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Monday, July 12, 2010

Not Sandcastles, but still fun...

I have thought about my post all day,
trying to decide "what to write" and how to write this post.  
Recently, I have been wanting to go to the beach
to take some pictures of sandcastles to go along with
something I am considering posting on my blog.
 This weekend the weather in our area was supposed to do a drastic increase
 up to triple digits F,
so this sounded like a wonderful plan -
going to cooler weather and enjoying a relaxing day at the water.... 
We spent most of the weekend exploring a few different areas of the beach.

A few of the amazing views...

Today, while putting together these collages,
 I thought about many ways to share our experience.
Amidst our travels at the coast, we explored an area of tide pools,
 filled with sea life, just calling for pictures to be taken. 
While I was selecting which photos to share,
I kept hearing the little crabs having a conversation, 
"Don't they get it?  You would think when I continue to run under the rocks,
this person would understand...
 I DON'T WANT MY PICTURE TAKEN! 
Must you keep snapping that blasted camera in my direction? 
 Look, the starfish is posing, go take his picture..." 
 I even envisioned his little claw coming out,
reaching from under the rock to snatch the camera away from me,
so he could throw IT into the water.  Then I heard him say,
"NOW try and take my picture!"

I wonder if Mr. Crab had anything to do with the couple of times when I lost my
footing and almost landed along side of the starfishes...   between the rocks.  Hmmm?

I find when I am out and about in nature,
 I try to catch the animals, creatures, in my photos. 
In fact, on some recent drives along the coast, my friend was razzing me,
"It's a bird... look, there's a bird... Oh wow, another bird..." 
Those days, as it happened, pretty much all we were seeing,
 aside from the amazing coastal views, were of course, birds. 
Seagulls to be specific.

This weekend was going to be different.... 
I planned this trip so we could have amazing views and other creatures,
along with a chance to do the sandcastles...

When we arrived at the top of a bluff,
after walking through a small "forest" of Eucalyptus Trees,
crossing a railroad track and arriving at the overlook for the Seal Habitat...
all we found on the beach were... Pelicans and Seagulls. 
And an amazing view of the ocean!  So yes,
more bird pictures....



Definitely turned out to be a very relaxing, fun weekend. 
Since we were so into disturbing Mr. Crab, playing nature photographers...
I never ended up taking the time to work on the sandcastle thing,
so that will wait for a later post.... 

I will leave you with one last collage, the walk back to the car... 
 Another forest path at the other end of this particular beach,
the Monterey Pines towering above the houses prior to the hidden path at the end...
Then surprise!
As you walked along this shaded area, under the canopy of deep green,
suddenly to the side were these bursts of tremendous color, 
framing small pictures of the ocean views....




The pictures included in this post were all taken at the Port Hueneme Lighthouse area, Rincon Beach and the Carpenteria Bluffs Nature Preserve and Seal Sanctuary in Southern California.

2 comments:

Friko said...

Well, lucky you to have a day on such a spectacular beach. never mind about being teased about your bird pictures and love of nature; you carry on.
So what about those sandcastles?

Reflections said...

Hi Friko,
Yes, it was lucky to have such a relaxing day spent at the beach. I have been making a concerted effort to spend more time out in nature.... I tend to be a workaholic, so the time totally away is much needed at times. I must say, my friend way out did me on the pictures of the starfish and crabs. She also caught a couple of good shots of the pelicans in flight.

The sandcastles relate to a story I have been thinking of posting (written a long time ago), but one I tend to draw back to when/if the writer's block is hitting. I have made some changes or enhancements to it a couple of times, and thought it might be a good place to begin in sharing my creative side. I figured the pictures would be a nice lead in. I kind of wanted to take a fresh look at it before posting. Soon...