A weekend…

I was motivated to make a movie of our recent weekend in Morro Bay. I had taken a lot of short clips of crazy elephant seals, sea otters, birds, and surfers. Plus I was interested in seeing if I could make the entire film on my iPhone6. It has a larger screen than my previous phone and even though the iMovie app is not as complex as the version on my laptop I thought it would be interesting to see what could be done just with the one mobile device. Here it is: (Don’t forget to click on the small square in the lower right hand corner so that it displays full-screen. You really can see many more details in the images.)

Down by the dock of the bay…

Last weekend was the annual Bird Festival in Morro Bay, California, and we spent five days on the Central Coast enjoying, for the most part, lovely weather. Saturday it was smooth as glass as we glided on the Bay.

Sunday, however, there were record swells over the breakwater (although the surfers did not mind) and a certain stormy-ness to the environment.

Terry was off on a field trip somewhere and I wandered. The weather forecast was for rain for the rest of the time and I thought I might miss my “morning sunrise with coffee” in front of the rock because of it. I suspected I needed to walk any opportunity there was when it was clear, because otherwise I would get drenched. I set off…

I had hoped I could collect items as I beach combed so I could compose small still-lifes in the sand. It turned out, however, that the tide had been extremely high but was now on its way out. It left a thin line of debris at it highest point that you can see behind the gull above. Lots of feathers were mixed in with shards of seaweed and all I had to do was bend over and take pictures of what pleased my eye.

The Rock, the Tide, and Sea Friends on the Bay…

After our sunrise and coffee on the beach, our last scheduled event of the 2015 Morro Bay Bird Festival was a cruise on the bay. You will notice in these photos, as our skipper pointed out, that it was a king tide. He mentioned how it gave a sense of what it will be like when the seas rise. No parking lot around the rock, evidently. We headed in the direction of the rock, spying sea friends and enjoying the sunshine. The rock actually has two pairs of peregrine falcons that nest on it. One pair on each side and it is highly unusual for them to be so close to each other. However, when they fly off the rock for hunting they have very specific territories. We could see the ones on this side of the rock as we floated. Once we got out toward the breakwater and the exit to the open sea, we turned around and went back down the channel through the marina. and saw more wild-life friends. Once we left the boat, our time in Morro Bay was finished and we packed up and headed south.  For lunch we stopped in Pismo Beach and then drove to Camarillo for a visit with my mother. Definitely going back to the Bird Festival next year.

The Rock, the Gulls, and the Sunrise…

Monday morning was our last chance to do the best thing ever. We had nothing scheduled until 9:00 am so at 6:30 we left the motel in search of java and made it down to the sand next to the Rock to watch the sun rise. This is absolutely my favorite thing to do if I am in Morro Bay. The light is gorgeous starting out grey and then gradually taking on other hues.

My assistant holding the coffee…

and as the light lifts, we are joined by other humans…

Have I mentioned fish already?

Surfers start to arrive for the waves…

Some pinks start to mix with the lavenders and greys…

and, of course, our ever present gull friends…(Western Gull?)

A link to an article that discusses the issues for a small town like Morro Bay…

It is all so gradual, yet, so insistent…another day is here…now!

The Rock, the Gulls, and Fish from the Sea…

We spent January’s MLK Weekend at the Morro Bay Bird Festival. We used to be faithful participants, but for the last two years we had not attended. This year we registered early, got all the workshops we wanted, and were set to enjoy beautiful weather (in the 70’s and clear as a bell…January, no less!). Friday we arrived in time for Terry’s 3:00 workshop on identifying seagulls…the whole weekend he kept showing me his knowledge (evidently, they are tricky to identify because there are so many different kinds of them.) Then we enjoyed a lovely dinner at the Bay Cafe soaking in the old sights, the smell of the sea, and having the first of many meals featuring fish. Oh, and there was a sunset.

The next morning, Terry was off early to a field trip looking for Golden Eagles (successful) and I strolled through Morro Bay’s commercial district (about three blocks of that). After lunch, I went to my workshop on drawing birds while Terry went kayaking on the bay.

I walked into the Natural History Museum for my class and the sky looked like this:

Drew for a few hours…

and when I came out four hours later, the sky had turned to this…

What a place! The next morning, we were both up and on field trips by 7:45. I don’t know what Terry saw, but I birded with a group that went toward Turri Road and over to parts of Los Osos. The Central Coast was looking so good…

I met my old friend, Kathy, who lives in Atascadero, for lunch and we drove up to Cayucos for some fabulous salmon tacos. Couldn’t walk on the pier, though, as it is under construction.

Ahh, the hours I spent on that beach in my youth… That evening we ate at The Galley (more fish) and had another spectacular sunset to enjoy…

This is the Townsend’s Warbler that I drew in my class and the block print I made from it when I got home…

I definitely would not mind looking at that kind of sky every day…

Central Coast…

A quick, unexpected trip last week to Southern California. Brief pauses on the way South and North in the Central Coast of California. The place where most childhood vacations were taken, where I went to college, where my parents spent retirement. At 6:30 am we purchased very tall lattes at Top Dog and moved to see the rock receive its sun for the day (January and close to summer weather!) We were even earlier than the surfers (they were close behind.) This was the place where my father painted while the rest of us walked, dodged waves, poked in tidal pools, and tried to play tag with shorebirds.

I had cataract surgery yesterday and I am looking through a perforated eye guard. I already can tell my world will be brighter, more intense with color, shinier, and vibrant.

Two of my father’s paintings of the Central Coast.

Winter Bird Festival…

Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival…71 degrees when we arrived for a Bay cruise on Friday afternoon…no wind…lots of wildlife…views to die for

Peregrine falcon

Osprey

Seals

Pelicans

Bird of the festival was the arctic loon…hard to get a picture with an iPhone but we were honored to hang around with some big guns…

Saturday morning was a hike along the Estero Bluffs above Cayucos…

A sunrise from the Community Center and a sunset from the same perspective…

Great Blue Heron…

…

Today the bird stays with me, as if I am moving through
the heron’s dream to share his sky or water—places
he will rise into on slow flapping wings or where
his long bill darts to catch unwary frogs. I’ve seen
his slate blue feathers lift him as dangling legs
fold back, I’ve seen him fly through the dying sun
and out again, entering night, entering my own sleep.
I only know this bird by a name we’ve wrapped him in,
and when I stand on my porch, fish in the broiler,
wine glass sweating against my palm, glint of sailboats
tacking home on dusky water, I try to imagine him
slowly descending to his nest, wise as he was
or ever will be, filling each moment with that moment’s
act or silence, and the evening folds itself around me.

T. Alan Broughton

Sketches of Morro Bay…

By the sea, using Backgroundz app and  Pic Grunger app on my iPhone 4…Looking forward to going back in January for the Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival. Can still smell the salt in the air and feel the squish of sand underfoot…

Christmas Day, 2010…

The day dawned…

and the storm clouds gathered…

but the cheer stayed…

and Santa came in his red Prius…

and the surfers surfed…

because it is, after all, California…