Pouring My Art Out

For the birds… part 3… the final chapter…

Posted on September 2, 2018 by pouringmyartout

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Okay, these are the last of the photos of birds that I took, sitting in one spot, over a ten-day-period, in my mom’s back yard, when I drove up to the Bay Area to visit her for her 95th birthday.

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Hummingbirds are not actually colorful. They just have reflective scales on their feathers that catch certain parts of the color spectrum.

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That is why you do not always see the colors.

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The sun has to catch the feathers just right.

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That is a horrible picture. I took that one to help make a correct identification on this next photo…

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We did decide that it is a Rufus Sided- or Spotted- Towhee.

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They are shy and move around a lot. Not easy to get a good photo of.

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We are pretty sure this is a young Finch of some sort. Young birds do not always have the full set of characteristics yet, and can be hard to identify.

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Also, most female birds are not as colorful as the males. So young females add a special challenge to identification.

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I do love the little Chickadees. I like the way this one is leaning to the side.

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But aren’t they cute?

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I can’t remember the name of this bird. My mom knows them all. I am just an occasional bird watcher.

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I could look it up in my bird book, or call my mom, if anybody really cares.

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I know that is a Nuthatch. If you ever need reminding that birds descend from dinosaurs, just look at that little guy’s feet… and claws.

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They use those for climbing up trees, and going down head first.

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Goodbye, little Titmouse.

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And the big Towhee.

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These last few shots, of crows in a dead peppercorn tree, are not really part of the rest of the pictures. I had to move out of the chair and step a few feet away, to the stairs leading down from the backyard.

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But, with the crazy sky- smoke from the California wildfires mixed with cloud and fog- these do have a real Halloween vibe to them.

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And they are pictures of birds.

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So I threw them in. Okay, I just have to finish off the Yosemite adventure pictures, and we can get back to the usual weirdness around here.

Posted in dogs and other animals | Tagged animals, art, birds, humor, nature, photography | Leave a comment

For the birds… part 2… with no words about the birds, because I put the words with the birds in the first post…

Posted on September 2, 2018 by pouringmyartout

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Posted in dogs and other animals | Tagged animals, art, birds, humor, nature, photography | 5 Comments

For the birds… part 1…

Posted on September 1, 2018 by pouringmyartout

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My mom is a bird watcher. While I was visiting her for her 95th birthday, we spent some quality time together watching the birds in her garden. That is a Hummingbird.

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It turned into a game, to see how many really good photos of birds I could get. That is a Nuthatch.

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I have three posts of photos. They aren’t all of different birds. There are repeats. It was only two weeks, and these are the birds that were in that part of the Bay Area at that time of year. I think that is a Rufus Sided Towhee, also known as the Spotted Towhee.

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A young Chickadee.

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I just wanted to see, if I sat very still in the garden with my telephoto lens, if I could get some excellent bird photos, like this one, of a young Scrub Jay.

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My mom sat with me occasionally. The smoke in the air from all the fires was giving her a cough, so she often sat inside, watching out the kitchen windows with her binoculars.

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I also ran down to the store to get some bird food for the feeder. There are two young Finches, chowing down.

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The Finch on the right turned his head, and his buddy was replaced with this little yellow bird, that even my mom could not identify. It might be another kind of Finch.

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I like this photo. The one Finch is waiting his turn. His friends are watching him. But his wings are flapping so fast, they look almost invisible, and the other two birds seem to be amazed by how he is just levitating.

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A Towhee… and a grapefruit.

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I think the Nuthatches are adorable little birds.

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A Finch fluffing herself up for a preening.

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Just for some context, there is the chair I would sit in. The challenge was to only take the bird photos from that one spot. I was pretty close to the birds, and had to move slowly to keep from scaring them. But after a few days, a lot of them just ignored me. Birds are a lot like people in that way.

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That is the view standing behind the chair.

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And that is my mom’s garden.

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A Towhee checking out the… uh… garden monkeys?

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He does not seem impressed.

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A Titmouse. These are cute, tiny birds. They have little crests on their heads, but I don’t know if I ever got a good photo of one with the crest raised.

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Okay, I might do the next bird post with no words. So I hope you read the words in this post.

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See you later!

Posted in dogs and other animals | Tagged art, birds, humor, nature, photography | 4 Comments

My Yosemite adventure… part 7… how I ended up spending the night there, where I stayed, and how I used my extra time taking even more photos for you!!!

Posted on August 31, 2018 by pouringmyartout

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When I was up in the Bay Area visiting my mom for her 95th birthday, I wasn’t actually planning on a trip to Yosemite. And when I did decide to go, it was just a spontaneous idea for a day trip. Then my wife called while I was in the park. Since the place was deserted because of all the fires burning around it, she suggested I stay an extra day.

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I looked around. I wasn’t going to pay hundreds of dollars for luxury accommodations. I was only going to get up early to take some sunrise pictures and poke around a little more. I ended up staying here, in the housekeeper cabins. Low cost… for Yosemite, I mean. This is where all the young people who work cleaning out the other cabins on their summer breaks stay.

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Luxurious… no.

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But this was the view from my front door… or canvas flap.

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If I zoom in, you can see my almost-private beach by the river.

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Oh yeah.

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And there is the squishy mud. I think I already posted a picture of my size-fifteen feet as I sunk my toes into that gooey deliciousness.

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Seriously, a white sand beach.

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And here is a view from the same beach that evening, right after I saw that crazy bear… for the first time. Half Dome is glowing in the setting sun.

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And the best thing about staying over was that, instead of a long drive in the dark, I had a chance to see that bear again. And got to spend another half day roaming around.

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And I got to see the sunrise over the park.

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And take more photos of the same views, but with different lighting. El Captitan looked majestic in the early morning.

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And the park was even more deserted that early in the morning.

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Nobody else was up yet.

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It was amazing.

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The sun, still trying to get above the cliffs.

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The stillness was overwhelming.

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I felt very in touch with nature.

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And I got to not only see the bear again, but get almost close enough to pet those deer that I already showed you in an earlier post.

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Okay, see you soon.

Posted in My travels, Pictures of me, Stories of my life, sunsets | Tagged art, california, camping, humor, nature, Northern California, outdoors, photography, travel, Yosemite | Leave a comment

Raccoons and squirrels and wasps, oh my!!!

Posted on August 30, 2018 by pouringmyartout

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Well, I am back in San Diego from visiting my mom in the Bay Area for her 95th birthday. But I still have a lot of photos from my trip to share.

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I caught a raccoon stealing the cat food again. I love the way their eyes turn orange in the flash.

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Wait, now his eyes are green.

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Okay, that’s better.

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I got a few shots of this squirrel eating birdseed that the birds tossed on the ground. I have a lot of good bird pictures too, so wait for that.

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No, this is not one of the crack squirrels that live inside my head.

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He was much too calm to be one of them.

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While I was sitting in my mom’s garden waiting for birds to show up for their photo shoots, I tried to use the telephoto lens to take some pictures of the wasps.

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They aren’t great photos.

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But these little suckers move fast.

Posted in dogs and other animals | Tagged animals, art, humor, nature, photography, raccoons, squirrels, wasps | Leave a comment

Hey, I bet nobody else you know got up at four this morning and drove for miles just to walk out onto the Golden Gate Bridge to get you some photos… the final chapter…

Posted on August 29, 2018 by pouringmyartout

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Well, this will wrap up my little San Francisco adventure series of posts. Which is good, because in a few hours I am leaving my mom’s house to drive back to San Diego… and reality. So what better place to deny reality for a few more moments than this place…

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Yes, after the beach cleanup, Big Johnny, William and Eva and I drove over to Haight Ashbury, where people denied reality for most of the 1960’s and 1970’s. We had Asian Fusion food.

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I gave Willie his birthday presents. I think he liked them.

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I think we all liked them.

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Some of you may remember this part of San Francisco from another visit to the Bay Area, where I went with the same people to a 1960’s-themed art exhibit, and then, Big Johnny and I went on an epic bar crawl in this very neighborhood.

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‘The Haight’, as the cool locals call it, is a little touristy now.

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And yet it still retains some of its unique character.

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And nowhere does unique character better than the Bay Area.

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Just sayin’.

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Once again, I will be missing this part of the world. My time draws near.

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A long boring drive through the Central Valley, LA traffic… back to my job and chores.

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I will be back at Christmas.

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And there is always my mom’s 96th birthday, next year.

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Okay, see you soon, little godson Willie!

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Oh… right… yes, and your parents too.

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I actually went back to my mom’s house a different way, crossing the Golden Gate bridge, and swinging around towards the Richmond bridge instead of taking the Oakland Bay bridge back. I knew you wanted one more view of the bridge. Ha!

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Look, it’s Alcatraz, and the Oakland Bay bridge way beyond it. I see blue skies. The weird mix of fog, cloud and smoke from all the wildfires finally parted. And don’t be sad. I still have a bunch of Yosemite pictures to post after I get home. Also, some animal photos, and some pretty good sunset shots.

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And then we can get back to… whatever it is I usually do around here. Bye, San Francisco!

Posted in My travels, Stories of my life, Willie! | Tagged art, california, golden gate bridge, humor, Northern California, photography, san francisco, san francisco bay area, the bay area, travel | Leave a comment

Hey, I bet nobody else you know got up at four this morning and drove for miles just to walk out onto the Golden Gate Bridge to get you some photos… part 4… in which me and a cute kid help save the world!!!

Posted on August 29, 2018 by pouringmyartout

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That is my godson, William. He is the main reason I went to San Francisco the other day. Hey, don’t be like that. I didn’t have to get up so early and go over there and walk out of the bridge, and drive all around the coast, taking pictures to share with you!

And speaking of which..

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HA! I know, I said I was doing these in chronological order. Okay, so I skipped ahead a few photos to use the picture of a cute kid to lure people onto the post. Sue me.

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It is okay. I just have a few more photos before I tell you how me and Willie helped save the planet. Look- cormorants on a big rock, near the mouth of the San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate. That isn’t so bad, is it?

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Just look at all that bird poop!

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And I met this little guy, as I was cruising down the coast.

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Snack time!

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Cool stairway. You gotta love the Bay Area.

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Okay, we are back to the bridge, but this is different. This isn’t a place I stopped just to take another photo. This is Baker Beach.

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I mean, it does have a nice view of the Golden Gate Bridge…

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But this little dude is why I am here. He just turned 6-years-old. I had presents. And we had one other thing to do.

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Hey! Who put all this trash here? Oh… wait… that isn’t trash. It is stuff for picking up trash!

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And that is what William and I did.

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I mean, he helped… more or less.

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But man, we had a good time.

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A big boat! I like boats. The zoom lens really makes the mouth of the bay look small in that. It isn’t.

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Yes, very good. That is indeed Big Johnny, the guy I went to that rock and roll show with the other night.. He is also William’s dad… which explains why he is doing such a good job of catching him as he flies through the air.

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This is a beach cleanup, organized by the Surfrider organization. They do them all over.

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But, this particular beach cleanup is organized, over and over, by this incredible lady, the one bending over the bucket for an action shot. That is Eva, Willie’s mom.

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She not only organizes the beach cleanups, she has, almost single-handedly, forced many local restaurants to stop using plastic straws. She is a force of nature… for nature.

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87 people volunteered for this cleanup, on this particular Sunday. They are also cataloging all the brand-name trash, to put pressure on big corporations. You go, Eva!

Posted in dogs and other animals, My travels, Stories of my life, Willie! | Tagged art, bay area, birds, boats, current-events, dogs, ecology, golden gate bridge, humor, kids, Northern California, people, photography, san francisco, san francisco bay area, the bay area, trash | 4 Comments

Hey, I bet nobody else you know got up at four this morning and drove for miles just to walk out onto the Golden Gate Bridge to get you some photos… part 3… in which I run into a horse’s asshole that looks strangely familiar, and come face to face with some lion nuts…

Posted on August 28, 2018 by pouringmyartout

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Okay, I am back to posting the photos of my recent San Francisco adventure in chronological order, just for a change. We have seen the sunrise from the middle of the bridge, if you can call it a sunrise, being hidden behind those masses of fog and cloud mixed with the smoke of all the fires burning in California.

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These first two were taken from the Presidio, which you might remember from the last post, if you are actually following along with the story. So this is inside the mouth of the bay, on the South, or San Francisco end of the bridge.

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Driving West- and remembering that, somewhere in this order of the pictures, I have already posted all the military history-themed images for the last post, which hopefully, you read- I am now just on the seaward side of the bridge. That means I am outside the mouth of the bay.

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I know, nobody needs to see this many pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge, but I stopped at all the good views, so stop complaining. You didn’t have to do all the driving, or get up obscenely early.

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You’re welcome. And look, no bridge in that one at all. Just pelicans, going to work. And Land’s End beyond them, where the coast curves away to the South, the actual ‘mouth’ of the bay. I guess that makes the narrow part under the bridge the ‘throat’?

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Hurry up birds, you are going to be late.

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Okay, even I am starting to get sick of pictures of the bridge now.

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Wait. That isn’t the bridge. Although it does look like the same kind of steel beams used to make it, and it is the color of the bridge when it is freshly painted. Oh, right, there is a museum of art around here somewhere.

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Ha. I snuck another bridge picture in there. Oh come on, you can barely see it.

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I do love a tree draped with Spanish Moss.

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We must be getting close to the art museum. And no, that isn’t a knight attacking a giant lion. The other statue is further away. It is a trick of perspective.

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See, I told you. It is at least life-sized. Oh, and look, his sword is broken off at the hilt. That can’t be a metaphor for anything, not the way things are going in the world.

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See, I told you there was an art museum around here!

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‘The Thinker’… behind bars… now that is a metaphor for the way things are going!

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And there is another statue… wait a minute… is that ‘El Cid’??? Is that an exact copy of the statue we have in San Diego in Balboa park? Only one way to be sure…

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Yup. I would recognize that metal donut-shaped sphincter anywhere! Be glad for the smoke and the bad lighting it provided. Trust me, you don’t need this photo to be any more clear.

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Anyway, time to move along… wait… there is another of the stone lion statues nearby, because they are flanking the walkway to the museum…

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I need to check something… hold on a minute…

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I knew it! Nestled between his rump and his tail, in all their glory- lion nuts. Feline testicles of impressive size. What is it with statue carvers and their fixation with anatomical correctness?

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Okay, we are nearing the part of this adventure where I explain the main reason I had to come to San Francisco today. Or maybe another Yosemite post. Who knows?

Posted in My travels, Stories of my life | Tagged art, birds, california, golden gate, golden gate bridge, horse assholes, humor, lion nuts, Northern California, photography, san francisco, san francisco bay, san francisco bay area, the bay area, travel | Leave a comment

My Yosemite adventure… part 6… just random pictures, taken over two days, with no words to interrupt your viewing pleasure…

Posted on August 28, 2018 by pouringmyartout

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Posted in My travels | Tagged art, california, humor, nature, Northern California, outdoors, photography, Yosemite | Leave a comment

The most astounding sunset I ever saw… and I have seen a lot of sunsets, I mean, I do posts about them all the time… remember when I tried to post a sunset photo every night for an entire year?

Posted on August 28, 2018 by pouringmyartout

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Yes, all these fires raging in California did allow me to visit Yosemite and be almost the only person there. But they have played havoc with the sunsets on my trip to the Bay Area to visit my mom for her 95th birthday. I pretty much haven’t seen a sunset for two weeks, what with the clouds, fog and smoke in the sky.

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The night before last, the sun finally peeked through below the smoke and clouds, and above the fog and distant mountains across the bay. I will do the rest of the photos in the order they were taken. The first one was one of the most amazing shots, you know, to lure people into the post. It started off as almost a normal sunset.

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I used the telephoto lens to get a few pictures, not expecting much.

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Then weird things started happen. That is not a reflection on the lens. That was really there. The smoke was refracting the sunlight, causing a ghost sun to appear.

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