Sauntering at a Seasonal Lake

Last week I joined Senior Saunters again (I wrote about them here); this time we went to Tolay Lake Regional Park. This is a park that has been open to the public for about ten years now; before that it was only open for the fall festival on two weekends in October of every year, but otherwise the public didn't have access. I have to admit that I hadn't been there since the opening to the public because it is a bit of a trek there. But this time, two friends of mine, who hadn't been there either, and I carpooled down there.

First of all, there was no lake, despite its name. Well, let me rephrase that, there was no lake now. It's a seasonal lake, the season being winter of course, but since we had such a dry March without a single day of rain, the lake was mostly gone. It was still pretty "marshy" and there were a few "canals", but that was pretty much it. However, I think if you're there early in the morning you will see a lot of birds. We saw mainly Red-winged Blackbirds and Violet-green Swallows.

And guess what? There were also dead trees - hurray!

We sauntered along this trail. It's a lovely park, but it almost completely lacks any shade. Last week was perfect weather for our walk, on the cooler side with a rather chilly wind.

There was a lot of teasel by the side of the trail. I love teasel and I couldn't help it, I took tons of pictures of it.

The trees in the background I found rather attractive. I love solitary trees.

We had just passed them and were walking a little bit farther when we saw at the foot of the hill two coyotes. They were too far away for taking pictures, and we simply enjoyed standing there and watching them until they slowly moved away. They certainly weren't in any rush. This was the second time this year that we saw coyotes during our sauntering.

Eventually, we turned around and walked back to the parking lot. I noticed the cows looking for shade under the tree to the left. I hadn't seen them when we came up that way. There are some parks in our county where cows are grazing - another way of wildfire mitigation. They're not quite as ferocious eaters as goats who, beside sheep, are also kept in the parks and other wooded areas for the same purpose.

Collage Papers

 

The last couple of weeks have not been very productive in regards to creativity. But at least I was motivated enough to make some more "collage fodder" - paper. All I needed was a few pages from an old book, some acrylic paints and a handful of stencils.

I spread the paint on the book pages and after they had dried, I added more paint through stencils. 

Gold, silver and white look great on a background painted with Payne's Gray. For the page on the left, I mixed gold and Titan Buff which creates this beautiful muted color. Here's a close-up:

The same mixture I used on the red background.

Of course I had to use my favorite stencil. Here I mixed light portrait pink with titanium white for the stencil color.

All these papers will eventually been torn up and used in some pieces of collage. This is a great way to use up leftover paint - just spread it on a book page (or any kind of paper) and add a little bit more - stencil patterns, marks, stamps, whatever you like - and you have some material for a future piece of art.

This is for Nicole's Sunday in the Art Room.

First Wildflower Walk

 

Two weeks ago a couple friends and I went on a hike in nearby Foothill Regional Park, hoping to see some wildflowers. It was a glorious day - sunny but not hot, perfect for a walk.

This park has a good amount of dead and crooked trees, and you know how much I love these.

It didn't take long until we saw the first tiny wildflowers - Mediterranean Stork's Bill. As the name implies, it's not a native.

Foothill has a few ponds and after a short climb we arrived at the first one.

The unique call of the Red-winged Blackbird was easily heard all around the pond, accompanied by the deep bass of a bullfrog.

We took a shady trail around the second pond where again I was happy to see more dead and crooked trees.

The views of the pond were beautiful.

In October and November 2019, Foothill Park badly burned in the Kincade Fire, a wildfire that caused widespread evacuations throughout Sonoma County and was the largest of the 2019 California wildfire season. There are still numerous burnt trees in the park that now offer a wonderful habitat for all kinds of birds. I've seldom seen so many Acorn Woodpeckers in one place. It is amazing how nature comes back after a natural disaster if we don't mingle and clean everything up.

The Western Fence Lizard certainly felt at home here.

Can you find the turtle?

Hairy Vetch was almost everywhere - it's not a native plant either. It is used as a cover crop and I guess at one time it "escaped" and did its own happy thing, spreading all over the county and beyond. Even though it can be quite invasive, I really like it.

Finally we came upon this meadow of Sky Lupines, a California native. These are my favorite lupines.

Pairing them with our California Poppy is simply fabulous. It was still a bit early for the poppies.

We found a lovely bench under a tree where we stopped and had a little snack while listening to the Red-winged Blackbirds and the bullfrog.

A last view before we returned to the car - it won't stay that green for very much longer.

Here is an AI watercolor rendering of my two friends, so perfectly framed by a tree branch. This is for Nicole's Friday Face Off.

Some of you asked about this app. I have a Google Pixel 6a smartphone that I bought because of its excellent camera. When Google introduced its own AI, Gemini, it became available for the photo app as well, and that is what I use.

A Beacon in the Night

 

Barnegat Light, NJ

Lighthouses have always held a magical fascination for me. A lonely, firm post on a rugged shore, they send their lights out to the souls on the dark oceans. Their beacon of bright light can be seen as a sign of hope or just as a light source that shortly brightens the darkness - here it comes, there it goes, and here is comes again.

When I was a child of six and seven years old, my family spent the summer vacation in Denmark, in a small summerhouse amidst the dunes in Jutland. The sandy beaches were incredibly wide and seemed to be endless. One of my fondest memories is walking along the beach with my parents and older brother at twilight and seeing Rubjerg Knude lighthouse further up the coast, sending its white beacon across the North Sea, again and again in its steady rhythm. I felt the comfort of my family and since then I've always associated lighthouses with safety - not only for the ships out on the oceans of the world, but a safe haven for my emotions as well.

Of course there is also the solitude of a lighthouse, its tall lone standing. I have often dreamed about what it would be like to live in a lighthouse. I imagined a big light room with white washed walls. A desk would be in front of a window from which I could see the open sea and just a little bit of shoreline. A vase with yellow and orange flowers would sit on the desk. Here I would sit and write novels all day and live my solitary writer's life. So romantic.

Dreams... my life has turned out very differently. But I live close to one of the most beautiful coastlines that gives many lighthouses a home - places you can visit and learn about lighthouse keepers and horrendous ship accidents. Seeing those lighthouses still give me that feeling of having reached a safe haven - where my dreams continue to live and delight me.

(first written for Vision and Verb almost exactly 15 years ago)

AI Watercolor: Home Sweet Home

 

Exploring the AI feature in my photo app has become a bit addictive, especially the watercolor feature. I spent quite a bit of time playing with it. All my photos in my phone are organized in folders so I can find a specific photo easily. Yesterday I chose photos from the "home sweet home" folder.

The view out of the kitchen window is very accurate.

The "Good vibes" neon sign turns on in the early morning and in the evening. We have a few of such signs in our windows - the Geek found them.

The pantry - just open IKEA shelves in our breakfast nook.

I had to laugh what AI did with one of our book shelves. Do you see the little dragon in the left picture? Well, we don't have a dragon sitting there - there is a piece of the Berlin Wall. Obviously, the dragon is way more fun. Now I wish we had a little guy like that.

Some pictures from the garden. I love how all the colors are so well coordinated in this top image. They are coordinated in the original photo as well, but not quite as well.

These are some shells and rocks I found at the beach. The dry seaweed turned into these colorful scrolls.

My collection of garden lights and terracotta birds.

Another collection - this time empty bottles of different shapes - at sunset.

I love the Moroccan lights on our porch, a present from a former neighbor in our old neighborhood. They were part of her wedding decoration.

I'm sharing with Nicole's Sunday in the Art Room.