December 27 - Let There Be Light

Sun beating down on the palms,



we cross the Colorado and ascend into Arizona,



taking in the sights and



sites of Quartzsite.



The miles unfold past saguaro and palo verde, Hovhanessian Mountains Without End, gas at $1.49/gal north of Phoenix, the last giant cacti on I-17 -- to Cottonwood, in view of the Sedona cliffs,



catching the light of the setting sun.

August 4 - On the Photogenographic Road

Off to Southern California today, via I-5, initially approaching its junction with 580 at the eastern edge of the Diablo Range,



an elemental world of greens and tans,



with pale undulating shadows in the midafternoon sun.



The road goes south, of course, past storied areas including the orchards south of Shane P. Donlan's (south of Westley),



the incinerator at Crows Landing (where for some time the exit sign was crushed in a fashion that really did look like an aerial avian accident),



the sycamores by Orestimba Creek at Newman (albethey a bit speedy-fuzzy),



and Little Panoche Mountain.



Somewhere between the latter and Panoche, subtropical moisture appears (not an auspicious sign for walking in the mountains farther south), as the world continues to unfold past


Joaquin Rocks,



the grim stockyards of Harris Ranch,



canyonic foothills near Kettleman City,



Lost Hills,



sentinel powerlines north of Buttonwillow,




Pine Mountain over regimented fields,




the southern Tehachapis and a speedy shadow,



the California Aqueduct,



and Arvin, the setting sun occluded --



to the Grapevine (with a truck occlusion) --



up, up,



with oak-studded summits,



abrupt walls,



pastoral grazing,



the gathering dark in the Lebec / Frazier Park area



to Tejon Pass.



The road goes ever on, by the Grand Ranch of Gorman Naked Mountain,



Liebre Mountain,



desert vegetation invading from the Antelope Valley (Mojave),



milky-placid Pyramid Lake,



the yawning gap of Cherry Canyon (looking up to the Old Ridge Route)



and Piru Gorge, with Black Mountain Beyond.



At Violin Canyon overcrossing,



the interstate traffic lanes reverse (as if suddenly transplanted to a desertic Britain, with the medial as intervening ravine [an eastern term, to continue the meta]), and down we go,



as the grade reveals trespassing housing --



Magic Mountain redeeming itself in the sunset



which illumines the Rye Canyon area, beyond which rise



the Santa Suzanna Mountains near Gavin Canyon,



where cliffs



and lonely Big Cone Douglas Firs stand at attention before Newhall Pass --



to the San Fernando Valley (with the California Aqueduct coming down the other side of the mountain like a suspect Great Wall of California, center left),



the San Gabriel Mountains, John Browning's, and, ultimately, rest.

June 25 - Renaissance Trial by Fire

Make it almost up to Josquin des Pres in the Renaissance in the History class,



through Conrad Pauman (i.e. not so far) and beginning triadic harmony in Theory.


Skies smokier (which doesn't prevent another bike to the pool -- not surprisingly totally absent of other clientele), more placement of sound files in late Renaissance Music History blog pages (markalburgermusichistory.blogspot.com), + page 3 Mice and Men Act V Scene 2 C prepared for publication.

May 15 - The Canyons of the Mind

Exploring the canyons of the mind in the morning, a final theory holiday,



producing the woodwind parts for Block Four of Camino Real,



Harriet and I head to Napa on this brilliant day (apparently finally reaching 100 degrees), back to Dry Creek Canyon, for a surprisingly cooler walk south between an east face of chaparal slopes and a western one of deep green conifers.



Heading downhill, near a canyon-niche row of tires,



at a brisk clip (law abidingly under 25mph), past madrone,



and a westside house



with a patterned roof.


Careful not to linger,



by horizontal limbs,



the trees close in,


opening to a tawny lawn.


watched over by a sunny eastside spread,


and a dinosaurian-macabre bird of prey -- preening,


posing,



spreading its portentous pneumatic purveyors (to my pretentious prose).



Trees with outstretched arms,


an eastside house with a happy-face front door and tall eucalyptus,


political signs



before a moony cliff,


oak grasslands and suspicious summits,



dapples of sun and shade


lead back to back to stately cypress by the creek crossing.



Downslope on Oakville Grade to the Napa Valley near Yountville



(with views north of vineyards and Mt. St. Helena),



we dine by the windows



at Brix,



with its views north



of a distant Mt. St. Helena,


east to intimate vineyards



with a turreted castellated edifice on high,



and west to cool rural vantages.



Closer to home, light poles



and storage units cast de Chirico shadows away from the setting sun in the Vaca Mountains.