Sunrise 7:04: An almost dawn disaster

It's not the way the Dawn Joggers want to greet the dawn. This morning they awoke soon after sunrise to find the garage door wide open and Cassie - the 14-year-old deaf Australian Shepherd - missing. She's never been a wanderer and the concern was if she had indeed decided to take a walk on her own, why hadn't she returned for breakfast? This was not what the DJs needed. But the story ended well an anxious three hours later with a couple calling from the tennis courts at Oak Knoll school where she was penned. The male DJ weighs in with his own account and a picture of Cassie. As both the male DJ and Cassie had clearly got their walk in, the female DJ decided to take a relaxing jaunt on Woodside trails. Seeing the horses is a sure cheer up...

Sunrise 7:03: No golf today

The Dawn Joggers (and Cassie in her prime - and before she was banned) did the Saturday Big Dish, a route that goes along the Stanford golf course at beginning and end, together for years. The routine is more than just seasonal. There are also annual events that occur, are witnessed and shared. So it's always with a bit of pang when one of these events comes around and the female DJ is solo with no companion to note, "Oh, it's the Stanford invitational cross country meet." One Saturday every fall the golf course is closed for this athletic competition that attracts high school teams from throughout the west as well close to 50 collegiate teams. The weather today seemed perfect for distance running...

Sunrise 7:02: Moon on their mind

The still almost full moon was peaking out amidst scattered clouds on this late September dawn. The female Dawn Jogger had to wait until it got light enough for Silvio to take a photo (and got some pink glow for her patience). Meanwhile the male Dawn Jogger got the time exposure he was after earlier this week, a shot taken from their new brick patio at the conclusion of his morning strength exercises. Funny that they're both 'moon struck' this morning...

Sunrise 7:01: It takes a wheelbarrow

When the alarm went off at 6:00, both Dawn Joggers knew it was all about the moon this morning. It was full and lighting the bedroom as if it was dawn. The male DJ quickly got his tripod and camera together in the hopes of capturing a shot that showed the craters but was not pleased with the results. The female DJ set off in the not-so-dark, thanks to the moon, and was immediately struck by the sun's glow back lighting a wheelbarrow. For over a year large heavy equipment has been used to construct a practice golf course for Stanford's student athletes. In one corner, green grass is now appearing as are sand traps. After all the big machines, it looks like it's going to take a wheelbarrow to finish the job. Stanford's pipe flushing project had brought ponds to Lake Lagunita but no duck...

Sunrise 7:00: Flushing away

The water was rushing through the culverts on the Big Dish land, part of the "pipe flushing" that the female Dawn Jogger noticed yesterday near Lake Lagunita. She snapped a photo with Silvio and the result looks more like a painting. In these days when she runs predawn, she's noticed that she thinks it's lighter than it is - that is, her ee's view and the actual amount of light differ. Silvio was less fooled and evidently tried to slow down the shutter and, with a little shake, the results are blurred. The Sun was still not up when she reached the top of the Dish...

Sunrise 6:59: Working on the water

The female Dawn Jogger encountered a water maintenance sign on her run around [dry] Lake Lagunita this morning, an evidence of the university's water management. Water's a big issue on the campus where 843 million gallons are used each year, supplied by 75 miiles of potable water mains ranging in size from 1" to 24". The appears to be the year of the "flush" - in the spring fire hydrants across the campus had been opened to flush out sediment that had been collected. There wasn't evidence of that happening yet at the lake. The female DJ hopes for filled lake this winter...

Sunrise 6:59: Campus traffic calming

The female Dawn Jogger gave it serious consideration this morning - was it dark enough to warrant wearing the reflective vest. She put it off for another couple of days and noted that soon the sun won't be rising until after 7:00. Except for a couple of athletes making their way to pool or gym, no students had risen to greet the dawn on the Stanford campus. But there was plenty of evidence that they'd arrived in full - the annual dorm competitions were proclaimed by chalk challenges. And while Stanford isn't a large university, student population wise, some official has decided to bring the bike situation under control around White Plaza by constructing a traffic calming circle, along with directional arrows. A lot of instructions for such smart students...

Sunrise 6:57: Bring on the rain

After a winter of low rainfall and daily viewing of parched hillsides, the female Dawn Jogger welcomed the sound of raindrops overnight. It had let up by the time she started out on her Saturday Big Dish run but she wasn't surprised to be caught in a number of showers over the seven mile route. Given the mild temperature, she was surprised that such a slight bit of weather had dissuaded so many others from a morning on the Dish - only two cars were parked at the Piers Lane entrance when she passed by about 8:00. Going up the first hill, she thought about what a great photo the male DJ could have shot in black and white with one of his Leica cameras (and later decided to turn Silvio's color shot into just that). The rain had brought out flocks of birds pecking in the damp earth as well as the smell of ashes remaining from last summer's fire. Saturday runs have always been a great way to mark seasonal changes...

Sunrise 6:56: Stumbling on the night before

This isn't the first time that the female Dawn Jogger greeted the dawn only to find remnants of the night before on the Stanford campus. With students arriving this week, increasing signs of life - and night life - abound. Balloons were attached to a sign inviting those interested to a "chill out" at the Robin and Donald Kennedy Kosher Coop. Just on the other side of the lake, a fire was still smoldering in the pit adjacent to where the boathouse once stood, indicating the party must have gone on long into the night. The clouds overhead portended a spectacular sunrise. Alas, the female DJ was never in the right spot to capture the moment, even though to she jogged up behind The Knoll hoping to be high enough to catch a dazzling display. On mornings like this, it's good to be a dawn chaser...

Sunrise 6:55: Johnny strikes up the band

It was an audio outing for the female Dawn Jogger this morning and a totally cool one at that. The KFOG morning crew was doing the show remotely from the Village Music Record Store in Mill Valley, which is closing September 30. The store is, of course, a remnant of the another time. The female DJ remembers the record store on Santa Cruz Avenue in Menlo Park that actually had listening booths, and there were the many family trips to PooBah Records in Pasadena when John was growing up. This morning Fogheads had gathered with Village Music owner John Goddard to pay tribute to vinyl. It was a totally listening treat...

Sunrise 6:54: What is weather?

Weather, it seems to the female Dawn Jogger, is whatever the climate and atmospheric conditions are on a given day. As in, "what's the weather today?" She thinks her mother, who kept a watchful eye on the Bay Area weather by monitoring the fog bank on the western hills from her kitchen window, would agree. But she's not sure about her father. Weather to him meant something was happening, usually a wind or rain storm. As in, "we expect some weather today." He taught the male DJ that no Sierra backpack trip was a success unless there was "some weather." Today there was weather in the form of wind and a hint of moisture during the female DJ's Big Dish run. It was good to be back to the Wednesday uphill routine...

Sunrise 6:53: Campus comes to life

It was before dawn and the Stanford cops were out posting signs adjacent between Roble Hall and Governors Corner. The students are arriving this morning - at least the freshman. The female officer was wearing a huge "I love freshman" button and greeted me heartedly, "Welcome to Stanford." "We're suppose to say that to everyone this morning," she added. There was a wonderful mist on the lake bed - the female Dawn Jogger thought she could see some figures. When she got to the end where the old boat house used to be she found out it was a group of young people huddled in sleeping bags. They were having a different kind of welcome to Stanford...

Sunrise 6:53: Contiuing the wine theme

That there are grape vines near San Francisquito Creek is a rebirth of the 1880s when one of Leland Stanford's three vineyards sprawled across the what is now the west campus and his the winery was housed in a red barn that now holds a restaurant and other businesses. It's the area the female Dawn Jogger run across on most weekdays - and on which her house sits. Stanford had another vineyard, Warm Springs, near Fremont but his highest hope was pinned on Vina, north of Sacramento, where, according to the alumni magazine, he dreamed of retiring with his son and producing great white wine. The winery failed and his son's death brought instead the birth of a great university. The Palo Also winery served locals who would stop by with empty containers to be filled until Mrs. Stanford, a temperance advocate, stopped the practice in 1893. The Stanford campus - and the surrounding three miles - remained dry until the 1970s...

Sunrise 6:52: Harvest time

In late August, Cassie and the female Dawn Jogger spied a new mini vineyard just a couple blocks from their house. Today there were signs of a harvest. Another kind of harvest to come will be celebrated this afternoon. A baby shower for daughter-in-law Julie and granddaughter to come, Grace...

Sunrise 6:51: Clearly not black or white

On a sparkling beautiful morning of what will be a "big event" day, the female Dawn Jogger started out in a reflective mood on her Saturday Big Dish run. It was a year ago that marks in her mind "the last normal weekend," not literally - the brain journey didn't actually begin for another three weeks. But the DJs had journeyed together with good friends to Pasadena for the wedding of Anne and Stuart and had taken the long run they'd so often enjoyed when they lived in the area. It was a weekend of festivities and hopeful new beginnings. During the same period, the rector search committee was excitedly narrowing the candidate selection, moving through phone interviews and deciding who would be visited in person. That process resulted in the call of the Rev. Mike Spillane, who will be installed as the 17th rector of Holy Trinity this afternoon. That the year since had brought so many serious health challenges - and resulting mobility issues - to so many of the people on her mind caused her to be less than bright, even on a dazzling blue sky morning.

But grace was with her. After months of being on the other side of the hill, a number of black and white "police cow" youngsters were grazing close enough to Alpine to allow her to snap a photograph. She was not their only admirer; she was soon joined at the fence by a man who'd pulled his car over and taken out a camera. Buoyed by the police cows, the female DJ decided to bring the male DJ, Mike and Anne with her in spirit as she moved up the first Big Dish hill. About half way up, she encountered a friend she's known almost her entire life, since Brownie days at Hillview School. (Dressed in black and white, she seemed to be paying homage to the cows.) It had been a year and half or so since they'd last talked, so they caught up with each other's lives as they made their way up the hill. The friend, too, knew about life's speed bumps, having been widowed suddenly as a young woman and then almost losing her current husband in a serious bicycle accident. One thread of conversation, which often comes up among those who had the privilege of being raised in the Menlo Park/Atherton area in the 50s and 60s, is how little they were prepared for life's curves, given their near idyllic child and teenage years. But now they know they must make their way - older, wiser and sadder. It's just not a black and white world but friends and faith help heal the spirit and nourish the soul. Not to mention the sight of police cows...

Sunrise 6:50: Beating the golfers

It was the perfect running at dawn morning - just light enough when the female Dawn Jogger set out and just the right conditions to show off a sky filled with patchy clouds. It was also dark enough that the female DJ was pretty sure she could beat the morning tee times. So she did what she's wanted to do ever since the good path went off and was replaced by the noisy, takes-her-out-of-the-way bad path last fall - she sprinted across the length of the golf course's second hole. It's a nice pleasant direct route from Sand Hill to the Red Barn. After five miles of meandering around campus taking pathways and roads unfamilar, she made her way back home - on the bad path.The new Hewlett and Packard buildings, now nearing completion, are pretty intriguing...

Sunrise 6:49: Crows abundant on Peninsula

It appeared to the female Dawn Jogger that the crows were having a meeting on the wire early this morning - two more joined just out of view as she snapped the photo. The population of crows and ravens has exploded in the San Francisco Bay Area over the past decade. The female DJ doesn't remember them at all when she was growing up. Joe Eaton has an interesting article about the phenomenon in Bay Nature. She finds them loud but amusing...

Sunrise 6:48: A park being transformed

With an early morning appointment at UCSF to get to, the female Dawn Jogger decided that a walk around the park while the male DJ was having an MRI made a lot more sense than a too short jog. It's an easy four blocks from the Parnassus campus to the eastern edge of the park, anchored by Kezar Stadium (or at least what's left of it). Her uncle was a gardener in the park, and because he knew every corner of it, she saw more of it as a girl than most mid-Peninsula residents. While he worked, it also became her private playground. Today she sees a park in transformation - a good thing. The DeYoung Museum reopened with great fanfare five or so years ago (although she thinks the lions are a remnant of the old museum - will need to find out) and now the Natural History museum is being rebuilt. The bandstand and plane trees between the two buildings remain a constant. Meanwhile the news delivered by the neuro-oncologists was good...

Sunrise 6:47: Two happy Aussies

That's one of the satisfying things about Australian Shepherds - they smile, even when they're being asked to sit so their portrait can be taken. The female Dawn Jogger had noticed two young Aussies making their way around the Lake Lagunita a couple of times, and today she stopped and talked to their owner. He, like the Dawn Joggers, was on his second ownership round. The Tri, a male named Jeeves, is three and the uncle to Opal, an 18 month old Blue Merle female. As Aussie owners do when the meet, agreement was quickly reached that these are "different kinds of dogs." The female DJ can report much evidence of fully Aussie behavior...

Sunrise 6:47: Light and form

The arches of Stanford have been a part of the female Dawn Jogger life's since childhood. But as often as she's on campus, she rarely looks at them nor does she notice the perfectly spaced oblong lights. But with it darker and darker every morning - and with White Plaza under construction - she found herself zig zaging among the arches of the main quad this morning. She was reminded of another archway, the one around Royce Hall and finds herself surprised that she can still remember the feeling of being a student on campus. It was a profound time in her life...

Sunrise 6:46: A new kind of Sunday

For the past four plus years, the Dawn Joggers have had a Sunday routine of walking with Cassie in the morning and church (followed by dinner out usually) at 5:00 in the afternoon. They were part of a steady group of worshipers so loyal to that time slot, they were called "5 o'clockers." In recent months, the male DJ's mobility has restricted his ability to participate in the morning part of their Sunday ritual but they continued their late afternoon worship. Today dawned a new kind of Sunday - one in which they worshiped in the morning. (That meant, at least for today, a near dawn jog by the female DJ.) It's part of a new Sunday schedule (two services - at 8:30 AM and 10:30 AM - instead of four ) and a new style of worship (more casual, more upbeat) instituted by Holy Trinity's new rector, Mike Spillane. Not surprisingly, he preached about joy even in hardship...

Sunrise 6:45: The eye versus camera

The female Dawn Jogger was bemoaning to the male DJ last night at dinner about how her trusty First Blush camera, Silvio (a Lumix DMC-FX9) wasn't able to capture the same image her eye was seeing. The topic had come up because of the color distortions in the sky recently caused by smoke from two fires. There ensued a lengthy tutorial by the male DJ about how the brain brings more to image processing than simple vision, which is closer to what a camera does. Writes Ashish Ranpura on BrainConnection: "...almost all higher order features of vision are influenced by expectations based on past experience." On her Big Dish run this morning, the female DJ took a number of photos, struck by the gradations in the overcast sky and then by the sun's rays breaking through. None quite captured the subtlety or beauty what her mind was seeing...

Sunrise 6:44: Smoke-less sunrise

Even by yesterday afternoon, the smoke from two fires that had blanketed the Bay Area was starting to blow away - along with its eerie glow. This morning the sun arose to largely blue skies, with just a few low clouds to poke through. The changing sunrises are satisfying at this time of the year...

Sunrise 6:44: Smoke-filled sky

The sky couldn't have been bluer when the Dawn Joggers set off yesterday morning for an early appointment in the City. But by the time they were driving home just after lunch, long clouds of smoke had started appearing, the result of fires north and south. By the evening, the sky was smoke-filled.

It remained so this morning when the female DJ headed out for a jog around Lake Lagunita. Even at predawn, a pink glow framed the construction equipment sitting on the yet to be completed practice golf course. The glow was more brilliant by the time she got to the lake. The sun finally made it appearance as a bright orange ball. The smoke was thick enough that the female DJ could taste it...

Sunrise 6:42: The dim of the morning

It's not exactly dark when the female Dawn Jogger heads out of the house these late summer mornings, but it before sunrise and an overcast sky can make it dim. The cloud cover, in from the coast, was much welcomed after four days of heat. That daylights savings time will extend into November this year means lots of runs in the dark. Yes, the paths are well lit...

Sunrise 6:41: Back to Baylands

Baylands Nature Preserve has long been a favorite of the Dawn Joggers and Cassie, sometimes, like today, for a cooler run on a warm morning, or for Sunday walks. But when the female DJ took off solo this morning for the six-mile loop run, she couldn't remember the last time she'd been there - well over a year. The largest undisturbed marshland remaining in the San Francisco Bay, it's pretty place in every season and being on the Pacific Flyway, always has an abundance of birds and waterfowl. One section, Byxbee Park, is an "art park" with various installations sharing space with ground squirrels. The change of scenery was good although her two companions were missed...

Sunrise 6:40: Get acquainted with new oaks

Walking through the Stanford arboretum back to the car yesterday after UCLA's victory, son John remarked on the newly-planted oak trees. The new plantings seem to be widespread across university-held lands. This morning Cassie became acquainted with those that are planted between the Stanford West housing and San Francisquito creek. They bear tags that identify them as quercus agrifolia and some, such as the one Cassie got wrapped around, also have names - this one "CHUNK=1." Cassie and the female Dawn Jogger took the shady route today due to continuing heat...

Sunrise 6:39: Game day

On a morning that was rapidly warming up, the female Dawn Jogger could see a still empty Stanford Stadium in the distance from the Junipero Serra side of the Big Dish area. She'll be there this afternoon with son John to see her alma mater UCLA play.
Go Bruins...