THANKSGIVING

Oh, what the heck! I haven't anything else to do. Might as well put up another blog page. It has been a while! Let's see, what have Dickie and I been up to lately? We tried to go walking this morning but decided it was too windy when my hat blew off as we turned the corner to the local park. Went grocery shopping instead, after Dickie dropped off some books at the library and I picked up some gas at the Chevron station. Gas is $3.23 a gallon here in Windsor. I can get it cheaper at Costco in Santa Rosa, but it's a twelve mile round trip which is about a half gallon of gas, so it's hardly worth traveling that far.We were having lunch today (Tuesday) when our son-in-law Jonathan stopped by to visit. He's good that way. He was working in the area. Brought his dog, Lulu, a sweet-tempered yellow lab and we had a nice chat.

(Click on any of these small pics to view them larger)

Last Wednesday Dickie and I made a trip out to the ocean to see if I could catch any shore birds with my trusty camera. Didn't see that many interesting birds so I snapped a gull or two. Here's one I caught flying by:

On the road into Bodega Head there's a man-made water hole left over from some years ago when they planned to build a nuclear power plant out that way. Fortunately, that never happened, but it left a nice place for the birds and animals. There's a night heron that we've often seen fishing there. He was there this time, too:

A couple weeks back we drove out to Alexander Valley to see the colorful autumn vineyards. There were some glorious sights. None better than those we saw at the Stonestreet Winery. This is what it looked like on the road into the winery:

And this was the view from the exit to the north:

 

The reds and yellows in the vineyards then were a real feast for the eyes:

The vine-covered stone entrance to the Hanna Winery looked good, too:

We'll be spending the Thanksgiving holiday with our children and grandchildren out at Heidi and Peter's home in Occidental. If you're reading this, I hope you have/had a wonderful Thanksgiving, too:

MAY 2010

With Mother's Day just around the corner, I'm dedicating this flower to mothers everywhere:




Dickie and I traveled to Petaluma on the past Wednesday to visit Shollenberger Park, one of our favorite birding spots.  While we were there, we learned of an adjacent area that is also stocked with plenty of wildlife.  We found this mommy shepherding her ducklings:




In fact, there were nine ducklings in all in this particular family.  I managed to get eight of them together for this shot:




There were also a number of mute swans nesting in the ponds there.  This one kept him/herself busy chasing away the Canadian geese that got too close to its territory.  Would you want to meet this bird in a dark alley?:




I got this goose as he/she flew away:





There were dozens of geese in and around the ponds.  Occasionally, a couple would fly up together.  That's how I got this shot:




So much for now!  Have a great month of May!  See you later!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!, originally uploaded by "zampi".

It's that time of year, just past the vernal equinox and the full moon! Enjoy!"zampi"

MARCH

I walked out to get the mail the other afternoon and saw a beautiful rainbow in the sky. I ran in the house to get my camera, but, by the time I got back outside, this was all that was left. Really, when I first looked at it, it stretched fully across the sky. I hated to miss that. Here’s what I did get:

So often great photos depend on one’s being at the right place at the right time. Of course, the best photographers do everything they can to put themselves in that right place at the right time. It takes planning and effort, something I’m a little short on these days.


I had a bit of luck last Sunday. Dickie and I had gone with our daughter, Mary, to check out rental homes at Dillon Beach. As we drove through one neighborhood, high on a hill overlooking the ocean, we came upon a doe and her fawn grazing on the front lawn of one of the homes. The fawn walked across the street to check us out. I thought it was going to come right up to the open window of our car, but it stopped a little short and I got several shots of it. Here’s one. He’s a scruffy little guy, but he has a certain charm:

For the past month or so, we’ve had quite a bit of cloudy weather here in northern California and a good bit of rain. I’m not complaining. We need the water, but all the rainy weather has put a crimp in my photo ops. We did get out to Alexander Valley one morning where I was able to capture the beauty of one of the mustard fields. They really are gorgeous in the sunlight. Here’s one view:

In a day of better weather, we also made a trip to Shollenberger Park in Petaluma. That’s the wetlands area that practically dried up last summer and fall. With all the rain lately, it has come to life again and the waterfowl are back, including Canadian geese:

And some mute swans

Also northern shovelers:

The red-winged blackbirds love the reeds in the sloughs there. You can see and hear them everywhere:

I was also lucky enough to spot a kite hunting in the swamp. I think kites are one of the prettiest raptors:

People are always walking their dogs at Shollenberger. His owner let me take this head-shot of a Bernese mountain dog as they passed by. I think they are really beautiful dogs:

That’s it for now. By the way, if you want to say “hi” or leave a comment, all you have to do is click on the word “comments” below this paragraph. You don’t have to belong to Google or Blogger, just write your comment in the dialog box that appears and scroll down in that dialog box to the line that says “Name/URL” and check it. Then write your name and click on the bar that says “PUBLISH YOUR COMMENT”. It won’t show up in the blog until I see it and approve it, but it will be recorded. Trust me. I’d love to hear from you if you’re reading this.