Patrick McShane (age 9)

b. March 15, 1946, d. November 15, 2011

i drive 20 miles, each way, between berkeley and mill valley every day. this is a particularly showy night on I-80 — click on the photo for some more typical views of my commute.

though the costs are high (in time as well as money and environmental impact), i have come to love my drive across the richmond bridge. in the mornings, it’s usually foggy in berkeley, but i drive a little ways north to the bridge and the sun is out, sparkling on the water, and the city is wrapped in fog, the marin headlands poking out of the clouds, and there’s a spot where i can see the golden gate, bay and richmond bridges all at the same time. on the way home, i can watch the fog rolling back in in solid banks, running under the golden gate bridge, across the bay, and piling up against the berkeley hills. it’s never the same twice.

when i lived in chicago, i cherished my morning runs along lake michigan. there are endless combinations of sun and clouds, wind and water — so that the lake would never be the same twice and if i didn’t get up for my morning run, i’d never know what the lake looked like that day.

i miss that morning check-in with lake michigan still. but i discovered that my drive over the richmond bridge in some way fills that same spot. i never know if the city will be sharply visible, or wrapped in fog, if the water will be glassy and grey, or stormy and green with white caps, or the same blue as the sky with sun sparkling on it. this is small compensation for all the sunrises over lake michigan that i’m missing, but i’ll take it.

jack london square, oakland

this one was easy. ben and i went camping with friends Dan and Emily (and new friends Dani and Becky!) we went for a hike in the last hour before sunset and the light was that amazing gold color, and everything is so green from the early winter rains. this is my favorite color: the color of yellow sunlight shining through green leaves.

pictured: 3 pairs of Asics GT-2×00 running sneakers, women’s size 9. not pictured: 3 more pairs i have at home. each pair can take about 400 miles before it needs to be retired to “backup sneaker” status. this picture represents about 1200 miles, or a year and a half in my running life.

Spot Coffee was one of my favorite things from the year I spent in Buffalo. That was 10 years ago. I wonder if it has weathered the recession?Mug pictured here with the ginger chocolate cookies: that Carrie and I made last weekend.

the race bibs are the inspirational background for this photo, but the intended focus is the scrap of paper in the center that says “Good Luck! 26.2” it’s an anonymous note that someone left under the windshield wiper on my car the night before my first marathon. to this day i have no idea if someone i know walked by and recognized my car, or just the fact that i was parked on a city street not far from the race expo caused a stranger to assume i was running the marathon. but it warmed my heart. random acts of kindness? pretty inspiring.

fall foliage, along with dunkin’ donuts coffee, is one of the key elements missing from bay area living. i had to go to kentucky (last weekend) for this shot of fall foliage. i took this looking down from the lodge balcony, so the grey-blue background is not sky, but sky reflected in the lake.

i make Art-with-a-capital-A for a living all day, but this i chose this photo because it’s 180 degrees from what i do. i like it because Art is such an all-encompassing term. i have composed my entire life around the plays that i make. this person risks his physical safety to tag a building from the railroad tracks in the middle of the night. i’d say both are gutsy moves.