Martina Konietzny M.F.A. Photography

Begeisterung ist der Schluessel zum Glueck

2011-05-02T19:48:00.000-07:00

Ihr Lieben,

ein OsterNACHRUF von Martina!

Ein bewegtes Dankeschoen fuer die unvergesslichen Erinnerungen, die vielen Mitbringsel, Blumen und Schokoladen und die prachtvollen gebackenen und gekochten Herrlichkeiten. Das Haus duftete nach all den Leckerbissen. Die Kinder waren bezaubernd.

Lasst Euch durch mein stilleres Wesen nicht vom wesentlichen abhalten. Der feurige Vulkan sprudelt im tiefen Innern. 118 Tage ohne jeglichen Kaffee, benoetigt eine Stunde mehr Schlaf pro Tag und Worte verschmelzen zu Gedanken.

Freiheit durch Einfachheit.

Also meine Energie ist reziprok reduziert.

Ostern, und eigendlich jeglicher grosse christliche Feiertag, laesst mich melancholisch an zu Hause denken. Der praechtige lila Flieder, der im Moment in unserem Garten fast wie Unkraut wuchert. Meine Mama auf Sylt im Strandkorb, mit Buch, allein, aber nicht einsam. Die verpasste Kommunion meiner Nichte, Ihr kent den Drill.

Allerdings bin ich im Moment so richtig stolz auf unsere Deutschen im Lande Deutschland. Es scheint das letztendlich aus unserer Geschichte doch gelernt wurde. Penibelst wird mit groesster Aufmerksamkeit darauf geachtet , WER das Land Deutschland regiert und WIE. Ob es Menschen mit vorbildlichem Character, fuer die Begriffe wie Anstand, Moral, Aufrichtigkeit, Ehrlichkeit und Integritaet, nicht nur leeres Geschwaetz sind. All das was im Moment in Deutschland ausgefochten wird, (Guttenberg, Westerwelle,, FDP, Merkels Atomwende, niedrigste Arbeitslosenquote etc.) ist Ausdruck einer Wachsamkeit, die aus unserer Geschichte resultiert.

Es ist eine Wachsamkeit, die in direktem Zusammenhang mit den Jahren 33 bis 45 herstammt. Diese neue Wachsamkeit hatte ich mir hier vor zwei Jahren so erhofft.

Sie ist so noetig!

Ich haette nicht gedacht, das ich sie in meinem Heimatland so erleben darf, allerdings bedauerlicher Weise, nur aus der Ferne. Ploetzlich erscheint mir, die Deutschen haben doch ne Menge gelernt aus Ihrer Geschichte.

Ganz genau beobachten, ganz genau hinschauen. Fast uebergenau mit riesig hohen Anspruechen an die Menschen, die sie gewaehlt haben.

Dies ist die Hoffnung.

Allerdings lebe ich hier in diesem Land, die USA, wo mir jeden Tag, oft mehrmals, ein Schmerzensstich verabreibt wird, ob es der neue schreckliche Krieg in Lybien ist, oder Gefangene, Talibanfuehrer zu 500 aus Afgahnischen Gefaengnissen entfliehen, der verkorkste "War on Drugs", der Menschen-und Kindeshandel, die Krankenversorgung, der Zerfall der oeffntlichen Schulen, die unbezahlbaren Universitaeten, die ungerechte Steuerverteilung, unserer Abhaengigkeit, eine regelrechte Versklavung an unserer Autos, die Verschleuderung fossiler Brennstoffe, die alternativen Energien, nur mit Profitgier/geist erorbert werden, die ueberalten Bruecken und Strassen, Daemme und Massentransporte, die ewige Armut, alles liegt hier vorsintlich im Argen.

Dazu kommen, die sich haeufenden Naturkatastrophen, letztes Jahr die Golfoelverschmutzung, die gestrigen schrecklichen Tornados in den Suedstaaten, die immense Trockenheit im westlichen Texas, all das kommt dann als Schlag Sahne, zur Verzierung mit obendrauf.

Sogar die lebhafte Osterpredigt in meiner geliebten St. Columba endete politsch und rief zum Austritt aus Wells Fargo und rueber zur Mechanics Bank auf, unglaublich!

So versuche ich mein Leben wieder mal vollkommen umzusatteln, auf Natur, Musik, Kultur, Jahreszeiten, Philosophie und mich auf die Seelensbereicherung meiner Selbst zu konzentrieren, um es ueberhaupt auszuhalten zu koennen.

Begeisterung ist der Schluessel zum Glueck.

Menschen zu finden, die mit uns fuehlen und empfinden, ist wohl das schoenste Glueck auf Erden. (Carl Splitter)

So schliesse ich nun mit Splitter's Worten, da ich mich so mit Euch allen fuehle. Ich danke, das ich oft so lebhaft an Euren Leben teilhaben darf und das ich Euch alle hab kennenlernen duerfen. Dieser Weg als Deutsche Mutter im fremden Land, waere glaube ich ohne Euch fast undenklich.

Bleibt so wie Ihr seit, oder werdet jeden Tag besser.

Herzliche Ostergruesse von Eurer Martina und Familie

P.S. Noch ein Gedicht

Fruehling laesst sein blaues Band
wieder flattern durch die Luefte. Suesse, wohlbekannte Duefte
streifen ahnungsvoll das Land.
Veilchen traeumen schon, wollen balde kommen.
Horch, von fern ein leiser Harfenton!
Fruehling, ja du bist's!
Dich hab ich vernommen.

Eduard Moerike

Life is...

2011-01-06T22:15:00.000-08:00

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather an opportunity to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up and totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow, what a ride!"
Unknown but I am working on its message

Phantasy

2010-11-17T23:34:00.000-08:00

Where on earth, please is that prince in shining armor on his shitty stallion.

Twenty Years Reunification-Congratulations Germany

2010-10-04T21:55:00.000-07:00

Thank you Consul Rothen and Mrs. Rothen and your family as well as your wonderful Consulate staff for last nights festivities. Thank you Matti and Sebastian and all singers in the ensemble for your amazing voices as well.

Also,I would like to extent an incredibly deep felt "Thank You" to the GSEB German School of the East Bay to all the present and past presidents as well as board members, teachers, and parents with all their children willing to learn German and keep in touch with our culture. You are the reason that our nine year old daughter, Ms DylanGrace Voorhees, spends every Friday night doing her German homework. She is not a procrastinator but that is the only free night. Yes, she too has figured out that others do not go to school on Saturday mornings, even to learn German.

Michael Willis, I want to thank you for your diligent service as president of the Excelsior German Center Oakland and all it's board members.

Thanks to Iris Alberts for a twenty-nine year long true German friendship, mostly on American soil.

My accolades go to the recent graduate of Stanford, my god-daughter Sophia Isolde Alberts-Willis, who at this moment is, an active participant in the current play "IPH..." at the Brava Theatre S.F. Ms. Sophia Isolde Alberts-Willis and Matti Specht are alums of the German School of the East Bay.

Nochmals herzlichen Dank fuer ein rauschendes Fest.
Martina Konietzny

Which Vending Machine is that?

2010-09-03T20:04:00.000-07:00

Returned from the land of milk and honey: "wo, --wer jammert und klagt, an die Klagemauer nach Jerusalem verkauft wird", roughly translated by my sister-in-law, do not complain or whine, or you be sold to the Whaling wall in Jerusalem, there they need people like you."

More than two months I bathed in its heavenly delights.Please guess what you can buy in that vending machine? Yes, -they are-- "bicycle hoses". We stayed in an ecological village which is called Vauban in Freiburg. Everything is under seven minutes walk away. I mean everything. The school, the bank, two grocery stores,one co-op with amazing local produce, and the newest of all organic, ecologically, sustainable foods. The restaurant, the cloister, the bordello, one adventure - seven regular playgrounds, die Eisdiele, the Icecream store, a horse stable, a trailhead into the Black Forest. You never need to leave there. If you want to get away, just hop onto the number THREE streetcar, get off at the Hauptbahnhof, the main station, and take a train to Paris, Rom or Moscau. Wherever your heart desires.
Thanks to my brother and his wife who helped develop this futuristic paradise, now world famous, children rich, car poor,-- neighborhood.

Traveling as a UM Oversees (or how language acquisition and cultural immersion manifests as Independent Study)

2010-05-28T21:00:00.000-07:00

The lone egret we watched in the marshes below the highway had disappeared as the Bart train rushed past the extremely thin birding habitat. I was on my way back from the International Airport Terminal, having entrusted my nine year old into the arms of a winged metal bird with enough power to fly her over the pond to the other side, where roots, culture, and thought originated, and where she will have a chance to fully blossom into her next milestone self. The country is a mystical land, full of poesy and poetry, full of endless thought and innovation--the origin of DNA dating back to the Neanderthaler took place a bike ride away from my parents' balcony, where my cradle had captured every ray of sunlight.
I peer into the bright, forget-me-not blue sky, to follow the plane. Did she actually go? I was with her at the counter, where she received her UM “Unattendant Minor”, a red and white pouch on a string around her neck, and while she was greeted by the pilot and co-pilot. The crew was checking in. Soon a flight attendant with a bright smile looked at her, teeth gleaming white, and asked: "Would you like a strict or a not strict flight attendant?” Astonished, my daughter asked “Are there really “strict” flight attendants?” We all laughed, took photos, and finally came to the passport zone; the zone of no return. Here my little girl vanished between the hassle and buzzle of conveyer belts filled with grey plastic tubs to carry jewelry, belts, coins and other small belongings through large x-ray machines. Jackets and boots were flying to the rhythm of magic wands. She passed spread-eagled men trying to find the unfindable. I stood alone. At the bottom of my feet, a colorful array of all kinds of relinquished bottles and their liquids. I waved frantically, glimpsing at her pink-magenta colors and a small white hand....waving. Occasionally a girl’s voice elevated to a perfect pitch:” Ich liebe Dich, Mama”!

Finally I strolled back past the bookshops, passed the newspapers full of the Gulf Coast’s oil spill headlines. Next to the rising and falling financial markets and into the “Reflection Room”, a quiet zone for all religions or none, where the mosaic at the entrance’s floor showed the “True North”. Inside it was quiet except the imagined call of a distant muezzin, calling for evening prayer.
I sat down next to two carpets facing East. Two grown men went up and down whispering exotic versus while I quietly cried into my German soul on American soil.

MOTHERS IN MOTHER NATURE

2010-05-09T21:42:00.000-07:00

The wonders of nature are all applicable to me. I have the chance to metamorph on a daily basis just like other creatures of nature.
A newt is an amphibian of the salamander family metamorphosis from aquatic larva to terrestrial juvenile to adult lizards. Newts produce toxins in their skin as a defense mechanism against predators particular the rough skinned ones of the Pacific NorthWest have more than enough tetrodotoxin to kill an adult human.

DRILL BABY SPILL AND SPILL AND SPILL AND SPILL AND SPILL AND SPILL AND SPILL AND SPILL...

2010-05-03T12:57:00.000-07:00

Please call your local representative (Honorable Barbara Lee) and demand a comprehensive petroleum reform plan, to decrease oil consumption.

The Marsh April 21, 7:30 PM San Francisco, Mission District

2010-04-26T14:26:00.000-07:00

Isabel Reichert & Sean Fletscher wrote an experimental theatre piece called:
"Performance Art In Front of an Audience Ought to be Entertaining".

One night, one time only, called a "Rising".

I had the pleasure and the leisure and the interest to take part and entice several others around me to join.
Susie, Steffi, Sarah it was great to see you all there.

We sat in the aisles of "Press" and took part in the envisioned and imagined LAST ARGUMENT of Carl Andre and Ana Mendieta.

Or shall I say FIGHT
or shall I say CONVERSATION
or shall I say MISUNDERSTANDING
or shall I say JUDGEMENT
or shall I say TIT FOR TAT
or shall I say NEGATIVE THOUGHT EXCHANGE

or what ever the hell you call the
TALK, the "opening of your mouth
and resemblance of words pour out of it",
between two beloveds,
six months after they were married.

If you ask me, what I know, is that at the end
when everything
was said and done,
the night over,
the new dawn rising,
the MAN, Carl Andre ALIVE
and still is today
and his much younger WIFE
was DEAD.

Ana Mendieta was found at the bottom
of the couple's apartment.

Apparently
Ana Mendieta
fell,
was thrown,
was pushed,
jumped from fear,
(suicide is out of the question)
from the couple's 34th apartment window
on September 8, 1985.

Mr. Carl Andre was acquitted of second degree murder 1988.

Both Phillipe Coquet and Carla Pauli had moments of brilliant acting.

Dharma in the Desert

2010-04-23T10:41:00.000-07:00

One with Nature:
with awe I look upon thee.
Simplicity. No culture conflict,
no language needed.
How does nature look at me?
She says," I chew you up and spit you out as plumes of ash!"
Love you
Martina

Ode To Sultan

2010-01-25T23:26:00.000-08:00

MLK Day last week marked the Memorial Service for the late Larry Sultan at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Outstanding speakers, i.e. Jim Goldberg and SFMOMA's curator of Photography Sandra Phillips, as well as many colleagues of the California College of the Arts. Vivid words illuminated the life and work of an artist whose world we shall now only know through his fantastic photography. A communal bottle of Wild Turkey booze was passed to the mourners.
I graduated from the S.F. Art Institute in 1987 and Mr. Sultan was one of the most instrumental and influential photography teachers I witnessed.
Kelly, his beloved, wrote what he said shortly before he died. I will paraphrase it here. “I am happy that I have touched “CULTURE” ever so featherly.”

Here are my musings

About this great loss to the art world:

Ode to Sultan

Myself, a star

Of the expanding

Constellation in the

Sultan Orbit.

The eloquence of a mind

Reflects in luminous images.

Flirting with the edge to

Endure the inferno - life.

Capture the quality,

Absurdity.

A sweet and sour

Wicked sense of humor

Holding the Key to the Kingdom.

Above all

Anxiety;-

Provoking

Art

Conceptual,

Yet

So, so personal. Martina Konietzny M.F.A. 1/23/2010

Mountain dew!

2009-12-25T23:38:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

2009-12-25T23:12:00.000-08:00

Big Rock Candy Mountain

2009-12-21T18:50:00.000-08:00

Look at my beautiful Mother-in-Law, her Mother "Mom" turned 96 1/2 years old and both are beautiful puritan pioneers who stuck with family and their country. Both highly educated they forged the way for all of us coming after them. True revolutionaries with warm hearts and a sense of family which is admirable.

The Valley of Death

2009-11-21T18:28:00.000-08:00

Life tastes so much sweeter after the spirit of darkness has summoned you. Three thirty on the morning of November 5th, after driving eight and a half hours, the unfastened road finally took a-hold of us.

The gazing of the moon and how the Panamint Valley to the East with it's Slate Range glistening under a star-spangled sky became secondary. For a split second the sandy road catapulted us into a spinout with about twelve seconds of major fish tailing - even feeling at times merely two wheels were on the road.

I prayed.

I did not scream.

I did not say a word.

My eight-year-old had awoken from a deep slumber in the backseat, and was now staring through the two front seats with lightning-bolts in her eyes.

"Das Schwert im Herzen, mit tausend Schmerzen blickst auf Deines Kindes Tod." Faust

"Mephisto says to Death that for him to protect her, the Beyonder must die."

Spirit of Darkness you have summoned me . Here I am the partos of darkness are open and the shadows of the dead hunt over the earth.

Thirty minutes later we fell asleep for two and a half hours at the Wildrose Campground.

Breakfast at the Stovepipe Wells Village and afterward we had to empty our bag-packs and had surrender to our leaders everything they thought frivolous or unnecessary. They got rid of tents, clothes, shoes, food... In fact we had a sleeping-bag, a tarp and water mixed with some food weighing about 10 pounds left over; a delight for my back.

I trusted we would be okay.

These people are hard-core, they are survivors, and modern age explorers.

At the Stovepipe Wells Village we received from the ranger station our wilderness-passes. We left in four four-wheel drive cars and found ourselves on roads so sandy and rocky that we spent a lot of time building the path ahead. Someone was joking that if you spent more time building the road than sitting in the car you might as well walk.

We drove about three hours to get to the trailhead and after we had secured all cars in different locations (a complicated Pythagorean calculation - I did not want to attempt to figure it out) we forged ahead on foot.

The landscape brought us through open wash, riparian forest, high desert and deep slot canyons. We saw amazing geology,(see the photo of our Geologist checking with her cheek and tongue the stone), petroglyphs, and pioneer inscriptions-and some of us even spotted wild horses and bighorn-sheep.

Springs were supposed to supply us with water, unfortunately only the first gave sufficiently of this life sustaining elixir. We used filters and iodine. It tasted awful. Secretly, we were hoping the second spring would be more tasty.

Unfortunately the second spring turned out to be even less worthy since a mountain-lion had just feasted on an antelope. The water looked sluggish and our surgeon on board claimed it undrinkable.

After another very cold night and a fabulous home-freeze-dried breakfast of rice, corn and hash we headed through the most amazing mountains, complete with distant alluvial fans where DylanGrace was able to point out the easiest lowest slope we would climb.

Our retired surgeon, still so fit I would let him operate on me if I needed the help, mole skins his feet for preventive measure. Please see picture to right.

We finally arrived at the Petroglyphs and were not disappointed. The canyons forced me to my knees with tears in my eyes. Twenty miles we hiked in three days and when we arrived back at the trailhead, we had to wait another hour and a half and then drove another 3 hours through the sand again.

All along my tummy was so tight with fear (in fact that is how I keep trim and in shape, shear fear)!

Stovepipe Wells Village seemed like an oasis yet we still had to drive back to the Bay Area which took until 3 AM that morning. Believe it or not, DylanGrace and I were on time at 7:50 AM to pick up carpool kids for school and arrived on time for class at 8:35 AM.

Desert Survivors check them out, if you are like me, running from death.

http://www.desert-survivors.org/current.html

he angle of repose (sometimes incorrectly confused with the 'angle of internal friction') is an engineering property of granular materials. It is the maximum angle of a stable slope determined by friction, cohesion and the shapes of the particles.

When bulk granular materials are poured onto a horizontal surface, a conical pile will form. The internal angle between the surface of the pile and the horizontal surface is known as the angle of repose and is related to the density, surface area and shapes of the particles, and the coefficient of friction of the material. Material with a low angle of repose forms flatter piles than material with a high angle of repose. In other words, the angle of repose is the angle a pile forms with the ground.An alluvial fan is a fan-shaped deposit formed where a fast flowing stream flattens, slows, and spreads typically at the exit of a canyon onto a flatter plain. A convergence of neighboring alluvial fans into a single apron of deposits against a slope is called a bajada, or compound alluvial fan.^[1]

Hypsiglena torquata

2009-11-03T18:30:00.000-08:00

Martina:

I have identified the snake we saw on October 3 on the morning hike. It
was a night snake (Hypsiglena torquata). The picture in the book
clearly shows the black stripe in the face, extending all the way from
past the eye to the mouth. The markings on the back also conform.
The painting in the book was done of a snake Contra Costa County,
which includes Briones.

It is a nocturnal snake, not often seen during the day. It is venomous in
the grooved teeth in the back of the upper jaw, and uses its venom to
kill frogs and lizards. Its striking behavior is probably its normal
hunting practice, but we certainly riled it up!

I think we were lucky to see it.

Steve Tabor, President
Desert Survivors
PO Box 20991
Oakland, CA 94620-0991

GEO-SYNCHRONOUS?---WHAAAT?

2009-10-07T08:08:00.000-07:00

Review of the Desert Survivors Route-Finding Seminar

By default my daughter eight years old and I strolled the Solano Stroll and stumbled upon Mr. Steve Tabor's booth and his Desert Survivors. A short glance at the schedule for the Autumn of 2009 convinced me that we needed to join immediately. Any organization who will go in after Burning Man's big bash to the Black Rock Desert to work on preservation and up-grading was an organization I could put my name down for full-heartedly.

We had a great time Saturday. We hiked 5 miles with the Desert Survivors through Briones State Park. I had never been there. The park itself takes getting used too and we did find a few very scenic look-outs and some unexpected wildlife such as of now unidentified snake which had attack maneuvers like a rattler and made moves as being mesmerized by a snake-charmer. It was an amazing trip and learning experience. The steepest we hiked was at 30% and I realized that I will have to resole my 20 year old hiking-boots which I almost use daily once we get ready for a real trek with them.

I met amazing people i.e. a man from Sweden his name was David Jorgens, a retired mathematician who travels the world to teach mathematics. He was recently in Tanzania and between seminars hiked up Mt. Kilimanjaro. His group were Italian gymnasts who all wanted to run up the mountain.

Well, guess what happened? Who was the only one who made it? Of course Mr. Jorgens. He is in his seventies. The Gymnasts ran up the mountain and after the fourth day were laying by the side of the path with acute mountain sickness. Their leaders made them go back and Mr. Jorgens was the only one who got to reach the summit. What a great example of the tortoise and the hare.

The morning was dedicated to the compass and that triangulation is key for that maneuvering tool. We used U.S. Geological Survey, Topographic maps. Scales and miles - versus kilometers and squares. Learned that we need to think about declamation=which means that the magnetic North declines about 15 1/2 feet north on every map.So the magnetic north is not the same as the true north. The map colors: Green is vegetation, blue is water and white are valleys. Lines signal the level; the closer they are together the steeper the hill. Elevation lines go up as an app-ex and a drainage ditches are angling from high to low.

Meanwhile western bluebirds, possibly young residents, not migrators, were surrounding us and playing with one another. Most lovely.

The afternoon we learned about global positioning and that there are 12 satellites in orbit. They were put there in the sixties and were used for air-bombings in Vietnam. They are geo-synchronous and move the same as the earth. They communicate with each other and us down here. It is an electronic signal instead of a compass-line. At that point DylanGrace asked "How do people know that the earth moves?" One of the participants simple said: " That is a different seminar!"

Hope to see you November 20 in the North Mesquite Wilderness.

Martina Konietzny

Desolation Wilderness

2009-09-29T03:25:00.000-07:00

I had this incredible chance to get away with a few great women from our kid's school. Unbeknownst to me with this trip I fulfilled one of my many dreams: To hike the "Desolation Wilderness".

Now I just have to bicycle-ride through Cuba and climb Machu Piccuh.

Yom Kippur-My Day Of Atonement

2009-09-29T03:14:00.000-07:00

Once a year I swim through Lake Anza, passed the lines and signs saying "No Swimming, No wading". Over to the big rock and once all around. I leave all regrets, wrong turns, things said and unsaid, harm done - in the middle of the lake.

Sundown the water was rippled and when I got out it took me hours to warm up. I ate dinner with a fleece blanket wrapped around me and two sleeping-bags.

Spirit clean new year can begin. My favorite holiday in the Jewish tradition.

Teddy in the Wilderness

2009-09-12T17:02:00.000-07:00

My daughter and I were getting ready for our adventure trip to the Indian Grinding Rock State Park and of course Teddy needed a fishing and hiking outfit. A local garage sale had small baby clothes available and the smoking father of toddler twins tried to help her pick out the right clothing and asked DylanGrace :"Is your teddy a "he" or is she a "she", while holding up a tiny "Bob the Builder" T-shirt?" DylanGrace answered enlightened: "He is really both. He is a SHAPESHIFTER!"

The grown-ups burst into laughter.

Rumford Versus Clabber Girl

2009-08-28T12:30:00.000-07:00

Here is something I did not know and I find important.

For years I have not used deodorant because of the aluminum content.

Now I have found out while reading my beloved Dr. Northrup that we also need to watch out for it in the baking powder.

All my lovely baking friends with your incredible "Pflaumenkuchen"

please make sure to use Rumford and not Clabber Girl.

The King of Pop

2009-06-25T23:36:00.000-07:00

I too mourn the death of Michael Jackson. My secret I will reveal to you and the world. When I feel like dancing I put my headphones on and "Don't stop 'til you get enough". If he would have stopped with his plastic surgery in 1982 right after "Thriller" or possibly after "Bad" 1986 he would still be alive today. I had one personal interaction with him in 1982.

I heard that he was coming to town. So I walked out of my S.F. apartment on Post Street and headed down to Geary, the Clift Hotel. My F4 Nikon in my hands, 35 mm lens, Ilford HP4 black & white film pushed to 1600 ASA. As I crossed the street a huge black limo landed in front and Michael Jackson got out. I was the only person standing on the sidewalk. Star-struck I lifted my camera to take his picture and that instant he threw his fur sable coat over his whole body and ran into the foyer of the hotel and elevator. I took an image of him with a coat over his head.

Here is a picture of him which I took in the De Young Museum a while back. Enjoy!

Children and Food

2009-06-13T17:08:00.000-07:00

All you mothers and fathers out there have had the occasional run-ins with certain foods their children just won't eat or even try. Our daughter already at age four and a half had figured out that if she did not like a certain food such as i.e. "spinach", she simply, in her Northern California way would say:" No, thank you, I am allergic to spinach and kale."

Yesterday, this little whippersnapper turned eight and a half and food is often still a discussion. She came home a few days ago and told us that she had learned in school that people who have no sense of smell have a decreased sense of taste.

Equipped with this new knowledge and just finishing second grade she eats her food now. Yes-with a wooden clothespin stuck to her nose.

Clothes Pins:

Invented by David M. Smith of Springfield,Vermont in 1853. I encourage all of you to get clothes lines and pins. You can reduce the washing powder by half and use no bleach. I promise having your clothes hang out in the sun is a natural bleacher and refresher let alone the electricity bills will be a delight to savour. Believe me the fish out in the reefs will thank you.

Claymation by DylanGrace and Coralie Border

2009-06-09T20:30:00.002-07:00

Last week we received a phone call by our lovely friend Laurey and were asked if we could watch her daughter Coral on Friday while her and her husband Geefwee attend a fabulous party at Pixar. Well, I rather would have liked to go along to the party yet then remembered I had an evening planned with Andrea to go see "Revenge" at the Landmark Theatre in Berkeley. So my beloved husband spent the evening with two 8 and 9 year olds and they decided to make a movie out of clay figures. When we all got home we were floored what they had achieved. Please see for yourself.

Hallelujah, the new Berkeley Bowl opened this week

2009-06-09T19:56:00.000-07:00

Everyone out there knows that I sing praises when it comes to the Berkeley Bowl but hardly anybody has it in them to actually go there and shop. My very own husband usually would loose it in the vegetable and fruit isles and come home with neither fish nor milk since it would have mend to walk more of those overcrowded aisles.

Well, our property value probably took a seismic jump this last Thursday when the

doors to the new 'Berkeley Bowl West' opened on Ashby and Heinz across the street from the Ecole Bilingue de Berkeley.

We all went to check it out on our bicycles with backpacks on our backs. The store is a hybrid between a Whole Foods and a Cosco and I am in absolute heaven to have it that close.

Now between my garden's bountiful harvest and the new Bowl I have it made in the shade and every day when it comes to shopping and cooking is a day at the beach.

Three Museums in three Days

2009-06-09T18:49:00.000-07:00

Go check out the new Rooftop Gardens at the MOMA. Flush a Mondrian Vanilla, Red Velvet Cake Chocolate Ganache down with a cup of Blue Bottle coffee.

Andy Warhol, currently at De Young Museum, liked the mother of Liza Minelli? I did not know who she was?

Squeak Carnwath at the Oakland Museum go and find out why she paints a rabbit into most of her paintings and which mediums she uses for her collage style work.

The Mothers

2009-06-01T23:11:00.000-07:00

Dear Sarah,

I could have walked for days longer.

Thanks for organizing the day and being the trailblazer you are.

Highlight was the the eastern warbler, the snake and the coffee break at Pt. Reyes Station.

Mother's Day Contest

2009-06-01T22:44:00.000-07:00

I came home after a long day of hiking to a rose-petaled path which led me to a table of flowers, photographs, notes and homemade gifts - and dinner.

Mothers please tell me your favorite Mother's Day remembrance and a complimentary portrait might be heading your way. Write an e-mail to receive contest entry forms.

Bezerkeley Berkeley

2009-05-30T22:11:00.000-07:00

Nothing to do on Sunday head to Stow Lake

2009-05-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

There is nothing more leisurely and more relaxing than a pedal-boot ride around Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park. All the little ducklings, turtles and geese are born and swimming up a storm.

The calming green of the water, the falling waters in the cascades, being with friends. Our daughter; having a ball, pedaling, steering and driving backwards.

Colorado Public Radio CPR 90.1

2009-05-27T18:48:00.000-07:00

My ex-brother-in-law, Joseph Pope, was interviewed on NPR today in regards to punk music http://www.rockymountainlow.com/ from in and around Boulder, Colorado.

His new compilation CD, of early Punk Rock 'Rocky Mountain Low', features crazy bands like 'Guys', an all female band from Denver; as well as 'Profalactics', 'Instants' and the 'Healers' {http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/cxl/music/jello: Me and some friends screwed around in my

parents' living room when no one was home and called ourselves the

Healers.Eric Reed also known as Jello Biafra }

Jon Risk, the 'chest', on the cover wearing a T-Shirt by the "Allman Brothers Band", called tonight and via our telephones, him and I listened to the interview by his brother together. Mega-fun. Later that night Jon told me the most amazing story.

During touring with 'Angst' formerly 'The Instants', Mr.Risk had run into B.B. King. He had a chat with him. B.B. King was sad about the fact that his music kept him away from his family and children. He did not enjoy that very much.

One day in the mid 80's I was photographing a B.B. King concert at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. He, Jon Risk, received a personal phone-call from B.B. King in our apartment on Post Street. (This is prior cell-phone days). When Jon answered the phone, B.B. King asked him if he could give Martina a message. The message from King was, that he is sorry he could not meet Martina for dinner since he run into his friend Van Morrison and he had to spend the evening with him.

We both were floored, Jon, because B.B. King made "touring the road" look so bleak while asking his own wife out for dinner, and I was floored because I had no recollection of this incident.

I know myself: I probably did not take the dinner invitation by the great B.B. King seriously anyways. History made.

The Danger in Durable Plastics

2009-05-24T23:20:00.000-07:00

Most of us who camp and exercise own these hard plastic-bottles we store our water in. Well, can you believe it, they have been recalled. I owned three of them for years and the Nalgene company actually gives you your money back. All you need to do is get them down to the return counter of REI and they will refund it to your REI account or put it straight onto your credit card. Well, I walked out of there with over

$ 27.00.

Unfortunately I do not know the health damage I walked away with.

Currently Cleaned Your Coils?

2009-05-24T22:50:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, not the greatest fun. However, if you want to be part of saving the planet you got to clean your coils in your refrigerator.

Here is my proof and I tell you,

it knocked a mere $ 15 of my bill monthly. So get down, get dirt and dust away.

Back On Line

2009-05-23T21:22:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody, we are back on line. However I have to shoot a wedding tomorrow so I'll talk to you next week. Have a safe Memorial Day. Love Martina

Sunol Wilderness-Wilderness for the Wild

2009-05-14T22:08:00.000-07:00

Every year our daughter's school goes camping and hiking in the Sunol Wilderness.

It is the most organized and stress-free camping one can ever imagine. An event that shall never be missed.

The campground features a creek and fabulous campsites. No electricity and no water The evenings are filled with song and dance

around the campfire as well skits and shows.

In the early morning you will awake to the scented air of fresh brewed coffee.

Frothy lattes, filtered coffee and french press coffee, just to name a few.

Eliana & Stacy's Birthday May 9th, 2009

2009-05-09T20:36:00.000-07:00

What a party this was. Annually a great music smash for adult and children alike.

The big bouncy dragon was a hoot. See how all the different sets of legs disappeared in the fiery dragon's throat.

We had a ball.

My Clematis in Full Purple Bloom

2009-04-30T21:59:00.000-07:00

Bodhisattva- Our Holiness the Dalai Lama/ Part Two

2009-04-28T13:19:00.000-07:00

Well, I never got to find out if I could hear the Holiness from my position in front of the will-call area.

While being surrounded with hundreds of people who did not have a ticket, I resigned for a moment and I was not thinking. I had made friends with the security people and the ticket manager - then it happened.

Suddenly a ticket appeared in front of my face and a voice behind it asked: "Anyone who is here by themselves?" I simply answered:" "Me", and I was handed a $ 50.00 ticket for the 6th row on the 13th seats, with the words: "Enjoy".

Bodhisattva- Our Holiness the Dalai Lama/ Part One

2009-04-26T20:27:00.000-07:00

Riding my bike up Dwight last Saturday; a bit late for my taste, 1:50 PM.

I had wanted to volunteer in my daughter's German Saturday school to do my good deed for the day. That school is the perfect place for practicing random acts of kindness; which neither will be seen nor appreciated yet while there more will be put upon you.

When you are done with them they are done with you. They simply go to the next person.

That school with all guarantee, you will not be seen and no thanks will be given. An ideal place to let your inner Dharma roam and have him or her plant continuous inner glow inside your eyes and plant a permanent smile onto your lips.

Now I was finally where I wanted to be all day close to all the" lamas" who were lining up to see the Dalai Lama. I build up courage to ask everybody in line if they had an extra ticket. Some let me know that it took them a whole day to stand in line to buy a ticket months ago.

The event was sold out. Completely! The convoy of the Holiness raced by - in 90 miles an hour.

Dalai Lama-his holiness spoke at the Greek Theatre:

"The young ones are the source of hope. Implement realistic approach to gain fuller knowledge of reality. Appearance in our mind is the same perception causes confusion. Mr. Bush is a good human being that I love. He is not a good leader and not a good politician. I have some reservations. He has a lack of fuller knowledge, of reality. America is the champion of Democracy. Reality is not one event. It is many factors. In order to know the reality we need to look more holistically."

Walking up to will-call trying to get a ticket which was not picked up yet. Time 2:30 pm. The security was strict. You could not bring in cameras, water-bottles and back-packs. People were hiding their cameras and stainless steal water bottles in the bushes. I left my leather bag-pack on my bicycle with everything in it. My camera however I hid in my sunhat. It had to come with me. I was standing behind the barricades wishing for the talk to start. I would soon find out if I could hear him from my position.

Daughter DylanGrace the Gracious

2009-04-26T17:39:00.000-07:00

A child needs to taste the outdoors early to love it for a life time.

Spring- Elixir of Renewal

2009-04-26T17:23:00.001-07:00

Almost saw Green Way instead of Leonard Cohen

2009-04-26T14:41:00.000-07:00

Dear Followers,

I know everyone is dying to find out how on earth I could be purchasing a ticket for Green Way; if needing a ticket for Leonard Cohen? Well, on April 14, I took my car to downtown Oakland. I parked what seemed out of range for the Paramount Theatre; and in fact from where I was; I had lost all my bearings. So I wondered toward crowds of people cuing around a luxury theatre.

I had my sign "Need free ticket" in my hand (people chuckled as they read it). After a few minutes a young man told me that his girlfriend had not shown. He would be glad to sell hers to me for $ 20. We waited in line chatting and laughing.

At one point I said somewhat out loud; how funny it was that the theatre was already announcing next weeks shows and that there was no mentioning of the Paramount and Leonard Cohen.

"No", he said, "we are not going to see Leonard Cohen. We are going to see Green Way. This was the Fox Theatre not the Paramount and Green Way was playing at the Fox. The Paramount with Leonard Cohen is a couple of blocks up". I was dumbfounded.

Later I found out Green Way never plays in such intimate theaters as the Fox. I could have gone to see Leonard Cohen the next day.

What struck me the most is how a city, dilapidated with the highest crime in the U.S., could have two huge sold out shows in two brilliantly refurbished theaters looking like twins simultaneously as far as the eye could see with all caucasian people!

Sometimes life is just unbelievable.

Easter Sunday Films and Photos

2009-04-16T15:25:00.001-07:00

Traumhafte Osterfeier

2009-04-16T14:33:00.000-07:00

Picnic in the meadow, under trees, overlooking a lake, cumulus clouds in the sky passing by, like a screen-saver.

How relaxing!

Good-old world games. Reminiscing my own childhood. Dads running with their sons and daughters through the grass, throwing frisbees and balls. Sack Races, Boccia and Tug of Peace followed by the old-fashioned Easter Egg Hunt.

Obviously we had amazing food which came generously provided by all.

Accolades to Andrea & Ezra who again showed their extraordinary community organizing skills at this event.

Picnic And No Table

2009-04-12T23:03:00.000-07:00

For a moment we did not know where to go with our picnic.

The park looked like a German outdoor public swimming pool in the summer.

The weather, the holiday- everybody yearned for the great outdoors.

The Wild Daffodil Fields up North and more

2009-04-12T22:48:00.000-07:00

Blessed by the Rabbit-Happy Passover and Easter

2009-04-12T00:57:00.000-07:00

More And More On The Eastern Garbage Patch

2009-04-11T23:42:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know I can not stop.

Plastic is not "biodegradable" it is "photodegradable". When exposed to sunlight, plastic for example, becomes brittle and breaks into miniscule pieces.

90% of all debris are micro-plastics. Sea-animals eat the micro-plastic. We eat the fish which ate our plastic. There is more plastic than plankton in our open waters.

There is no cure, no remedy, no solution. The only thing you and I can do is stop adding.

Maybe this family who lives behind this fence are the ultimate environmentalists. They hold on to everything.

More on the Eastern Garbage Patch

2009-04-11T23:25:00.000-07:00

I can not stop thinking about the patches of garbage in our oceans. On Science Friday they were discussing it yesterday as I mentioned before. It was said that the size of all patches in the world combined are as large as the United States.

I can not fathom it; makes me want to hold on to every bottle-cap every plastic wrapper, every shampoo bottle. We need to really start refilling things again and again. We need more places like Rainbow Groceries.

Yes, Berkeley Bowl, you will pale in comparison.

Wildlife Flora and Fauna Undisturbed...

2009-04-11T20:57:00.000-07:00

It is hard for me to wrap my mind around " The Great Pacific Garbage Patch" or the "Eastern Garbage Patch".

On one of my Atlantic flights I sat next to a Marine Biologist whom I asked if truth beholds that there is really that much plastic and trash in our oceans stretching from the South Pole to the Bering Street. He nodded his head, he even went to dive in it. Just imagine one of them is floating close to Hawaii. The patch is twice the size of Texas. One researcher on Science Friday yesterday even claims that it is three times the size of Texas.

Mein Papa schon acht Monate bei dem lieben Gott

2009-04-11T20:40:00.000-07:00

Of Youth Hostels, Contaminated Beaches and Unspoiled Childhoods

2009-04-11T20:20:00.000-07:00

After a good strong "cup of joe" we headed out to investigate the wild.

It is hard to believe to find contaminated beaches already on our National Seashore. In one sense it made it easier for two German Moms to contain our off-spring away from the shore and strangely enough both daughters complied. Sleeping with 10 women in one room was an experience even the deepest meditation couldn't have missed.

Try it your next trip and you will be humbled into great

appreciation for what you have - and not what you want.

My Blog- Closed for Spring Break

2009-04-08T18:22:00.000-07:00

Rushing home to celebrate Teddy's Fourth Month Birthday

2009-03-30T00:07:00.001-07:00

Yes, the update on Teddy.

I know, you guys have been dying to find out.

Yesterday, DylanGrace decided that today would be Teddy's fourth month birthday.

Papa had to stay home from our wild drive around the Bay to bake Teddy's cake.

Oh, I just want to mention that today our daughter met three authors. The first of the day was Mr. Jack Kornfield, followed by Ms Marie Mannschatz at Spirit Rock and later Mr. Lemony Snicket.

Lemony Snicket Narrates the Composer is Dead at Davies Symphony Hall

2009-03-29T23:35:00.000-07:00

Our gracious friends Kit and Charlie invited DylanGrace to see the concert. Afterward we had lot's of delicious cake at "Citizen Cake".

Here are some shoes and handbags which walked in after us.

San Francisco, MY CITY, is a breath of fresh air in fashion, attitude and culture.

Hiking - Our Religion

2009-03-29T23:18:00.001-07:00

CHATTER

2009-03-26T12:13:00.000-07:00

Dream of a Daughter

2009-03-26T11:41:00.000-07:00

My daughter dreamed that our backyard was a beautiful blue crystal pool. Dolphins were leaping and frolicking all over the soft surface of the warm water. Every time she jumped into the water for a few moments she would come out more beautiful.

Next to the pool her friend Oliver wrapped in flower garlands held a basket overflowing with fresh petals. He was passing out leaves and blossoms. Every single one would be a wish which would come true.

MY DREAM-FIRESIDE CHAT with PRESIDENT OBAMA

2009-03-25T18:14:00.000-07:00

Last night I dreamed I was in the White House. Mr. Obama had invited me to the Oval Office to help him "breathe" and calm his nerves through visual meditation.

When I arrived, I congenially reminded him being a President is only a job. However, we appreciate his taking this country, his land, to heart. We all love him for it. Just please, Mr. President do not start aging as fast as your predecessors!

He revealed, being troubled, that he was unable to tell the whole truth. I assured him that it was okay. Also, he continued, "I am worried about Larry."

"What about him? I added. Are you second guessing your thoughts and the Chinese proverb from 400 BC "Keep you friends close, and your enemies closer?" Top economic advisor's shouldn't rake in the compensations from troubled Wall Street firms we just paid off, as he does, but we got to give him a chance."

"He too supported and signed that bill to deregulate derivatives."

I whispered, "Take a breath, let it all out, It's not your fault."

" Those who read the good literature and papers, "I said," are well aware that your lips need to remain sealed about some of these issues; that is, I know that you knew there were bonuses incorporated into the A.I.G.'s bail-out. No?"

He sighed.

I too got a bit short of breath.

Mr. Obama continued his thought. "When I think about the bankers who already made a ton of money...."

"So?" I said and tried to conceal my own outrage. "Let it go."

"Yes," he answered, exasperated. "Once we buy up the 'toxic assets', the same people who already made millions will make more millions."

My heart was skipping a beat or two. I assured him that we will be okay.

"Phil Graham," he uttered, "wrecked the economy. He buried the deregulation of derivatives into an eleven-thousand-page bill, for President Clinton to sign a few days before Christmas 1999.

While all of us were flustered and angry about Bush winning and Al Gore losing. . . No one except Senator Byron L. Dorgan of North Dakota saw it coming."

I tried to soften the blows.

"Please, Mr. President it is not your fault."

"Of course no one read the whole thing," he continued calmly, "or realized it's application. They only saw dollar signs."

I told him to keep on breathing. "We will get to the bottom of this," I assured him.

"Mr. President," I said softly, "call Professor Frank Partnoy over at the University of San Diego. He is a gifted writer you can trust. He worked on Wall Street in 1995. He will explain everything to you in laymen's terms.

In his book 'F.I.A.S.C.O.', he explains how 'derivatives -credit- default-swaps' led to the current financial crisis. They might help you understand, so you can sleep in peace."

Just when I wanted to say good-bye, my eight-year-old daughter awoke from a dream and woke me from mine. Her dream I will tell you next...

Barbie and Martina

2009-03-24T13:47:00.000-07:00

I am happy to let everybody know that after years of trying I finally found out that Barbie and I have at least one thing in common.

We both turned Fifty this year.

Waiting for a Client at a Cafe in San Anselmo

2009-03-22T21:48:00.001-07:00

Norouz-Iranian New Year and Free Roxana Saberi

2009-03-22T21:24:00.000-07:00

Please free the Journalist Roxana Saberi NPR Correspondent, who is an American-Iranian Journalist living in the States. She went for a story to Iran and was detained in Teheran. Last her parents heard from her was one minute on the phone on March 9, 2009. She did not sound well.

We all hope that todays Norouz, the Iranian New Year and the first day of spring in the Iranian calendar will mean her and other journalists freedom.

I will light one candle for all of them.

My family and I are so lucky having different cultures amongst our friends. Here we are eating and dancing away at Mitra and Massouds house.

Thank you for inviting us to your beautiful home.

City of Oz and a Double Rainbow

2009-03-22T21:04:00.000-07:00

Dear Followers,

for all of you who are living in distant lands.

Yes, I mean you Regine, JC, Elkan and Sigi

have a look at this photo I took this

Sunday morning.

I hiked with Caroline,

Clair, and Jake the dog.

Do you see the city of San Francisco

laying like OZ

in the background?

Well, I guess it is hard to see!

The Double Rainbow was also impossible to photograph.

Lisa & Steven Tilden Park Wedding

2009-03-21T20:49:00.000-07:00

Please view Lisa and Steven's

lovely comments under my photos

"Beauty of Decay and the Time to Idle". Sorry for that inconvenience.

I am not fluent yet in the "Blogger Language".

Leighsa, thank you for your amazing flowers. Please visit her company at www.branchoutflowers.com.

Beauty of Decay and the Time to Idle

2009-03-17T21:27:00.001-07:00

Awakened One

2009-03-17T19:50:00.000-07:00

I sat with Ms Marie Mannschatz, in my studio.

She is calm. Calm in heart. Calm in mind.

We worked in Marin County and created a fresh portrait for her upcoming book.

She teaches in the moment with Jack Kornfield a silent meditation course at Spirit Rock. A couple of mondays ago she invited me to come to listen to one of his lectures.

Candy for the chattering mind.

Please visit her on her website and read her books. She is awesome. www.mariemannschatz.de.

Shrewdness-Survival of Artists

2009-03-15T14:31:00.000-07:00

I have used the extra time as a gift from the Gods.

I even unpacked my Nikon for my last portrait job or was it the one before last? I have gone thus far to shoot in public from the hip, clandestinely, sometimes while people are rushing by me, Robert Frank style.

Seen the light of Henri Cartier-Bresson, wild and crazy with only an instant of pre-composition. All fired by the comments of Ms Anne Tucker curator of the Houston Museum of Fine Arts:" It will be interesting to see whether in an era when documentary photography is no longer embraced by the art world, the current hard times will prompt artist-photographers to document human suffering, endurance."

It is funny that I, before reading this I had these urges to walk to Sacramento and photograph in the trenches of tent city, just as I did back in the early 80's when times were rough. In fact I am walking more, touch the street-pavement, hear people on the street, laughing, cursing. Taking public transportation, eves-dropping deep into the pulse of society. Watching young angels reading Pulitzer Prize winner, Angel of Repose by Wallace Stegner-all visual delights.

In all her Glory

2009-03-14T19:54:00.000-07:00

Thank you Susie for putting on the celebration of a century.

Your scrumptious homemade food was savored by all.

Your house was a glow.

A magical home for a lovely family.

C.D.Wright & Chopin

2009-03-10T19:40:00.000-07:00

"Green hill of crystals",

the physical splendor of the great outdoors.

If I had an I-pod I would climb the hills listening to the love poems of Ms Wright uphill.

The piano preludes of Chopin downhill- skipping the whole way.

Meanwhile I meander in solitude and silence.

Where do you surrender when times are critical?

A TEDDY NAMED TEDDY

2009-03-06T16:50:00.000-08:00

Have you ever known an over scheduled, pressured child who when her birthday comes wants to turn a year younger than she actually will.

A child that plays with her Teddy yet would never admit it to any of her friends.

A Teddy who is alive (even though right now he is ill with the measles).

A Teddy who goes for walks in a BabyBjorn and a baby carriage. A Teddy that wears home knitted outfits.

A Teddy who wears a bib while he eats. A Teddy who gets burped and can swing in the baby swings at the playground. A Teddy who at night gets bedded in the childs' bed under a mosquito netting.

A Teddy who gets a book read, a song sung and the harp played and before the child leaves his bedside, the ladybug night- light will be turned on.

Mother of child just sits and cries tears of joy and exhaustion.

OH, DISGRACE

2009-03-04T09:58:00.000-08:00

Dear Person who places trash where it does not belong:

Does trash really fall into the forest if know one sees you?

Does it really come free to the dumper?

Does it still bother the dumper upon dumping?

Do you know that raindrops fall on a soda can, seep the color chemicals into the groundwater table?

My dear dumper eventually you too will drink that water!

Daughter & Mom in the Woods

2009-03-04T09:29:00.000-08:00

Have you gone to the woods with your child lately?

Has your child expressed the wish to stay under the trees forever?

There to commune with wilderness day and night?

Has she shown you how to find her way back through thick growth?

Can she call a "Fort" her own?

Prestine Wilderness

2009-03-04T09:16:00.000-08:00

The downpour for days now has been filling the trickling creeks and added tributaries and waterfalls to the already oh, so gorgeous deep California woods.

Do you see the salmon spawn?

Dear San Francisco Chronicle,

2009-03-02T12:45:00.000-08:00

I have had these two gnomes ( German "Gartenzwerge") for a few years now. They sat on my Aunt's balcony for the past 30 years in Duesseldorf, Germany. They stood protected from snow, rain, hail and wind; hence their beautiful color. Originally I had charmed my Aunt into letting them go into my possession so she too could have something of her's in this great country of ours. My Dad then wrapped them up very carefully and I was able to take them with me on one of my many Lufthansa Transatlantic flights. I was worried about them and still are.

From a "gnome aficionado" point of view I have never seen more beautiful crafted gnomes. Please judge for yourselves.

Very Warmly,

Martina Konietzny

DAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY

2009-02-26T15:07:00.000-08:00

First day of lent I was sitting in the presents of an "enlightened being" who came into to the studio to look at my work. We had a fantastic rapport with one another and I am so delighted that at the end of the meeting, she actually agreed for me to take her portrait. We will spent a day together in Marin early next month. She is a famous author from Germany and I am excited to start reading her books next.

After she left I was able to clean my refrigerator with joy and calm while a pear-tart with marzipan and cardamom was baking in the oven for my family. So much for the first day of lent.

ANTONY AT THE MASONIC

2009-02-25T12:42:00.000-08:00

Masonic Auditorium was packed last night with aging "grunchers", punks with pink stiff haired mohawks on I-phones, grandma's and tattoos, young hipster Aphrodite's', goddess of love, beauty and sexual rapture coupled with multiple complex personalities. The straight guy or girl was completely underrepresented. We all rocked internally listening to "Cripple and the Starfish", "Shake that Dog" "River of Sorrow" etc.

2009-02-25T11:11:00.000-08:00

ANGELA OF REMEDY

Thank you Angela www.remedysalon.com for yet another great haircut.

Will you believe that I was able to get a complimentary ticket last night to see Antony and the Johnsons and a backstage pass. The concert was ethereal with haunting beauty. An ecclectic mix of pop and classical. The clarinet player worked himself into my bone-marrow and Antony will haunt me forever. A must see in concert.

2009-02-23T23:21:00.001-08:00

The French Hotel

While my daughter had her piano lesson with Pia, I enjoyed my book "Three Among Wolves" and a latte at the French Hotel. Here I met these two lively Israelis, Natalie and Liora. Please send your e-mails if you read this. I had another idea how to solve the Palestinian and Israeli conflict. By the way French Hotel you need to invest in some light-bulbs.

2009-02-23T19:43:00.001-08:00

Today Lisa & John finally received all their framed "Works of Art". Their family appears to me one to look up to. Three gorgeous well-behaved children in a Waldorf inspired home environment.

They were able to win (purchase) my portrait session through the Silent Auction (The Salon) of the East Bay Waldorf School.

Here a view into my studio with their photos placed on the mantel, ready for personal delivery.

I thank you Lisa and John for your order of my work and the many memories they will embody throughout time.

2009-02-22T21:41:00.000-08:00

ST.COLUMBA CHURCH....my favorite church in the whole wide world. Only five minutes away by foot from my house. I have in my latter years proclaimed that I am a church-going atheist always battling between Dawkins and the Divine.

This church and it's parishioner's are of a very special nature. Actively involved in " i.e. closing the "School of the Americas", candlelight vigils for our Victims of Violence and the out reach and help for our challenges with prostitution. We are the church who gives the violence in Oakland a name and a face.

We place white crosses for everyone who lost their lives through homicide. In 2008 by this date today we already had 23 crosses. As you see in my photo from today there are six crosses. Our community mourns everyone of them. Hopefully the drop in numbers will be steadfast throughout the year.

2009-02-21T10:47:00.000-08:00

OWL HILL COURT

Surprise night spent in a friends' brand-new house.

Hickory wood floors.

Rooms, expanding into the night-skies. Sauna, Gobi desert hot.

Meditating into the wee-hours.

Dreamless slumber.

Waking to the sound of finches, morning doves and a cacophony of frogs.

Silently stepping into the black-blue dawn.

Thank you Susie and Bill

2009-02-20T17:37:00.000-08:00

Dear Baerbel,

here from Martina Konietzny Photography we want to express our deepest sympathy for your loss. Amandus was "The Rock of The Family" when he passed on January 22, 09. We are all so proud of his courage. He travelled twice to Germany to see his whole family and celebrated his 72nd birthday just recently with all of you.

We wish you for the 3rd of April well when you will celebrate your 44th wedding anniversary in spirit. His gardening expertise was so inspiring to me that now my daughter and I have a small garden too. One day I will visit Seebuell again and stay in your family run Hotel Deichgraf in Stedesand. I am happy that you went to see the Emil Nolde Museum, a trip I made many years ago.

Thank you for hiring me to take your family portrait. I wish I would have one like yours of my family before my father passed last September.

2009-02-20T17:12:00.000-08:00

Meet West Coast Printing Art ...

today I had to bring some work of a client to Ellison & Nancy of West Coast Printing Art.

You can find them, if you can find them, in the gorgeous hills of Piedmont, CA. Their house is a mansion covered with collectors cars (son Anthony is responsible), old statues, cypress trees and a U-shaped drive way.

They do all the printing for "Das Buch" which is published by U.G.A.S.

They have lived there for 40 years. Give Nancy a call 510 465-3699. By chance I knew them from the Professional Photographers of the Greater Bay Area for their whimsical portrait work.

2009-02-19T18:16:00.001-08:00

Canyon's second best kept secret...

If you ever need a passport or want to do your holiday mailings fast, go visit Elena Tyrell and Carla Williams at the Canyon post office. Here they never run out of your favorite stamps and have more designs to choose from than any other post-office I ever visited. That includes the one up north inside the "Avenue of the Giants" by Benbow, California.

You will find Elena, Carla and their sugary treats in the middle of a Redwood forrest between Montclair and Moraga. Far away so close to the hustle and bustle of Oakland and surroundings.

It is a fantastic biker's route if you feel so inclined.

The post office was built along with a convenient store by loggers in 1922 and originally was called Sequoia. The biggest tragedy happened in 1969 when Shell employees were on strike and dynamited a pipeline. The oil ran down the creek and killed all fish, including spawning salmon for the next two years. It ignited the fire in the wood stove and burnt everything down to the ground. A Shell employee passed later with severe burns while on the pay-phone to his superiors. Several other people were badly hurt.

Shell later put up a $ 1000 reward to find the person responsible for the blast. The reward has yet to be redeemed.

2009-02-18T21:20:00.000-08:00

Dear Laurey,

thank you for a wonderful birthday party.

The hats were to die for.

Great to see you: Bena, Vickie, Karen, Karima and Andrea

Warmly, Martina

2009-02-18T20:08:00.000-08:00

February 13, 2009

Dear Mr. Stewart, Mr Plouffe and The Honorable President Barack Obama,

please let me know if there is a better address to send my ideas and dreams for our great country.

I am originally from Germany yet now I am a proud American as well as German. I decided to become an American Citizen when Mr. Obama started running for the Presidency. No other election since 1977 has given me this jolt.

So here are the important seeds I would like to sow into our fresh earth.

1) WATER: Every household shall be required to capture our most precious resource, WATER.

2) GRAY WATER SYSTEMS: Every household should have its own so we can at least flush our toilets with rainwater. The government can supply kits of re-used materials.

3) SOLAR COLLE CTORS: Hopefully they will go soon back onto the White House and be distributed to all households with installation.

4) COMPOSTING HUMAN WASTE: We shall navigate toward COMPOSTING OUR WASTE. There is no good reason anymore to mix our waste with our precious water source.

5) WATER-PIPELINES:We shall build pipelines which could carry millions of gallons of water from our states which suffer floods to the once suffering draughts.

6) Every BRACKEN PIECE OF LAND shall become a Community Organic Garden, while the owners of that piece of land is waiting for higher returns.

7) Schools shall all have their own gardens. Most older schools have kitchens they shall be used which could employ cooks and sous-chefs.

8) Our CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS shall be self-sufficient again. Prisoners shall cook, clean and plant gardens. Meaningful activity to off-set aggression and depression.

9) Our MILITARY shall be self-reliant. No more outsiders providing anything. Off-set boredom.

10) All Governmental Institutions shall use porcelain versus Styrofoam. Also AMTRAk shall go back to that as well as the chef they used to employ. We need to start thinking to create less waste.

11) All electronic stores i.E. Computer, cellphones need to take the old appliances back as well as establish repair-shops for large and small appliances. If you create you need to dispose, simple.

We also need Michael Pollan www.michaelpollan.com/omnivore in our new government. He is a "think-tank" of human-being and a U.C, Berkeley professor. He needs to re-do our "Farm-Bill", it will roll around again in five years. He personally encouraged me a few years ago to plant a garden. I had been for 8 years already on the waiting-list for the Emeryville Community Garden. I received a garden just in time for the Inauguration Day and I planted my first seeds as Mr and Mrs. Obama walked down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Myself and lots of friends worked very hard to get Mr. Obama elected we would be delighted if he gets to hear these ideas.

Very truly yours,

Martina Konietzny

P.S. Also we could put lots of people to work by getting all our telephone-lines underground.

2009-02-18T19:57:00.000-08:00

Blossoms

....warm thought,

blossoms,

spring trees

send desired

renewal and

rejuvenation.

Martina

Letter to the White House

2009-02-18T18:32:00.000-08:00

2009-02-18T11:35:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

A White House Luncheon recently mentioned my "Ideas for the Country". Some of you have received that post 2/13/2009. I apologize for sending everything in a "cc" versus a "bcc". I had my web master help me to get my "bcc" back on line.

Sincerely,

Martina Konietzny

2009-02-18T10:14:00.000-08:00

Welcome to be part of my "New Life" which is being created.

I love you all

Martina

This image of Kristina and Jim was created at the Kohl Mansion with my Rolliflex in 1997. If I look at it know and think back about the evolvement of technology I am in absolute AWE.