Category Archives: News & Reviews

As the owner of WP668, the railroad
caboose in my backyard, I know something about having a passion for odd
transport. I wrote on
May 7, 2008 about Silly Vehicles. This is an update on that theme.

My husband John found a set of pictures of some of the strange vehicles
created for the
Burning Man gathering held in the Black Rock Desert, 120 miles north of
Reno, Nevada, around Labor Day each year. One of the pictures was of a

three-wheeled tugboat car which we last saw in the parking lot
of our local hardware store. A few of the unique vehicles we see in
the Silicon Valley are from Burning Man but others are just expressions
of their owner’s taste or fantasy.

Stretch Limo Hummer

Kit Car

Old Rolls

Tug Car

Advertising Truck

Modified VW Bug

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

I recently purchased a
finch feeder and hung it on the railing
of our upstairs deck – well above where the neighborhood cats lurk. The two nearest
trees are a lemon and an almond with no big branches within cat leaping distance.
Living on the
Guadalupe River in San Jose, California, our yard is home to wild birds of
all kinds. This is at least the third finch feeder in our immediate neighborhood –
Jamie has one and Linda does too – but there seem to be more than enough little
birds for everyone.

The lady in the shop where I bought the tube feeder (an Aspects Nyjer Mesh Feeder) said
there are seven types of finches in California. She recommended Nyjer Thistle (or
black thistle) seeds as a favorite food. I don’t know the names of our birds but
they are mostly green or yellow with black and white accents. I am reading about
finches on the
Cornell Lab of Ornithology “All About Birds” web site.

No finches showed interest when we first put up the
feeder; however, a month later the little greedy guts are going through a full
tube of seed every few days. The brick walkway below the feeder is black with
chaff and spilled seed. My husband said our local mourning doves and smaller songbirds
eat the thistle seed that falls.

The finches constantly squabble and peck and peep at each other when not
actually eating. They do not seem to care whether they are up, down, or sideways
when eating. They look around and shift position regularly and all flit off at any
danger sign. (We slowly sneak up on them to take pictures.) I feel peaceful watching
these lively little birds.

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

I have written from time to time about the subway and metro map collection
Sun Distinguished Engineer
Danny Cohen and I have been building for some years in
Sun Labs Menlo Park, CA. Last May, a
large part of our map collection was destroyed due to a misunderstanding
on the part of a facilities contractor. I am pleased to announce that
our Homage to Beck metro map boards are back –
better than before! After facilities staff and others donated new maps, Danny and I now
have enough for two extra-large bulletin boards in addition to our original board.
We have maps of:

* Amsterdam     * Bangkok     * Barcelona
* Boston        * Budapest    * Cairo Egypt
* Chicago       * Frankfurt   * Hamburg
* Helsinki      * Hong Kong   * Houston
* Kuala Lampur  * London      * Lyon France
* Madrid        * Marseilles  * Moscow Russia
* Munich        * New York    * Oslo
* Paris         * Prague      * Rome
* San Francisco * Santa Clara * Seoul
* Singapore     * Sofia       * St. Petersburg Russia
* Stockholm     * Sydney      * Taipei
* Tokyo         * Washington  * Wellington NZ
* Zurich

All of the maps in our collection present a design that derives
at least partially from

Harry Beck’s 1933 London subway map. The point of the display is that excellent
design communicates across cultures and can perpetuate itself through inspiration.

New bulletin boards

Original collection down the hall

Danny and me

“New Yorker” Subway Man

Maps close up

Maps posted so far

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

For photos of the original map display, check out my blog –

February 07, 2008.

For your own instant map collection, buy

Transit Maps of the World – The World’s First Collection of
Every Urban Train Map on Earth

by Mark Ovenden, Penguin, 2007


ISBN-10: 0143112651,
ISBN-13: 978-0143112655

I have been posting pictures of our recent trip through California’s
Sierras, including a

week at the Bear’s Lair, plus driving home by way of
Mono Lake,

Panum Crater, Devil’s Postpile, Rainbow Falls, and
Yosemite.

The highlight of the ten day trip for me (not counting seeing my mother be the oldest
person by 50 years to win the Disco Bingo costume award at the Bear’s Lair) was the
beautiful and various wild flowers we saw in bloom everywhere we went.
I checked my photos against the flower pictures in Sierra Nevada
Wildflowers – A Field Guide to Common Wildflowers and Shrubs of the Sierra
Nevada, including Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks by Karen
Wiese (Falcon, 2000). Some of the identifications may not be correct
but I love the common flower names: paintbrush, mule ears,
prickly poppy, rabbitbrush, wandering daisy, and
blazing star.

White Yarrow, Dodge Ridge

Wandering Daisy, Dodge Ridge

Cinquefoil, Dodge Ridge

Soft Arnica, Dodge Ridge

Mallow, Dodge Ridge

Draperia, Dodge Ridge

Gooseberries, Dodge Ridge

Thistle, Pinecrest

Lupine, Sonora Pass

Paintbrush, Sonora Pass

Cushion Stenotus, Sonora Pass

Pennyroyal, Sonora Pass

Mule Ears, Sonora Pass

Prickly Poppy, near Sonora Pass

Rabbitbrush, Devil’s Postpile

Fireweed, Devil’s Postpile

Blazing Star, Mono Lake

Manzanita, Yosemite

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

On our way home from our annual camping

week at the Bear’s Lair, we drove
by way of Yosemite.
I visited Yosemite many times as a kid, including a week each High School winter
with the Yosemite Institute. So, the valley
is a very familiar place.

Our family has driven through Yosemite valley in recent summers but this
was our first long visit. From
Mammoth Mountain,
we drove on Highway 120, crossing into Yosemite National Park over Tioga Pass
on the East side. We stayed two nights at the Yosemite View Lodge in El
Portal (just outside the park’s West gate on Highway 140).

Yosemite was hot and there was very little water in any of the falls.
Yosemite Falls was entirely dry. We left my mother at the base of the Mist Trail
(she painted a watercolor of the Merced River), then hiked to the bridge to
find Vernal Falls reduced to a few ribbons.

We ate dinner at the Yosemite Lodge Mountain Room, lunched at the elegant
and formal Ahwahnee Lodge, and had a very good visit.

Sierras Maps

Driving to Yosemite National Park

Watch for Rocks, Iconic Yosemite Sign

Paul, Eleanor, Jessica, Matt

Katy and John at Olmsted Point

Half Dome

Eleanor Painting

John Downstream from Vernal Falls

Jessica and Paul

Swimmer Jumping, Merced River

Dry Yosemite Falls

The Mountain Room, Yosemite Lodge

Ahwahnee Great Room

Ahwahnee Fireplace

Ahwahnee Conduct Sign

El Capitan

Jessica and Matt check the map

Rest Break, Yosemite Lodge

Speeding Kills Bears

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson, Paul Dickinson Goodman, John Plocher

On our way home from our annual camping

week at the Bear’s Lair, we drove home
by way of Mono Lake,
Mammoth Mountain,

Devil’s Postpile and Rainbow Falls,
and Yosemite.

We drove past Mono Lake on our way to Mammoth and then stopped back
at the lake on our way to Yosemite. Besides its lovely setting, Mono Lake
is remarkable for its Tufa Towers and its Brine Flies. Tufa Towers
form underwater from freshwater calcium-bearing springs entering the salty
lakewater. The decline of Mono’s water level has left these bright white
towers standing like
stalagmites in a roofless cave. Black brine flies were thick on the lake
border and in the water when we visited. The flies avoid other animals and
people. It is interesting to watch the flies scatter under the path of a
low-flying seagull. The color contrast of the black flies on the white
tufa against the bluegreen lake is strange, a little icky but interesting.

Tufa Towers, Mono Lake

Exploring Mono Lake

Black Brine Flies, Mono Lake

Mono Lake Seagulls

Brine Flies on Tufa

Mono Lake grasses and wildflowers

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson