Siegfried

This is our lovely boy Siegfried, the Silver Tabby. He'll be 17 this coming year. When I took the picture he had just "helped" me make the bed. He's the last in his litter. Along with his siblings, he was born on our property the year after we bought it to a small, gray feral cat. We lost Green Eyes, his mother this year. Not sure how old she was, adult when we moved here. He had a black brother, named Mikesh, I've shared his image here on the blog before. And one other sibling, a sister named Woody. She had the biggest, golden owl eyes. We've managed this group of semi-ferals for 16 going on 17 years now. 6 left out of the original 18. Sigh.........it's been a long haul. We got everyone spayed and neutered of course, but still the care of that many has been tough at times. Siegfried still seems in robust health, but 2 more of his siblings are struggling with illness. They have added much to our lives and each and everyone will be missed when they're gone. But for now, we'll enjoy the time we have left with the remaining gang.

Fiery August Skies

I know I am way behind in posting more of my May trip to Europe. Lately we've had some really bad fires all around us. So I've been taking quite a few pictures of  the fiery skies . I wanted to post a few of the images I've taken lately that captures the beauty of something so devastating.


This first image was taken on the back of our propery. Elder Creek has nearly dried for the first time in the nearly 20 years we've lived here. The sun was just rising through the heavy smoke to the East from the Ponderosa fire in the Manton Area.

 This is the smoky sunset sky toward the West of us, caused by the Pass Fires near Covelo.

 Just before the sun set completely the colors got so intense and amazing.

 This was taken the following night with just a light haze of gray smoke in the air toward the West.

And last but not least, after the sunset I was able to get a shot of the crescent moon as it was setting, making it's way through the heavy smoke. It was totally dark out, but the crescent just hung in the sky, glowing an eerie reddish orange.

Frederick the Great

Here are two portraits of "Old Fritz".  One done many years ago of course, when he was still alive. And then just before we exited the castle, there it was, on the wall a portrait of him done by Andy Warhol. Talk about culture shock.

My pictures aren't the best of course, but I wanted to capture them regardless. Behind me a relentless group of other viewers of the palace were pushing me along as I tried to madly click away. And remember when you view these pics, if you click on the picture itself, you will get a larger version of the image. 

I loved this room!!

These images were taken in one of my favorite rooms. It was lavishly decorated with natural art work. The scenes were two-dimensional. Wonderful stuff. The creatures and plants looked as if they could jump right off the wall.

It was like nature was captured right there, on the wall and ceilings all around us. It was enchanting!!

Some interior shots of Sans Souci

Obviously life has been getting in the way of my spending time and posting the promised follow-up on Sans Souci. Where does the time go?
Alright, let's go inside.

The details were amazing. These are just a few of the images I took while touring the interior. Too many to share in one post. These are just some of the wonderful, gilded pieces. The chandeliers were wonderful as was all the intricate artwork. As Sans Souci is fairly small when it comes to palaces, the 10 rooms we were able to view more then made up for it.

Sans Souci Palace in Potsdam, Germany

I wanted to start by sharing a few pictures of Frederick the Great's Summer Palace of Sans Souci. The grounds are very extensive, with this palace only being one on the grounds. It isn't a big palace, but it's one he loved. He entertained there extensively, welcoming such greats as Voltaire and others to his table.
These images are of the palace looking up to it. The front of the gardens is in terraces. Each terrace has grapevines growing on the walls, with fig trees in the little cubby holes in between. They have windows in front that can be closed in cold Berlin winters to keep them from freezing to death.

Sans Souci only has 10 rooms in it. But even though it's smallish, the details and different themes in the rooms
were amazing.
Had there been more rooms, it would've been overwhelming.

At each end of the terrace in front of the palace is one of these wonderful gazebos. The Sun Burst is a detail on each side of the gazebos.

Dragonfly visiting

It's been quite a while since I posted something new. Still have lots of pictures of my recent trip to Europe I want to share. 
But now, as a follow up for the previous Waterlily post, here's a picture of a handsome Dragonfly visiting the pond. He sat still for the longest time, allowing me to "capture" him while resting. 

Lily Pond

Years ago my husband created a fish pond out of a bath tub which was damaged on a job he was on. This year the waterlily it houses has gone wild. More blossoms then ever. Along with amazing lily blossoms the pond has visitors, such as the little tree frog.  To keep mosquitoes from breeding, it's also home to Mosquito Fish. We keep them only in this and one other pond, as sadly they are also voracious gobblers of tadpoles. Thankfully we have other water features that our little frogs frequent, most of them full of tadpoles at the moment. So life goes on. The warm nights are filled with the croaking and singing of  tree frogs, looking for potential mates. Life is good!!

Amazing clouds

I was just looking through some old pics and came across these photos I took nearly 10 years ago. We were having some really weird weather coming through and these huge clouds would build like mad. Boiling, alive. It was amazing.

Thought I would share them.

In one image the moon can still be seen. This was taken sometime midday.

My Chauffeur

Though he can't be seen all that well, had to include my" chauffeur" as well. This is my cheerful husband Richard who's patiently waiting while I am snapping some pics.

While we don't get a chance to go on road trips very often, always so much fun when we get out there. I know I can count on him to come to a screeching halt (if traffic allows) or even turn back if it wasn't safe to pull over at the "right" spot. Thank you, my dear!!!

Couldn't do it without you. We make a great team and have for nearly 30 years. Time flies when you're having fun. :)

Road Trip

Yesterday we took a road trip. Dual purpose. One to return our granddaughter Ashlee to her Mom, the other to look in on our old neighbors, Jack and Dorothy.

We were sad to see our girl head home, but happy that she still loves coming up, year after year. Our old neighbors are getting on in years, so had to make a side trip to see how they're faring.

It was a long day. But we were happy we made it. On our home back home I managed to take a couple of pics. They came out fairly nice, so decided to share them.

My "chauffeur" Richard, who cheerfully does most of the driving was happy to stop now and then to allow me to take some shots to finish out our day.

Most of the pics were taking in the foothills around Double Springs, along Hwy 12. Some wonderful scenery out there and the weather was perfect. Along one area the hills and oak groves are full of amazing rock formations.

Spring Tulip

This tulip amazes us every year. And this year it's bigger then ever. We forget about it, and then all of the sudden I spy a glimmer of yellow. So this morning I pruned back all of the dead flowerstems around it and captured it as it is slowly unfurling its pedals.

A Bumble Bee came along to complete the scene, evidently happy to find that early splendor of a freshly opened tulip to wiggle around in.

Spring Skies

The other day as we headed to town, caught a few nice pics of some of the interesting skies we've head before the latest storm blew in.

The picture of Mt. Shasta looked so amazing with that heavy dark blanket of sky appearing like a curtain, ready to fall on a scene.

By the time we headed back home, the skies were mostly a wonderful blue, with huge cumulus clouds sailing along.

I love this time of year. Rather then endless blue, sunny skies, as is the norm all summer long, now it's always

great to take that trip to town where the horizons seem endless and we never know what we'll find when we get out of our foothills into the open valley.

I took the picture with the wonderful oaks and the huge clouds just before we headed into the ranch itself.

Richard pulled over and I got out for a better chance at capturing the slight greening of the pastures and the oak against that great sky.

When I turned around to get back into the truck, I found some spectators wondering what I was up to.

So had to include them as well. :)

Spring Storm

After several weeks of warm, sunny weather, we've been reminded that while it feels like spring, with many flowers blooming, there are still some cold storms out there, waiting to make their way through.

We had a pretty heavy storm come through last night, with wicked gusts of wind. Still windy today, but spots of sun are grazing the country side around us.

This morning while on our doggy walk, captured these pictures of the nearby, snow-covered Western hills.

The snow made it nearly down to the valley floor.

It was a beautiful sight, but a brisk, chilly walk. Enjoyed it a lot though.

Spring Messengers

After coming home from our dog walk this morning, wandered the garden, camera in hand. Found a few little messengers letting us know that spring will return.

Morning Hawk

This morning when I first came out, I saw this little hawk sitting on our powerline which runs through the orchard.

At that time I didn't have my camera with me. But I got lucky just a short while ago as we were leaving on our morning doggy walk.

There he was, once again sitting vigil, waiting on a careless bird to come out from under cover. As I had walked out the door I nearly left my camera behind and then decided against it.

So happy I brought it after all.

RUSH HOUR.................NOT!!

Here are a few more images, captured during a trip to town and back again. Though it was a huge adjustment to move from the Bay Area nearly 20 years ago, when we get to see this kind of scenery, day in and day out, we hit the jackpot didn't we???!!!

The first picture is from our return trip, as daylight was nearly gone and then sun had just slipped behind the Coastal range.

The other two on the way to town. As you can tell, on the way to town it was rush hour..........................NOT!! :)

Country Roads

One of the most wonderful things about our move to the North State, into the "wilderness" so to speak, are the drives to and from town. As we live quite a way from the nearest town, we do have a longish drive to and fro. Some of the images and feeling of wide, open spaces though, make it all worthwhile.

The peak you see on the first image is Mt. Lassen, bathed in the last rays of the setting sun. The very last peak, Mt. Shasta is one that greets us, as we make our way to town, weather allowing. Somedays Mt. Shasts seems close enough to touch.

Enjoy!! We do!!

The Moon is waning

The other morning I caught this shot of Luna as she was sinking behind the Western Hills. As you can see, she had lost a little weight already, after being fat and full a short while ago.

I loved the colors of the sky so had to capture it.

January Full Moon

The first Full Moon of the New Year has risen. Playing with my new camera I managed to capture a few fairly decent shots. Very happy with that, as I was never able to capture the moon at all with my previous camera. All I would get was a white squiggle. But the Lumix is doing a fine job for a simple Digi Cam.

The second picture is the moon rising above the cattery at twilight. The cat you see is the weather vane which is on top of the cattery. The first image is Luna, once she cleared the treetops.

She's up there right now, peeking in the window.