What lovely weather we are having, don’t you think?

One of my New Years resolutions is to work on a photo portfolio of Modesto, the town in which I have lived for the past 13 years now.  Actually, we lived in Salida for the first 10 years, but Salida is right next to Modesto and no one knows where Salidas is, so…there it is.

I really want to get back out and take some new shots of downtown, the new parts and the old parts.  We are probably blowing this town sometime within the next year (back to the Central Coast) so I really need to get this project done.  I feel a need to archive some photos not only from the town I’ve resided in for more than a decade, there is some history of interest here, not the least of which Modesto is George Lucas’ hometown.

There is not much in the way of George Lucas’ legacies to Modesto, unless, of course, you mention the movie American Graffiti, his homage to graduating from high school in this town.  There is some sort of plaque or statue of Lucas in the student union of  Modesto Junior College, where he attended before transferring to USC film school.  I will get a few shots of that before leaving.

In the meantime, I thought there no better place to start this photo montage of Modesto than with a few shots looking out my front door.  It’s 8:00 am, 34 degrees…and what wonderful, though very seasonal for here, weather we are having…say, what?  The weather is shitty here about half the year.  Stifling, blazing hot most days in the summer, then freezing cold with daily tule fog in the winter.  Spring brings some welcome rains, Fall brings wonderful, mild days and cool nights.  Save for Fall, the weather here stinks.

So there it is, my neighborhood.  A good place to start.

A few weeks ago I was posting lovely pictures of the Fall colors on that street right up there.  It was short-lived, the Fall weeks, and now it’s Winter in the valley.