A Most Wonderful Day

On a journey to Santa Barbara I was shown places in the town I had not seen before. It was an extraordinary tour choreographed by a fellow photographer.

REMEMBERING SUMMER

After days of below freezing weather it warmed up enough to rain.  Sitting in my studio huddled around the heater I remember summer.  Yesterday I drove over to the wet lands looking for pictures to be taken and for the first time came home empty handed.  There were a few Shoveler ducks some old Coots a Swan and several Canadian geese too old or too lazy to fly further south, all were out around the middle of the mile long lake sitting on a mud flat. I believe they were playing poker. 

It is time I look for new visuals of Sonoma County to bring to you.  If you have something you would like to see in our county,  please write to me via "Post a Comment" at the bottom of this page.

As my old riding partner would say, "The frost is on the pumpkin."

TT

These photos were taken last summer. I am in search for a new look at Sonoma County.

Lake Roberts, Sonoma County

 

 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.