Photography – Circadianreflections Blog

Whatever Weds.

We’re settling into our new home. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel of boxes!

Sunday I went out with a local birding expert and guide for a morning of birding.

It was so much fun and a great birdy day with so many bird highlights. We saw a pair Great-horned Owls, some Owlets, a Barn Owl, Bald Eagles, lots of Red-wing Blackbirds, Yellow-headed Blackbirds, sparrows, Turkey Vultures, and a pilot practicing aerial loops, swoops, and dives!

I’ll share just two images today though.

A pair of Kestrels in a tree with breakfast. I didn’t notice the prey until I uploaded my images. I’ve never seen a pair together before so this was a real treat for me.

American Kestrel Pair with Prey

and from my backyard, there are flocks of Yellow-headed Blackbirds enjoying the trees and my feeder. I never saw these in Silicon Valley. I love their vivid heads and lovely white pattern on their wings. I’m not sure if these are year-round birds or just spending Spring here. I’ll soon find out!

Yellow-headed Blackbirds

Yesterday the cabinets for the laundry room arrived so the contractor is going to open those boxes up and see what we got. I have to select and order my counter top still, and I think he’s going to paint He-Man’s closet. He textured the new framing for it yesterday. I’ve been taking photos of the project at each step. I’ll share those later.

I hope your week has been going well and continues to go well through the week-end!

Nikon D810| Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6 top image and 300mm f/4 bottom image| Hoodman Steel Digital Film| PS CC 2019

more to come…

Whatever Weds. Spring in Stanislaus Co.

I’m waist deep into packing paper, boxes, and all my stuff.

I spent almost my entire adult life amassing stuff, and now I just want to get rid of most of it! I’m not really into the Komari (sp) thing, but I’m all for me having less stuff to worry about and pack! But, I have this nagging feeling I’m getting rid of things I’ll regret, and keeping things I should let go! It’s agony!

I spent the morning packing up most of the kitchen and getting our homeowners, and car insurance set up for NV. Next up will be getting our mail set up over there, and the list goes on and on, but we’re making progress. Fifteen days and the movers come to get all our stuff and really it’s mostly my stuff and take it to the new house! Well, they’ll be there the next day so, we will be sleeping on the air mattress, and have the stuff we’ve already taken over to get us through a few days should it snow or something and the truck can’t get over. Winter is hanging on. The major Interstate they’ll probably take over the mountains has closed a few times recently because there have been two. Two avalanches in the last two weeks on that Interstate.

This is how I remember winters being when I was a girl and a young adult. I’ve always felt the weather is cyclical and has a pattern here in CA. Really good skiing winters, followed by long dry, thirsty spells. We’re in the great skiing season now, but my head is saying, Drought is coming prepare! I’m saying that with the Game of Thrones tone of Winter is Coming. 😃 I’m staying in the west so drought is probably going to be in my planning for the rest of my life.

Ah, but I digress. Since I’ve been preoccupied with the packing and moving and feeling the need to share some images and stay connected to you cause I’ve missed you I dug into my earlier images from just about a month ago when Big Baby Boy and I took a ride out to Knight’s Ferry.

The hills are still this green.

Early Spring on the Stanislaus River

and the Lupine was just beginning to bloom. I had the wrong lens for this shot, but I like the way you can see the environment that these were blooming in. These Lupine were huge bushes. I bet they’re gorgeous now.

Spring Lupine Stanislaus County

We’re reflecting a lot about all the things we’ve experienced while living in this house 37 years. Big Baby Boy came home for 5 days to help us move some stuff over to the new house, and say Good-bye to the house he’s always called home. We treasure the memories here but we’re taking them with us. We are looking forward to new beginnings, new memories to be made, and to blooming in our new home.

Happy Wednesday!

Nikon D810| Nikkor 20mm f/1.8G| Hoodman Digital Film| CS PP 2019

more to come…

Whatever Weds. Sunset over the Vineyard

I got home Thursday night and saw a friend was having a Meet Up to photograph the Wild Mustard that is in bloom here now, and the sunset. I signed up to go straight-away. I’ve been missing my camera time quite a lot.

It was so good to get out with friends old and new to converse, hear the birds, see the fields of wild mustard, and a lovely sunset.

Sunset over the Wild Mustard and Vines

This was our last stop for the evening; in a vineyard looking west over the wild mustard and vines as the sunset cast its last light on the Santa Cruz mountains and valley below.

I hope you all have a lovely rest of the week!

more to come…

Whatever Weds. February’s Rural Full Moon

I’ve been going over to Baby Girl’s almost weekly since our Littlest was born, but whilst she was in the hospital on bedrest I spotted this little cabin and outbuilding one afternoon on my way home from the hospital and it has been on my radar since.

Knowing the full moon was upon us I did a quick search of my sun and moon tools to see if the moon would line up with the cabin because I was going to be at Baby Girls on Monday. Luck was with me it did line up! So, I got there early and set up to wait.

February's Rural Full Moon

I didn’t wait for the Moon to get directly over the cabin because the shadows were getting longer and broader with each passing minute. By the time the Moon would have been right over or right of the cabin the shadows would have killed the golden light on the cabin. I learned that whilst waiting for the Moon to rise. I will keep that in mind when planning another shoot here.

See the nut trees in bloom behind the cabin? All the orchards are in bloom right now over here. It seems too early to me though. I hope a frost doesn’t come along and kill the buds.

OT- Some weeks back whilst I was staying at Baby Girl’s full time I passed my 9th year blogging/sharing my photos here on WordPress. 9 years! It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long at all. Thank you all so much for your likes, comments, and conversations throughout the years. I think of you as friends and appreciate your visits very much.

I hope you’re having a lovely week!

Nikon D810| Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D| Hoodman STEEL Digital Film| PS CC 2019

more to come…

Please Hold!

Egg-mergenency Room

Life has taken another turn as I feared it might. Baby Girl has been on Hospital Bed Rest since Thursday (yesterday). So, I stayed over there to help with #1 Grandson getting him to and from school, helping with homework, baths, etc. I’ll be spending the next two to two and a half weeks over there helping out.

The plan is still hoping Baby Girl can stay well enough to keep our Littlest in the womb until the 28th of this month. Should her blood pressure, and the protein in her urine continue to rise I’m sure they’ll induce her labor sooner. We’re keeping our fingers crossed and praying Preeclampsia doesn’t strike her again! Baby L is doing very well through all this thankfully!

While over at her house I won’t have access to my images and typing on my Kindle and cell phone isn’t always great so, I’m putting blogging on hold for a bit, but I’ll do my best to keep up with you all.

I hope the next time I post it will be with great news. 😃🍼👶

Nikon D700| Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D| SunDisk Digital Film| PS CS6

Whatever Wednesday: Coyote

Hello! I hope this finds you all doing well and the start of 2019 has been easy on you.

I started the year birding on January 1st with several friends. Upon entering one of our favorite wildlife refuges we spotted a Coyote and got some great looks at each other.

Isn’t it a beauty!

Coyote

The Coyote in Symbolism is the guide that can appear to you when you’ve lost your way or path. It speaks to the path less traveled. The Coyote is the trusted guide that leads the way for those answers along this path.

It was a wonderful day of birding and wildlife seeing, and I knew when we spotted the Coyote first thing it was a good omen for the day.

Update on Baby Girl– The planned inducement date is January 28th! In just 19 days barring any changes, we’ll be seeing our newest member of the family! Our little man in the womb is doing great, and Baby Girl is hanging in there like a trooper.

Blogging this year– I thought about doing another weekly self-challenge, but didn’t want to limit myself, and I really like posting on Wednesdays-it works for me, but I don’t want to commit to Wordless Wednesday cause sometimes I like to talk or tell a story, so this year I’m going to be open to posting Whatever and mostly I’ll post on Wednesday, but I may pop in on a different day, but I won’t be loading up your email inbox with more than two posts a week. Once a week works for me, but once in awhile, there might be two posts in a week. So, I’m posting Whatever Wednesday this year.

Perhaps, this Coyote is a good omen for 2019 for me? Odd years are usually better for me as strange as that sounds it’s true. I’m hoping it holds true this year too.

Happy Hump Day everyone, and here’s to a wonderful 2019!

Nikon D810| Nikkor 200-500mm| Hoodman Digital Film| PS CC 2019

more to come…

Wild Weds. 42/52 Withered and Tattered

Normally we see gorgeous, perfect Monarch butterflies being shown on blogs, and photo sharing sites, but there’s another side of their lives that shows us just how amazing and remarkable these insects are in addition to beautiful.

This Adult Male Monarch Butterfly has survived the wind, rain, and maybe snow. It probably avoided predators along its arduous migration, and perhaps it lost some of its wings being snagged on thorns.

Monarch Butterfly-Male

The average lifecycle of a Monarch Butterfly is 6-8 weeks. From the egg stage, then the catepillar stage, to the chrysalis stage is only 27-28 days. At 28 days the Monarch Butterfly emerges from its cocoon a fully grown monarch and lives 2-6 weeks. That’s remarkable! From that point its whole raison d’être is to mate so there will be eggs to lay so there will be the next generation of monarch butterflies.

I love how clever he is by landing here on this withered and tattered Showy Daisy-like flowers. He’s trying to blend in I believe.

I made this image in May in Santa Clara County. It’s back to my archives this week because I have been outside my box, and doing a bit of portraiture the last two week-ends. Two weeks ago a girl-friend and I teamed up to do a Maternity Session for some dear friends, and I’ve been working on those images, and this past Sunday afternoon I did a Wedding Invitation/Save the Date session for Baby Girl, and the Handsome Surveyor.

I can’t show any images from the Maternity Session as the couple hasn’t seen them, and I don’t have their permission to share yet, but Baby Girl and The Handsome Surveyor said it would be alright to share one image; one that won’t be used on the invitation.

People photography really isn’t my thing, and retouching even less so, but I do like this image. Of course, I am just a wee bit biased. 😃 I will probably go back and tweak this image after I get the Maternity Set done for my friends, and Baby Girl’s wedding invitation image done. I’m not used to working on the clock so to speak, so I’m feeling the pressure!

Haakma Zajac Session 04

I hope your week is going well, and you all have a lovely week-end!

Nikon D810| top image shot w/ Nikkor 200-500mm| bottom image shot w/ Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D lens at f/5.6| Hoodman STEEL Digital Film| PS CC 2018

more to come…

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