An Image and Its Story - December 2019

Before we left for New York I was thinking about what kind of photos I wanted to take. I was pretty sure that I could easily skip images of buildings - firstly, I had taken tons of those back in 1997, but more so that there are so many much more interesting photos of New York's buildings that the world really doesn't need mine as well. However, what DID I want to photograph? I found myself looking for street lights, bridges, fences, stairs, interesting architecture like the Vessel. I also knew from my earlier visit that I liked the benches in Central Park and I wanted to take pictures of them - and one of those turned out to be the image of the month.

I'm often drawn to curved and round shapes, which is probably the reason why I like these benches. I knew that I wanted to take photos of them with the focus on the circular armrest. Isn't it wonderful how you can see through them like through a - very light - tunnel? How the eye is drawn further into the image? It gives subtle direction while your eyes can rest at the same time. It's a bench after all - for rest.

This is my last "An Image and Its Story" - after two years I think it is time to put it to rest (I guess I have a "rest" theme going on here). It was always enjoyable to look for the monthly photo that would make the cut and tell the story behind it. Thank you for following along.

An Image and Its Story - November 2019

I am a day late for last month's "An Image and Its Story" - this is what a Thanksgiving weekend does to you. I guess you can relate.

I was almost finished with my morning walk around the lake and on my way to my car when I came upon these two. The moment I stepped off the trail out of the woods I had seen them, but since from that perspective they were only silhouettes against the sun I wasn't quite sure what exactly the second "person" was - yes, I had first thought it was another human being (and I wasn't the only one - a lady who came towards us while I was taking the picture told us that she had first thought the woman was sitting there with her boyfriend!). The closer I got and changed my position to the sun I could finally see the dog and had to chuckle inwardly. But then immediately the photographer kicked in and I thought what a great photo this would make, so I asked the woman whether I can take her picture from the back with the dog by her side. She readily agreed. Unfortunately the dog didn't look straight over the lake like its owner but turned its head because there was another dog approaching (with the "boyfriend"-lady). However, when I saw the photo I thought no matter what, it was sweet and I just loved this moment of a human-dog friendship. There was so much tenderness and love between the two - this picture easily made November's image.

An Image and Its Story - October 2019

Before I go on to my photo I want to let you know that the Kincade fire is 70% contained. Almost all of the 190.000 people who have been evacuated have returned to their homes. Power has been restored, but some homes are still without gas. Almost 200 residences have been lost in the fire and many more structures destroyed. My heart breaks for those who have lost their home - while this is on a much much lower scale than back in 2017 when we lost over 5000 homes in Santa Rosa alone, it is awful for the people who did lose theirs.

Once again our community came together to help and support. The warnings this time came early and in an orderly manner - evacuating so many people within 24 hours is not a small feat. Our law enforcement did an excellent job - and the 5000 firefighters who helped containing this very large wildfire (more than 77,000 acres) and put their lives on the line are simply amazing and deserve all our gratitude.

A few days before this stressful week I came home from my grocery shopping. I had parked the car in the garage and wanted to take the bags out of the trunk when I saw this guy right across the street from my house. He was lying there at the edge of the driveway in the woods, relaxing in the sun. He stared at me, but never tried to run away even when I was crossing the street to get a closer look with my camera. Maybe he thought "ah, that's the lady with the wonderful salad buffet" (= my front garden) and knew that I didn't pose any threat to him.

About ten minutes later my neighbor drove up this driveway in his pick up truck and stopped when he saw the buck on his property. Even then, the buck didn't move a muscle - as if he knew that we would never harm him. His message was clear; "this is my place".

And rightfully so.

An Image and Its Story - September 2019

September flew by in a rush. We still have a lot of new textbooks to process in the high school library and have to deal with the "regular" tasks a busy library brings with it. The German School has started again; I have a bigger class than last year, and I enjoy all of my students.

We had some pretty hot days in September when temperatures climbed up to 105° F - too hot for me. Fortunately that happened during my days off and I could spend my time at the coast where it is considerably cooler. I went up to Gualala again, had a lovely long walk along the Gualala Point Bluff Trail followed by a mug of delicious mocha in a little café on the cliffs. On my way back I stopped many times along Highway 1 to take photos and just enjoy the views over the vast ocean and the steep cliffs.

The pampas grass is found everywhere along the coast where it grows on the steep cliffs. It is rather invasive and unfortunately crowds out native species, thus lowering the biodiversity. However, I still like the looks of it in fall when it is tall and shimmers in the sunlight - simply gorgeous when back lit!

This is one of my favorite stretches of Highway 1, between Bodega Bay and Fort Ross. The road - that is not very wide I have to add - hugs the steep hills that fall into the ocean, with sharp bends and curves as well as steep climbs. You can see a small part of it to the left side of the photo. It is a very popular road with tourists which is no surprise, but also brings its own problems - the most apparent one inexperience in driving roads like this, especially in a RV. However, up here north of the Golden Gate we don't get as many tourists as for example in Big Sur further south, and I'm thankful for that. There still is a lot of untouched nature to be found, and every time I drive along here I feel blessed and grateful to live in such a wonderful part of our planet. The cliffs, the rocks, the ocean, the sheer wildness of it all truly appeals to me.

An Image and Its Story - August 2019

Oh August, where have you gone? Did you even happen?

August was busy busy busy with work. There was so much to do in the high school library that I worked a lot of extra hours and I even might work some in September. We got thousands of new textbooks that needed to be processed. Usually that is work I enjoy, but if it is too much the joy is sucked out of it. My body was exhausted every evening when I came home whereas my mind was restless and full of ideas that didn't find any outlet.

On top of this I was summoned for jury duty. It was the first time that I was actually called to court. I dreaded it since I had heard so many unpleasant stories about jury duty, but to my surprise I found these two days in the courtroom fascinating and interesting, and was disappointed that my number never got called. I would have loved to sit on this jury!

And - as it seems to be the case when I am busy anyway - I got a huge order in through my Etsy store that I hope to finish today and ship on Tuesday. Thus August was a busy month that didn't leave much opportunity to doing the things I really love - like walking around the lake and photographing which made it difficult to choose a photo for this post.

Kaefer came home for two weekends - one of them we spent hiking on a nearby mountain and the other we went to the ocean. That's where I took the photo for August.

This is our go-to beach, just off Highway 1 at the mouth of the Russian River. As you can see it was a foggy day. This is so typical for our area. Usually - since this is California - people think the sun shines all the time and it is hot, but really this is what one imagines about Southern California. However, this is Northern California, north of the Golden Gate, which is a completely different story weather wise. We're closer to the Pacific Northwest than to the heat of Southern California.

Here's a little story: two of my friends wanted to go to the beach with their kids. One has lived here all her life, the other had just moved up here from Orange County in Southern California. The NorCal woman was dressed for a cool day with windbreaker, long pants, a headband or even a warm hat. The SoCal woman was in her bikini and a thin t-shirt, ready to soak up the sun. While you're inland you might have the impression it is a hot day (which it probably is), but when you reach the ocean more often than not you realize that the weather once again fooled you. The temperature drops by 20 degrees, there can be a stiff breeze and the marine layer rolls over the beach and the cliffs. The ocean is freezing cold. Guess who of the two women was dressed appropriately?

Often we have that fog inland as well and sometimes it doesn't burn off until noon. Our nights are always cool - perfect sleep weather. This weather pattern is one of the things that I truly love about where I live. While I do appreciate clear days at the ocean - much better for whale watching - I love when the cliffs are shrouded in mist and the scenery has a mysterious quality.

An Image and Its Story - July 2019

My garden is mostly a low water garden with many native and drought tolerant plants. I'm also not a particular friend of dahlias. Dahlias need water and can be quite finicky. Not seldom their leaves attract powdery mildew, and often their tubular roots need to be uprooted for the winter (fortunately not in our climate).

So why is the image of a dahlia my chosen photo for the month of July?

Because there are dahlias that are so beautiful that I just can't resist them. These are dahlias with dark red or even black leaves with simple blooms consisting of eight petals and a dark center. They are hybrids with names that all start with "mystic". They are true eye candy and if they are not set in the full sun their water needs are only moderate. Their flowers are spectacular and beautiful bright color spots in the garden.

What is not to love?

I certainly love these dahlias, that don't demand all the attention. They have been coming back faithfully after the winter and delighted me with their happy colors. While they are not part of the pollinator garden, they play their beautiful role in the shadier parts of the garden that need some brilliant color.

An Image and Its Story - June 2019

No, this is not a photo for a wine ad!

Summer for me is the time to drink rosé wine. It is something I already did in Germany for many years and then had to stop when we moved to the US because there wasn't any decent rosé wine available. Everything you got was too sweet or didn't taste at all.

But this has changed over the recent years, and especially the rosé wine produced here in Sonoma County is excellent - dry and flavorful. Many of them are made from Pinot Noir grapes or Sangiovese; there is also quite a selection of Zinfandel grapes (which is my favorite red wine). I also still love many French rosés as well as the organic ones from Germany. We are lucky to have an excellent wine shop in town that has a huge selection of rosé wines.

I bought several bottles to try the different wines. I unloaded them on my kitchen table and thought how beautiful these bottles looked. I grabbed my phone (yes, not the big camera), brought the bottles outside, arranged them, poured myself a glass and took several pictures. And then I got to work. I have a new phone with a great camera (it's a Pixel phone and I love it) that has several modes for taking pictures and also some very cool processing modes. This one with just the gray and the pop of the rosé color appealed to me. I processed it further in Lightroom until I was happy with the image. It was easy to pick it as my June image.

Cheers! (or "Prost!" as we say in Germany)

An Image and Its Story: May 2019

Since I have joined The 100 Day Project I have mainly shot pictures for my theme "100 days in my garden" throughout the month and not much else. May is also the month of high school madness due to the end of the school year and the high amount of work in the school library. Ergo - not much else was going on in regards to photography. No wonder then that my chosen photo - actually two of them that I collaged into one image - is from the garden, but also connected to work. Both were taken on the very last day of the month.

Friday was the last day of school which meant we had a steady flow of students wanting to return their books, paying overdue fines and getting clearance slips for their graduation ceremony in the evening. I opened up earlier in the morning than usual and the first time I could actually sit down for a couple of minutes was almost four hours later. When I finally got home another four hours later I was totally wiped out, my feet and hips hurt and the only thing I was able to do was lying down on the sofa and within minutes I was fast asleep. Oh, the bliss of a good nap! It was early evening by then, the Geek came home from his work and we just had a lovely quiet hour outside in the garden, sipping a glass of rosé and reading - a book I had brought home form the library that was just returned a couple days before. It was pure bliss and the perfect start in the weekend.

I have a few more days at work until my long summer break - almost eight weeks! - will begin. There is always work for the German School to be done during the summer, but it is far calmer and slower than the end (and beginning) of the high school year.

An Image and Its Story - April 2019

There weren't too many photos in April. I mainly took photos in my garden for the "100 day project" that I'm doing on Instagram. Apart from that my camera wasn't put to work very much. But when I looked through those garden photos to find the photo for the month of April I quickly decided on this one. I gave it a bit of an "older" feel but that was pretty much all the processing I did.

My garden has a lot of plants and flowers, but I also love to put decorative elements in it. These angels were bought several years apart form each other and I think they make a great pair. The small wooden bench I found in a thrift store - the perfect place for the chubby angels to lounge. They're sitting at the base of a Japanese maple and are surrounded by peonies, Japanese anemones and heuchera. This is a corner in my garden that gets morning light but then slowly shade takes over. It's a bit mysterious with lush foliage and stunning blooms. This is exactly the mood I wanted to create. It took a few years to get there and it's still a work in progress. A garden always is.

An Image and Its Story - March 2019

March was full of photos, most of them taken during our trip to Arizona. My chosen photo of the month is from the last day of that trip, when we were already back in Northern California on our way to cross the Sierra Nevada near Tahoe. This is not a very good photo - shot with my phone out of a driving car in bad light - but still, I had to. Do you see why I shot this photo?

Of course it's because of the coyote. These animals keep a special spot in my heart, they are my spirit animal and I just like their cleverness, sassyness, resilience and admire their incredible ability to adapt to all kinds of surroundings and environments.

The Navajo refer to the coyote as "God's dog"  and coyote appears in Native American legends as an evasive and puzzling character, playing the multiple roles of fool, trickster and demi-god. When Kaefer was a little girl, one of our favorite books was Harriet Peck Taylor's "Coyote and the Laughing Butterflies". Coyotes have outstanding survival skills and you can find them in almost any environment - deserts, forests, prairies, mountains and cities (I probably forgot a few). There are many people who outright hate them, but I love and respect them. They are wild animals trying to survive in an often hostile environment.

An Image and Its Story - February 2019

The shortest month of the year, still, I shot a good amount of photos in relation to the length of the month. The photo that made the cut for February isn't my best or even favorite image, but it summarizes the month perfectly.

Usually I'm more than grateful when it rains because I know that it fills up our reservoirs and gets us safely through the year water wise. But this month just was a bit too much. The "last drop" (pun intended) was the past week's deluge that caused havoc in so many communities along the river. It is still raining (after a two day break) and the forecast promises more rain is on the way.

I'm done with it. Too much of even a good thing is just that - too much.

Still - I feel guilty writing these words since it's not been that long ago that we were in a terrible drought and were waiting for rain that didn't come. It feels wrong not to be thankful, but it is very difficult to feel gratitude when you see the severe damage this flood has caused for so many people. The thankfulness carries a bitter tone with it, but I hope in the end it will survive all the bitterness.

An Image and Its Story - January 2019

I had debated with myself whether to continue "An Image and Its Story" in 2019 or not, and then decided to go ahead. Looking back at the photos I took during the previous month always makes me aware of how much (or not) I went out with my camera or just the phone. I can recall walks, events, sunsets, anything that I thought was worth a photo. It's also easy to see whether it was a good month or weeks of stress and discontentment. January was so-so - lovely days with my daughter in the first week and after that work rushed in full power and kept me busy throughout the month.

But I was still able to find time for walks, and what better place in the rainy season than to walk around the lake. Usually I meet up once a week with my friend Lyz, we walk and talk around the lake and then stop at "our" bench along the Fisherman's Trail where we sit, sometimes for hours, talking, looking out over the lake, listening to the birds and occasionally we even spot an otter or two. It's a special place for both of us where we can take a break and breathe. She lost her home in the October firestorm in 2017, has moved four times since then and struggles with insurance, contractors and builders to finally get their home rebuilt. It's a long and agonizing process.

The view in the photo appears pretty early in our walk and is one that never ceases to delight me. I have a weak spot for crooked trees anyway and fortunately for me, there are several at the lake or in the vicinity of it. Whenever I am here I feel grateful to have this special place so close to my home.

An Image and Its Story - November 2018

When it comes to taking photos, November pretty much didn't happen. For almost two weeks I couldn't get out of the house (except for short grocery shopping trips and driving to work) because of the bad air quality, and when I did I certainly wasn't in the mood spending much time taking photos (try holding a camera in front of your eyes without pushing the filtered mask you're wearing deeper into your face all the time...). On top of that I was very busy in both my jobs and my small business that everything that was not somehow connected to these was simply left undone.

But then it was Thanksgiving and that meant driving to Davis to pick up Kaefer (and dropping her off again a few days later). That's when the photos happened! The drive to Davis was during the first rain when the air finally started to improve. I couldn't resist stopping my car and getting out to photograph those fog covered vineyards in the Napa Valley; and on the Sunday, it was sunny and clear and again, I stopped in Napa Valley to capture the vineyard right before the sunset.

The grapes in the foreground were already in the shade of the mountains, but the colors were so beautiful and vibrant. Whenever I passed this particular vineyard I always loved the look of the rows of grapes with the wind machines in between. Quite handily there's a small bay by the road where I could stop safely without blocking other traffic. The wind machines are used to blow warmer air from above into the grapes when there is frost - yes, we do have frost here. Frost for grapes is bad - that's why there are so many wind machines in our vineyards. I find them quite picturesque.

We may not have the spectacular autumn colors of trees like in New England, but our vineyards make up for that big time. Depending on the grape you can find all shades from light yellow to a deep burgundy red. It is a brilliant show that I enjoy every year.

An Image and Its Story - October 2018

October was a busy month at work, especially at the German School where I felt like constantly putting out fires. Pretty exhausting, to be honest, but also good when you see that problems get solved. I am also very lucky to work with a wonderful team there.

But photography was again pushed to the back burner. I took a few photos in the garden and on my walks, but nothing that I thought worth for this post. But one day when I came home in the late afternoon I noticed how beautifully my favorite tree in our street was turning its leaves.

This tree is a Chinese Pistache (Pistacia chinensis), a widely used street tree. It is deciduous, but before it loses all its leaves, it turns into the most brilliant shades of yellow, orange and red. It is a true stunner. I planted one in my own garden a few years ago simply because of its gorgeous color (my tree, however, is far from being such a beautiful mature tree like the one in the photo even though it already displays fiery colors). Every autumn I am in awe of this tree - the colors, the shape, the trunk. When the sun is deep in the sky, the colors are intense.

The show lasts only a few weeks, but oh! what a show!

An Image and Its Story - September 2018

The Point Reyes ship wreck has been on my "things to photograph"-list for a while, and a few weeks ago I finally got to check it off.

This ship wreck is in Tomales Bay, behind a general store in Inverness on Point Reyes. You can't see it from the road, you really have to know where it is. Thanks to Google I found the actual location on the satellite map (a feature I use very often).

We arrived there before noon when the ship wreck was in full sun. We thought the entire scene looked very dull and flat and didn't bother to take a single picture. It was disappointing - and so we moved on to our hikes and a wonderful enjoyable day at the beach.

We came back in the late afternoon when the sun was much closer to the horizon and Inverness had dipped into the shade. Nevertheless, we stopped at the general store again and walked over to the boat.

And wow! Only parts of the wreck were in the sun and the sky behind it was pretty dramatic. The water was quiet and reflected the old fisher boat. This was our moment.

An Image and Its Story - August 2018

August was the non-photography month. My work at the high school library started again, and as always at the beginning of a new school year it was chaotic and very very busy. I was running around like a chicken without a head (at least it felt like it), distributing heavy textbooks to 1600 students, loading said textbooks from the shelves onto carts, then scanning them and giving to the students. If I was lucky I could sit down for about ten minutes during the entire work day. No wonder I was utterly exhausted when I returned home in the late afternoon. Then I often had to do organisational work for the German School where I'm the lead teacher. On top of that I didn't sleep very well since so many things concerning work were running through my head.

So photography completely fell to the wayside.

However, I didn't mind very much since I knew that the busy first weeks of the school year would be over by the end of August and I would be back at my regular work schedule which gives me way more time. And so, on my first day off, I stepped out into my garden and noticed how beautiful my Autumn Joy was and that the bees were having a feast on the flowers. Looking closer I noticed a little butterfly among the busy bees, and it wasn't a Fiery Skipper that I had seen last year.

This one is a skipper as well, but I'm not sure whether it is a Sandhill Skipper or a Woodland Skipper. Both are common in the San Francisco Bay Area, and maybe someone can tell me which one it is. Just like all the skippers it was a bit jumpy and it took quite some photos to finally get one that is halfway decent. I do love those little skippers no matter what kind they are. They sure find a lot of food in my garden.

An Image and Its Story - July 2018

Even though I had taken so many pictures in July it was really easy to pick that one photo for this post. It reflects the friendliness and generosity we encountered with the Turkish people.

We had just spent the afternoon in Kaymakli Underground City in the Cappadocia area in central Anatolia. It was hot and we felt a light snack and some freshly pressed juice would be just the ticket. Then we saw this woman making gorgeous potato chip sticks. She cut an entire potato in a long spiral, then broiled it to turn it into a "potato spiral chip" on a stick. It was super delicious and just the right thing. She didn't speak much English, but was delighted that we had made the effort to learn a few words in Turkish.

I had forgotten to take a picture and came back when I saw her making one for another customer. I only wanted to photograph the display spiral chips, but she called at me and hold the stick up so that I could take a clear picture of it and her. It was such a lovely gesture - and so typical for the friendliness and generosity of this country's people. It has made this photo my very favorite one of our trip to Turkey.

An Image and Its Story - May 2018

Oh May - so many photos of flowers and plants in my garden. Every time I was out there I discovered something new that I had to take a photo of. It's a wonderful month in the garden.

And of course it's the time of the poppy. Not the California Poppy but the Papaver.

There was a time when I had an abundance of Papaver poppies in my garden. In fact, there were so many that they were smothering other flowers, taking away light and water. It had reached a point where I said "Enough" and pulled out the poppies as soon as they were gone. As a result I'm having less poppies in my garden this spring. These, however, do the "poppy thing" and pop with their brilliant red.

They always remind me of Germany. They are flowering a little bit later in the year than here in California due to a much harsher climate. But when they do it's breath taking. Fields and fields of green (grass), red (poppies) and blue (bachelor's buttons or cornflower) with the red playing the dominant role. I've loved them when I was a child and I still do. It's something I miss here - but then we have the fields of orange poppies in the spring which are stunning as well. They just don't carry all the memories the red poppies do.

Even the name is beautiful. We call this flower "Klatschmohn" for which I can't offer you an adequate translation. The dictionary says "poppy" which of course is correct, but it doesn't completely reflect this special name. It's just another one of those German words that are impossible to translate.

This particular poppy in the photo showed its beauty one morning when I did my first round of the day through the garden. A completely new flower, just having escaped its green shell/skin, not yet opened to the light. It will not take long until the bees will discover this new kid on the block and buzz around it.

An Image and Its Story - April 2018

April was a much better month in regards to taking photos with my big camera. We hiked in some of our regional parks and enjoyed the lovely spring weather. No surprise that my chosen photo is from one of these outings.

This picture represents so much about spring in Sonoma County that I love. After the winter rains everything has turned green. It's still a bit of time until the hills will turn brown (the Golden State...) although when it starts the transition happens fairly quickly. But right now it's still green and the California poppies dot the landscape with their happy color. There is water in the creeks and the trees break out with that wonderful fresh spring green. Birds are busy finding mates and building nests to raise their young. Every now and then a rabbit hops along the way.

This is spring in Northern California and I don't want to be anywhere else right now.

An Image and Its Story - March 2018

Looking through my photos that I took in March is pretty pathetic. Before this past week, actually the last four days of March, there isn't a single image I took with my "big" camera. Obviously I was too lazy or busy (or both) and completely lacked the inspiration for any halfway decent photography. In my defense I have to say that my work at the high school currently wears me out, and I'm not even there full time! By now we fully feel the aftermath of the October fires - which comes at no surprise when 10% of the school population has lost their homes. We deal with behavioral issues, lack of motivation, drug and other substance abuse. It drains our energy and everybody seems to be stressed out. I'm often just tired when I come home, take a nap and then start preparing for my Saturday German class. There isn't much left in terms of going out with my camera - even though I know that it probably would work wonders!

But - suddenly Kaefer was here for her spring break, and last Wednesday I went back with her to Davis and spent a few days with her. I took my camera with me and used it, too! Oh the joy!!!

However, the photo I have selected this time wasn't taken in Davis but yesterday evening - literally one of the last photos I took during the month of March.

What is this? you might ask. Is she that drunk?

I can assure you, I was not.

We are members of a nature preserve called Pepperwood which is located quite secluded in the hills of Sonoma County. It's one of the most beautiful locations in our area and not open to the public (hence the membership). We have been members since Kaefer did an internship here back in the summer of 2015. We enjoy informative talks, beautiful exhibitions, nature hikes - and wine. For almost every event they bring in a local winery, which is a win-win for both the winery and Pepperwood (I don't think we are the only ones who some time after each event visit those wineries and buy a couple bottles of the delicious wines).

Yesterday we were at the opening of an exhibition about the cradles and baskets of Native Americans, followed by a nature hike in the Preserve lead by a Native American couple (I will probably blog about that some time later). Of course there was a lot of talk about the wildfires and how important they are for nature, how Native Americans have always used fire as a tool and it therefore never got that destructive (until the white people took over with disastrous consequences). Right before sunset we all came together at the ridge for a Native American prayer and chant - to say that it was moving would be an understatement.

And then - there was wine and chocolate at the Dwight Center. The sun had set by then, the sky painted wild colors, and we were just setting our glasses on the crooked wall when I noticed a last ray of the sun reflected in a window of a lone farm house across the hill. It goes without saying that I simply had to take a few pictures of this.

This was the start of my spring break. No school until Saturday when I will return to teaching at the German School (which is the job I love anyway). On our way back home we witnessed an extraordinarily beautiful rise of the full moon - what a beautiful finale to a wonderful day.