Pouring My Art Out

Because my brother, who lives with my mom to help take care of her, has adopted three cats, there are bowls of cat food and water both on the deck, and on the table just outside the windows overlooking the backyard. This is why I always end up with lots of photos of raccoons and possums whenever I visit my mom in the Bay Area.

I didn’t bother to take photos of the blue jays or squirrels this time. But if you ever want to be inches away from a raccoon or a possum, just let me know.

That is the picture window that overlooks part of the bay, and from which you can almost see San Francisco across the bay. The door to the deck, where I take so many of the pictures of the animal visitors and the sunsets, is just to the left. I am trying to explain why my photos of sunsets taken from the house where I grew up are always zoomed-in shots. If you look out the window, you can see not only some of the overhanging branches of the big oak tree that is growing in front of the deck, but some of the many phone and power lines that crisscross the view.

If I go to the upper level of the backyard, and shoot over the roof, the oak tree still blocks some of the view. I do avoid the power lines… but I like to zoom in or crop the photos down to just the sunset… because…

If I don’t, you get a lot of the flat roof of my mom’s house. And the weird chimney cover that always reminds me of a Roman gladiator helmet of some sort… for some reason.

Anyway, I took all these last night. I just got back from my usual pilgrimage up into the hills above Berkeley, where I took some  more sunset photos… to share with you tomorrow.