After the Rain

I ventured out in a break from the heavy rains and winds we had today.

The water from the hills above us gets channeled down this stone lined gully that opens wider as it drops toward the sea. 

Near sunset the clouds parted briefly then rumbled together in greater darkness.

                            Capturing colors in rain or shine...a large abalone shell 

          

 The low today was only 41 degrees...nothing to winter toughies...but I suppose it is all what you are use to...and when the trees are dripping on me and the wind blows...

it is cold enough to send me back inside, and my little cat too.

A Rose Is a Rose is a Rose...

Consider yourself gifted...

~~~

Out on a Limb

                                      Sometimes people you love get themselves out on a limb...

I mean that figuratively of course. But in the case of my kitty, who is the photographic model for today's  musings on the feelings that can freeze a person in a dilemma thought by thought, limb by limb...

my kitty is literally up a tree.

I know would be rescuers shouldn't really grab their camera, but I couldn't resist.

Maybe this gives a little more perspective...?

Yes, she really is up there and it is steeper than she might have realized when she first clambered up and she must have had some good momentum going to get as high as she did...and now she realizes that coming back down is a different issue and that she has quite a long ways to fall.

But what would the fall really mean? Facts help a lot. Not panicking goes a long way too...and staying in the moment, and breathing.  These are the kinds of things I tell myself when I'm in trouble.   I need to remind myself of these basics and they help me to experience that there is sufficient grace for today...but if you try to remind someone else, even if they know it's true...it sounds so pat. After all, you are down on the ground and they are, in that moment, well, out on a limb.  

 And there are so many awkward feelings, little voices that can distract right when you need all your facilities and focus.  There really is no shame in needing help, in asking for help...anyone of us might have to at anytime...that's how life is.  

Yes, she got down...I barely was able to help her at all...although I like to think that when I leaned on the trunk and stretched my arms up as high as I could, it gave her just enough sense of love and support to apply all her kitty prowess as she skittered back down to the forest floor.

~~~

A Great Blue Heron at the Shopping Center

Some days are filled with lots of tasks that are just what they are...simple things that need to be done and that is that.   Having done a task that was pleasant to be finished with...we realized we should stop at the grocery for a few items needed at home.









The Del Monte Shopping Center has a little berth of trees around it that includes  a runoff creek, which is probably what dictated the need for preserving  this little urban buffer zone.   Four lanes of traffic and freeway exit lie just the other side of this tiny oasis.  As we neared the mall entrance we saw this lovely heron in the narrow strip of undeveloped land.


I have to learn how to size pictures for blogger on my new system, but the bird is just to the left  of the tree and that is a main thoroughfare through the city of  Monterey just behind it.

Even though I approached slowly,  kept a respectful distance and used the trees to make my presence less intrusive,  the Great Blue Heron  was very aware of me.

"Ardea Herodias" is 50"   I suspect this is a fairly young female.

 

"Shh...you'll scare away the mice and gophers I am after."

I've read in Stokes Field Guide to Birds that individual birds may claim temporary feeding territories up to several yards in diameter which they will defend.

   

Watching the bird walk in grace as it hunted for a meal 

was like a dip in a cool pool, a song, starlight, a prayer...

the ordinary is extraordinary, it just needs to be received.

"I am just a bird...out for lunch...nothing to see here...don't you have any people business to attend to?"

Well, I did have other things to attend to, of course, but I went on my way with a lighter step, much refreshed by just one little creature filled up full with being just who it supposed to be. 

~~~

Learning New Things

Please take  "things" in the most literal sense.  I have a new thing on my desk which I am fondly referring to as a BIG MAC.  NO, it is not edible, I don't ever eat at McD's....but I have switched from a PC, personal computer, with windows operating  system and all that to an IMac and I am in a bit of a learning curve!
You can't imagine the fun that I am planning...and I hardly can either.  But, one step at a time I am figuring things out.

                                                  I am not tilting at windmills, I am not....

Beacons on Saturday Walk

In Monterey at one of the downtown historic state parks, Cooper Molero,

 the barn and the sky prompted me to pull out a camera.

Later in Pacific Grove....

January sunshine lit the distant sails of a small boat .

Since February 1, 1855, the Point Pinos Lighthouse has flashed its beacon nightly to guide ships off the  rocky coasts. 

                                          Birds are often beacons of light for me.

I  know there are observable differences between Great Egrets and  Snowy Egrets.  As I watched this bird today, I even knew what the differences were, but wasn't sure I was remembering which of the distinctions went to which bird.  So I checked when I got home and  made this little chart to re-remind myself once again. 

Feature                     Great Egrets                    Snowy Egrets 

Color                           White                               White

Size:                              39"                                    24"

Bill                              Yellow Bill                      Black Bill

Legs &  Feet         Black Legs & Feet               Black legs bright yellow feet

To complicate matters, when Little Blue Herons are immature they are also white with black bills but they have yellow facial skin at the base of their bills and their legs are black in the front and yellow in the back... Seriously, confusions are easy to come by, I am not making this up. 

I don't need to know  "who" the bird is for my heart to leap, but  the beauty of creation does deserve to be appreciated in all its details. And it seems  good  to me and for me to pay attention  and to exercise and double check my ability to retain and retrieve information details. 

Sometimes rocks proclaim their distinctiveness too...

                                                            Black feet, yellow bill...big bird: it's a Great Egret   Ardea Alba

Even at a distance...this smooth round stone stands out.

The waves washed in and it would disappear...and  as each wave subsided

I saw it again and marveled anew. 

The Hills Above Mal Paso

There must be a story  why the road is named Mal Paso. Perhaps some dark and dreary things took place to early travelers or settlers... 

Or perhaps it was named by someone struggling with the steep ascent up from the ocean...

Or maybe it is very literal, after all the road does not go all the way through to the east...Maybe it should be called  No Paso...but it was just the walk I needed...to be startled by beautiful flowers ...

I had not seen these bloom before ...I thought someone had perhaps had a can of spray paint...but no

this is now they grow and bloom...undoubtedly in the giant aloe family.

And these fungi, at least eight inches across, they also caught my eye.  It  was comforting to see them  popping out of the earth, just as they should be when conditions are right.
To walk, to hear birds, to watch the clouds, to stop and listen to the mushrooms and the pine needles...
to feel the pace of earth time, is healing.

Senseless acts, vicious, cruel acts,  take place in our beautiful world....Whether  you and I  are thinking of the same senseless acts
doesn't matter...there are more than enough to go around.  Even on the extreme periphery  we become a witness...and it can stun us...and rob in reverberating circles ...but perhaps we should lean into the good and beautiful all the further...

Yes....let me show you the lovely little mountains from one more angle...