Feb 23, 05

Feb 23, 05
4:15 p.m.
Gibson Ranch - Deidre & I go back to a spot on Dry Creek
warm, sunny, with some clouds, sun is beginning to get low

The creek has risen and come back down, but not quite as low as it was last time. Still, our spot is dry and we can both take photos we couldn't take then. My first attempt at the triptich was less than satisfatory but then the second try is well worth six sheets of film (plus the one I jammed at first because I had forgotten to clean my rollers.) The air around the creek smells wet, a little like algae, and mosquitoes are all over. Lots of tiny birds chirp and chatter in the low bushes and trees all around.

We tromp around the creek, up onto the bridle path and down around the creek some more - we see a couple tiny grey birds with darker heads, about the size of the goldfinches in our backyard. They make a little "tit tit" noise as they hop around on naked bush branches.

Fresh green grass is everywhere, a testament to all the recent rainfall and slowly rising temperatures.

sunny with clouds

Feb 18, 2005
late afternoon
family outing to Gibson Ranch
sunny with clouds, breezy cool to warmer, depending on whether we're in shadow or not

Start out by the pond, not too long before mallards come to check us out, Scott pretends he has food and we've got geese interested soon, too. One big white gander comes up hissing and we give him plenty of space


Cattle graze in a pasture across the road, look up at me, then get back to the business at hoof. Scott and the kids check out a pair of oaks - I want to call them live oaks because they're evergreen - Scott climbs one and is attacked by ants.


We drive around to the creek side of the park and are promptly stomping around the creek.


Suddenly a set of soccer goals catch my eye. The park is mostly empty now and the goals are giant frames around the landscape with a second far away goal echoing in the distance.

I like the second set of the three sets I find best and the thought that I am not the first to see this relationship haunts me.

Still I like this idea and later realize I missed three more landscapes seen through the opposite side - I wonder what I missed?


Next to the soccer field I find a more pastural scene - quite literally a horse pasture. I like the clouds that echo the shape of the tree. Dee has joined me while the guys bird watch - they find a couple kinds of woodpeckers along the creek.


Dee leads me along tiny little creekside trails while the sunlight comes and goes behind the clouds.


I run out of film before I get all the shots I like, so Dee & I decide to come back Monday, weather permitting. Storms have been passing through and more are forecast these next couple days...

bike ride

Feb 6, 05
partly cloudy, breeze picking up
most of January was cold and foggy, now our week of sun seems to be ending - out on a bike ride with the kids - we take a gravel road around a creek
where the road peters out and hits open land we find a platform treehouse in what seems to be too small of a tree, complete with a garden hose for a ladder.

The kids poke around in the muddy creek while wating for me.