AH! SPRING!

Here we are again, a whole week into spring. It's still raining here in Northern California, today being no exception from the general rule of the last few weeks. I guess that one of these days we're going to wake up and find we're in the middle of summer, or, at least, warmer weather. We can only hope.

I slept late this morning since I wasn't feeling quite up to par. The extra rest seems to have cured me. Now I'm ready to go back out there with my camera when the weather clears.

Yesterday, when Dickie and I awoke, it looked like we were going to have a beautiful day, so I suggested we head for Bodega Bay and see if we could find some good photo opportunities. It turned out that the day wasn't all that great for picture-taking, being rather cloudy and overcast out at the beach, but I did get a shot or two that turned out fairly well despite the weather. As we were driving past a farm house near the coast, I spotted a young deer grazing in the front yard. This was the result:




As luck would have it, he wasn't alone. His mom and one of his siblings also turned up. Here he is with mom scampering away:



And here are all three about to disappear down the road and into the woods:


All I could find when we got to the Bay were the usual dozens of seagulls. Some were waiting for their dinner at the wharf and soaring back and forth overhead. Here's one that came fairly close:



And here's another that sat on a post not more than six or seven feet away from me, hoping for a handout:



On the way home, we noticed some egrets fishing in a flooded area just outside of Sebastopol. I stopped to take a picture and then discovered that, a little farther across the water, there was a great blue heron also fishing. I couldn't get close enough for a really good picture. This is a crop from a larger scene:




A few days ago on one of our morning walks, we came upon a pair of mallards swimming in a mud puddle at the edge of our local vineyard. This shy and beautiful lady posed for me:




The vineyard itself is a beautiful scene at the moment. The vines have not yet begun to leaf out, but the mustard plants between the rows are in full bloom. I managed to win a "Picture of the Day" at Azcolt (www.azcolt.com) the other week with a picture like this:




So much for now. See you soon.