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pecuniumI've been getting up at the same early hour Maia does. Some mornings for the days baking (I bake about three times a week, for a total of about five lbs. of flour).
Other mornings, when the clouds are in abeyance, it's to drag my sorry self to the beach, and take pictures.
There are several really nice places along this part of the coast for taking pictures, Morro Bay, Avila Beach, Pismo, Oceano, Pelican Point, the Dragon Caves.
Pelican Point has become a favorite because there are a lot of birds. Cormorant, Grey Gulls, Seagulls (the sort with the red spot on their beaks) Rock Doves (a more evocatice name for the common pigeon), and some various birds of the foam (long billed and long legged, digging for small animals in the wet sand) as well as the seals, sea lions, surfers, passing dolphins, California Grey Whales, and Sea Ottters (I saw one this morning. I was giddy to the point of slap-happy glee. I was glad no one was there to see me as I bounced around going, "I saw an otter!" interspersed with moments of tongue lolling agogment, staring to see if she would come back. I pointed her out to an Italian family, a pair of elderly women wearing dusty perfume, a couple who might have been from Britain; a long time ago, and a middle aged woman who was stopping to stretch her legs on a trip from Carpenteria to SF. This was the first otter I'd seen in the wild. At first I thought it a seal, or sea lion pup, but the lens told me different).
The air is redolent of kelp, and salt. There is sound, the crashing surf, the crying gulls, beak-clacking pelicans, pebbles being dragged by the turning tide, wind, and the occasional person.
So, just in case any of you wondered what sorts of things one can see at such beaches.
Behind the links (all open in new windows) are some pictures.
Stretch
Be warned, this first one is large (and has some so-so photoshopping to remove a sprig of grass which was in the way), because I just couldn't bear to crop it anymore. It's 1200x795, at full size, so I sent you to the picture page, which is adequate, click through at your own risk.
Soaring
Morro Rock
Surf's up
Other mornings, when the clouds are in abeyance, it's to drag my sorry self to the beach, and take pictures.
There are several really nice places along this part of the coast for taking pictures, Morro Bay, Avila Beach, Pismo, Oceano, Pelican Point, the Dragon Caves.
Pelican Point has become a favorite because there are a lot of birds. Cormorant, Grey Gulls, Seagulls (the sort with the red spot on their beaks) Rock Doves (a more evocatice name for the common pigeon), and some various birds of the foam (long billed and long legged, digging for small animals in the wet sand) as well as the seals, sea lions, surfers, passing dolphins, California Grey Whales, and Sea Ottters (I saw one this morning. I was giddy to the point of slap-happy glee. I was glad no one was there to see me as I bounced around going, "I saw an otter!" interspersed with moments of tongue lolling agogment, staring to see if she would come back. I pointed her out to an Italian family, a pair of elderly women wearing dusty perfume, a couple who might have been from Britain; a long time ago, and a middle aged woman who was stopping to stretch her legs on a trip from Carpenteria to SF. This was the first otter I'd seen in the wild. At first I thought it a seal, or sea lion pup, but the lens told me different).
The air is redolent of kelp, and salt. There is sound, the crashing surf, the crying gulls, beak-clacking pelicans, pebbles being dragged by the turning tide, wind, and the occasional person.
So, just in case any of you wondered what sorts of things one can see at such beaches.
Behind the links (all open in new windows) are some pictures.
Stretch
Be warned, this first one is large (and has some so-so photoshopping to remove a sprig of grass which was in the way), because I just couldn't bear to crop it anymore. It's 1200x795, at full size, so I sent you to the picture page, which is adequate, click through at your own risk.
Soaring
Morro Rock
Surf's up
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no subject
Date: 2005-10-29 01:01 am (UTC)I discovered the pleasures of marinating things with fennel and rosemary and wine. I've been cautious about fennel. This week, I'm going to add garlic and try it with a fine pork roast and small potatoes plus chinese vegetables. It sounds weird but it tastes really good.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-29 01:08 am (UTC)The other thing you can do is use a small amount of tarragon to change the flavor a bit. They complement well. Too much tarragon, alone, give a really unpleasant licorice note, to my taste, but with the hints of that in fennel (which I love, that's what makes Italian sausage taste like italian sausage, so I add it to canellone, and voila it tastes right, but that's the seeds), it comes out all right.
TK
no subject
Date: 2005-10-29 01:10 am (UTC)Next year I'm planting a real herb garden. The amount of rosemary and thyme and allspice I go through is rightening. Unfortunatley the climate's not good for peppers.
Another spice addiction. I can see it now.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-29 01:08 am (UTC)The ocean is the one thing I miss about California. Watching the pelicans hang motionless, their wings angled so they can hover in the wind until they fold them abruptly and drop like a stone, the gulls chasing crabs across the sand, and the glitter of the setting sun on the wet sand-- I miss that.
I grew up in SoCal and when I moved to the SF Bay Area, I was amazed at how different the beaches were. Seals and otters everywhere. The first time I saw an otter I was speechless. They were the coolest creatures on earth, floating on their backs and opening shells on their stomachs. So damn cool.
There are restaurants right on Monterey Bay where you can sit and watch otters while you eat your dinner. At the right times of year, there are often mothers with babies floating right outside the window. If you can get up there, I highly recommend it.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-29 01:13 am (UTC)This almost made up for the stress, and alienation, one got there (sixty-seventy hour weeks, at least fifty of which were spent soaking in Russian [other schools had different problems] and not quite, for me; others were full-blown, hating one's teachers, well it gets to you).
Sea lions barking through the night, silvery globs of anchovy rising in the moonlight, fog, and sunshine, high sand and the green flash over Asilomar.
I miss it.
TK
no subject
Date: 2005-10-29 01:33 am (UTC)One thing I love about living here by the beach is the great variety of aquatic mammals and birds, and the stingrays and all sortsa fishies. We have red tail hawks flying all over the place here, and since we're on a wooded mountain that slopes right down to the beach, we've got a full compliment of woodland creatures as well, including foxes. And skunks. Lotsa skunks.
No matter where I go, I'm always completely enraptured by the local wildlife.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-29 01:33 am (UTC)breath.taking.
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Date: 2005-10-29 02:24 am (UTC)I have been known to sell them. I need to build a larger collection, and more varied, so I can submit to nature stock agencies.
I need models, both for, "art" and for stock.
I need to get off my ass and start pitching to galleries (though gallery hanging has large up-front costs).
And I need to get cracking on the web sales aspect of things.
TK
no subject
Date: 2005-10-29 02:47 am (UTC)In the spirit of sharing, here are some I took at a beach halfway around the world. :)
no subject
Date: 2005-10-31 10:04 pm (UTC)In the thumbnail I thought it was a seam in the opposite rock.
TK
no subject
Date: 2005-10-29 05:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-31 10:03 pm (UTC):)
TK
no subject
Date: 2005-11-01 12:57 am (UTC)When I have money, I'll buy some.
:)