallWednesday #WaterFall #JapaneseGarden #Sakaiminato #Tottori #Japan #Walking #Pathways

I didn't know #TrainTrackTuesday was a thing!

A startlingly complex and delightfully symmetric crossover junction near the terminus of the Keifuku-#Arashiyama Tram line in #Kyoto. I loved the way the electrical poles make the tram look like it's passing through a steel forest. Curiously appropriate, since this is the tourist tram to the Bamboo Forest, and the train station is a shopping mall called the Kimono Forest.

#Trains #TrainTracks #TrainPhotography #Japan

I'm rehabilitating two African Daisy plants that our neighborhood supermarket threw in the trash. Whether this is an example of compassion for all living things, a Charlie Brown-like empathy for those who are rejected, or just me not being able to pass up a bargain is left as an exercise for the reader.

#BloomScrolling #Dairy #AfricanDaisy #Flowers #FlowerPhotography

Surprising — or not — how little has changed. The necessities of war, perhaps. Halfway up Himeji Castle on the left; halfway down the U.S.S. Hornet on the right. Imagine climbing this in full battle armor and carrying a longbow.

(The railings at Himeji Castle are obviously for the tourists.)

#StairsSunday #USSHornet #Himeji #HimejiCastle #Japan #Alameda

#SilentSunday #JapaneseGarden #Pathways #Walking #Japan #Arashiyama #Kyoto

How to tell you're traveling in rural Japan? Instead of a Shinkansen flying over the countryside at 180MPH or an smooth interurban at 85MPH, you get a 50-year-old rail diesel car snorting and lumbering down the line at 50MPH... if the wind is blowing the right way.

But JR West turned their aging KiHa 40 series DMU's from a minus to a plus with a livery (inside and out) of Shigeru Mizuki's yōkai. Boarding at Yonago's Platform 0 — which is also yōkai themed — adds to the general weirdness.

#Trains #Japan #JapanRail #Sakaiminato #Tottori #TrainStation

I think this is why Buddhist monks lived so long. Only the hardiest specimens survived these stairs.

In Koishikawa Kōrakuen Garden (小石川後楽園).

#StairsSunday #JapaneseGarden #Tokyo #Japan #Koishikawa #Walking #Pathways

#Walking the Okōchi Sansō #Garden, #Arashiyama, #Kyoto, #Japan. The place is absolutely beautiful, but considering its size, the length of the trail, and all the elevation changes, it felt more like a hike than a garden stroll. 😄

#FootpathFriday #Footpaths #Pathways #JapaneseGarden

An appropriate place for fresh cut flowers. 🙂

#BloomScrolling #Flowers #FlowerPhotography #CutFlowers

#LittleFreeLibrary in #SanJose #JapanTown 🙂

Polson Logging Company #2 decked out for the holidays.

#Trains #LiveSteam #SteamEngine #SteamLocomotive #SteamTrain #Oregon #OregonRailHeritageCenter

This year's batch of Pearsimon Jam. Two of the jars popped before I even pulled them out of the water; all five were popped in a few minutes. 🙂 The flavor isn't as good this year; it more resembles candy than jam. Perhaps because I used last year's frozen persimmons. But we got far fewer persimmons this year than last, so I was glad for the frozen ones.

#Canning #Fruit #Persimmon

#StairsSunday #SilentSunday #JapaneseGarden #Walking #Pathways

#SilentSunday #JapaneseGarden #Pathways #Walking #Footpath

At the former San Francisco Main Library, now the Asian Art Museum.

#StairsSunday #SanFrancisco #AsianArtMuseum

I realize it's a distilled spirit, but with “aka” (red) in its name, a dark red bottle, and a dark red label, I was really surprised when the pour looked like water.

I have no idea how to describe the taste, other than I really liked it, more than other shochu that I've tried. This is easy to drink neat and a real pleasure.

#Shochu #Alcohol

Surprise and delight! I saw Festbier on the label, and thought Oktoberfest or märzen. The color and huge persistent head smashed that assumption. This is a Helles, and an excellent one: Apples, bread, and a bit of toffee up front; baked bread, a touch of honey, touch of floral hops bitterness, good through to the finish, perfectly balanced. Light but complex. The hops are different from the typical German, but work well.

From Wayfinder, one of America's best German-style breweries. High expectations met.

#Beer #Helles #Lager #Festbier #Wayfinder

No, seriously, it's all yours. I've already had my breakfast.

#BackyardBirds #Woodpecker #AcornWoodpecker #Birds #BirdPhotography

Kids! Give 'em nice things, and all they want to do is play with the box.

(Cell phone picture through an old dirty window.)

#BackyardBirds #OakTitmouse #Birds #BirdPhotography

One proud bird.

#BackyardBirds #AmericanCrow #Crow #Birds #BirdPhotography

The rain moved out, and the first of our winter visitors moved in!

#BackyardBirds #Birds #WhiteCrownedSparrow #BirdPhotography #Autumn #Sparrow

Good morning, sunshine!

I was surprised and delighted to stumble upon a pocket sunflower garden in the Theater District of San Jose. The space was clearly once a parking lot, and I wondered if the murals were painted before or after the garden was set up. (This part of San Jose has a lot of murals and street art.)

#BloomScrolling #Flowers #FlowerGarden #UrbanGarden #Mural #BloomStrolling #Sunflower #Sunflowers

Best Japanese-focused craft fair in the Bay Area. 🙂

https://midorikai.com/annual-boutique/

#Japanese #CraftFair #SanJose

I've been hearing a weird cackle / squawk in the backyard for the past week or two, but couldn't identify the source. It didn't sound at all like jays; maybe crows?

Finally saw one today. Not a crow. 🙂

#BackyardBirds #Woodpecker #AcornWoodpecker #Birds #BirdPhotography

I'd been waiting all summer for my pink and red Dipladenia to bloom together, and when they did I almost missed it. (Alas, the branch torn off in a storm in spring grew strong for a time, but never blossomed and never rooted. But I do still have the two, and they continue to do what Dipladenia do, blooming almost continuously.)

#BloomScrolling #Dipladenia #Flowers #FlowerPhotography

Even in death, there is beauty.

#BloomScrolling #AfricanDaisy #Flowers #FlowerPhotography

The legend... returns! Red Tail Ale was among the first of its kind in the late 1980's, sold in 22oz bottles at Liquor Barn and some Safeway stores. Boont Amber was a surprise find on a long weekend in Mendocino County; I came back with bottles from both breweries. Over the subsequent 35 years, Anderson Valley chose to grow modestly, and remains locally owned to this day. Mendocino brewing tried to grow aggressively, trading quality for volume and flaming out in 2018. So it was a surprise and delight to see Fogbelt Brewing bringing back the original Red Tail.

Both are solid examples of the style. Red Tail is more hopped, with a mild nose, sweeter up front, and more bitter through the finish. Boont Amber is darker with a much stronger caramel malt nose and flavor, considerably more complex IMHO, and smoother through to the finish. I think folks raised on IPAs would lean to the new Red Tail; those of us who lean towards German malty ales will likely favor the Boont.

#Beer #Ale #AmberAle #AndersonValley

Close enough for government work.

#JapaneseAmerican #ClasticSites #ScrubNothing #Internment

#SilentSunday #Walking #Pathways #PointLobos

#SilentSunday #Footpath #Walking #Pathways #PointLobos

OK, this is probably “keen grasp of the obvious,” but pretzels aren't just served with beer to make the patrons more thirsty: they're really good together. Even when just working at a desk.

Oh, and the Fort Point KSA is exactly what it says on the tin: an ale that tastes like a kolsch. Very solid, an excellent hot weather beer.

#Beer #Kolsch #Candle #FortPointBrewing

#SilentSunday #StairsSunday #Pathways #Footpath #Walking #PointLobos

@paparatti It's good eating immediately. It's better waiting a day. 🙂

#Cucumber #Daikon #Hakurei #Carrot #Turnips

Dressing is added last: 4T of rice vinegar, 2T of sugar, 1T of water, a few grains of dashi (Japanese fish stock), and a few drops of shoyu. Now we wait. 3/3

#Cucumber #Daikon #Hakurei #Turnips

OK, here we go: this cucumber is as ready as it's going to get. I love how the sliced cucumbers look like little flower petals. 🙂 Everything gets salted, squeezed, combined, and then thoroughly squeezed again. Three kinds of sesame seed are added at the very end.

The garden carrots never germinated, so this is is a store bought carrot. The cucumbers, daikon, and hakurei turnips are all from my garden; that's never been possible before this summer. 2/3

#Cucumber #Daikon #Hakurei #Turnips #Gardening #VegetableGardening

It's been a highly unusual year: this is the first I've been able to grow hakurei or daikon in the summer. They are quick growing spring/fall vegetables, and In all prior years they died from the heat shortly after germination. I'm hopeful now that I can make tsukemono using entirely veggies from the garden. 1/3

#VegetableGardening #Gardening #Daikon #Turnips

“Dude. What's your problem?!?”

#BackyardBirds #Birds #HouseFinch #OakTitmouse #BirdPhotography

@CultureDesk @histodons “We will scrub nothing.”
— Japanese American National Museum

#ScrubNothing #JapaneseAmerican

Then and now: The Wartime Civil Control Authority (WCCA) departure site for Civilian Exclusion Order Number 5: an auto repair shop at 2020 Van Ness in San Francisco. Note the Military Police lounging inside the garage door. This section of Van Ness Avenue has been called “auto row” for over a century.

p/c Dorothea Lange, Google Streetview

#JapaneseAmerican #ClasticSites #ScrubNothing

The neighbor's got a new citrus tree.

#BloomScrolling #Flowers #BloomStrolling #Citrus

I've had this Dipladenia on my patio table for as long as I've had a patio table, and it's always welcomed me every summer with its intense long-lived pink blooms. It got blown off the table during a storm in March (not the first time 🤦‍♂️ ), and a large branch was torn off. I planted the broken branch in seed starter, and it rooted! So I had two. Then we had one that didn't sell at the plant sale, and now I have three. 🥰 Crossing my fingers for the other two to bloom.

#BloomScrolling #Flowers #FlowerPhotograph #Dipladenia

We had a flat of these Portulacas at the plant sale. This was the only one that wasn't blooming, and it didn't sell so we took it home and I transplanted it in a rectangular terracotta pot. It hasn't stopped blooming since. Apparently each flower only lasts a day or two, but it keeps producing new ones every day.

#BloomScrolling #Flowers #FlowerPhotography #Portulaca

Years ago I regularly posted “This Weeks Pours” on a company social Slack channel, with a picture of everything in the beer cooler and brief reviews. It was a fun conversation starter.

Thank goodness we don't drink that much any more. But two things happened last week that motivated me to recreate that look. First, we moved the beers out of the kitchen refrigerator and back to the cooler in the garage. Second, we went shopping at Gourmet Haus Staudt in Redwood City, the last real beer-focused bottle shop on the Peninsula.

(I still love Giants Liquors in Mountain View, and appreciate that the owner will special order stuff. But their selection is quite a bit smaller.)

#Beer #GermanBeer #ThrowbackThursday