Still being lazy...

Pulling random shots from the past year starting with my friends' beautiful cats.

We remember Buddy Webster

Schilling

Maya

And favorite walks at the beach

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Today 3/30/15 Apple Trees, Fog, and a Rescue

Sunrise in the apple orchards of Corralitos, California.

Fog along the jetty in Moss Landing

And a reminder that this is a world in crisis.

Warmer waters are possibly the cause for so many stranded sea lion pups this year; the most in recent memory.  Normally the cold currents infiltrate the bay, causing an upwelling of nutrients from the bottom which attract fish into the bay making for a cornucopia of delights for all manner of marine life. They also create the winds that we usually experience in the month of March.  No winds.  No replenished food for the marine animals and mother sea lions are having to travel further and further to sea to find nourishment. This is happening up and down the coast of California, not just the Monterey Bay. Marine Mammal Rescue was alerted to this little fellow's plight and hopefully he'll thrive under care.

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Today 3/8/15

Transparency.  Late Winter.

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Today 2/28/15

Just to show I do get out once in a while.

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Today 1/22/15

King Tide season

In bocca al lupo  m (no v)

My Dog Spot!

My Dog Spot Photography is born!  The web site is up and running.  I'm excited and curious and scared.  I am learning so much and isn't that what makes life really fun?  The style of photo I create is with a white background although certain props can be optional.  Family members can be included in a few of the shots as well. We've had fun adding a couple of "extra legs" to a photo.  As time and interest go on I will be trying out different styles, so stay tuned.

Public debut will be at the Holiday Craft Fair at the Monterey Bay Aquarium this Sunday (7-9:30pm if you're a local).  10% of my proceeds will be donated to the educational fund established in v's name at the aquarium.  

Other vendors will be donating 10% to an educational scholarship being set up by the aquarium itself.  Since 1985 the aquarium has hosted school groups with students 18 years and younger at no charge to the students. 

Please wish me luck!

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Summer Afternoon

 "Summer afternoon-summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language"~ Henry James

The latest Fine Arts...

...and baseball on the radio

                               ...and missing v with all my heart...

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

The Sentinel

I just had to post this shot.  An icon of the Monterey Bay, the sea lion basking in the sun on one of the boat harbor buoys.

In bocca al lupo. m (no v)

Late Spring in Monterey

Views from Monterey.  We're all trying to hold onto those blue skies that are oddly rare in summer around here.

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Breathe!

Fall is in the air and today was the perfect day to be out on the bay. Mystical October. There is something about the light and the quality of the air.

In bocca al lupo.  m & v

Waste(d)land

Fort Ord on the Monterey Peninsula covers the same square mileage as the city/county of San Francisco.  There are hundreds of these barracks and many other buildings being allowed to stand useless.  A few years ago a few buildings were sold for $1 to churches and other foundations.  Those buildings have been restored, painted, and landscaped and are beautiful as well as functional.  Why, why, why do we continue to pave over open land, reduce fertile land for farms in order to build more and more housing units?  The Fort Ord Reuse Agency could sell the units for that same $1 with a stipulated time limit for improvement and habitability and lease the land the units are on.  These building would make terrific townhomes, studios, and businesses.  Across the road is a shopping center.  Access to Highway 1 is only a few hundred feet down the road, and the view is the Monterey Bay! There is a high school right in the center of all of these derelict buildings and believe me, the kids have no trouble getting inside these places. Doors stand wide open, windows are shattered and signs of less than legal activity is everywhere.

There they stand on their hill overlooking the bay and the new shopping center.  The barracks and other abandoned buildings go on for miles along paved roads winding maze-like over the vast expanse of the former military base. They need to be restored and re-used and we need to reduce the waste of land that once gone cannot be brought back.

In bocca al lupo.  m & v

CT Scan Monday

Missed Sunday, ah well...you know, it was the last day of baseball season for our favorites, the San Francisco Giants, so that took priority.

Today was CT scan and then breakfast on the wharf to add a little cheer to this otherwise dismal start to Monday and the week.  We are hoping that the latest symptoms will turn out to be lactose intolerance, which they actually seem to be.

Wednesday will be the start of another round of three weeks, then another break, then another round of three.  That will bring us up to exactly one year since the chemo started, October 23.  He is still not complaining, except for when IV's don't get started smoothly, or blood draws are clumsy.  The nurses at the "chemo lounge" couldn't be more kind, efficient, and knowledgeable. They take away a lot of what would be the fear.

We're so thankful that his discomfort hasn't been worse than it's been and that v can still be active. He's even been able to substitute teach. But, his energy isn't nearly what it was and this grieves him, I know.

In bocca al lupo.  m & v

Morning at the Aquarium

Morning at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  If you want to visit Monterey Bay and the aquarium this is the time of year to come.  Forget summer, we don't have summer around here. We do have glorious fall and spring seasons though.  Today was lovely and warm and to cap off our shift today there were whales just off the decks where this photo was taken.  No need for a boat today!

In bocca al lupo.  m & v

Whale Watching

"What should we do today?"

"Want to go whale watching?"

Oh yeah! One of the perks of being a volunteer is getting to take a ride on the Whale Watching boat for free if there is room and there was room today!  Not on the 9:00 morning boat, you know, when the seas are calm and the whales plentiful. But, there was room on the 2:00 when things are a bit choppier and the whales are a question mark.

While we waited, hanging around the wharf like wharf bums who drink Starbucks' lattes, I took some photos of a seagull who coasted in rather close to where we were hanging out.

Now for the whales.  The first shot has to be explained, I think.  This is not two whales taking a peek at us. This is one whale shooting straight up out of the water with its mouth open and gathering fish. 

And then, something I've waited, and wanted all my life to see:

Whoopie!  v had a great time, he felt very strong and happy at the end of our outing, but I noticed that he was quick to turn in after supper.  A few hours at sea can do that.

In bocca al lupo.  m & v

Cannery Row

Yesterday afternoon we went down to Cannery Row for a coffee. We found a corner in the shop where we could sit by an open window overlooking the main drag, sip our coffee, and watch the world go by.  It was just one of those perfect late afternoons.

We've been having a small "heat wave" which for us is anything over 80℉.  

I'm venturing into black and white photography, along with the previously announced "project" that v and I are embarking on. I hope to have more on that in the near future.

This seagull was sharing his pole with the little Brewers Blackbirds that hang out on the row when someone with a loud rumbling engine gunned it, sending the little blackbirds off in a flurry.  

Nearby is the Cannery Row Brewing Co.  I always find their sign of hanging barrels intriguing.  

The day before we had driven up the coast to Swanton Farm to pick the ollalieberries that are now in season.  Jams, jellies, syrups, and cobblers will be on the menu.  We freeze them so we can have ollalieberry cobbler on a cold, damp winter's day.

We try to go berry picking every summer to mark the season.  This year the farmers have cleared the original fields and berry picking required a bit of a hike to the new ground.  I used to take my father up there to pick berries.  Even with his dementia he thoroughly enjoyed the outing and adventure.  He wasn't as discerning in his choice of berry, but the under-ripe ones help with the thickening of the jam and jelly.  

Quick update on v:  he is putting on weight and his energy is high.  He has five more infusions left before the next CT scan and we remain as hopeful as ever that he will continue to show improvement.  He feels he is winning this battle.  To watch him and to listen to him, it is hard to believe he is ill at all.  Only the loss of his eyebrows and lashes gives evidence.  It has been nine months of chemo.

In bocca al lupo.  m & v 

Saturday in Wine Country

Saturday afternoon v and I took a photo drive along River Road and the heart of the Salinas Valley wine country.  When I first moved to this area the fields were either full of the vegetables we put in salads or vast expanses of grass for cattle.  Now there are vines as far as the eye can see, sometimes.  Coming from Southern California where the fields have mostly been filled with concrete, asphalt, and matching houses as far as the eye can see, I'm so very pleased that agriculture still rules up here.

This lonely Victorian stands sentinel over pinot and syrah grapes.  Topping the rise with skeletal openings that once reflected candle and gaslight glow from within.

Side roads are planted with windbreaks of majestic trees casting dappled shade in the late afternoon.

We started out in a quest for fields of lupin.  We didn't find any along this route, but there were other wildflowers blooming.  I don't know what they are and would love it if someone reading this could identify them for me.

Barns are also on my list for photo capture, and there are several along the road and slightly off road.  We only captured a couple on Saturday, but plan to return soon.

We come across farmsteads neatly maintained yet uninhabited.  A mystery...

In bocca al lupo.  m & v