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.

Let Me Take You on a Walk

Autumn is such a beautiful time to take walks in the middle of the day. The summer heat is just a distant memory, the light of the sun is warm and soft - a perfect time to go outside and walk the neighborhood. I love to see how the gardens are changing in the seasons and what people put in their front yards. Of course, I'm also always looking for inspiration.

There are stunning fall decorations everywhere, be it a gorgeous porch or just a single pumpkin in a birdbath.

Every time I find some new bird houses, either in someone's front yard or tucked away in a tree.

Front yards are always an inspiration for me. I like to see what other people put in their yards, what kind of plants (I'm not fond of lawns), whether there are places to relax and how do they decorate? Is there something I would like to have in my yard?

I certainly like this bird bath a lot.

This little guy looks so cheerful! I actually expected him to start swinging his legs!

I love to see gates leading to the back gardens. Some of them have the air of a fairy tale about them and you wonder what is behind the gate.

Rain or shine, autumn is always full of surprises and colors.

My garden is still beautiful. The gaillardia doesn't look like it will stop blooming anytime soon. The Chinese Pistache has been spectacular this fall. The first two years its leaves turned to a lovely yellow and orange, but this years the color palette included a rich and warm red that was simply stunning.

I hope all of you in the Northern Hemisphere are experiencing a beautiful and memorable autumn.

Have you seen any fences in this post? Yes? Let's link to Theresa's Good Fences then!

Sunday Gratitude

Easter Sunday is such a great day to give some thanks, don't you think?

First of all I hope all of you have had a wonderful Easter Sunday. Ours was quiet but very nice. It was quite telling that in our drought ridden county it was raining today!! It is not raining for weeks and months, but on Easter Sunday the skies are opening up with a wonderful downpour. I enjoyed it, but I can imagine the disappointment of many children who were looking forward to an Easter egg hunt. It was clearing up in the afternoon, so there was still enough opportunity for that!

Kaefer and I baked some bunny buns (we found the recipe on Pinterest). While they didn't turn out like the ones in the recipe they were still delicious. Many of our bunnies didn't resemble bunnies but looked more like cats or even little hippos! Kaefer and I had fun baking together nevertheless and even made fun about the weird shapes our "bunnies" decided to take. I love to spend time with my girl this way.

Our week was rather uneventful. Kaefer was back to school, the Geek back to work and I tried to find my old routine again which is always difficult on the very first day. I have to admit that I get a bit tired with routine and I want to shake it up a little bit. Thankfully I can do this since my work - the shop - allows me to do exactly this. Usually I go to Jazzercise in the morning, but after having done this for more than five years I feel a bit exhausted with that. I still will go to Jazzercise - I need it, plain and simple -, but I will not do it five days a week anymore if I don't feel like it. A good brisk walk does wonders, too, and it's outside which I prefer so much more anyway. This week I walked around my lake again, but since I wanted it to be a brisk walk I decided not to take my camera with me, otherwise I would have stopped all the time and take pictures. I also knew that the birds weren't there but at the smaller lake, so I thought I was safe. Well, of course, I was walking just ten minutes when the first deer hopped into my way, then another. A little bit later I discovered a black-crowned night heron (so they are back now) and when I was almost around the lake I saw another one. Murphy's Law I guess. However, even though I stopped for a short while to watch the animals and birds I got my brisk walk and was quite sweaty when I reached the car. When I was starting to drive out of the parking lot I saw a coyote running across the picnic area - what a sight! I drove around the one-way road and back into the parking lot, got out of the car again and watched the coyote who by now was on the other side of the dried up creek and walking up the slope of the hill. I could watch him/her for quite some time until s/he disappeared among the trees. How wonderful! What a lovely start into the day! Kaefer was the wise one who told me that if I had my camera with me I probably would have taken so much longer walking around the lake that I wouldn't have seen the coyote at all. So it was a good thing that I didn't have it with me. Smart girl!

So here's a picture of a coyote that I took in 2008 in Yellowstone National Park.

Our "neighborhood" coyote is still around - I heard him or her again last night. S/he seems to be gone for several days up to two weeks, and then we suddenly hear the howling. It's kind of a sad sound I think and utterly lonely. I'm glad that s/he is still around.

There was a lunar eclipse in the very early hours of Saturday. We got up at 4:45 am to watch it, and it was so worth it. These nature events make me feel very small and completely in awe of our entire universe.

I wish you a wonderful new week with many opportunities to be grateful.

A Beautiful Walk in the Morning

A couple weeks ago Kaefer had an early Saturday morning singing during a choral festival at the local university. It was a beautiful morning, the sun was just starting to rise, and I decided to take a walk in the nearby regional park.

This little bird greeted me when I arrived. The sun had just crept over the hills, the light was golden and warm. The park is nestled in a hilly area among several vineyards.

There is an abundance of trails in the park, each of them offering gorgeous views over wine country. I opted for the Poppy Trail into the park and then the Fiddleneck Trail for my way back to the parking lot.

Since it was that early I had the place almost entirely to myself. I met only one or two other people while I was walking here. The park is full of beautifully shaped trees.

There were many wildflowers as well. This is one of my most beloved ones - when it is done blooming it gets a beautiful puffy seed head and looks like it belongs to some kind of fairy land. Unfortunately I don't know the name of it, but if you do, please let me know.

The air was filled with bird song, it was lovely. The most dominant was the very distinguished call of the red-winged blackbird. It's such a beautiful bird.

The Canada geese decided to hang out in the old trees.

And of course there were fences - and you know who likes fences, right?

Many of the fence posts had big holes in them which made for some lovely shots.

When I was ready to leave the park and pick up Kaefer again, the dog walkers had arrived.

This early morning walk in nature - just me, the birds, the flowers and the trees - was just the right thing to do. It was relaxing and gave me energy for the rest of the day.

Spring Break (Photo of the Week)

We had spring break last week, and although we spent the time at home, it was very relaxing. The Geek took the week off as well and we had some really good time together. None of us sat at the computer very much which was a wonderful change.

The Geek and I took a lovely walk at our laguna where there are old trees in the vineyards on the way to the water.

The hawks were circling over this area, but they were quite far off to capture them on camera.

Kaefer had one project to do for school, and for this we had to go to the beach at sunset. The first time we went the sun was pretty absent... it was very windy and cold, and we didn't stay long.

The problem is that we can never tell what the weather is like at the ocean when we're still home. Only a few miles closer to the coast everything can change and you go from sunny and warm to foggy and cold.

We spent a day in San Francisco to see the famous Terracotta warriors of China's first emperor. I had seen them years ago in Hildesheim, Germany, but it was just as  fascinating as back then. If you ever have the chance to see them, go. You won't regret it.

Photo of the Week

The exhibition displays eight of the warriors and two horses - out of a complete army. It's unbelievable to imagine this work at 200 BC! It was more than inspiring.

We actually looked at all the exhibitions at the Asian Art Museum - it really makes you tired after a certain time. So we thought it would be nice to have a good meal and went to Suppenküche, a German restaurant in the city, and had a wonderful cooling glass of beer (Hefeweizen).

Gosh, that was good. The food was fabulous as well and very authentic. We sure weren't there for the last time. The restaurant is relatively small and reminds me of a German Bierstube. You sit at big wooden tables, and if all the tables are occupied you will share it with strangers, just scoop together and leave more space for other people (NOT for a romantic dinner!). This is the way we do it in Germany in many places, and you can actually make wonderful friends this way. If you have ever been to a German Biergarten you know what I'm talking about!

After a day of rain we tried the beach again for Kaefer's project. We first had a bowl of clam chowder at our favorite restaurant in Bodega Bay, the Sandpiper, and found out that they are under new management, and I'm not quite sure that this change did the restaurant any good. We will see. At the beach it was windy and cold again, but there was the sun and we could actually enjoy a beautiful sunset.

While Kaefer was working on her project and the Geek was helping her, I took pictures - what else?

Since the weather was so nice (except for the one day of rain, but I actually liked that since we still need quite some more rain) I worked in the garden - I laid a new path in the flower beds in front of the house, planted some more flowers and got my olive tree, that had lived in a pot, into the ground. It is often hard physical work, but envisioning my garden kept me doing it - a good thing.

waiting to get into the ground

And yes, there was also some resting, reading and just relaxing - it was time to get out the hammock!

It was a wonderful week, spent with my family and sometimes a few friends. I am quite surprised how relaxing it was and how good I feel right now.

I hope all of you are doing well and can enjoy some spring if you're in the Northern hemisphere.