New Little Free Library in Elk

Thanks to Cindy Johnson for letting me know that the Little Free Library is up and running down the coast in Elk. I had been wondering when it would be open for business. It is located in front of the Artist's Collective Gallery in downtown Elk. It was built by David Jenks in collaboration with Cynthia Doll, creatively  painted by Loraine Toth and installed on April 16th on a tree stump artistically modified by Craig Hathaway. I really like its appearance and am looking forward to putting some books in in it.

Little Free Libraries of Coastal Mendocino County

In the last couple of years several Little Free Libraries have sprung up here on the coast in Ft. Bragg and Caspar. I'm listing the ones I known about and visit regularly although there may be some others that I haven't discovered. Personally, my primary interest in the libraries are as a place to find homes for the many books that I am culling out of the collection of many, many boxes of books that I possess. I have to confess that every once in while I also find a book that interest me. I hope that you will find your way to some of them and find a book to enjoy and leave one for someone else. As I find additional little free libraries here on the coast and in other places I'll add them here.////Since I sent out an email to the Mendocino county listservs that I belong to and did this posting here on my blog I've gotten about 30 email responses and several hundred visits to this blog. Through the emails I have learned of a number of additional Little Free Libraries, both here on the coast and in Ukiah. I'll be listing them here eventually after I have taken pictures and visited them.

Pacific Grove Birds

After our recent showing of our work at an art festival in Woodside we spent a few relaxing days in the Pacific Grove/Carmel area. On one morning of our time there I saw these visitors near the place where we were staying, the red shouldered hawk on a power line across the street and the crow on an upstairs railing looking for food scraps that someone might have left. Still being happy with the new little camera that I have with the 40x times zoom but small enough to carry in a small pouch on my belt so it always with me when a picture opportunity presents itself.

Little Hummingbird

Lots of hummingbirds around each day harvesting from the flowers in our yard. I see them resting on a little clothes line in our back yard 7 to 10 times a day. With my new camera I can sometimes get great shots of them. I enjoy being able to see the details of their plumage. There is one that sometimes has bright scarlet highlights as it turns certain ways but I haven't quite been able to capture it yet. I'll keep trying.
.

Red Shouldered Hawk in Caspar

As I drive along Highway One on the Mendocino Coast, going north from Caspar to Ft. Bragg I often see a small hawk sitting on a power line to the west of the road. I've been seeing this for probably over 10 years. It's either the same hawk or others just like it. It's almost always in exactly the same place. I have thought for years about stopping on the other side of the highway and trying to get a picture of it. Well, I just acquired a new toy, a small Canon camera with a 40X optical zoom. Like my old one but with 3 times the zoom power. It's pretty far out.
Yesterday as I was driving this route I saw it and I immediately pulled over to the side of the road, rolled down my window and took a number of shots at maximum zoom. This is the one I liked best. I looked it up on the internet to find out that it was a red shouldered hawk. It's somewhat smaller than the red tailed hawks we see here also. Feasts mostly on small mammals. I'm glad that I was able to get a good shot and identify it and be able to see the details of its feathers and body.

Irises in Ft.Bragg

In walking the streets of Ft. Bragg recently I've been seeing a visual treasure of flowers in bloom and smelling the wonderful fragrances wafting in the air on warm days. I've been especially enjoying the beautiful irises and taking pictures of them. Here are some of my favorites so far.

Birds, birds, birds

I've recently started drawing simple birds and adding them to the textured drawings that I have been doing for 60 plus years. I started doing the textured drawings on the edge of notebook paper in boring junior high classes in about 1957. Some of the bird images come from photographs I've taken some from images from books. I'm planning to continue this play and hope to start adding other creatures soon.