Visual Therapy

Coast of Santa Barbara, California

Moments to myself are the rehabilitative therapy I require as there are stressors, even in the most beautiful of places, that demand we take time for ourselves. The birds flying with their beaks in the water, leaving the trails behind them, are looking for food; they are called black skimmers.

Coast of Santa Barbara, California

Catching the sunrise on the coast while well and good, I am like this bird out here alone with my shadow. Caroline is somewhere else, far away under that sun to the east.

Coast of Santa Barbara, California

Not long from now, I’ll head back into town to visit with my uncle, but until then, I can just hang out here and watch the colors of the morning give way to those of the day.

Coast of Santa Barbara, California

The blue sky and approaching ocean all let me know that time is up; I must leave but will return.

Before the day was out, my aunt and uncle wanted to hand me an envelope of cash, but I couldn’t take that from them. They, being who they are, insisted. I had to say no. They asked what they could do for me after these weeks of helping them with so much of my time, and they went for the jugular, asking if maybe I wanted something for my camera. I told them I’d been looking at a quite expensive Canon 70-200mm lens, and they said, “Done.” It turned out that it was a hair less than what was in the envelope.

Breathing Space

Coast of Santa Barbara, California

After nearly three weeks in Santa Barbara, California, I took time this morning to visit the ocean.

Coast of Santa Barbara, California

Here I am, at times barely a half-mile from the beach, but helping an elderly relative with a broken hip and an 82-year-old aunt who still works but doesn’t drive leaves precious little time for me.

Coast of Santa Barbara, California

Today, after dropping my aunt off at work and prior to visiting the rehabilitation center, I took a meandering cliffside drive near the ocean. Upon finding a remote, nearly hidden trail that looked to go to the beach, I found parking and began to capture an hour and a half for myself.

Coast of Santa Barbara, California

A steep moss-covered stairway descended the cliff to a lonely beach without a soul, probably because it was just after sunrise and there was a brisk chill in the air.

Coast of Santa Barbara, California

The tide was in along this rocky stretch of southerly facing coast.

Coast of Santa Barbara, California

I walked eastwards into the rising sun, watching it glisten off the surf.

Coast of Santa Barbara, California

Now, if only Caroline were here holding my hand.

Moving Slow

White Lined Sphinx Moth

While my blog moves along at a slow pace it is not finished. At some point, it will morph into something new. As this year has gone by, my interest in technology has given up some of its ground and made way for me to take on new hobbies such as farming, weaving, dreaming about weaving on a farm, canning, and trying new things that require the hands to do more than moving my wrist in back-and-forth motions whilst clicking with my index finger. Like this caterpillar, I feel I am nearly done with this first incarnation of life and would like to move on to a new stage; this past year has felt as though I have been cocooning. I don’t know when spring comes or when the cocoon opens, showing the shape of things to come, but I am trying to find the patience to wait things out until a different maturity or immaturity lets me find my next voice for communicating here on my blog that has been rather silent for too long. I promise to return soon with a new outlook – after I find it.

Want To Bet I’m a Prince?

Colorado river toad

So there I was crawling along under the bell pepper canopy over at Tonopah Rob’s vegetable farm looking for crickets to photograph when I stumbled upon this Colorado river toad hogging up the path. He tried staring me down, he tried intimidating me with his stalwart presence and purposeful stance, but I said, “ribbit” and he simply stepped aside and left me to my hunt for crickets. What a nice toad he was.

A Snake In The Hand

Caroline Wise holding a baby shovelhead snake at Tonopah Rob's Vegetable Farm in Tonopah, Arizona

That is a baby shovelhead snake, one of the deadliest snakes known to mankind – not. The tiny guy, or gal, was caught in a spider web. I, too, want to see the spider that was going to try to dine on this poor defenseless itsy-bitsy snake. After dusting the snake off and probably traumatizing it with all the handling and photographs, Caroline set it free in the tomato patch. Hey, it was better than being quickly wrapped in silk by Ms. Spider for tomorrow night’s dinner.

Fly

A fly sitting atop bolting carrot flowers

Back at Tonopah Rob’s Vegetable Farm after spending the early part of the morning milking goats. Since my nerves were still shot due to yesterday afternoon’s wild goat chase, I took some time out for a couple of hours by following insects around to photograph them. About that goat chase: Everything had gone so well during the morning when Celia had still been there that I thought I had everything under control. I went to get Mary from the goat pen but she wasn’t being cooperative so I grabbed the lasso and quickly had her collared and over on the milking bench. I figured, why keep the lasso on, she’s eating the corn, getting milked, she came around – no problems. Which was true, that is until she finished eating (she gets extra food for milking). She jumped off the platform and had different ideas as to which direction she should be heading. Usually, she would run over to the gate to rejoin the herd, but not today. I had closed the farm gate as directed, so no prob there – right? Sure enough, Mary headed down the driveway, for the gate. Hah, I thought, I have her cornered now! Nope, I can’t believe that goat fit through that small opening between the bars of the gate, but slip out she did, and off she went into the desert. Great, now what? Call Celia’s friend Pam – HELP! To make a long story short, Mary was on the loose for only about an hour. You can’t imagine how happy I was that it was only 102 degrees out there and not 115 ….grrrrrr. So you see, following pesky flies zipping from flower to flower was a lot more fun than chasing a wiley goat through sand and brush.