Should old acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind
Should old acquaintance be forgot
And days of auld lang syne


HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE 

"Where's the egg nog?"

 "The morning after the egg nog."

Christmas Wings in Arroyo Grande


Hark the herald angels sing 
The prime space in the truck goes to camera equipment. In the spaces between goes sox, underwear and I think, my toothbrush. 

 Silent night, holy night, all is calm
On down the Gravenstein Hwy. to 101 and South. An hour later it's over the Richmond Bridge dropping me into the traffic rush of the East Bay for the next two hours.  Soon the road opens up into the bread basket farmland.  Two hours later out onto the beach at Arroyo Grande for Christmas with friends and a trial run with my holiday new lens.

We wish you a Merry Christmas
and a happy New Year
A Christmas day 4 wheel drive along the beach and than North to the wet lands.
It was a most merry Christmas.

        

CHRISTMAS ON LAKE RALPHINE

          It was too nice of a day not to play hooky from the daily chores around my little ranch. Photography equipment in the pickup truck off I went without a backward glance and no where in particular for a destination.  Highway 12 into the foothills and found myself at Lake Ralphine.

          Bundled into a sweater, it was not cold enough for a winter coat today although there was still the bite of winter in the air.  Today I had the lake to myself.

The Bodega Headlands

Two of these photos had been shown at the end of a previous posting. Along with the landscape, I felt they deserved their own place.

     I had read the Headlands were thee place to find migratory birds on the Pacific Flyway. As it is only about an hour from my little ranch I loaded up the truck with camera equipment and set off on an adventure. I have often photographed in the southern end of Bodega Bay but had not been out to the Headlands.  I pulled the Ford into the  car park, I was not greeted by a single bird.  I set up and photographed the landscape, above, and sat down to wait for the birds to show up, perhaps they were on their lunch break. An hour later still no birds, zero, zip, nada.  I sat on a log, Nikon over my shoulder, to enjoy the sun and a wonderful view.  I saw something out of the corner of my eye, it was a Brewers Blackbird stopped to catch his breath, with wings slightly extended to cool off.  He sat so close to me I could have reached out and touched him.  
     He looked at me and in typical bird non-verbal communication said, "Hay, I'm a bird take my picture." I brought up my Nikon and snapped several of his likeness. "Thanks" I said and off he went to join his friends.  He was the only bird I saw that day at the Bodega Headlands.

     On my drive back along the bay I noticed a flock of shore birds out on a tidal flat. What really caught my eye was from my point of view the flat resembled the Nike Swoosh, the athletic shoes iconic logo. I saw a gull approaching and grabbed the Nikon, leaned on a tree to steady the camera because I was at fully extended telephoto and shot a short burst of five photos. I chose the shot you see with the gull setting down at the apex of the swoosh. 

     Good bird shots are always a matter of happy circumstance, just being there camera ready.

A day at the Petaluma Wet Lands

Egret launches into flight

feathers in the sun

Herring Gull

Ring bill Gull

Black Necked Stilt  &  Avocet in winter plumage

Yellow Legs

   

Reflections

Greeb

Coot

Praying Mantis

Lake Ralphine, Santa Rosa

"Splish splash I was taking a bath along about Saturday night........."

snowy egret

Mallard Hen

A gaggle of geese on the lake

Portrait of a Goose

Lake Ralphine on a quiet afternoon

Santa Barbara

As the Crow flies

An afternoon of photography with a friend.

Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens, Santa Barbara.

The Monarch

Herring Gull

Birds of a Feather

Great white Egret

From the Petaluma Wet lands

Canadian Geese

Snowy Egret

Mute Swan

Turkey Vulture Descending 

Avocet Mid November

Along the trail

The Joe Rodota trail for horses, bicycles and hikers begins in the East at Santa Rosa runs West through Sebastopol and on to Forestville.  

These pix were photographed on todays walk. I carry my camera at the ready, there is always a picture to be taken.

 

Photographed: September 8, 2011

Taking a Break

Hi, this is me, 

I'm right outside of Thomas' studio window soaking up the afternoon sun while taking a break from from my never ending chores of pruning his rose bushes and thinning his Zinfandel grape vines.  

Sincerely

Jane Doe      

There is Something in a Sunday

Preaching to the Choir

     The gull on the pulpit is giving a fire and brimstone sermon to his flock below.......

     Sometimes fog is just the way things are here at Bodega Bay. The seagulls don't seem to mind they just go about their bird business. The local seafood restaurants are filled to overflowing. The clientele flock and squawk waiting outside for their turn for a bite of fish.  The gulls keep their opinions to themselves.

North again on Hwy. 1

     On north to my favorite beach, a few miles south of Jenner where the Russian River flows into the Pacific.  It is a beach where few ever go.  You have to know the turn off of Hwy. 1 between stoic houses along the bluff.  Follow a winding little road down to a car park, room for four. From the end of the road it is another half mile or so on a dirt and gravel path that makes a rather treacherous way down the cliff to the sea.  It is soothing to the soul, listening to the surf pound the rocks and explode white water into the air.  There is no end of nature to fill the mind and the camera.

FLIGHTS OF FANTASY

MFA Exhibit

FLIGHTS OF FANTASY  My entry into the anthropomorphic form. Part human, part airplane, part bird and all fantasy.  As a child my dreams and reality seemed interchangeable. I have never been troubled about whether I could fly, of course I could fly.  As I grew up I found it easer to use wings and a small motor. I learned to fly ultralight aircraft, little more than a wing, small engine, propeller and a lawn chair. It was  the most basic of flying machines.  The pilot, sitting out in the open like a bird.  It was from these feelings that my vision and my sculpture came together as one.

Flying Ulterlights
Lake Elsonor California

Early flight  "Aeroplane"

"Jet Eagle Woman"

"Things that Go Flight in the Night

 A special thank you to Elizabeth, my model,

  for your endless hours of posing and patience.