Eye of Horus

I have been really busy of late, trying to get things in line for the auction and tying up loose ends. 

A close family member is very sick as well and it is stressing me out.

In any case, I have picked up some marvelous estates.

You can finally walk through the gallery again, in fact it almost looks pretty decent.

But I have had a little scary news of my own on the medical front. 

There is a new mass in a diverticuli of the bladder, and one in a very hard spot to biopsy, high on a wall and out of the reach of the normal scope.

I have an operation scheduled for the end of December and one that the doctor says that she will have to paralyze me for in order to get some swipes at this thing.

You see the unknown mass sits on a vital nerve and one flinch during the operation and we perforate the bladder.

I don't like the word paralyze but it is the verb that she chose and it scares me frankly. The shit just never stops.

I was thinking about my continuing medical saga and I have to revisit one thing for needed perspective.

Two years ago, three doctors including one at USC Keck were telling me that my stage 4 cancer in the bladder wall necessitated bladder and prostate removal and a newly constructed neobladder. 

One doctor thought I was going to die, because of kidney cysts that are as yet still undefined and determined. So I have had two years of free credits on not quite borrowed time. And I haven't lost anything and I am still in the game. I am thankful to still be around, with most of my original parts intact and a loving support system, both tangible and cyber.

Yesterday I decided to take the afternoon off and visit the birds, daring both Friday afternoon Interstate 15 north traffic and a crowded trip through the gas line at Costco. 

It was destined to be a short trip, the sun goes down before five on these the shortest days of the year and the main gate closes at sunset.

I caught this peregrine falcon in silhouette almost immediately. Wasn't prepared for its flight and didn't have the proper shutter speed selected to capture the fastest creature on this earth of ours. Oh well. Not a bad miss. I saw falcons in different places all afternoon out there, many more looks than usual, always a joy.

Not much action at the Walker Ponds, I doubled back to the main loop. I had been shooting with my slow 600mm Sigma and decided to change things up and put a 2x teleconverter on the fast Nikkor 400mm 2.8 fl which changes it to a 800mm ƒ5.6.

It wasn't the smartest thing as I had no time to grab a tripod and it was now so heavy I could barely hand hold it. Got a couple.

Even in near darkness, you can see that the prime lens is significantly sharper.

Nothing like a trip into nature to gain a little perspective and soothe your soul. 

If you get confused, just stare into the eye of old Horus. 

At least it works for me.

Sunset is the best time out there, especially in December with a full moon.

San Gorgonio and the neighboring mountain ranges get magenta and purple, the chill electrifies the evening. 

A fine place to deposit these old bones.

Just not yet.

Morning sunlight, Willow Glen

I shot this picture through my car window driving to work this morning. Lucky me, I get to drive through the old oak glen twice a day, on the way in and the way out of the pristine Santa Margarita river valley.

It is hard to forget what a beautiful place I live in when I see the sunlight pouring through the stately oaks on Willow Glen. The fence and rock pilaster wall on the left were built by the Pebbles family. They owned a lot of acreage there for years and the rustic old house he built still stands.

Old man Pebbles ran the FFA in Fallbrook for decades. He was a nice man. He and his equally nice wife have passed now. His son still lives in my valley. George Bamber was killed a few years ago when an eighty foot tall oak on this property fell on his van as he slowly drove down this stretch of road. Old George's number was evidently up. 

He was a good guy, an electrician. Live every day like it is your last, lest a branch fall on your bonnet. Once in a while you will see a bobcat in this stretch of the road, that is, if you are lucky.

Marc-André Leclerc

I watched the movie The Alpinist on Netflix last night. Gripping and incredible, highly recommended.

Yosemite Gold Rush

Snowy egret eating a crab, San Elijo Lagoon

Wake Me, Shake Me

9/04/67

Not interested

I don't like airing my dirty laundry in public too much, it is a little tacky. But thought I should recount this, sad but funny. Unfortunately there are people in our lives that we sometimes find out we are better off without. In the midst of my cancer treatments two years ago I needed somebody's help desperately and got big timed. Caused me serious problems. Did a quick cost/benefit equation. I decided that it was time to cut the person loose.

I made a lot of money for and with the person through the years but in the final analysis it wasn't worth the toxicity, the constant propping up and work this particular relationship took and the chemo incident was the final straw.

No contact since and honestly, much better off without him in my life. I'm doing just fine. I saw a mutual acquaintance in Glendale and his name came up, I mentioned just that, that my life was better without the guy in it. Well, the person I was talking too told the person and I got a pretty hateful voice mail the next day.

I think that one of the freedoms we have is deciding who we want to associate with and I am comfortable with my decision. Happy to stay in my lane, he is free to do whatever he wants.

Coincidentally, yesterday somebody created a fake gay account for me at Match.com. I have been inundated with texts from potential admirers in the last 24 hours. Flattered but I am really not interested.

I am a happily married guy with no interest in hooking up and have written Match asking them to squelch this spoof account that somebody has created for me but it is very hard to get through to them. Finally a guy wrote me back today from Match and he said they will track the email address back and put a stop to it.

Now I wonder who would do a thing like this? Timing is quite suspicious...

Wednesday's Child

I finally finished the Get Back movie last night. It was wonderful. As a huge Beatles fan my only complaint was that it was not long enough. Only 468 minutes?

It was amazing to me how some of these songs seemingly sprung out of nowhere, they were so ragged initially and then when the fabs started playing on the rooftop, how they coalesced into musical perfection so magnificently. 

I am not a big Peter Jackson fan but he did a superb job on this movie and it does dispel a lot of myths.

Yoko was not particularly overbearing, she mostly was quiet and deferential and hung out with Linda or John, the Beatles did not call Ringo Ringo, they usually called him Richie. Everybody smoked cigarettes a lot. George was obviously itching to get his own material out. When it was time to perform they hit the switch and the light went on and you can see why these consummate musicians were the greatest rock band that ever was.

The people of London loved the band's appearance on the roof, there were only a couple of naysayers, Constable Ray Dagg was a complete twit, but most people were very pleased with this, the last Beatles performance. By the way, the Airplane beat the Beatles to the roof by a year. 

Join Disney+ on a trial basis and see the movie.

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Tom found a praying mantis on the brick wall in front of my shop the day before yesterday.

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© Grant Brittain

I am so pleased with the nice photos that you have all sent me this year, some lovely work from all over the country and world. I appreciate you all so much, on so many levels! Keep them coming... So far I am hearing the most appreciation for Bill's shot with his new dog, Maury.

I think next year I am going to go through the ten years of annual photos and select my favorites one day. The great and iconic shot above by pro photographer Grant Brittain of legendary skateboarder Rodney Mullen in 2012 is a definite favorite of mine.

I don't typically put my own work in the annual show. I got a letter from a Michigan reader yesterday that this cell phone shot of Bill crying over hot peppers in Santa Fe was her favorite picture of the year. and I repost it in her honor.

Those were not crocodile tears my friend. They don't have peppers near that hot in the upper peninsula of Michigan where Bill was raised.

Ravi Shankar & Yehudi Menuhin

Swara Kikali

End of the year photos

Shroom - Ron Holder

Baja Sunrise - Jill Cole

Couldn't do it without my guys, Gordon and Charley - Rosemary Krieger

De Luz, lasted about a minute - Helen McHargue

Marquette, Michigan October 2021 - Shirley Timberman

Daxton - Tom Pecore

Three Garns - Douglas Garn

Sun's gonna shine in my back door some day - Dave Jacobs

Harper's second vaccination - Michael Loughlin

Looking towards Seattle - Thom Gianetto

Followed this sunset out my plane window all the way west from NYC - Sue Calvin

Our Bob - Connie and Dixon Fish

Bernadette in the garden - Jeff Olsen

Started thinking about this photo two years before I actually took it. Tried it a few times and the conditions were never right. Back in September, I hit it as I imagined. No color adjustment. No contrast adjustment. Morning light in Oceanside Harbor. iPhone 11  It’s my favorite picture that I’ve ever taken. Hell you might not even like it, and it may actually suck, but I love this. - Roy Cohen

Wooden Wave - Drew Kampion

Light Bougainvillea - Jon Harwood

First day after adopting Maury - William Olson

Sunset Beach Sunset - Mike Reardon

Spring iris in Kentucky - Jeff Nichols

Farewell old friend - Lena Leichtling

Penobscot Bridge - Kip Peterson

Prairie Dogs - Ken Seals

Kent Borsch

My favorite butterfly, the swallowtail - Carol Voorhis

Kitchen cat chaos - Dave Manring

Goose and soursop - Ricardo Neumann

Ralph Chaney

Shawn Mayes

Acorn woodpecker - Bob Booth

William Warmboe

Wilbur Norman

Porch visitor, Chikaloon, Alaska - Jeff Myers

Bertie - Beth Cobb

Meanwhile, back in Alaska... - Jeff and Gena Barney

Nitza Leichtling

Sunset near Calabasas - Bob Schmid