Weekend Assignment #220: Beautiful

"For every beauty, there is an eye somewhere to see it. For every truth, there is an ear somewhere to hear it. For every love, there is a heart somewhere to receive it.

-Ivan Panin

Weekend Assignment #220: Tell us about one person, place or thing you find particularly beautiful and why it affects you in this way. If you can demonstrate its beauty with photos, great but as always, the primary emphasis for the Weekend Assignment is words.

Extra Credit: Does something threaten to disturb or destroy that beauty?

-Karen Funk Blocher, of the blog, Outpost Mavarin

There is so much to love about the Bay Area, and if you have been reading me for any length of time, you know I love nearly everything about it, but one thing in particular stands out as most important to me, when I think about it's beauty, and that is the amazing California coastline. I love the beaches, and the lighthouses that grace the coast, with equal passion. Since I got my current digital camera, in 2005, I have been as far north as Point Arena, and as far south as Santa Barbara, and on each little trek, I was swept off my feet by the beautiful coastal scenery.

The beauty of sunsets along the coast, always stop me in my tracks, but equally stunning to me are all the wildflowers that grow along the cliffs that look out over the Pacific. It would be difficult to narrow it all down to my favorite time of day, or a particular season, when I am out along the coast taking pictures, the different times of day and seasons make it look almost magical to me, no matter when I am there to see it. I suppose it all just speaks to my inner mermaid, but I always feel at home when I am near the ocean.

Sunset in Santa Barbara, California

Spring in Pacific Grove, California

Late Afternoon in January, Moss Beach, California

Summer in Monterey, California

February in Pacifica, California

October in Richardson Bay, Sausalito, California

October in Pescadero, California

Spring in Santa Cruz, California

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:) You should come and see it for yourself. You would love it! It's... BEAUTIFUL!

Extra Credit: As a matter of fact, there are a number of environmental hazards to the California coastline. Not the least of which was the oil spill from the container ship, Cosco Buson, in San Francisco Bay last year. You can read news coverage about it here, and you can read my blog entries, which includes some photos, here and here. Just this past week, oil from the Cosco Buson washed ashore in Point Reyes, which is a few miles north of the Golden Gate. According to experts, we will more then likely be seeing residual oil from the spill washing up along the coast for many years. :(

-OndineMonet
"Dusk In Moss Beach"
Moss Beach California
2008