County Views.67
Yes, a bit of a rivers theme to encourage more rain: the egrets (can someone tell me if I’ve mis-identified them, please?) only reappeared after our first inch or so of rain, about ten days ago. We must hope for more, in part so they’ll hang out a bit longer here :-).
County Views.66
A gorgeous late-afternoon moonrise at sunset on Native American Heritage Day, along the Russian River.
A City of Gardens, Hills & Covid Chalk Circles
Normally I’d be in SF with friends and going to concerts or museums at least a few days every month. Such has not been the case since I returned home in July … because covid, duh. So I’ve been in the city precisely three times: when I returned from Bangladesh for a night since bus services are more limited now; and briefly in September linked to the flights to and from Wisconsin. These pics are from both trips and I’m mashing them all together to keep from falling even further behind in the backlog of photos I’ve not yet posted. Whenever travel becomes more appealing again…as you can see, SF’s a lovely city, so do think about visiting. And of the densely-crowded US cities, it’s so far done comparatively well at limiting the spread, in part due to measures you can see in a lot of these photos. The joys of a population which uses science and evidence as the foundation for its policies and politics… 🙂
Errant Masks.1
Another new series, dedicated to finding art even in masks which can no longer protect their original owners or any other humans…
The Habit of Gratitude
A thing I’ve come to appreciate enormously about our culture here in Sonoma County is the tendency to gratitude for our blessings, gratitude for all those whose work helps us, gratitude as an approach to life that helps us all remain healthy and live together in greater harmony. It’s a thing amply demonstrated every time another blasted fire rampages through our hills and reaches our streets. It’s a thing people have also found time to demonstrate related to covid, as you’ll note if you read carefully the photo with multiple signs, below. Happy day on which we Americans are meant to appreciate our many blessings, which include, one must acknowledge, gaining control of a large and fruitful continent-sized territory to the great detriment of that territory’s prior human occupants, who descendants still live among and around us, often ignored by the general culture at large and certainly dismissed far too readily in the “histories” we tell ourselves. Peace, health, gratitude and opportunity.
And since I’m still working through a backlog of photos from recent months, while getting out for hikes and rides often enough that I’m amassing more photos of this beautiful world at a faster pace than my own posting speed…plus, since here in the US it’s the holiday we dedicate to eating LOTS and LOTS of food (tribute to that bountiful stolen continent I mentioned above?), I’m going ahead and posting some of my food photos to get your appetite juices flowing. Gratitude for the chance to break bread with friends, and a hope that more of our human family will experience the same opportunity in peace and good health: a fitting aspiration for today.
County Views: Turkey Special
For my readers not familiar with the American customs of thanksgiving: most families eat a whole turkey that day. Yes, it’s conspicuous consumption, and yes, the turkeys have been specially bred over generations to be quite different and have more “light meat” than these turkeys likely would, if a mountain lion ever noticed the local buffet available to it if it just settled in for some good hunting. 🙂 Me, I’m vegetarian so it’s nothing to me either way. Still: enjoy, those of you to whom the turkey makes the holiday. And if your bandwidth is sufficient, you can tell me how many you count as this large group moves past:
Beauty and the Burn.2
I’ve been showing you the view of the Mayacamas ridge as seen from ground level in our valley. Saturday we went for a hike on a few of the trails that have now reopened in Sugarloaf Ridge State Park. Driving up to the entrance, along a lovely narrow canyon road that I’d not visited since before the Tubbs fire first burned this area three years ago, it was hard not cry realizing how much damage the area has sustained. Our walk went for some time right along the fire line where they’d clearly managed to hold it. You can see see that fact in the photo of the tree with a burned trunk, surrounded by green: it must have been a small hotspot just on the southern edge of the fire line, with the rest of the fire barely maintained to the north at that particular spot. You can see more such fireline photos in another post from another park and yet a third recent fire in this post from three years ago: https://somuchworldsolittletime.com/2017/11/13/walking-the-fire-line-in-annadel/
I’ll post more of these in coming weeks, now that fire danger is again low for the moment thanks to just barely enough rain, and colder temperatures. As you’ll note, I’ve decided to just give them their own name as a series…a sub-genre of county views, I guess, albeit a sad sign-of-the-times sub-genre. Stay safe and healthy in this week which for the US is normally a celebratory holiday week. Love to my friends and family here and around the world.
On & Around Muir Beach for a Day
smw, slt has accumulated so very many photos in my now 4+ months back home that I simply must return to long format. It’s great fun to set up a daily photo, trying to mix up what I’m showing you each day – and I plan to keep doing that because, well, covid home restrictions, no social life to speak of, fill in your own personal reason for wanting specific tasks to frame your days 😊. But some locations and topics are just so photogenic that they require a longer post. And even some explanatory text.
Fear not, there’s little text because each photo, if you click on it or hover your cursor over it, will tell you pretty precisely what you are seeing. But, by way of explanation: I rarely get out by car, mainly because I rarely have a car, since I don’t own one. That means most of what I show you when I’m here at home is within about a ten-mile radius of my home since, well, ten miles out and ten miles back makes for a reasonable day’s exercise and exploration of this wonderful world I’ve been born to. BUT I do have wonderful friends who let me borrow a car sometimes – even more so during covid because, well, covid. And thus I’ve begun to range further afield as the days get shorter and colder, making bicycling a bit less appealing compared to farther-ranging hiking exploration with more clothing layers and a carbon-emissions compromise at the start and end of said activities.
What you’re seeing here are shots all taken one day last week when I explored some of the trails and roads branching out from Muir Beach, which is (I believe) a unit of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Although it’s a bit north of the hills you see immediately as you exit the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge, the area has at least one ridge high enough to get a view of the western parts of SF, though downtown and the bay bridge, Alcatraz etc. are all behind a higher ridge on the left in the shots I’ll be showing you today. But fear not: I plan to get back to explore those and other trails in my lovely region again in coming months, so stay tuned for future installments.
(so much world, so little time....) 