Category Archives: Photography

Durango to Silverton Narrow-Gauge Railway: Part 2

We didn’t know if there would be room on the train for Rick’s guitar, so we’d left it at the hotel. Note to selves: narrow-gauge railway trips are a GREAT place to sing “Freight Train Boogie” and “Riding on the City of New Orleans.”

In Silverton, we wanted to buy a cheap one for Rick to play on the way back. Note to selves: you can’t buy a guitar in Silverton.

Silverton was pretty much about lunch, jewelry and collectibles…

… and imagining what it would be like to live in the same place, but different time…

… or, the same time, but different space.

In some cases, maintaining the illusion requires a LOT of costly upkeep and artistry. (Just ask any of my 50-something friends: we all agree.)

2.5 hours was just about the right interval between residencies on the back platform.

The view heading back was just as spectacular as it had been on the way out, but things had shifted.

Aside from the fabulous light…

… we started seeing more people. And yes, kids still do put pennies on railway ties in the path of oncoming trains.

The train seemed to stop to take on water in more photo-friendly spots…

… and we weren’t the only ones apparently willing to slow things down to take it all in.

The late afternoon sun cut through rock and forest to spotlight objects of its own choosing…

… creating backdrops for the Harry-Potteresque dreams that would follow later that night.

We waved good-bye to those in shadow…

… and in the full late afternoon sunlight, realized anew the value of a wave versus an actual hand-shake.

Wish we’d seen him earlier. We’d have offered to buy his banjo.

It all melted into a lovely, sleepy Colorado summer evening…

… with waves goodnight from the landlubbers (you can always tell landlubbers by their matching gardening footwear) …

… and from those at sea…

… and from a kid with an Inner Adult just waiting for his turn to be able to afford the price of a ticket on a narrow-gauge railway line.

‘Cause, man… if you had the money, who wouldn’t spend some on that?


* We’ve posted more photos of our fellow passengers, scenery, etc. in a Facebook album. Just copy and paste this url into your browser:  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10702&id=100000861207094&l=bff1206839. Don’t think it will make you sign in/join/whatever, but let us know if it does, okay? Also, for those with whom we shared the day, let us know (rickandkathyjamison@gmail.com) if you’d like the full resolution versions of any photos in particular: happy to send along.

Durango to Silverton Narrow-Gauge Railway: Part 1

The line from Durango to Silverton, CO, has been in use since 1881, and there are apparently still enough Inner Children around the country clambering for a ride that we got the last two “Presidential class” seats available on the 9:45 departure.

In truth, your Inner Kiddo doesn’t really care which car you ride, although the older you get, the more attractive comfy seats and a once-in-a-lifetime view become.

We STRONGLY recommend procuring a Presidential class ticket.

First, you stand a chance of riding on the “Nomad,” the oldest private railroad coach still in service in the United States.

Originally named “The Fairplay,” the car has hosted Presidents William H Taft, Ulysses S Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, and now, rickandkathy. (Somehow, we doubt this last important factoid will end up in the Wikipedia entry on the subject, but whatever….)

But even without the historical interest and beautifully appointed interior, it’s the last car on the train, which means the little open-air platform on the back affords access to jaw-dropping vistas not available to the other cars. This alone is worth the price of admission.

Plus, if you’re really lucky…

… you’ll land Ellie as your personal chaperon/tour guide/safety officer and bartender. Ellie is fabulous, and everything you’d want in an ex-Alaskan field geologist to be. This is important, because en route to Silverton, there are a LOT of rocks that need ‘splainin.

For our money, though, the history and geology took a definite back seat to the tear-inspiring beauty…

… and touristy moments we enjoyed.

We got to meet pleasant, interesting people* (hi Erica and John!)…

… while we took turns on the back platform, picking our jaws up off the brass railing.

Hangin’ on was roughly 50% of the fun…

… while listening to the water of the Animas River rush by, the clackity-clackity of the rails under your feet, and the foooph-foooph of the steam whistle already around the next bend made up the other half.

Our eyeballs got their own 100% all to themselves.

I’m embarrassed to mention I had brought along books and a deck of playing cards, in case we got bored. In fairness, a ten-hour day with seven of those on a train going 10-15 miles an hour seemed like it had the potential to get a bit long.

Yeah… right.

We were in Silverton before I was done jumping from one side of the train to the other, trying to decide which view at any given moment was the most beautiful. Good thing we had the 2.5 hour lay-over to eat lunch and calm down: the ride back was even more incredible.

And that’s why we’ll leave that for Part 2.

You Know You’re In Canada When…

… you can ask for a “butter tart, please” and they know what you want. (It was amazing.)

… nobody thinks that…

a) curling is an odd way to spend a Saturday morning, and

b) calling a sports club, an annual agricultural winter fair, a police force, an air force, a mint, a train line, a museum, or a comedy show “Royal” is strange. (Did I miss anything?)

… Canadian geese are in their home and native land. (And if you just started humming the Canadian national anthem, chances are good that your mouth is watering right now for one of those butter tarts.)

… the natives get their feathers in a ruffle over language wars.

… “Bottoms up!” and fishing are both favorite national pastimes and are often played simultaneously. (That’s cottonwood fluff on the water, by the way, not beer foam.)

… the weather can go from this…

… to this in the time it takes to get from one shore to the other.

… and portly pooches who look like Winston Churchill but are named “Disco” proudly sport patriotic red and white a full month before Canada Day.

On The Road To Teton Valley

Somehow it always starts with the drama of clouds painting “Look here! Look here!” highlights on the middle ground.

Quick! Get the camera!


By the time the [easyazon_link asin=”B001ENOZY4″ locale=”US” new_window=”default” nofollow=”default” tag=”rickandkathy-20″ add_to_cart=”default” cloaking=”default” localization=”default” popups=”default”]Nikon D90[/easyazon_link]is ridin’ high on the console between the seats, we’re sunk: once again, we realize the Road Trip Muse has bullied in and is insisting on some overdue personal attention.


She knows we’re suckers for the challenge of getting the shot at 80 mph, straining to get above the side rear view mirror, telephone poles, traffic lights, big honkin’ trucks that get in the way right at the last second…


… and she plays with our mutually eclectic sensibilities of what makes for an interesting image.

We’re a good team. Rick drives and occasionally hollers, “Get that one!” I bounce around in the front seat like Ruprecht the Monkey Girl, twisting myself into unnatural positions to try to get just the right angle.


Sometimes, The Source is just Rick, after 12 miles of outrageously bumpy and undulating road construction, quipping “Well, at least the road guys have a sense of humor.”


But sometimes, the Muse herself delivers a fly-by composition so intensely pure and correct that it if I miss it, I have failed to do my part in something important and irreplaceable.


It can be simply an image we wouldn’t normally see in our 9-5 Silicon Valley world.


Or it can be a surrealistically perfect moment that is usually only visible in other people’s lives. Or in slow motion in the movies. Or Napa.


But that’s what it’s like on the road to Teton Valley.


You get a plein air painter’s dream at sunset…


… followed by twilight in Targhee National Forest, 12 minutes from home, and the dreamscape collusion of your [easyazon_link asin=”B001ET5U92″ locale=”US” new_window=”default” nofollow=”default” tag=”rickandkathy-20″ add_to_cart=”default” cloaking=”default” localization=”default” popups=”default”]D90[/easyazon_link], the Muse, and the deer that decided to bound the other way.

HMB Farmer’s Market: Life Is Good!

It’s going to take us a long time to write the Farmer’s Market book.

Maybe we should have started when we were four or five.

The problem is, we’re with the little girl in the hat: life IS good!

And when there are tomato plants to consider, and perfect white cotton dresses and funky glasses to enjoy, and a 69-degree, full-sun, no-plans kinda day in Half Moon Bay to spend at one’s leisure, why do anything but that?

Introducing: One-Shot Blogs

Sometimes you get a shot that just doesn’t fall neatly into one particular category…

… ya know what I mean?

For instance, probably once a day, we sit down to a meal that we think is food, and by the glint of the sun or the glow of a candle, it becomes a photo op, give or take a blob of egg yolk or two.

It’s not really enough to build a story around, but it’s a moment we’d like to share with a few words of comment. These are called “Quick! Get the camera!” moments.

Really, how many people want the FULL story of Rick fixing the toilet in the main bathroom? Okay, so two of you.

But there are probably at least half a dozen more whose day would be enriched by seeing a single shot of an old and well-loved metal toolbox still in active service.

I know it made me happy, at least.

Sometimes there are serendipitous moments that you either do, or do not, have your camera ready for: boy on bike, knowing he’s being photographed…

… or “bee at a flower” that neither one of us saw coming.

If you’re lucky, once in a while you’ll get the perfect still life just sitting on the cutting board, waiting to be appreciated in all its glory…

… and if you live green and say your prayers at night,  on a blue moon you might get one of those singleton shots of a dear friend that is SCREAMING for a caption contest. (We love you, Keithy Boy!)

So stand by: we are entering the Era of the One-Shot Blog in a variety of themes: Kitchy Stuff, “Quick! Get the camera!” “A Story in One,” “Moments,” and “Caption, Please!”

Got any ideas?

On Writing A Book About Farmers Markets

First of all, why?

1. We love farmers’ markets for the fresh, local, organic produce.

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Where DOES it come from?

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For instance, what’s the difference between the ways organic and mass-market cherry farmers go about their business? And why, in our opinion, do the organic ones taste so much better?

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How much work goes into raising a $2 bunch of organic swiss chard?

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Or an organic red onion?

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And who are these people who choose to make a living this way?  For instance, Farmer John here… what’s the story of chard before it gets here on a Saturday morning, and why do he and Eda do this and not something else?

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We love that farmers’ markets are populated with people on both sides of the tables who wear everything from parkas to promotional t-shirts…

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.. to perfect, powder-blue pullovers…

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.. to purple hair, if that’s the way you roll.

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Ever wanted to see a TRUE strawberry blond?

So while the primary draw is access to locally produced food and other goods, the ultimate story is, of course, about people.

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2. Farmers’ markets are about community and the interactions between the people who buy the goods…

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… and the people who produce them.

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There’s a generosity and artisan pride in the practice of offering samples…

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… and a palpable and respectful connecting of one generation to the next in the transaction that inspires incredible hope in us.

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There’s an authentic simplicity and beauty to the promotion of goods that is sane and comforting.

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And there’s enough intrigue of gustatory possibilities to satisfy any foodie’s fantasies, which leads us to the third reason why someone might write a book on farmers’ markets.

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3. Once you’ve got it home, what can you do with it?

For every food vendor we hope to highlight, we’ll not only feature the marketplace experience and what it takes back on the farm to get them there, but we’ll also share the fun of what we do with it once we get the goods into our own kitchen.

Yes, yes… there will be tears of joy over what Rick comes up with.

That’s just how I roll.

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So that’s why. Now, how?

We figure we’ll start with Erin.

Erin, a farmer of a niche variety of scallions and a lifetime local, started the Coastside Farmers’ Markets of Half Moon Bay and Pacifica nine years ago.

We figure that beyond a kickin’ story about how the market got started and why, she’ll know where to get a great cup of coffee to go with the Bee Bakery lavender shortbread cookies.