A Photo A day For 6 Months: Day 38: Bird Rock

From For Ellipsis

"Home is not where you live, but where thy understand you."


~Christian Morganstern

 

Bird Rock, located on the 17 Mile drive on the Monterey Peninsula, is one of the most striking stops along the route, which eventually winds down to Pebble Beach, is always one of my favorite stops along the route. It is a lovely place to stop and take in not just the beauty Pacific ocean at your feet, but also get in a little bird watching as well. No matter how many visits I make to this stunning vista, I am always amazed at just how many birds cover the rock. 


On this particular day, back in October of 2007, there seemed to be mostly cormorants, but on other visits I have seen pelicans, pigeons, and I believe an odd sandpiper or two. But it's not just birds that sun themselves on the rock, as you can see here, harbor seals apparently enjoy lazing there as well. And why not? The 17 Mile drive is among the most beautiful stretches of California coastline, and to them its home. Lucky ducks... and cormorants... and pigeons... and pelicans. LOL.








"Home is where you can say anything you please, because nobody pays any attention to you anyway:"


~Joe Moore

~Me :)

This is day 38 of my personal challenge of posting A Photo A Day For 6 Months. If you would like to join me, please feel free to join in! There is no theme, no worries about what you post. Just upload your photo, and come back here with a direct link back to it. I will include your link with my post for tomorrow. Its that easy! See, like my pal JR...


JR
http://jrclinephotography.blogspot.com/2012/06/apadf6-37.html

A Photo A Day For 6 Months: Day 37~ RRC~Clouds

"There air up there in the clouds is very pure and fine, bracing and delicious. And why shouldn't it be? It is the same the angels breathe."


~Mark Twain, Roughing it.


APAD and RRC: Clouds. 

Clouds, By Percy Bysshe Shelley


After a long absence from blogging and posting my photos, I am easing myself back into the art of the daily blog update. Last year, as 2011 moved along, I was finding myself edging off the cliff of inspiration. I wasn't happy with my photography, or the things I wanted to talk about. At times, it felt like I was literally jumping out of my own skin. I was putting it all down to a series of unfortunate events which had taken place earlier in the year, and my subsequent exhaustion from it. I figured it was my Fibromyalgia adding to it all and making everything seem worse then it really was, and as much as I kept trying to remember that intellectually, my body was simply too tired to feel inspired creatively. Come to find out, it wasn't just the Fibromyalgia or the events that took place, it was the fact that I now have an under active thyroid or, Hypothyroidism. Fast forward, and a silly little pill later, my energy and over all well being is getting back to normal. 


So, long story short, this is my second time playing with the Round Robins since my hiatus ended a little over a month ago. And I couldn't be happier to play along during a challenge that highlights one of my favorite subjects... CLOUDS. I was only able to capture one new cloud photo, the one you see above, because the Bay Area has been experiencing some really clear, lovely weather of late, but I did do a little tip-toe through my archives to show off some photos I haven't displayed in the past. Well, most of them are anyway. Some have been posted previously, but there are a few that will be seen for the first time. 


Enjoy!

A Mixture Of Clouds And Fog Looking Towards Angel Island

 

Twilight Near The Marin Headlands



As the Sun Goes Down Near Hearst Castle



After A Spring Storm Facing The Marin Headlands



As The Sun Sets On The Year... December 31st, 2007



An Autumn Dusk On The 17 Mile Drive Monterey California



Twilight In The Summer Of 2008



Stormy November In Sacaramento



A Mixture Of Snow, and Fog and Clouds Skyline Blvd Woodside California






Angry Sky May 2012
 


White Coudy Sky Mount Hamilton






And Finally, I took this last one while visiting Cambria, California in 2005




Okay, that's my Cloud Gallery. Now, go see what other Round Robin participants have posted. You can find the full list of participants, as well as all the information you need to play along, at the official Round Robin Blog. Just click HERE.




See ya tomorrow! :)


~Me :)

A Photo A Day For 6 Months: Day 36~ Bird Logic

"Why Compare yourself with others? No one in the entire world can do a better job of being your than you."


~Unknown


Okay, so tell me, does that pigeon want to be a flamingo? Does he think he is a flamingo? Or do you think he just likes seeing what life is like in their... ahem... neck of the zoo?


Thoughts?


~Me :)

A Photo A Day For 6 Months: Day 35~ Sunflowers

"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow. It's what sunflowers do."


~Helen Keller


As if by magic, or good timing at the very least, I have been spending the week planning, and getting ready to plant Sunflowers... lots and lots of Sunflowers, when what should appear in my inbox... my Farmer's Almanac, and in it was a fascinating article all about... you guessed it... Sunflowers!


I was so happy to read the article, that it inspired me to take a look through my archives for inspiration before planting this year. I love the large yellow Sunflowers, but my heart belongs to the exotic colors as well. The black and purple, and especially the fiery reds. I love that Sunflowers turn their faces toward the sun, then follow it as it moves throughout the day. It's a great reminder not to dwell on the cold, dark, side of things. 


Soak Up The Sun.


Enjoy!
Farmer's Almanac: Sunflowers To The Rescue!





















See ya tomorrow!


~Me:)

A Photo A Day For 6 Months: Day 34~It's A Girl Thing

"Life is an endless struggle of frustrations and challenges, but eventually you find a hair stylist you like."


~Unknown


Why this picture? Why did I choose this picture, for this post? What in the world could inspire me to choose this photo out of the million or so photos in my archive? Simple. It's the universal truth that no matter how perfect one thinks they might be... hair will always tell on you!


Ladies... am I right, or am I right?

"If truth is beauty, how come no one has their hair done in a library?"

~Lily Tomlin

 

~Me :)


See ya tomorrow.

A Photo A Day For 6 Months: Day 33~ Alcatraz Never Dies

"Alcatraz was never no good to nobody."


~Frank Weatherman, the last inmate to leave Alcatraz


I can't believe I have lived in the Bay Area my whole life, and never been out to Alcatraz. That is a tour Alan and I want to take sometime, just not sure when. Maybe we will do that during our staycation in October, maybe we will save that for next year... we'll see. If we did do a tour, I would love to try a spooky haunted tour. That sounds like it would be a lot of fun.

Anyway, I saw on ABC World News that there is a new theory that the three prisoners who are believed to have been the only ones to have escaped THE ROCK, may not have perished as the authorities originally thought. New evidence seems to indicate at least two of them may have actually made it out of the chilly waters of the bay alive. All of them would be in their 80's now. If true, wouldn't that be something?

After I watched the story, I couldn't resist working a little photoshop magic on the photo above, which was taken in May of 2011. In the daytime, Alcatraz doesn't seem so foreboding, but I have read that at night, you can hear all the ghosts of THE ROCK, whispering and moaning. Spooky goodness I say! ;) Here ghostie, ghostie, ghostie!

See the links below to learn more about Alacatraz, and its fascinating history.

 Enjoy my Alcatraz Series...













ABC NEWS


The History Channel


About.com Haunting Stories About Alcatraz


Alcatraz History


This is day 33 of my new personal challenge of A Photo A Day For 6 Months. If you love photography, please feel free to join me. Grab your camera, post your photo on the net, then comeback here with the direct link back to it. I will include your link in tomorrow's posting. No set theme to worry about, just whatever grabs your attention in the next 24 hours.


:) See ya tomorrow!

A Photo A Day For 6 Months: Day 32~ What Was I Thinking?

"There are only two emotions in a plane: boredom and terror."

 ~Orson Welles

Hmmm... It seemed like a good idea at the time. And I am pretty sure it will turn out, if not just fine, then certainly a day to remember, but what I am curious about as I sit here writing this is... at what point will the terror officially hit? Sorry, I know I am being a bit cryptic here, but you see I did something the other day completely against my usual instinct... I purchased a Groupon for a 1hr San Francisco Bay tour that is... hold onto your hats... in a single engine Cessna!

The deal was really good. Super good. It was 50% off the usual price, which means it was exactly in our budget for our wedding anniversary. Each year Alan takes the month of October off, and we usually do some small "staycation" types of things. We go up to Apple Hill. We take a ride down the coast to Santa Barbara and stop for chocolate in Solvang. We visit museums and zoos, we go to movies and pumpkin patches, and no matter what we usually have a really good time. Most years, we have accidentally come across celebrities. No joke. The first one we met was Joe Montana. The last one we came across was the Reverend Jessie Jackson.

 "The air up there in the clouds is very pure and fine, bracing and delicious. And why shouldn't it be? - it is the same the angels breathe."

~Mark Twain, "Roughing It"

 It's not that we don't have a lot of fun on our vagabond vacations, but when I saw the amazing Groupon offer, I immediately thought about the amazing memory it would make. Like any other marriage, we have had our lean times and times where we did really well financially. The last few years has been a time of HIGHS and LOWS swinging back and forth. Right now are comfortable, so why not jump in and do something different, something for the memory book... right?

 "Lovers of air travel find it exhilarating to hang poised between the illusion of immortality and the fact of death."

 ~Alexander Chase, "Perspectives," 1966

You have NO idea how different this is for me. Alan isn't afraid of much, if anything. I have had a lifelong fear of FLYING. Yep, that's right. I purchased a GROUPON for a 1 hour trip around the bay in a small... really small... single engine... 4 seat... airplane! Why didn't I sign up to box a kangaroo while I was at it? LOL. Fret. So, what was I thinking?


I guess I was considering that life is short. I have been afraid of flying since I was a child. But don't get me wrong, I have flown before, dispute that fear, but still the fear remains. 9/11 didn't help curb my fears, but it did make me resolute that if I found myself in the company of terrorists, I wasn't going to go down without a fight. A BIG ONE. If death is imminent, then what do I have to lose? Their flesh will be under my fingernails before I die. 

 

"I feel about airplanes the way I feel about diets. It seems to me that they are wonderful things for other people to go on."

 ~Jean Kerr, "Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall," The Snake Has All the Lines, 1958

Maybe its that my fear has moved to a new reality. While I don't see myself flying commercial anymore, which has more to do with TSA policies than terrorists, I don't think there is anything wrong with experiencing something different, particularly if it helps me face an unreasonable fear, and get another piece of my well being back. So, come this fall, I will be up in the air, high above the ground snapping photos I would never have the chance to get otherwise. I think when all is said and done, I will be stepping off the plane wondering why the hour went by so quickly, or perhaps wondering how an hour could have seemed like forever! LOL

 "You haven't seen a tree until you've seen its shadow from the sky."

 ~Amelia Earhart


I wonder which it will be? Either way I plan to write down on a piece of paper my fears. What I imagine what it will be like, then when I actually experience the flight. I will realize that my idea of the trip and the actuality of the trip are very different things. Either way, I will have something to remember for a long time. God help Alan! LOL.


~Me :)
Note: The view of San Francisco you see here, is from the top of Mount Tamalpias, in Marin County.




Now that you have visited me, please go see my pal JR. He is so awesome. His photography always inspires me, and brightens my day, he really has a gift for photography.


JR
http://jrclinephotography.blogspot.com/2012/06/apadf6-31.html

A Photo A Day For 6 Months: Day 32~ Cats Inspired Cat

From For Ellipsis

"If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?"


~T.S. Eliot



I was practicing some low light photography the other night, when I decided to see if I could get a good shot of my all black kitty, Hendrix. Hendrix has amazingly beautiful green/gold eyes, and they are quiet expressive as well. He is a dreamboat, but he is also curious, extremely loving, and playful little boy. He is fiercely loyal and he has a strong, silly sense of humor. It was apparent the first hour after we met him. All he really wanted in the world was a family to love him. Boy were Alan and I happy to be his family. He adopted Alan right away, and before we left the Dr. B's office, Hendrix made sure I knew I was loved to.


We didn't know it, but all that was missing from the perfect family he wanted, was a little brother for him to take care of. A week later, along came Dylan and the two settled into a perfect brotherhood. Dylan is Hendrix's baby brother, and he treats him as such. I have always loved the play CATS, because of the wonderful way it portrays CATS. When I saw this photo on the computer, I knew I had a CATS inspired photo. It's not perfect, I couldn't track down the exact font used for the poster, but it's close enough I think. It makes me smile. As do my boys. I am a happy girl. And now I am off to reread "Old Opossum's Book Of Practical Cats" by T.S. Eliot.

~Me :)

This is day 32 of my APAD challenge. You can join me if you like. There's no theme to follow. Just post a photo to your blog, and comeback here with a direct link back to it. I will post your link with tomorrow's post. 

Like this...

JR
 http://jrclinephotography.blogspot.com/2012/06/apadf6-30.html

A Photo A Day For 6 Months: Day 31~The Color Yellow

"What a horrible thing yellow is."


~Edgar Degas


"There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transfer a yellow spot into the sun."


~Pablo Picasso

 

"How wonderful yellow is. It stands for the sun."


~Vincent Van Gogh

Three of my favorite artists... each with a different perception of the color yellow.


Yellow... I guess it is one of those colors either you love or you hate! Personally, I have gone back and forth over the years regarding the color yellow. In my teens, my bedroom was decorated in shades of green and yellow. It seemed like it would be a happy, energizing color to paint my room, so my mom and I went to the paint store and picked out a shade of yellow that could only be described as... SUNNY. It was energizing alright, to the point it was distracting. Don't get me wrong it was a beautiful color, that would have been amazing as the trim, but as the main color of the room it was a lot to take in.


I had that color on the walls for about a year, and then I settled into a nice lettuce green, which stayed on the walls of my room for the next 3 years, after that my parents painted it a nice shade of blue. But during my yellow and green time in life, it was nice to have all that color to inspire me creatively. I think that time in my life when almost everything in my life was either of those two colors, it made be begin to appreciate other colors more. When your walls are white, you don't think about different colors all that much. Well, at least I didn't. I don't know if what I learned all those years ago had much influence on what objects I tend to gravitate to with my photography, but I do know when a yellow object presents itself, I tend to try to soften the overall look of the photo.

I did happen to learn one more thing about the color yellow... I can't wear it. Not at all. It makes me look... well... sick. LOL. 

~ Me :)

Have you ever wondered about the meaning of the color yellow is? How it affects us psychically or how yellow affects our sense of smell? Well, if the answer is YES great, you're in luck. Just click the link below to be redirected to information about all things yellow!

Sensational Yellow




Now, go see what JR has posted. He is an awesome photographer, and a loyal participant of this challenge and the Monday Photo Shoot. :)


JR
http://jrclinephotography.blogspot.com/2012/06/apadf6-29.html

A Photo A Day For 6 Months: Day 30~Spaghetti... A Love Affair

"Spaghetti can be eaten most successfully if you inhale it like a vacuum cleaner."


~Sophia Loren



Sigh. Weep. :(


Forgive me while I mourn. I heard the shocking and sad news today, on the afternoon news, that Banchero's is closing it's doors after years of serving the BEST Italian food in the East Bay since it's opening in 1948. My parents were eaten Banchero's wonderful food since long before I was born. In fact, it was the first restaurant they ate at after moving to the East Bay in 1949. So, I can truthfully say I have eaten there my whole life... and it's NO joke!


OMG... I don't know how it will be to never have their amazing spaghetti or garlic bread again, well actually, I do...It will be really sad. Alan and I have spent many a Friday night passing a container of their, spaghetti with meat sauce, back and forth while watching something spooky on TV. In my youth, my friends and I would pick up some take-out from Banchero's to share on game night. Each of us would choose a different item from the vast menu, so we all got a little bit of everything. It was a special time. I hate what's happened to the economy.


Honestly... so many good shops and restaurants have closed in the last few years, all or most due to the downturn in the economy. It's been frustrating to see really good, quality businesses close their doors because of some stupid decisions made by incompetent politicians. One by one I have watched as places I love simply fade to a distant memory... it's sad...and those people and places that are now gone have left my heart in tatters.


Alan and I had one of Banchero's amazing family style meals just a couple week's ago. Now it seems like it was forever ago. I know it sounds strange that I got this attached to a restaurant, but it's the memories, the special times, and yes the food to, but mostly, it's the memories. Oh my. I guess the older I get, the more loss I will experience so I better toughen up... right? If only I could. Sigh.


As I told a friend once... Once I find a person, or a place, I put down roots. I am a sentimental person. Once you are in my heart, you are there forever, and if you leave, that empty space stays empty, because I don't believe people or places are replaceable. It's just how I am wired. I love deep, and get over things really slow. It sucks sometimes, but I know that eventually the sadness gets easier to take, and I tend to focus on the good times, and not the goodbyes. Although tonight... I am thinking about all those people and places that have moved on without me.


Sigh.


Goodbye Banchero's... thanks for the memories. I will remember you always.


Addio Bancheros grazie per i ricordi io ti ricordo sempre


"Everything you see, I owe to Spaghetti."


~Sophia Loren

Banchero's Italian Dinners Closing it's Doors  (San Jose Mercury News)


~Me :)

Now, go check out what my friend JR is seeing with his camera... he is an awesome photographer, and he's been a loyal participant in my memes! Thank you JR! :)

JR
http://jrclinephotography.blogspot.com/2012/06/apadf6-28.html

A Photo A Day For 6 Months: Day29~Golden Opportunities

"Welcome every morning with a smile. Look on the new day as another special gift from your Creator., another golden opportunity to complete what you were unable to finish yesterday. Be a self starter. Let your first hour set the theme of success and positive action that is certain to echo through your entire day. Today will never happen again. Don't waste it with a false start or no start at all. You were not born to fail."


-Og Mandino

Can you believe it? This photo was taken on December 22 2011! I love California for so many reasons, but as a photographer, the main reason is because it's just so amazingly photogenic. Personally, I would have enjoyed a cold, rainy, possibly snowy week of Christmas, but I can't deny how beautiful it was last December, and the view from up here in the Berkeley hills was gorgeous!


~Me :)


This is day 29 of my A Photo A Day For 6 Months challenge. If would like to join me, you are more than welcome to. Post your photo, and come back here with a direct link back to it. I will share your link in my post for tomorrow. No theme to follow, just whatever you want to share.


Now, let's see what my pal JR has come up with...


JR
http://jrclinephotography.blogspot.com/2012/06/apadf6-27.html