Category Archives: Photography

Flora

Posted on by annandmeg

One of the beautiful things about California is the many varieties of flora you can find throughout the state. My two favorite areas are the wine country and the coast. Both beautiful. Both peaceful. But while the wine country continues to grow in both agricultural and economic development, the coast remains largely untouched. Thanks to the California Coastal Commission, established in 1972, and the Coastal Act of 1976, the use of land and water in the coastal zone is carefully planned and regulated. As a result, the coast north of San Francisco continues to be undeveloped, and flora continues to flourish.

Flora along California Coast at Bodega Headlands

This is a shot from my mini-hike at Bodega Headlands back in November. Since I am usually focused on pictures of the ocean and of sunset, I thought this would be a nice addition to my photographic repertoire. Given, the ocean is still in the background, but these red finger-like plants were simply too interesting to ignore.

Open For Business: Truman Road

Posted on by annandmeg

My visits to my dad involved a trip across town from Kansas City to Independence.  While my routes vary a lot, I often drive on Truman Road.  It is just wonderfully urban.

I particularly love this corner store East of downtown on Truman Road.  The storefront is covered with cartoon characters.  I never could figure out the name of the store, but it appears that it sells hats, CD’s and “skull candy”?  Seriously.  I don’t know.  The owners came outside to see what I was doing, but seemed pleased that I considered their art worthy of attention.

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These gentlemen were hard at work.  They appeared to be having fun as they worked. When they saw me, they waved and let me take their photographs. their work stopped for a moment.  They were in a good mood and so was I.

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xxx

Hiking up Ring Mountain

Posted on by annandmeg

For the first day of 2013, the New Year’s crew made its annual trek to a beautiful place in north bay. We chose Ring Mountain for our hike this year. With beautiful, 360 views of San Francisco Bay, it’s hard to beat.

View of San Francisco Bay from the top of Ring Mountain

Richmond Bridge

It’s a great place for a hike, where you can go a long or short ways, depending on your mood. Hope you enjoyed your first day of 2013!

Ending 2012 with a beautiful drive across the USA

Posted on by annandmeg

It’s been an amazing year. 2012 has brought new friends, beautiful travels, the loss of good friends, the birth of little Mesles, exciting work, and many other ventures. The list goes on. After a wonderful visit to see friends and family for the holidays in Kansas City, Jake and I drove back to California with the puppies in tow. What did we decide to throw into our road trip? A visit to the Grand Canyon, of course.

Yavapai Point at the Grand Canyon

As we arrived back in California, we trekked through the Mojave Desert to round out our adventure through the southwest.

Mojave Desert

We miss our friends and family back in the midwest, but we are excited to be back home in sunny California. Tonight, we will celebrate with friends and family in San Rafael, and count the many good times we had in 2012.

Have a Happy New Year!

One Orchid–Three Images

Posted on by annandmeg

My holiday decorations are not complete without orchids.  This year I bought my orchids from Bird’s Botanical, a family owned business located in the caves at I-435 & 23rd Street, in Independence, Mo.  Only open for business on Tuesdays, it is an adventure just to be there.  The orchids run the gamut of colors, shapes and sizes.

I thought it would be fun to photograph this particularly interesting bloom.  Relying on my D 5100 Nikon and my Tamron zoom lens, I took a number of shots using flash, long exposures, short exposures, and “Auto”, as well as taking photographs from a variety of different angles.  In picking from all of the photographs, I eliminated some because they were blurred, over exposed, under exposed, or just bad.  I finally decided to show you three.  They seemed to me to make the cold winter day a little less dreary.

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May your new year be as lovely as this flower.

Great Wall Art For A Winter’s Day

Posted on by annandmeg

Meg is gone.  Tough day.  Need to have some fun.  Drove down Troost in Mid-Town Kansas City.  Found wonderful art on the wall at the Kansas City Urban Youth Center.  I don’t know anything about the Center, but they have great art on their walls.  It made my day a little brighter.  Hope it does for you as well.

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Graffiti and wall art add color and life to our city streets. They are very much a part of the culture of our urban community. The artists deserve to be acknowledged.  But even  more, they deserve a wider audience.

Best Holiday Wishes From Our Family To Yours

Posted on by annandmeg

Christmas is here!  It is a day for family and for celebration.  It is one of my favorite days of the year.  It is an especially happy holiday for us because all four generations of our family will share it together.

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During Meg and Jake’s two-week visit, Christmas begins like every other day.  Feeding three hungry dogs! But immediately after breakfast, we opened their collective sock.  They were excited by the smell of doggie treats and each received an individual toy.  Of course the toys immediately moved from dog to dog as they picked the toy that fit their unique canine personalities.

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The rest of the day is for human family.  We are really excited about seeing everyone, including meeting Parker, the one member of the family we have not yet had the pleasure of meeting.

We hope your day is as joyful as ours.  Have a truly wonderful Christmas holiday!

Ann and Meg

The Clouds Before the Storm

Posted on by annandmeg

These are from our drive through Wyoming just a few days ago. We somehow slipped through a little crack in the storm in order to avoid the worst of the weather, but the clouds were beautiful, especially with the mountain background.

Here comes the snow in Wyoming!

More snow and clouds in the mountains of Wyoming

It’s definitely winter, and the holidays are just around the corner!

Good Morning, Fallon

Posted on by annandmeg

I’ve made a few trips to Fallon, NV recently. It’s a small town of about 10,000 people in the western part of Nevada, about an hour away from Reno. My favorite thing about Fallon is the warmth and generosity of its people. Every time I walk into a coffee shop or grocery store, I have a wonderful conversation with a complete stranger. Fallon is also home to the “Top Gun” training program for the Navy, so it has a fascinating mix of people.

Here are a few shots of the morning view on my way out of Fallon during my most recent visit. The mountains and clouds were beautiful, and I saw the first of many trains that day.


 Mountains in the morning, north of Fallon on Hwy 95

Train along BNSF tracks, where Hwy 95 meets I-80

Good Morning Fallon

Have a great day!

Meg Is Coming!

Posted on by annandmeg

Meg, Jake and the dogs, Cousteau and Lily, are coming to K.C. for the holidays.  It is a beautiful day!  All is right with the world!

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