Old Will

Now Presenting Old Will, an 80 something year old resident of Bodie- back in the heyday of this old west mining town.

The photo comes from my trip to Bodie last October, and I created Will himself with the help of AI! This has been a fun departure for me! I think I was putting on my genealogy hat as I created (in my mind) a backstory for this old guy, including farming in Michigan, a sojourn in Colorado mining for gold, and then his later years spent in Bodie with the family of his son, Luke, who was living in Bodie.

Above is Old Will, sitting on his front porch- and below is his son, Luke, striding purposefully through Bodie.

I have created some other members of the family- less successfully, I think. For me, Old Will is the star of the show. I have abandoned the project for now, and am currently creating clip art with AI for the newsletter I do for my photo club.

All photos are my own. Each image contains a character I created with Microsoft Bing Image Creator.

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Yet another bird image…

Here is another image in my Bird by Bird series- as yet untitled. I’ve had a lot of fun with this series!

This particular image, which started out as a multiple exposure has gone through several iterations. Once this color combination emerged, I knew I was on the right track for what I wanted to create. But I have another version too- I always am attracted to the simplicity of a square crop.

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This Way. . .

I spotted this little scene at Bodega on our trip to California last month. I’ve added it to a little bird series I’m creating for my small group as part of Find Your Voice. I am always drawn to scenes that include birds, so why not include them in my expressionist images?

The series itself is called Bird by Bird– after the wonderful book on writing by Anne Lamott. I think much of her advice applies to photographers, as well as writers!

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Raven Black

This image is part of a series of abstracts I’ve been working on that feature birds. The blog post title is from one of the Shetland mystery series by Ann Cleeves that I love- I haven’t come up with a title for this image as yet. Ideas?

Update: The image is now called Treasure Hunter! I had to come up with a title FAST for my AAUW photography group, and I think it works. . .

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Winter White

My mother, who was definitely a fashion plate, emphasized the rules of dressing properly during my formative years. For example, she never wore jeans, but did find a pair of stylish “frontier pants” that she wore to events where the other women wore jeans. She allowed me to wear my beloved cut off jeans during my teen years, because she knew it was important for me to fit in, but her own style remained elegant. One of the rules that stuck with me, was the one we all know- Don’t wear white after Labor Day! But she also taught me the great exception to the rule- winter white. Think of soft white angora or cashmere sweaters- not white cotton pedal pushers or white patent leather heels.

I thought of my mother’s use of the term winter white, when trying to come up with a title for this post. I think she would be pleased.

Below is a different crop of the same image- just to test out the reliability of using the “Large” setting for blog photos. Fingers crossed that we can see both images on our phones!

As always- click here to go to your browser if you can’t see both images correctly.

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Dressed in White

Fog and snow shrouded this scene up at Flagstaff’s Snow Bowl.

I do realize that this is the second blog post of the day, BUT I am trying to solve my image size problem on my own (WordPress still maintains it is an Apple problem). I changed the image size in my post earlier today to the default setting of Large (I have been using the Full Size setting for several years), and this morning’s image showed up correctly in emails. I’m trying again with a square image to see if it will work! You may see more posts in the next week as I test this out, so bear with me!

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Details of Winter

Head over to my blog if the image does not show up in your mail program- click here.

We had our first snow this week, just a couple inches, which has melted away- at least at our house. Yesterday we went up to Flagstaff for a doctor appointment and drove up to Snow Bowl for a bit of photography. I think the smaller details of the snowy trees were more compelling to me than the larger scene.

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Waterfront View

If you can’t see the image above, please click on this link: https://melinda365.com/blog/

Above is another view of the Benicia waterfront from our trip to California. All my photos were taken in the rain, which I didn’t mind at all. I have been taking photos of this particular scene for years and years, and I noticed that the yellow crane seems even tippier than the last time I was there. I googled and found this article: https://beniciaheraldonline.com/is-cove-crane-tipping-into-the-carquinez/

Evidently it is a controversy right now.

Tech note: If you would like to help get to the bottom of why my images are not showing up full size most days in your iPhone mail program, please click through to see the image in Safari. Does it show up there? It always does for me. And if you REALLY want to help, go to your computer and check to see if the images show up in your computer mail program. If you have another type of mobile phone, I’d love to know how the images look there. So far, WordPress is saying that this seems to be a device issue- but I can see images from other WordPress blogs at the right size on all my devices. I have nothing to do with editing the emails- they go out automatically. But I am wondering if there is a setting in my account or blog theme that has changed. Thank you for your patience. If you have info for me, please put in comments.

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Just Passing Through . . .

Click here if you can’t see the photo- this is a photography blog, after all: https://melinda365.com/blog/

How many times have I taken this photo? We passed through Benicia, where we lived for almost 30 years, on our way to Petaluma for my friend, Georgia’s memorial. We ate lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant (Sandoval’s!), running into two people we knew! This almost never happens in Arizona- and that’s one of the things I miss most about living in Benicia. One of the other things I miss is this scene! This view of the fog-shrouded Carquinez Bridge, where the waterway leads out to the San Francisco Bay says home to me!

Tech Support: If you are viewing this post on your phone, it is possible that the photo is missing or is just a thumbnail. I have made WordPress aware of it, and they are thinking it is an iPhone problem. However, I can see my friend, Carol’s WordPress blog just fine on my phone! I believe WordPress is still working on the problem. I have put a link to my blog right under the photo, so if you can’t see the photo, that link should take you to my blog.

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The Fishing Fleet

A group of pelicans fishing is evidently called a FLEET. This group was not far offshore in Bodega Bay, and I was surprised to see them huddle up like this. It appeared as if one small group found their prey and the others quickly joined them to grab as many fish as they could.

These two were separated from the group for a bit and then joined them.

This might be my favorite of the three photos- because of the “bunny ears” on the right! There are at least six pelicans in the fleet. It looks like it was a good day for fishing!

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Mirror

We took a few hours to go over to the Sonoma Coast last week while we were in California. Since our dating days (over 50 years ago), we have headed over to Bodega Bay to walk the beach and have a bowl of clam chowder at the Tides Restaurant- and every time we come back to the Bay Area we make it a point to return. This time we were greeted by egrets walking through the shallows by the Tides. Of course I had to get my camera and take a few shots of them and also of the sea lions basking on the pier out back. We then broke with tradition and headed over to Spud Point Crab Company for clam chowder on our friend, Jack’s recommendation- and it was delicious!

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Georgia

We have just returned from a trip to Petaluma, California to gather with friends to celebrate the life of our dear friend, Georgia. Georgia passed away October 23 after a shockingly sudden and brief illness of only two months. Although I know she was at peace with dying, I also know that her family and friends are left with a huge hole in their lives. I am only beginning to process the loss of such a vibrant, intelligent, passionate, talented, loving, and exceptionally witty person- a true friend.

I met Georgia in 1976 when we moved to Petaluma. I was looking for a play group for our 15 month old daughter- but also for adult friends for myself. Little did I know that I would find friendship that would last almost 50 years, despite our family moving three times. Our group of 8 women, calling ourselves the Rapunzels, began as a parenting class and a playgroup, but ended up being not only our social network, but a support system for us and our families as we navigated the joys and hurdles (great and small) of family life.

Georgia’s home was central to our group. While I was still adjusting to being a stay-at-home mom, Georgia could have taught a master class in the subject. Her cooking, baking, sewing, home-decorating and entertaining skills were at a level you could only see on the food network or HGTV if there had been such a thing back then. Plus, she was so much FUN! We all have such wonderful memories of the children’s parties and the ADULT parties- and the impromptu gatherings on her patio accompanied by strawberry daiquiris!

And then there were the cookies- and the decorated cakes! She made our daughter’s wedding cake! Have I mentioned how smart she was? She was a fantastic writer of letters, funny sketches of memorable events, and memoirs of her childhood and beyond. She was an exceptional gift giver- my favorite being a book of her recipes, which I use to this day.

All the Rapunzels have similar memories- and many were shared at her memorial, led by her sister, with heartfelt speeches by her two sons, her husband, her best friend- and her oldest grandson. Her spirit was captured by each of the speeches- what a fantastic job her family did with the memorial! Lonnie and I both felt her presence as we listened to the talks and later visited with her children, the rest of the family and all the Rapunzels and their children who were present. It was a day we will never forget.

We have gone from 8 to 7 to 6 and now 5 Rapunzels. Vicki. Marie. Georgia. Losing each friend has been heartbreaking. Growing older and accepting the loss of a dear friend is a challenge- and a life lesson which I am trying to learn.

What I will miss most about Georgia is her friendship; she was one of those people that make you feel like you are one of the most important people on the planet. And, more than the cookies, I will really miss the laughter- gosh, she was so much fun!

***********

About the photo: It was taken in her backyard the last time I saw her in May 2019 (pre-pandemic…). She and her husband, Jerry created a beautiful sanctuary in their backyard, filled with flowers, and I always think of Georgia when I see roses. Because it’s a cell phone shot, I actually don’t know if I was the one that took this photo- but I think so! Apologies if it was Darlene or Claudia- or maybe Jerry. But I think it was me…probably…

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