foto friday

Going back to the root goal of my photography - having my photos available to those who want them, I've decided to make Fridays a sharing day. I will provide a different photo each Friday that you can download and print for your personal use. The photo is in pdf form. You will need Adobe Reader to open the file. You can download Reader for free here. I'm new to this downloading stuff and am using dropbox to facilitate the transfer. If you have any problems downloading the photo, please let me know.

In B&W

download 6x9 pdf here

swimming upstream

Yesterday, Miss J and I took Grandma - who is visiting for the week - to the Oroville Fish Hatchery to check out the salmon. This is the time of year when the salmon are spawning. The Hatchery opens their ladder and you can watch the salmon swim in and up. There is even an underwater viewing area where you can get an up close view of the fish as they struggle upstream. The first time I went a few years ago and looked a salmon in the eye, I knew I would never eat salmon again. I can't. Bless her heart, Grandma said the same thing yesterday.

taken with my iPhone

cat saturday & foto friday

Sorry! I missed foto friday. Here's a kitty photo available to download.

Going back to the root goal of my photography - having my photos available to those who want them, I've decided to make Fridays a sharing day. I will provide a different photo each Friday that you can download and print for your personal use. The photo is in pdf form. You will need Adobe Reader to open the file. You can download Reader for free here. I'm new to this downloading stuff and am using dropbox to facilitate the transfer. If you have any problems downloading the photo, please let me know.

Graycee

download 6x9 pdf here

birds on the brain

I went to see Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds this afternoon. Fathom Events ran the movie in theaters around the states. It has been years since I've seen it. It is terrifying and magnificent. Still. From the idea of birds turning on humans to the blonde perfection of Tippi Hedren. It did make me feel a little homesick - okay, a lot. Beginning in San Francisco then set in Bodega Bay which is just a stone's throw away from "home." How I miss the ocean. Anyway...in honor of the crow in the below publicity shot of Ms. Hedren, I've gathered a few favorite crow pictures.

here

here

here

here

here

pretty pretty paper

Sheets of handmade paper, taken at my sister's store - Petaluma Art & Earth - with my iPhone.

the bridge

I wonder if gratefulness is the bridge from sorrow to joy, 

spanning the chasm of our anxious striving. 

Freed from the burden of unbridled desires, we can enjoy what we have, 

celebrate what we've attained, and appreciate the familiar.

For if we can't be happy now, 

we'll likely not be happy when.

Philip Gulley

Porch Talk

time enough to cry

As I was walking down the street one day
A man came up to me and asked me what
The time was that was on my watch, yeah...And I said

Does anybody really know what time it is
Does anybody really care
If so I can't imagine why
We've all got time enough to cry

And I was walking down the street one day
A pretty lady looked at me
And said her diamond watch had stopped cold dead...And I said

Does anybody really know what time it is
 Does anybody really care
If so I can't imagine why
We've all got time enough to cry

And I was walking down the street one day
Being pushed and shoved by people trying to
Beat the clock, oh, no I just don't know
I don't know, and I said, yes I said

People runnin' everywhere
Don't know where to go
Don't know where I am
Can't see past the next step
Don't have time to think past the last mile
Have no time to look around
Just run around, run around and think why

Does anybody really know what time it is
 Does anybody really care
If so I can't imagine why
We've all got time enough to die
Everybody's working I don't care
About time I don't care

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is

by Robert Lamm

no words

sunday sermon

Everybody is unique. 

 Do not compare yourself with anybody else 

lest you spoil God's curriculum.

Baal Shem Tov

cat saturday

Kaos

foto friday

Going back to the root goal of my photography - having my photos available to those who want them, I've decided to make Fridays a sharing day. I will provide a different photo each Friday that you can download and print for your personal use. The photo is in pdf form. You will need Adobe Reader to open the file. You can download Reader for free here. I'm new to this downloading stuff and am using dropbox to facilitate the transfer. If you have any problems downloading the photo, please let me know.

Marbles

download 6x9 pdf here

besom

For the last couple of days, I've been preparing a post about needing to cry and the cat who always made me cry when I was holding it back. She's been dead for years and I haven't done the post yet because I've been trying to find a particular photo of her in my archives. Life has a way of interrupting plans. This morning I opened the front gate and found a dead cat lying in the path. It was one of the strays I have been trying to win over so I could get him neutered. He was a tiny silver and grey tabby. I called him Besom. I noticed about a week ago, he stopped coming around. When I went looking and found him, I could tell he was sick. I tried wooing him. I tried trapping him. But I just couldn't catch him. He died outside my door sometime last night. I'm so grateful he came to me at the last. I was finally able to touch him and stroke him. I gave him a burial in my backyard. I have no pictures of him. He would never get close enough. I will never forget him. 

A feather, rock, and two hibiscus flowers

buried with Besom

along with a handful of food for the journey.

cat saturday

Ears

foto friday

Going back to the root goal of my photography - having my photos available to those who want them, I've decided to make Fridays a sharing day. I will provide a different photo each Friday that you can download and print for your personal use. The photo is in pdf form. You will need Adobe Reader to open the file. You can download Reader for free here. I'm new to this downloading stuff and am using dropbox to facilitate the transfer. If you have any problems downloading the photo, please let me know.

10 mile

download 6x9 pdf here

lost in translation

from Story People

by Brian Andreas

wish i was there

I've been dreaming of the ocean. It was only three weeks ago that I was at Salmon Creek on the Sonoma Coast, but my soul was not filled. The last couple of days have been hard. Not hard hard, just icky. I'm feeling alone and separated and uncertain. I want the ocean. I need the ocean. J is going with her Dad to the mountains for the holiday weekend. I've been toying with the idea of driving to Fort Bragg for one day. I'd only have one day because I need to be back to take care of the neighbor's cats. It would only be 9 hours on the road for about two or three hours of ocean time! When I was young, I wouldn't even hesitate. Am I getting old!!!

The last time I was in Fort Bragg, J and I sat in the sand and watched the sun set. Then we went back to our hotel room on the beach. We left the sliding glass door open and listened to the surf. J watched tv, played with Barbies, and jumped on the bed - kind of all at the same time. I actually read a book. Okay, I played with the Barbies too, and after J went to sleep I read the book. It was a glorious time...

Fort Bragg, California

October 2011

karma sucks

There are some people I know only online. We've never met. We just "talk" through email. I've met them through this blog, through etsy, and through other people. Sometimes we do business together. Sometimes we just chat. Those are my favorite. Sometimes it's a lonely life when you spend hours in front of the computer. (I'm not complaining. I love my life!) But I do get lonely, especially when J's with her Dad. Most are enjoyable and ongoing. Some end abruptly - like in the middle of a conversation. I don't get that. How do you not even say goodbye. 

Recently I have had an ongoing conversation with another photographer. We hit it off immediately. We "talked" everyday, sometimes back and forth for hours. After about two weeks of this, we found out we live near each other. We met for a drink and had a great time - just like online. I thought I had found a new friend...Since we met, he hasn't contacted me. I wrote and got a "been busy" answer. I know a brush off when I experience one. It's cool if he doesn't want to be friends, although I'm not sure why, but wouldn't it be respectful and nice to actually end things. Not just disappear.

So here's where karma comes in. It's obviously a peeve of mine when people just stop writing - or calling, or communicating in any way - without some kind of closure. One of these online relationships is with someone I don't really care for. I've been politely communicating, but I no longer want this person in my life. I'd like to just stop writing!!! Of course, I can't do that. I hate it when people do it to me. So, how do I say goodbye respectfully and nicely? 

sunday sermon

The little things? The little moments?

They aren't little.

Jon Kabat-Zinn

Ladybug

cat saturday

Thomas adopted his person. He showed up one morning and refused to leave. He was a loner cat. He loved his person but no one else - especially other cats. Then one day about a year later he came for breakfast and brought a big orange tabby with him. Thomas's person couldn't turn away Thomas's only friend and named the "new" cat, MeO - like Me-Ow. Thomas and MeO remained best of friends to the end of their lives.

Best Friends

foto friday

Going back to the root goal of my photography - having my photos available to those who want them, I've decided to make Fridays a sharing day. I will provide a different photo each Friday that you can download and print for your personal use. The photo is in pdf form. You will need Adobe Reader to open the file. You can download Reader for free here. I'm new to this downloading stuff and am using dropbox to facilitate the transfer. If you have any problems downloading the photo, please let me know.

Llama

download 6x7-1/2 pdf here

inspired by...

...this cork wall. We're not allowed by our landlord to hang anything on the walls. I collect art and J is constantly creating her own artwork. Every while, she gets frustrated and tapes her art to the walls. I generally look the other way and leave them up, at least for a while. Sheets of cork may work for us. Strategically placing the cork against the wall and covering it with art could create one large piece of art. I've tried the same with thick foamcore, it works, but soon gets covered in holes. Cork may be the answer to our art woes...

devis-purdy house from Dwell Magazine

here

turquoise

It started with the red polka dotted Barbie dress. It just called for a turquoise background. I found the perfect color in card stock at Michael's. The red looked glorious in front of the turquoise. Unfortunately, the photos didn't really turn out well. The dress had arrived with a crease across the front of the skirt and the crease shows up too much in the photos. But the turquoise was so spectacular, I had to use it for something. Then I spotted the white Breyer pony I've had since I was a little girl. Perfect.

sunday sermon

Observe the wonders that occur around you.

Don't claim them. Feel the artistry

moving through and be silent.

Rumi

cat saturday

Mitzi

ooooh, barbie!

They came. Today. Barbie's wedding dresses! I ordered them through eBay a week or so ago. I have a photo shoot in mind for Barbie and Ken's wedding. The dresses are beautiful, exquisite. The red and white polka dotted dress is for a different shoot. It cries out for a turquoise background. I haven't decided which wedding dress I will use. Probably the one with the lacy skirt. The texture and color seem to capture better on camera. I'll decide when I have them on Barbie. Now which Barbie...

foto friday

Going back to the root goal of my photography - having my photos available to those who want them, I've decided to make Fridays a sharing day. I will provide a different photo each Friday that you can download and print for your personal use. The photo is in pdf form. You will need Adobe Reader to open the file. You can download Reader for free here. I'm new to this downloading stuff and am using dropbox to facilitate the transfer. If you have any problems downloading the photo, please let me know.

Pears & Apples

download 6x7-1/2 pdf here

meow

I drove my mother home today from her monthly week long visit. Round trip is 6 hours. A good part of it is freeway, but even the freeway is through picturesque land. Unfortunately, today I forgot to bring my camera. So I couldn't take a photograph of the gorgeous draft horses on HWY 116, or the ginormous herd of goats on 505, or the graffiti-ed train cars on I-5, or the varied power line towers strewn through the valley. I love the look of the towers. Some remind me of boys, others of geishas, and yet others of crocodiles. My favorites are the kitty cats.

Meow 

Richvale, California

Can you see the resemblance to a cat?

then and now

I needed some inspiration today. Couldn't come up with something exciting to blog about. I asked J what I should write about and she said "you." Well, that's not very exciting. So instead I decided to write a post about her.

I've been thinking a lot about the ocean lately. We went to the Sonoma Coast for a couple of days last week, but I want more. J loves the beach, as well. She hated it when she was a baby and toddler - too much noise, wind, and the waves were too much for her. I was devastated that my daughter didn't love the ocean as much as I did. Through the years, I've brought her with me, letting her stay in the car if she preferred. When she was about 3 or 4, suddenly the love of the ocean clicked in. Now she loves it as much as I do. Yay!

then - January 2006 - and now - August 2012

animals

Love the stunning animal portraits by Morten Koldby...

feathers

I've been thinking about feathers a lot today. I love feathers. Wherever I go, I collect them. J picks them up for me and brings them home to me, also. We have quite a collection. There is a jar of feathers that sits on the shelf above my computer. They are not only beautiful but inspirational. They remind me of writing - of a time when people wrote with quill and ink - and through writing, connection. Feathers speak to my soul. I even had a dream once where the man who loved me - really loved me - planted a garden of feathers to tell me so.

They have been filling my mind today. I have been thinking about hope - that thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and of flying away. I created a photo of feathers - mostly blue jay and magpie with a few others - to remind me of this feeling...holding on to hope.

Here are a few favorite quotes about feathers...

Birds of a feather flock together.

Proverb

It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds.

Aesop

What is the jay more precious than the lark

because his feathers are more beautiful.

William Shakespeare

He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust

his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

Psalms 91:4

Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul, 

and sings the tune without words, and never stops at all.

Emily Dickinson

And last, just for fun...

Chicken one day, feathers the next.

sunday sermon

The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, 

flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. 

Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, 

certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life.

Robert Louis Stevenson

cat saturday

Louie

foto friday

In celebration of two glorious days at the beach, the photo available today is from Salmon Creek along the Sonoma County coastline in Northern California.

Going back to the root goal of my photography - having my photos available to those who want them, I've decided to make Fridays a sharing day. I will provide a different photo each Friday that you can download and print for your personal use. The photo is in pdf form. You will need Adobe Reader to open the file. You can download Reader for free here. I'm new to this downloading stuff and am using dropbox to facilitate the transfer. If you have any problems downloading the photo, please let me know.

Salmon Creek

download 6x9 pdf here

off

J and I are headed to Petaluma for a couple of days - to visit Grandma, to visit the fair and carnival, to visit the ocean. We both love seeing Grandma, of course. The fair and carnival is for J. When the fair came to our town, I was in the hospital with pneumonia and couldn't take her. So, I promised to take her to the Sonoma County Fair when it came around. The ocean is for me. Well, J loves it, too. But I need it! We'll probably go to Salmon Creek, maybe Goat Rock. I don't know. Maybe every beach along the Sonoma Coast!

Here are some photos of Salmon Creek. Taken the day after Christmas last year.

BTW - there won't be any posts on Wednesday and Thursday. I won't have my computer. Be back Friday with a free foto...

just a toe in

I dipped my toe into the pool of dating again. I don't know what I was thinking. Last time I jumped in and found myself beaten and bitten by sharks. It was painful. I retreated back into my simple life, swearing I'd never put myself in that position again. Now, I'm stronger and wiser. I thought I was in a better place. And who wants to be alone ALL THE TIME. Well, not all the time. You know what I mean. So I dipped my toe in...and got it stomped on. Not once, but twice. My ego is bruised. I just don't fit in. Why is it so hard to find a man who is respectful and kind. I'm respectful and kind - well, I have my moments. Why choose to be mean when you can so easily be nice? So it's back to my simple - and single - life.

Barbie & Ken - Dating

tarot

...I open my arms to embrace the wind that has captured my soul...

From Isha Lerner free Triple Goddess card reading.