Happy New Year!!!

   

I took this picture a few years back in Tennessee. I gotta say, those hillbilly's know how to do pyrotechnics!

As I sit here in my little home on the Pacific’s edge, I just looked up to the clock and noticed it’s 2 hours away from 2011.

A new year.  It always feels so hopeful doesn’t it?

I wonder …… how different your New Years eve is than mine?

There are no loud crowds here. Only the sounds of barking Elephant Seals on the beach below me.

I don’t have to worry about driving or finding a place to park. The only place I plan on parking is my butt in my computer chair.

No sound of tinkling glasses as they are raised in a toast to a hopeful new year. Instead, I hear the trickling of the creek beside my home.

No swaying bodies as they try to get the room to stop spinning. I watch as the Redwoods sway in the gentle breeze against a star filled sky.

No loud explosions of fireworks here. Instead, I saw the most amazing, long tail shooting star I’ve seen all year.

I’m a long way away from that sparkling light filled ball in Time Square, but I imagine, no matter what type of New Year’s Eve experience you are having, or where you are spending it, most of us have that same feeling of hopefulness.

Happy 2011 everyone!

Hi everyone. Hope your all staying warm and dry. Here in Big Sur the “Pineapple Express” has rolled into town. A tropical batch of storms that looks to be here for the better part of 2 weeks. In the first 2 days of rain I have over 5” in my gauge here at Lucia. And it sounds like 7” in the mountains. Creeks and rivers are flowing again and things are beginning to move. With lots more to come.

After a couple of weeks with computer issues, I’m happy that Santa came early for me and brought me just what I needed to get back on line. Thanks Santa!!

I loved walking around Fort Worden so much. The colors, shapes, tunnels, windows, doors and history really made taking pictures a lot of fun.

So this post is all about the shapes, lines, and colors.

 

and one more…

That’s it for this time. I have more of my trip to share.

To be continued!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Once again mama nature kicks serious butt on my vacation. Haven’t had a real vacation where you actually get on a plane and go somewhere in years. And granted, I chose the Pacific Northwest at the end of November. But the worst snow storm they have seen in 55 years? Really? Yeah…it pretty much crippled Seattle and all the roads from there to Port Townsend.

Exactly how much  snow does it take to cause mass confusion, school closures, road closures, planes sliding out of control on runways, abandoned cars alongside the road, and causes traffic to crawl at best? Apparently about 2 or 3 inches. We saw plow trucks everywhere but I swear, not a one was plowing or salting the roads. They had their flashing lights on. They looked official. But not one blade did I see drop.  It was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. They should go to Northeast Ohio along Lake Erie and try out some of the lake effect snow sometime. Ya know the snow storms that dump 25 inches or so in a matter of hours.

The day after the fact, I arrived at SEA TAC safe and sound after our plane skidded a little bit right after landing. After a brief break for breakfast we jumped on the ferry to head to Port Townsend.

The view from the ferry ride from Seattle to Port Townsend. In the distance you see the Olympic Peninsula all covered in fresh snow.

The morning after I arrived the headlines read.

“We prepared for this for three years”

I laughed so hard. OMG! If they prepared for three years I hate to tell them…something went terribly wrong!

I’m sharing my sisters pic for the Thanksgiving feast because I like it so much.

The food was delicious. The people I shared it with, amazing. And the atmosphere full of laughter and love. There was much to be thankful for.

Thanksgiving Feast by: Sarah Nash

After T- Day we all went for a walk to Fort Worden.

Here’s the link if you want to check it out.  http://www.parks.wa.gov/fortworden/

Looking out on the Puget Sound. I believe the island in the distance is Orcas Island. And I was told on a clear day you can see all the way to Vancouver.

“Fort Worden, along with the heavy batteries of Fort Flagler and Fort Casey, once guarded nautical entrance to Puget Sound. Established in the late 1890s, became the first line of a fortification system designed to prevent a hostile fleet from reaching such targets as the Bremerton Naval Yard and the cities of Seattle, Tacoma and Everett. Construction began in 1897 and continued in one form or another until the fort was closed in 1953. The property was purchased as a state park in 1955.”

Left behind are concrete mounts for the massive guns, underground tunnels, rooms, windows, doors, awesome angles, and a photographers paradise. And you know what? With all the artillery, soldiers, and an armory…..never was there a shot fired in anger. I thought that was pretty cool.

This window and this building at the end of the rails are the same building.

In this building they housed a huge light for the ships. When needed they rolled it out on the rails to the point to guide the ships.

I was just playing around with light/darkness and color in this one.

This is a mount for one of the massive guns that pointed out to the Puget Sound

This is a close up of the door you see in the above photo. So fun playing with the shapes and colors.

That’s it for now.

To be continued…..

Good morning all.

In the final post from my Mt. Shasta adventure we head out to the Dam. Keep in mind it is STILL raining. Fred & I drove up the Dam road and really we found ourselves saying…”Where’s the damn dam? The clouds were low and the rain continued. So we decided to wait a bit just to get a shot or two.

Mt. Shasta Dam

Mt. Shasta Dam again

After the Dam we had one more stop I really wanted to see.

The Sundial Bridge

is a cantilever spar cable-stayed bridge for bicycles and pedestrians that spans the Sacramento River in Redding, California, and forms a large sundial. It was designed by Santiago Calatrava and completed in 2004 at a cost of US$23,500,000. The bridge has become iconic for Redding.

The shadow cast by the bridge is exactly accurate on only one day a year – The Summer Solstice, June 21.

Sundial Bridge ~ Redding California

The blue area where you walk is made of thick glass. Very cool to look at the river below but slippery when wet. I almost fell a few times walking on it.

Well…that’s it for the Mt. Shasta journey. Hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Next journey ~ Port Townsend Washington for Thanksgiving with my seester!

Continuing with my short, wet, sweet trip to Mt. Shasta.

The first day was spent on the mountain. When we descended the clouds really moved in and the rain began to pour. It poured all night and all the next day. But that didn’t stop me from wanting to get out and take some pictures.

The first stop on that rainy Saturday was the Mt. Shasta Caverns. Anyone that knows me knows, I’m not a big fan of going underground in caverns where bats live. But in an effort to overcome my fear I went anyway.

First we go to the lake, get on a boat, and cross over to the other side of the lake.

On the boat heading to the cavern entrance.

Once across the lake we walked up that hill, got on to a shuttle bus and drove further up the mountain.

This is the view from the cavern entrance.

Entering the cavers we walked up 241 stairs. The neat thing about these caverns are you don’t really go down underground. It’s more like you go up and into the mountain.

The entrance to the caverns was originally discovered by a young Native American when he was tracking a Bobcat. But then in 1828 Richardson & C.M. used explosives to open up the caverns to what they are today.

Of course there were the usual stalactites and stalagmites.

They call this curtaining. Some of the layers look like bacon.

I wish I had a good shot of the grand cavern they called the cathedral room. But the lighting and the size of the room proved to be hard for me to get a good shot.

At last we exit the caverns. To this beautiful view…

To Be Continued…………

Things are finally slowing down at work enough to get in a few short journeys away from Big Sur.

I just got back from a 4 day trip to Mt. Shasta. I spent time with an old friend and despite the fact it rained almost the entire time, had a great time!

Driving to Mt. Shasta it was raining and the clouds/fog made it imposable to see the mountain.

That is until we reached the town of  Mt. Shasta. The clouds parted and for a brief  moment I got to look upon the sacred mountain.

Finally! The clouds part and I get to see the mountain.

Continuing up the mountain, we  knew the road was closed at about 8,000′. The clear sky moment we had just experienced was gone quickly. I took this shot just before we reached the road closure.

The next day, despite the continuing down pour of rain, we headed out to the

Shasta Lake Caverns.

To Be Continued…….

I have to admit, I’m not a huge fan of spiders. Perhaps because of the two traumatic events that happened to me when I was a young girl.

The first was when I was 3 1/2. I lived in Colorado at the time. I was in the back yard playing in the dirt and I somehow disturbed a Black Widow. She didn’t like that much and bit me. I screamed for my mom and all I kept telling her was a bug bit me. As the evening went on I got very sick and my mother took me to the emergency room. I don’t remember much but I do remember getting bit, screaming a lot, and I remember the doctor giving me shots.

The next experience I was about 9 years old. I went to camp. We were the first group of kids to arrive for the season. Our first night there we played “hide and go seek.”  I ran between two cabins and found myself in the middle of a huge web and got bit on the left side of my face. In a very short time the entire left side of my face blew up to the point of my eye being swollen shut and my ear look freakishly large. They never did determine what kind of spider it was and it permanently effected my vision and hearing on the left side.

Since then, any time I get a spider bite, I have a bad allergic reaction.

Now fast forward to today. A beautiful warm day in Big Sur. I’m sitting on my deck, taking a few moments to enjoy the peace when all of a sudden there are thousands of thin gossamer strands of spider webs floating towards me. They were back lit by the sun so they really showed up. On these strands were clumps of white. It looked like cotton.

They were landing on me, my deck, the house, all the plants and absolutely filled the railing on my deck.

Now, being the spider hater I am, this freaked me out! I wanted so badly to film it but the thought of these strands covered in spiders getting into my hair was too much for me to even think about it for more than a half a second.

I’ve lived in the mountains for more than half my life and this was the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this. I ran in the house and looked it up on Google.

I was sure it would say it’s the spiders from mars or something. But here’s what I found.

It’s called “Ballooning”

Ballooning Spider

Spiders lay eggs, and the young spiders that hatch use silk to travel with the wind, according to information available on a conservation Web site.

The spiders climb to the tops of grass or tree branches  (in my case the tops of Redwood Trees) where they release strands of silk into the air until they are long enough to catch the wind and pull the spider into the air.

This allows young spiders to fly without wings and be carried to new areas quickly. This increases survival chances. (Oh that’s just GREAT!)

Baby spiders have no wings, but can fly as high as the highest-flying insects and birds! They do this with the aid of light winds and rising thermals. In fact, ballooning spiders often hit airplane windshields. Spiders have even been seen by airplane pilots flying at about 10,000 feet.

I’m still itching my head and feel like they are crawling on me. Gawd I hope I don’t have spidey nightmares tonight. I will definitely be working on happy thoughts before bedtime.

I promised my dear friend bigsurkate that I would try to post at least twice a month. Back in the day when blogs were new to the net I posted every single day. Little did I realize what a luxury this was as I find that now I never have time to be out here.

So for those of you who still manage to visit my site with the few posts I do…I thank you.

And now for your viewing pleasure I present more Wildflowers from this years journeys.

Succulent in bloom Gorda Mountain

Different view of Gorda Mountain succulent - I have a thing for archways

Captured this hunny at Lake Naciemiento

Lupins on the Boronda Trail

That’s it for now. Have a happy & safe Memorial Day weekend.

Here are a few more shots I’ve taken this spring on my wildflower journeys.

STONEY VALLEY

Up and over County Road G 18 ~ other wise known as Naciemiento Road and on to the Fort Hunter Liggett Base and behold….Stoney Valley!

Continue on this road all the way to Mission San Antonio and this will be waiting for you..

Wildflowers at Mission San Antonio

And now for your viewing pleasure…

Lupins & Poppies

And one last sweetie to leave you with..

CLOVER FLOWERS

Hope you enjoyed the show. Brought to you by “Mother Nature”

Last weekend I woke up before daylight. Had my morning cuppa joe and headed up Naciemiento Ferguson Road before sunrise. I rarely get myself motivated to be out before sunrise unless it’s for an appointment or work. I had forgotten how wonderful being out that time of day can be. Magical, quiet, and the light…..perfect!

First shot of the morning

Drive just a short way up the mountain, hop out of your car, make your way down this little trail and find yourself surrounded by popcorn flowers and poppies.

Popcorn Flowers and Poppies

A little further up the mountain looking back from where I came

Up and over the top which is 7 miles up from Highway 1.  Passing by the USFS Naciemiento Station.

On the other side of the summit these ferns and flowers caught my eye as they seem to grow right out of the rocks.

Ferns and Flowers

I wish I knew what these were called. Aren’t they amazing?

And one last image before I go….

Does anyone know what this flower is?

That’s it!

Next post will be my trip out to the California Valley.

I haven’t had much time over the last few months since the last fire to post. And here we are another out of control fire is burning in Big Sur. This one close to home.

I work at a place called Lucia Lodge and currently we are just a few miles North of the fire. It’s heading right at us.

Lucia is a gathering place for fire fighters, locals and tourist who can get a great view of the fire without being in any ones way who is fighting this fire.

It’s late and I’m exhausted so I will just post some shots I have taken over the last few days.

All Photos are copyrighted Latone Photography. If you wish to use them please ask.

Day two from Big Sur Kates house

The very impressive DC10 bomber

Day 3 looking up Mill Creek from highway 1

Day 3 Mill Creek

End of day 3. So beautiful. Hard to believe that if I turn around the mountains are on fire.

Dawn of day 4 from my front porch at Lucia looking south towards Mill Creek

Day 4 - later in the day

4:00am of day 5 from my porch at Lucia

Each color represents a different fire recorded in our area. The black area where it's burning has not been recorded to have burned in 100 years

Day 5 around noon

Day 5 in the heat of the day the fire is flaring up.

Today (day 5) it broke over the ridge into Limekiln.

8:00pm day 5 - It's burning down into Limekiln State Park

They saved the homes that have been under threat the last 3 days. Within the next day or so it will burn towards more friends homes as part of the fire heads west towards the ocean

Now that it has dropped into Limekiln it will be very hard if not impossible to keep it from heading towards the Monastery and Lucia. I suspect tomorrow the masses of fire fighters and equipment will begin to ascend upon us. 

As I finish up this post I can look up from my monitor and see the fire burning down into Limekiln, A crazy wind has started blowing and it’s making the flames grow larger. I’m watching as Redwood Trees are swallowed up in seconds. 

When you have a fire heading towards you, you are lucky to sleep more than an hour or two at a time. Constantly rising to go out and monitor where the fire is.

I will try to post again soon, although the days are going to get very hectic around here now.

The rain has finally arrived in Big Sur. It is 11:45 pm Friday Jan. 23, 2009.

I just emptied my rain gauge and I have 4” here near the highway at Lucia Lodge.

I just got a couple of emails reporting that Highway 1 is CLOSED in many places. I’m sure there are more slides than are being reported and more by morning if this rain does not slow down.  It’s still raining hard, with no sign of letting up.

I have a Redwood Canyon beside me and what was a dryed up creek bed this morning, is now a flowing creek.

I took this picture this morning. I’ve been sick with a flu like bug. It was hard to go to work feeling like I did. But before I even finished my opening duties I had to stop for this moment. It seemed to make the day feel better.

I plan on getting out early to see what I can see on the road. Because I have burn areas North & South of me, chances of me getting very far are slim to none.

I took this picture just before I left work to go home. This is a Calla Lily. They grow huge here on the coast. And bloom multiple times a year.

Still raining. And it’s now 12:25 am. And I hear we are supposed to have more rain with a chance of thunder storms. On the coast when we get thunder with our storms it usually means a lot of rain will come with it.

Looks like our winter has finally arrived. We need the rain. ~ “Liquid Love” ~  Or for our Cal-Trans workers, “Pennies From Heaven” ~ because they work lots of overtime clearing the road.

The link for the CHP Traffic Incident Information Page is:    http://cad.chp.ca.gov/.

That will give you the most up to date info on Highway 1 road closures and slides. Even if you don’t live here it’s interesting to read.

Shhhhhh…………what’s that I hear?

The rain just stopped. It’s 12:32am.

Hello everyone. Anyone? I never seem to have time to post these days so I will be surprised if anyone see’s this.

In January we here on the Big Sur coast got hit with 6 winter storms back to back. These storms included high winds, walls of rain and varying inches of rain from 6 to 13 depending on elevation and location.

These storms and the high winds that came with them, did something to the Brown Pelicans annual Northern migration. For weeks we watched as bands of these birds migrated north. When the storms ended we started experiencing large groups of them flying south again. Sometimes the groups were as many a 75 of them sitting in the middle of highway 1.  I imagine they were looking for the heat from the pavement.  They have been seen everywhere in Big Sur and up and down the California coastline. They are the buzz of local conversations.

They found their way to a friends seasonal pond. Coming in large groups, drinking lots of water and resting for a bit. I don’t know how they communicate because they didn’t make any sounds before they started taking off  in even numbered groups. ( I noticed they stay in even numbers) When that group all continued south, a new batch would appear overhead, circle a bit then begin coming in for a landing. This whole process has been going on for a few weeks now. Quite funny to watch them land. They fly in so graceful and magnificent then land head first into the water. Cracks me up! They make such a large splash when they do this that I was not able to get a shot not obscured by water to show you the face plant.

They also do this weird thing where they turn the bottom part of their mouth inside out then stretch their necks way up then toss their heads back. I put together a collage of this hope you can see it okay.

My friends son has a small boat and discovered you could get very close to the birds. They really seem undisturbed and not threatened  by humans. That’s all I needed to hear to ask him if I could come up with my camera, go out on the boat, and get some close up shots. I know these birds are stressed and exhausted right now, so let me say, I respect the situation they are in and did nothing to make even one of them move or fly away. I used a good zoom too.

I read an article that talked about how exhausted these birds were. They also mention there was a problem with some of them getting warm and not being able to dry off. The Monterey County SPCA picked up many of them. Gave them shelter, warmth, food, water, and rest until they were strong enough to be released to continue on their journey.

Then as quickly as they showed up….

We watch them go.

Recently I spent the afternoon on the north coast of Big Sur. It was my birthday and I got to spend the day being spoiled by friends. One of the stops I wanted to make was to see the “Albino Redwood Tree” at the Fernwood Campground.

When you arrive at the Fernwood Campground, right next to the “Old School House”, is where you will find this rare “Albino Redwood Tree”. With less than two dozen (24) Albino Redwoods in existence, this rare white-colored Redwood grows by tapping into the roots of a nearby redwood tree for sustenance.  It lacks chlorophyll, the green substance that allows plants to convert sunlight into food, so its needles never turn green. Typical Redwoods use sunlight so efficiently (3-4 times more than pines) that they can grow even in deep shade, and they usually grow beautiful green needles. The unique “white tree” mutation is recorded in Native American legends such as Coastal Indian’s. For them this unique conifer was highly respected and was used in cleansing ceremonies.

This morning as I sat on my deck looking out to the ocean enjoying my morning cuppa hot steamy goodness, I noticed a bird that flew by me. What first caught my attention was that it was almost pure white and sounded like a Robin. I ran to grab my binoculars and noticed that by it’s shape, size and the slight orange on it’s breast, it was an “Albino Robin”.

Now I’m running for my camera……..

I grew up in Ohio and Robin’s are everywhere there. I’ve never seen an “Albino Robin” before.

I thought I might have a rare find. As I started to search the Internet for information on “Albino Robins“, I came to learn that they are not that uncommon. Two facts that many web pages repeated were that 8.22% of all albino birds are robins, and that approximately 1 in 30,000 robins is an albino. The most rare Albino Robin is one that is completely white. It seems the correct terminology for my Robin is “Piebald” or “Partial Albino” since there are patches of black and orange on him.

There are many forms of Albinism. A true Albino Robin has no body pigments at all, including in the eyes. Birds lacking any pigments in their eyes have no protection from sunlight, and go blind when fairly young. But if a bird has normal eye pigments, sometimes it can survive a long time with pure white feathers. Some have white patches here and there on otherwise normal-colored plumage. In some partial albinos, white patches are perfectly symmetric. In others, they are more randomly arranged. Some birds are born partial albinos, and sometimes they develop patches of white after traumatic events, such as being attacked by a hawk.

Or…Trees with heart!

Ask any Big Sur local or central coast resident who drives from the coast Highway 1 over Highway 46 towards Paso Robles if they know where the “Heart of Trees” is and,  9 out of 10 times you will get a yes!

Rooted on a hill, overlooking a vineyard, a grouping of trees is arranged in the shape of a heart and is very visible from Highway 46 as you travel East.

Heart Of Trees

In days gone by, before Paso Robles became a new thriving hub for vineyards and good wines, this heart sat on the hillside with green grasses surrounding it. To me…it was more dramatic and sweeter to view back then. Especially in the spring when the grass was a vibrant green.

With the multitudes of spring breakers now ascending upon the coast, what a glorious time for them to see….

“Big Sur”

I took these shots on my way to town.  Mother Sur in all her glory!

Potters Beach

The drive to town can be a long slow one especially if you get stuck behind a motor home that just wont pull over.

Where the Little Sur River meets the Pacific Ocean

As slow as it is and as frustrating as it can get at times I think you’ll agree……….

It’s not commuter grid lock and….

Rocky Point looking South towards Bixby Bridge

THE VIEWS ARE WORTH IT!