I know very well and I love dearly two specific places on this planet:
a small village in the French Alps, Samoëns, and a big international City by the Pacific Ocean, San Francisco.
I take pictures, lots of pictures, because that is my way to celebrate life and to communicate with my neighbor...
I looked at some of my most recent photos and saw an interesting theme emerging,
a sort of "pairing" of various subjects in these two locations.

     

Bridges and Stairs: man-made solutions for the journey.
The Wooden bridge on the river "le Giffre" between l'Etelley and Samoens. Steps in the hills of the Sunset district, going down toward the Pacific Ocean, around 15th Ave. & Moraga.

     

The crucial importance of Fuel!
A very clean and lovely wood pile in the mountains and a bunch of sticky buns at Costco.... Both will keep you warm and contented.

     

Water, water and more water.
A field of snow in the Alps, last winter. The waves of the Pacific at Ocean Beach, last week.

     

Go West, young man!
You get the whole history of travel and progress right there in these two pictures... Well, I'm being facetious. But the truth is that there is something so simple and natural in the cart on the left that you can't automatically say that "material progress is better"... Plus I'm not being fair because I'm not comparing apples to apples here, the photo on the left is a tool (and worked very well, thank you very much) and the other one on the right is a show-off toy, a sort of personal trophy (and a lot of fun)...

     

Wood: the work of human hands and the work of nature.
This little road shelter is between Samoens and Sixt and the walls and beams are typical of the local carpentry style. Twisted tree trunks by Stow Lake, in the Golden Gate Park.

     

The soothing impact of arched doors and windows in spring time.
A side door in the Church of Samoens and the Bus station at Forrest Hill.

     

Walls and climbing plants.
I was attracted by the growth of the plant "against" the wall, how it "clothed" it in some ways, how it transformed a simple wall and changed it - just like the right accessory can change the way we look, just like a smile can make a world of difference for the mood of the day...