A STUDY IN GULLS

These photos were taken not too far from Pike's Market Place in Seattle in 2009.There were those who really didn't want to be photographed...and didn't stay around long enough to pose. But then again..."Is this my good side?"There were the fly-bys...and the ones who were enjoying bread from a man feeding them. A quote I once read from Edward Norton Lorenz, a meteorologist and mathematician, had remarked that if the theory was correct, one flap of a seagull's wings could alter the course of the weather forever. (We also now know that there is no such thing as a seagull, but the term is commonly used to refer to a variety of gull species.) I could believe that quote when I saw this sight. Those wings were flapping up a storm. I couldn't tell who was having more of a good time, the birds or the man. He had such a wonderful smile on his face, but I feared for his fingers as they came down in droves.An ear-splitting cacophony! I wasn't far from putting my hands over my ears.Stroppy little thing, this one kept asking for more.

I don't see many people feeding birds bread any more. It is discouraged nowadays because it's not good for them, or for us as they can be very aggressive. I have never been afraid of them, spending many of my growing up years and my married life near the ocean, but I am aware.

I hope you've enjoyed these old photos. They were taken on a road trip back in 2009. Another post from my old blog. 

Thanks for looking and 

I hope your day is a good one.

AN OLD ROAD TRIP TO BANDON, OREGON IN 2009

One of my old posts from the blog I started in April 2008 and closed in 2015. 

This rocky beach is in Bandon, Oregon. In the photo above you can just make out a figure walking along the beach with a dog. We met that lady earlier along a back road walking to this beach. We had just stopped at one place and she told us that there was a much better lookout further ahead, that it would be worth our time to stop. She was right. It was incredible and we were very grateful to her for pointing us in this direction. While taking photos we spotted them quite a distance ahead. The only other people we saw were a couple taking photos. We were very lucky with the weather. It stopped raining long enough for us to take in this magnificent view.

This area is famous for Face Rock. There is a local legend that you will find in more detail at this link.  It's rather sad as many legends are but below is a more condensed version. It has been passed on from one generation to another but is now written down so that the story will always be there for anyone to read. It is a very good thing that these old stories will be there for future generations. So very important to its people, the continuation of sharing their beliefs, their cultures, their legends, and may it always be so.  If you look at the rock on its right, you might be able to recognize the side profile of a face, forehead, eyes, nose, lips and chin, as if a face is staring up at the sky.  Those geological layers that stand out in the photo could almost be like tears. 

"Legend has it (from the Nah-So-Mah tribe) that Ewanua, a beautiful Indian princess was visiting tribes along the coastline with her father, Chief Siskiyou. While the local tribes lived in constant fear of Seatka, the evil spirit of the ocean, Ewanua and the other members of her mountain-born tribe, held no fear of the evil one.  Following a great feast set in celebration of their visit, Euwana carried her pets (one dog and a mother cat and her kittens) out to the edge of the sea with her before swimming far out from shore.

All of a sudden, a fearsome creature grabbed her, and Komax, her dog, fearing for Ewanua's life swam out into the dark water and bit Seatka. Hurt and furious with the animal, Seatka kicked off the dog and threw it, along with the cat and her kittens, out into the sea. Filled with rage over losing her beloved pets and knowing the power that lay in Seatka's eyes, Ewanua from then on, refused to look directly at him. Today, she lies in the ocean, looking skyward, continuing her refusal to look into Seatka's eyes, who sits nearby. Her beloved Komax, her cat and the kittens lie to the west of her, waiting in vain for their mistress to arise from the cold ocean."

The maps below all show Bandon, Oregon.  

The rocks mentioned in the story are at the bottom left of the map.

This is a larger version showing the whole state, marked by the dotted line. The state of Washington is above, and the state of California is below. Bandon is the red marker.

One more map showing Bandon, Oregon's location on the USA map.

THIS IS THE BEGINNING…

This is the beginning of a new day.  You have been given this day to use as you will.  You can waste it or use it for good.  What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it.  When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever.  In its place is something that you have left behind.  Let it be something good.  

~Author Unknown ~

(Photo taken overlooking Monterey Bay from Cannery Row, California, in 2009.)

CONTINUING MY COW STORY

 Following on from my post yesterday, where I had mentioned this was from a while ago, (2009 to be precise), my memories came flooding back.  Looking at what I wrote and browsing through photos is cause for a fun discussion afterwards with Gregg, who enjoys looking back at them as much as I do.  The following is what I wrote at the time.

I have to say honestly when I first saw this sign, I raised my eyes and started laughing. We had just spent the last hour driving along a very winding road with incredibly steep drops, and I was a little more nervous than I usually am. No way is a cow going to be on this road I said.  Famous last words because it was seconds later that I saw them.  

But first let me begin my story. We were on holiday traveling along Route 1 in California, a coastal road as you can see. Gorgeous views though I was very surprised at how queasy I felt looking over those sometimes 500-foot drops. It had been several years since I had experienced dizzying heights along a road such as this one.  

The realization struck me as I have gotten older, I am my dear Mother after all. It was a very winding road indeed. Gregg had done most of the driving on this trip, and I was very glad he was behind the wheel. I would not have been comfortable.  A flashback to my mother's white knuckles as she used to grab onto the handle at the roof line on the passenger side.  My mother, bless her, never learned to drive but she sure could jam those invisible pedals on the passenger side.  I wasn't offended, she was like this with my father, and those roads were where you couldn't drive much more than 25 miles-an-hour along the narrow, country roads that we were used to, and oh my goodness, when we actually got onto a main road and went up to 45 m.p.h., poor Mum!  

We obviously couldn’t go too fast here because of the curves.  Imagine our shock when we came around a bend, to find a big black cow right in our path.  I was too surprised to take a photo of that one.  Going as slow as we were, we stopped in good time several feet away. It stood in the center of the road looking at us and did not budge, and as we waited it became apparent that it was not going to budge. We didn’t even think to honk the horn and wouldn’t have because a) we didn't want that big black cow stampeding over our hood, and b) we didn’t want it to run over the cliff. We finally edged around it, not thinking we would see another cow along that road and not one practically kissing our bumper.  We were also thankful we saw no other cars during this experience. 

As far as other cows were concerned, how wrong could we be? We saw more cow signs and crossed over several cattle grids. We then saw another cow making his way down the hill to the road, and another munching on a patch of grass at the edge of the road. Then we spotted yet another, the one on the hump of the hill. We were trying to figure out how it was going to get down because as far as we could see, the hill seemed too steep for any ordinary cow to climb. These were obviously no ordinary cows, they must have had mountain goat DNA.

The pictures don't show the whole story. To see these cows in this particular area was an extraordinary sight.  That patch of grass with a touch of ocean salt must have been very tasty.

THE FRIENDLY COW...

The friendly cow all red and white,

I love with all my heart.

She gives me cream with all her might

To eat with apple tart.

She wonders lowing here and there,

And yet she cannot stray.

All in the pleasant open air

The pleasant light of day.

And blown by all the winds that pass,

And wet with all the showers,

She walks among the meadow grass

And eats the meadow flowers.

~Robert Louis Stevenson~

A wonderful poem by Mr. Stevenson.  Our friendly cow is not walking among meadow grass, but actually on the side of a high cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  Story tomorrow and both will be from my old blog when we were on a road trip from Vancouver to Monterey in 2009.  Seems like yesterday!

Thank you for visiting, 

and enjoy the rest 

of your week.

SATURDAY MORNING NOT AT THE BIRD FEEDER

 Santa's back-up team is practicing.

It will soon be Christmas, and

Santa and the Reindeer are going out on 

practice runs making sure things run 

smoothly for his ride on Christmas Eve night.

The Pelicans are practicing too, as they 

will be standing by in case Santa 

needs his very important backup team,

It's never happened that Santa 

has not had his reindeer 

to deliver to all little girls and boys.

But, just in case....

the Pelicans do lots of practice runs,

with the support of the home team.

And so it goes in the head of this whimsical blogger.  

15 days to go 'til Christmas.  

Thanks for visiting!  

May your weekend be a great one.

CORMORANTS IN MONTEREY OCTOBER 2009

This is another post from my old blog that I closed several years ago.  As I am still not able to go too far, I thought it would be a good time to transfer our travels, or others, to this one.   I intend to do this several times for as many months as it takes, as I want to get everything on one blog, travels and all.

Charlie and Cora's visitor

At which Cora said, "Times have changed Charlie, how about YOU putting the kettle on."  And yes I am smiling. 

We visited Monterey in October 2009, and several years before that, hubby was going to the Navy Postgraduate School.  We lived in Monterey for a couple of years, when our son was three years old, and to say we loved it is an understatement.  If we had had the chance, this was one of the places we would have decided to live permanently, but there are many forks in life's highway aren't there?  We feel blessed we had this wonderful opportunity and have visited two or three times since.  The aquarium was a favorite.  We had yearly passes when we lived there, and visited often.    

On this occasion when we were touring the aquarium in 2009, we made our way to their outside observation deck.  It has an incredible view looking across the bay and there was a lot of activity going on. The ever-present Cormorants were sitting on the rocks, and we saw a man snorkeling nearby. At the time I thought perhaps the man was on the staff at the aquarium, checking things out.  From our angle it seemed that Charlie and Cora were very interested in what he was doing.

If you enlarge the photo below, you will see that a curious seal has joined in, top right. The red float is attached to the man in the water who is out of sight for the moment. 

Same photo, but I circled the seal.

I would dearly have enjoyed having a conversation with the diver to see what he was doing, but maybe he was just having fun.  Or perhaps he was collecting shellfish, mussels, clams?  Who knows!

He swam off shortly afterwards and we left to tour the rest of the aquarium.

Added note:  everything seen floating in the water is actually part of the kelp forest.  You can read about it at this link. 

Originally published on my old blog on 1/27/10 at 12:40 AM

WHOEVER YOU ARE…

 “Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination, 

Calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting…

Over and over again, announcing your place in the family of things.” 

~Mary Oliver~

Mary Jane Oliver (September 10, 1935 – January 17, 2019) was an American poet who won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.  Her work is inspired by nature, rather than the human world, stemming from her lifelong passion for solitary walks in the wild. It is characterized by a sincere wonderment at the impact of natural imagery, conveyed in unadorned language. In 2007, she was declared to be the country's best-selling poet.