so many....

Another cold day in San Francisco but also a colder day elsewhere. There's always someplace warmer o colder than where you are, and if you think of it, you can warm yourself with that thought. Who doesn't dream?

With the news these days attacking and hounding yet another personality with details of a personal life, it just seems so insane. Who is the perfect husband or wife? Who can honestly say that their life is the only life that is without mistakes? There isn't one individual in this world who is perfect... of course, if one thinks this, they are probably living a lie.

For many years I've know people... many people. As a photographer, I meet a lot of people and many become friends. Still others become close friends. In my life young and old, I've had the curse or blessing to just have people come up to me and tell me things. Intimate things.... very personal things a stranger shouldn't be told. Yes, this continues to this day but I am not complaining. I am honored any person would trust me enough that they share tidbits of their past, current or future life with me.

Some persons I've known are in such depressing relationships - it's so unfair to both. I have known and still know many others (growing by the year) people who are in "relationships" but it's an unreal situation. I know too many women who are married who sleep alone.... rarely if at all, talk to their husbands. Why is it it's mostly women and not men? Regardless of gender, it seems so unfair. The male of this "couple" does nothing with the woman to whom they are married: not cooking, no traveling together, no nothing. It has caused me to lok at couples I see on the street, wondering if they just met, or even if they know each other. Too often I see a "couple" together but walking so apart from each other... one wouldn't even be able to tell they were together but for the constant distance from each other.... and when one stops, the other might stop too but at a distance. I used to know a couple and when one would stop to talk to a friend met on the street, the other would continue walking. How rude! I asked why is this and she told me "Oh, he doesn't like my friends so he moves on and stays busy till I'm finished". If one is a couple, they should together join in presenting and communicating with this friend.... I think it is rude and inconsiderate to act in such behavior. I would like to see if there is an increasing rate of this happening in couples....

My opinion is that if a couple cannot stay together, they should separate. Why not" it's just a charade that isn't being kept very well. To stay together is an insult to both individuals and to those who know them. If the woman isn't sleeping with her mate, isn't eating with him either, and doing much much less, one should leave. Unfortunately in this day and age, I suspect this happens more than previously thought.

If someone really loves a person but cannot live as a true couple bound in love, then that love is gone. Let that individual go to fly again.

A dear friend of mine lost her mother, a fine lovely lady whom I had the pleasure of meeting, though not under the best of conditions. My friend cared for hermother alone, holding down a fulltime job and still trying to prvide the best care possible to her mother. I wonder how many people are doing this all over the world? It's something that will increase in time as the current population grows older and longer with us.... but the longevity of Life presents another problem to those who are our children: Where is the fine line that defines "Quality of Life" if the person does nothing but rusts away as does a nail with water, a once-loved car that now sits quietly in the corner, or a friend who is forgotten with time?

I am not saying my friend forgot her mother.... oh no! She did quite well, alone and working, still caring for her mother. But Quality of Life to you or me may not be the same for others. Is Life considered that when a person cannot eat or even walk alone? Is Life something that comes or goes when memory fails and not even the person caring for you cannot be remembered by name?

When it is my time to leave this world, I will go running. I will go with a loud noise, I won't be quiet. I want people to SEE me running and active, and with the noise I make, that I am not going of my own accord. I want to see places and people. I want friends, the very few I have... to talk to me and I will remember their names. I want to keep on exercising with that weight I call a camera, to record places and things I've seen and want to remember and share with others. When I sit down and cannot get up, cannot eat without assistance, when someone must bath me everyday.... when I sit forgotten because the world is passing me by.......

then I am ready long ago. Take me because then I am not alive, and Life is no longer in me.

Lodi Sandhill Crane Reserve

Drove down last weekend to see if I could catch some cranes in flight or otherwise. Started late and enroute, detoured slightly to a Vallejo park where there are peacocks. Strangely enough, I was told about this park by an online friend who lives out of California now.

Didn't see any peacocks but I know these birds can hide... but there was a small pond with ducks and enjoyed snapping some pixs, plus the foliage was so colorful, it took my breath away.I will never again be able to see the autumn colors and not think of my time spent in Eugene and in Oregon in general. Oftentimes I think I should have not left Eugene but it was my destiny, and in some strange way fate took me out of Spain for this crazy whirlwind I call my Life.Continuing on toward Lodi, there were lots of gorgeous landscapes - granted, it was along a narrow state highway with a lot of roadwork in progress, so you can imagine the mess of equipment, detours and signs, but oooooh, it was a great sight. To make it even more heavenly, the clouds were huge, and almost all gray or a darker - almost black - storm gray. I could see streams of rain pouring down in the distance and this reminded me of watching as a young sailor the thunderstorms at sea, something I will never forget.

I arrived very late at the crane reserve, so late the sun would set soon. There was a huge crowd of people there which made me realize that's a good sign. If no birds were seen, nobody would be there! :) The closest birds were anywhere from about 70 feet away (the few closest) but the majority were over 200 feet away, and many more hundreds even farther in a marshland area with lots of water inlets.The loud chatter from these birds was amazing, and though I am not a bird-watcher I can imagine now why people go to watch birds. I could see cranes together with geese, ducks, and even many pelicans. Every few minutes cranes would take off, a small group at first but gradually joining up in the skies with other cranes already in flight. As the sun dipped lower in the sky, hundreds of flying cranes formed short or long lines in the golden sky, and behind these, I could see even more groups of cranes.... it was all so amazing!! The wind picked up and it got very chilly. Eventually it started to rain but I stayed there - not cold at all and enjoying this fantastic mood and scene.

sigh

Later I returned to that Vallejo park again, and saw about seven peacocks. While they ran to hide, a few others stayed and eventually was so quiet that soon a few of them passed only a few feet from me, so close I couldn't even focus on these beautiful birds so I had to quietly and slowly move away to get a picture.