Sleepy Squish

 

"Cats are the visible soul of a house."

~Jean Cocteau

Simon's nicknames have fully emerge I think, but you never know, he could develop more as we move along as a family. Right now he is called Simon, but also, Squish, Squishy Face, and the Mighty Simon. He makes the most adorable squishy face, when he is tired, or annoyed, or when he's happy for that matter. He is just a dream to photograph, and I might be a proud mama, but I don't think he can take a bad picture!

That's my little boy, the Mighty Simon. My Squish.

Could It Be, Satan? Nah, It's Just AI Tyler

 

AI should be judged not by what it replaces, but by the new human capabilities it enables."

~Tom Golway

Amplifying Human Experience Enabling Gain-Of-Function via AI

As I have mentioned before, my new phone is a lot of fun, and it is actually inspiring me to do more with my photographs, even if it's with some of my older photos! Yesterday, I was pretty much in bed all day with a migraine, and photography was not an option, but by the evening I was feeling better, so I did a few new photos of Tyler, and played around with converting some July 4th photos into AI beauties. AI photoshopping will never replace taking and editing my own digital photos, but it's kinda nice to see my photos in a new light. And that cute image above is definitely an accurate depiction of my beautiful pink eared cat, my gorgeous sweet Tyler! I am not sure how I feel about AI in general, I mean I know it will do some damage, and these data centers certainly border on evil. I just know that those centers were born of a musing of Satan, but playing with AI for fun, or to find information quickly is a good thing, I think. I love my cats, and imagining them in a new light is one way I try to help myself out of this depression I have been feeling. And it was fun to ask Alexa the other day, if Simon can have Brussels sprouts. He loves them so much. So, in that respect, thank you AI, now behave yourself!

And The Mighty Simon

I Like Birds...

 

"Not humans, but birds often witness the most beautiful mornings in this world."

~Mehmet Murat ildan

Saturday is going to be a really busy day, so I am posting today about some beautiful birds I found tucked away in my archived photos in my storage files. Most of the pics have never been posted before, so it feels good to share them now. Who knows why I passed them up originally? 

Note: I am taking the weekend off from the posting to the blog, but I will be back on Monday with a new post, detailing all about Saturday's, No Kings Rally!

Enjoy some music while you scroll.

 I heard this song in the movie, The Big Year, and fell in love with it!

I Like Birds

 By, The Eels

A New Bird

 

"We are nature. We are nature seeing nature. The Red-winged Blackbird flies in us."

~Susan Griffin

It felt good to get out the other day and do a little photography, unfortunately this is the only good photo I got, but I will have more opportunities coming up, so this won't be my last photo this year.

Don't you just love the beauty of the Red-winged Blackbird? And they have a lovely song too!

Inspiration

"One shouldn't be fooled by how quickly they startle. Bluebirds just like open spaces, that's all. Open fields where they are free. And when they find a place, they come in hoards, and they keep coming. They're faithful little settlers. They know when they have found a place of beauty."

~Ashley Clark

Paint And Nectar

Just a splash of color, on a cold, dark, rainy day. I hope to see a lot of more, Western Bluebirds, through this spring. They are one of the most beautiful perching birds in the valley. I count on them for inspiration. 

Look Deep Within The Big Picture

 

"May you soar on Eagle's wings, high above the madness of the world."

~ Jonathon Lockwood Hule

Okay, so on the surface, things may seem scary as shit, but deep down, below all the muck, there remains the magic of life. There is a lot to look forward to, and Trump can't steal it. Take for example, the picture you see above. I took it on Friday, on Desmond road, at the Cosumnes River Preserve. I was looking for a Cinnamon Teal, we had captured one the day before, but I wanted another one that showed ducks beautiful orange eyes a little better. The photo came out hopelessly blurry, due to fog and misty rain, but if you look carefully in the background, you will see the magic! A Bald Eagle, sitting in the water, having a meal! I didn't see it when I took the picture! It was only on closer observation of the details of the photo that saw it. You can't even imagine how happy I was!

I saw an eagle, fly over the same space in the spring of 2022, and managed a photo of the bird in flight, but never saw one there again, until last Friday. I was treated in 2022, to seeing it soar low to the water of the preserve, it was so majestic it took my breath away, and I never saw it on, or over Desmond road again. I thought perhaps it was a one off! Then the next time I saw one, was when one flew over the bay, in Bodega Bay. I got a fairly good photo of it sitting in a Eucalyptus tree. That was a wonderful experience too, and just like the other day, for a little while the world was fine on it's own, I didn't have to drown in the muck.

It's Monday, so back to reality everything goes, but I will be okay. I plan to chase down a Common Yellow-throat, that hubby said he saw, at Stone Lakes Preserve. It's a beautiful bird, but quite fast and quite wily. It loves to hide on the ground. So wish me luck. Who knows, maybe I will go looking for the yellowthroat, and find an Osprey, or a Merlin. I would love a Merlin, I have been searching for one for years, and have just never been in the right place at the right time. I also need a Red-bellied Sapsucker. There are so many birds left to find. I am currently on bird number 55, so much more to discover. 

So, the lesson is, don't believe what's on the surface of the big picture, look deeper into it. We will be out from under all this stress, one day. But in the meantime, don't ignore what's right in front of you! We have the right, at least for now, to be as happy as possible, and I intend to choose happiness!

MAGIC!

I'm Beginning 2025 On A Happy Note

"A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels,

 in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed."

~Ansel Adams

For some sill reason, this photograph has been liked, as of the composing of this post, 151 times, on BlueSky! I can see all kinds of technical errors, the lighting, the foreground, it's not perfectly straight, there is a telephone pole keeping it from being a perfect landscape, but somehow... they liked it! It's the second to last picture posted to the photography community on BlueSky for 2025 and the first to this platform for 2026. I like that. And hopefully, it's a sign of good things to come! Here's to thinking positively!

A Few Of My Favorites...

 

"You don't make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, all the books you have read, the music you have heard, and people you have loved."

~Ansel Adams

Photography means a lot to me, but I sometimes sacrifice the quality of my photos, so I can get a picture in the moment. Bird photos sometimes have to be taken, before you think about whether the opportunity will be for the art, or whether it will be to build your yearly bird list. I try really hard to bring the two together, but oh boy, there are challenges. Weather. Birds that seem to fly at the speed of sound. I am getting older, so I am having a bit of a tremor in my hands, which might be from arthritis. There are a lot of factors. But here I want to share the ones I got right, or at least, okay. There is a lot of emotion here. They reflect happiness, sadness, serenity, wonder. It has been quite a year, filled with, you know LIFE. Each year I try to get a photo good enough to enter into the Audubon Photography Contest. Hopefully, 2026 will be my year!

My Year End Favorites