For years I felt bad about that horse.

Outside of Olema. Point Reyes, CA. October 2005.

Once called Morton Lane, the street housed brothels back when San Francisco was wilder. They were destroyed in 1906, but the pursuit of lucre remains.

1. The upside-down tree, a short walk from our place.

Crowning angel:

2. Tom and Jerry’s Christmas tree, a longer walk from our place. Requires a building permit from the city.

Beach ball ornaments.

3. Eighth night of Hanukkah, our place.

I am one of the official unofficial photographers at these kinds of events. I also, occasionally, hang frames and move chairs and whatever else.

I’ve run into parades by chance in several places, including a Shriners parade in New Hampshire, a children’s parade through Quepos, Costa Rica, and the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City. In the picture above, a band pauses during a parade in New Delhi, held as part of the events observing the birthday of Guru Gobind Singh last January.

These aren’t the first musicians I’ve featured on this site, though probably the first marching band. A couple of years ago, I stumbled on a Chinese night market here in San Francisco. That’s where I saw this band. I’ve posted this photo before, but why not once more?

He lives in a village in northeastern China. He has traveled throughout the country but his favorite part is this little valley. His family has been here for centuries. These are his cattle:

Every morning he takes his cattle out to graze, then brings them back around lunchtime. He usually orders lunch from the village restaurant.

If there are guests, there is beer. Lu says he can drink 27 bottles in one sitting. 

He was one of the poorest people in his village when he was a boy. Now he is among the most prosperous. He’s got the cash to prove it.

That’s his younger daughter. She refused to hold up any of her dad’s cash.

There is a cat that hangs around their property. It showed up one day, unbidden. The next morning, it had deposited eighteen mice on their doorstep. Eighteen.

He’s a good cat, says Lu. They haven’t had any problems with mice since then.

Lu’s daughter refused to hold up any of her father’s money. But she was happy to hold the cat.

PicLens is an extension that creates what looks to me like a javascript slideshow, or, if the viewer adds it to his copy of Firefox or Safari (or even Internet Explorer), can create a three-dimensional wall of photos. It’s kind of confusing until you see it. I’ve enabled PicLens on the Xi’an gallery that includes the photo above. If a little play button shows up on one of the thumbnail images, press  it. At least, I hope so. The instructions are murky, so execution is still hit or miss. In any case, you ought to download the extension if you want to play around with it. I don’t usually plug products, but this is cool. When it works.

Photojournalist Stuart Isett will be speaking at Berkeley with author Navy Phim next Monday. Isett has been documenting the lives of young Cambodian men who came to the United States as refugee children, did not officially become citizens, and now are being deported.

Isett does good work; you can see some of it at his web site or his Flickr page.

Last spring he did a good audio slideshow on the palaces of Calcutta for the Times.

Monday, February 4, 2008
4:30 p.m.
IEAS Conference Room, 6F
2223 Fulton St., Berkeley CA 94720

So there’s a story related to this picture. Actually, the story I’m telling is about the village where this boy lives. It’s the reason why I’ve embargoed all of my photos from China last August. Check Frontline/World tomorrow (Thursday, the last day of January) and you’ll see what I mean.