Tag: postaday

Postcards from Big Bend

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"Modern Vintage" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/20 sec, ISO3200
 “Modern Vintage” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！How’s it going? Here in central Texas, not only has it gotten colder, but it’s also gotten wetter, with a light rain all afternoon. It looks like it will continue all weekend as well. I’m glad we don’t have outdoor activities planned! 🌧

Today’s photo is of the three postcards I bought at the Panther Junction Visitor Center in Big Bend National Park. I love the vintage design of these! So when I took the photo, I decided to post-process using one of Nik Software’s vintage camera presets. I like the way it came out. 😊

In looking at the designs, I realized that I took some photos of the same subjects or locations. I posted these before, but I thought it was neat to match them up with the postcards – the Rio Grande, the Milky Way, and Casa Grande.

"Santa Elena Canyon" Big Bend, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/7.1, 1/140 sec, ISO400
 “Santa Elena Canyon” Big Bend, 2016
"Starry Night" Big Bend, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X-T10, 18mm, f/3.2, 20 sec, ISO5000
 “Starry Night” Big Bend, 2016
"Casa Grande" Big Bend, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/6.4, 1/170 sec, ISO400
 “Casa Grande” Big Bend, 2016

While on the travel subject, I have to admit that I have been getting into watching YouTube videos about minimalist travel, gear, and packing. It’s so fascinating to me! It’s funny, but minimalist travel, backpacking, and motorcycle travel all have similar recommendations, most notably to use synthetic or merino wool clothing (not cotton!), dress with layers in mind, and don’t overpack!

As some of you may know, I love bags and backpacks, and I’ve been searching for the perfect backpack. I pretty much found the perfect (for me) messenger bag in the Patagonia Minimass, but I haven’t found a backpack that I really love. I think I am going to sell my North Face Router and Jansport Hatchet, and pick up an Osprey Porter 30. It looks like a perfect travel backpack! But we’ll see. It’s fun to do the research at least. 😄

I hope you had a nice Friday!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Beef Curry

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"Beef Curry" Cedar Park, 2016
“Beef Curry” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！How’s it going on this first day of December?

Today Mariko made a huge pot of Japanese curry. 🍛 The weather here has gotten cold ❄, with nighttime temperatures dropping into the 30s, so when she said it was curry nite, I was so happy! A hearty dish to warm up the body!

Kare-raisu (Curry rice) can be considered a Japanese comfort food, and I like to think of it as one of the three cold-weather staples of Japanese cuisine, the other two being Oden and Nabe. But I’d have to say curry is my favorite of the three. In fact, we enjoy it at any time, not just the winter.

In the photo, you can see we like to eat curry with medium-soft-boiled egg. 🍳 I think it’s perfect with curry. When Mariko asked if I wanted her to boil eggs to eat with the curry, I said, “Would I ever answer ‘no’ to that question?” Never!

If you haven’t had Japanese curry in a while (or ever) I think you need to eat some soon! The weather is perfect for it. 😀

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Pizza Nite

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"Secret Sauce" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/125 sec, ISO3200
 “Secret Sauce” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！How’s it going?

As usual, I didn’t have breakfast or lunch (I pretty much fast during the day) but in my mind were visions of pizza because I knew that we’d have some for dinner. 🍕

Tonight’s photo is of the dipping mixture that we have been enjoying lately – ranch dressing + sriracha. It’s really good! There’s a nice combination of cool and hot that goes well with tomato sauce. I sometimes will just go with sriracha for some tangy spiciness, but Bay likes it with ranch so tonight that was the preferred sauce.

And of course our dog Lani is always anticipating getting a taste of human food. I can only imagine that it must be torture for dogs since their sense of smell is so heightened! 🐶

"Hopeful" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/125 sec, ISO5000
 “Hopeful” Cedar Park, 2016

I hope you had a nice day!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Back to work

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"Ride Buddy" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO2500
 “Ride Buddy” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！Hi, how’s it going?

Here in the States, nearly everyone returned to work or school after a long weekend. For my family, we had nine days of vacation so I wasn’t looking forward to coming back to work. But it wasn’t so bad! I got my tasks organized in a few hours and have a reasonable workload set for the rest of the week. 😂

But what always happens to me after a vacation ends is that I wish I could go back in time to when my vacation just started. For instance, tonight a the dinner table I said to my family, “Exactly one week ago, at this time, we were eating dinner at the Reata restaurant.” I can’t believe a week can go by so quickly… it seems like we were just starting our vacation!

Anyways, here’s a photo of my lunch today. I rarely eat lunch (or breakfast) but Mariko offered to make a sandwich for me today, so I couldn’t refuse. Especially because the bread is freshly baked at home using good quality ingredients 🍞. It’s so yummy that it doesn’t matter so much what is inside the two slices of bread. 😍

"Simple Lunch" Austin, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO800
 “Simple Lunch” Austin, 2016

Today’s photo is of a stuffed animal that found its way to my motorbike. I’m not 100% sure where it came from or who put it there, but I suspect Mariko. Speaking of motorbikes 🏍, I saw a few “Adventure Bikes” at Big Bend, and I know they had a good time riding there. The scenery, weather, twisty roads, and gravel trails are heaven for dual-sport riders. I wish I could have ridden my F650 GS there, but wow, that is a long haul to get to Big Bend from our house! Perhaps someday, if I have a week to myself I will consider the trip… 😜

I hope you enjoyed your Monday!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Vacation Stubble

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"A Selfie?" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO5000
 “A Selfie?” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！How’s it going?

Today’s the end of my long vacation. 😭 But we had a great time on the road and visiting new places. A bonus for me doing the outdoorsy vacation is that I don’t have to shave! (My wife would tend not to agree with that sentiment)

I don’t have enough facial hair to grow a moustache or beard, so it’s kind of just a patchy, scraggly kind of stubble. Come to think of it, I’m glad that I need to shave tomorrow. 😄

By the way, I started to add some photos of our vacation to a new album on Flickr. Please take a look at the 2016 Thanksgiving Road Trip album when you get a chance!

2016 Thanksgiving Road Trip

I hope you had a nice Sunday!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Caverns of Sonora to finish vacation

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"Morning Brew" Fort Davis, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/12 sec, ISO6400
 “Morning Brew” Fort Davis, 2016

こんばんは！How’s it going?

Today was the final day of our road-trip out to the Big Bend area of Texas. At the semi-last-minute, we decided to visit the Caverns of Sonora, which were on the way home. But first, it was a 3-hour drive to get there… 🚗 Grey clouds and no sky, but no traffic!

"Low Clouds" Alpine, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/400 sec, ISO400
 “Low Clouds” Alpine, 2016

We read some really good reviews at Trip Advisor so we were confident that it would be worth our while, and I’m happy to report that it was a really cool activity! We took the regular tour, which lasted a good hour and 45 minutes, and learned a lot about the history of the cave and the cavers who explored the caverns. Those explorers were very brave, and also very crazy!

"Descent" Sonora, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2, 1/80 sec, ISO6400
 “Descent” Sonora, 2016

Our guide, a self-described cave nerd, had a genuine enthusiasm about the caverns, and had plenty of stories for us. Good stuff!

"In Water" Sonora, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2, 1/80 sec, ISO6400
 “In Water” Sonora, 2016

The caverns and the rock and mineral formations were incredible, and we saw some types that we didn’t see at Carlsbad Caverns, or perhaps they simply weren’t pointed out to us there. What I thought was most amazing were the super-long soda-straw stalactites. I don’t remember seeing anything like that before at the caves we visited previously. (sorry, no pic of these)

"Coral" Sonora, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2, 1/125 sec, ISO2000
 “Coral” Sonora, 2016

After visiting the caverns, we ate an early dinner before hitting the road again for the final 3-hour drive back home. We arrived safely, not too late (8:30 PM), and now it’s time to relax and catch up with the cats. 🐱

It was another memorable Thanksgiving road-trip, and I’m already looking forward to our next one… but where will we go? 😜

"Big Miles" Texas, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/50 sec, ISO6400
 “Big Miles” Texas, 2016

I hope you had a nice Saturday!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto