Ansel Adams

Point Lobos is considered one of California’s most beautiful state parks. The world renowned photographers Ansel Adams and Edward Weston would agree. They spent years returning to the park again and again to capture its beauty. it is located just south of Carmel along highway 1. Hiking out the Cypress Grove Trail, Peggy and I came upon this sea stack known at the Pinnacle.

Peggy found unique ways of framing it, including the twisted limb on the upper right.

She was having great fun with her new camera! See the black dots on peak…

Like many sea stacks up and down the Pacific Coast, it had its own flock of cormorants.

Another perspective. Following are other views along Cypress Grove Trail.

Both sides of the peninsula leading out to the Pinnacle provided different views of Pacific Ocean waves rolling in.

I am ever fascinated by the patterns in water created by the waves and tides— infinite works of art.

A view from the south side of the Cypress Grove Trail.

As might be expected, we found some very impressive cypress trees growing along the Cypress Grove Trail.

Ansel Adams and Edward Weston both loved the gnarly cypress trees. I rendered this one in black and white to honor them.

Flowers are also abundant in the Reserve. I stopped to capture this iris. Peggy had beaten me to it.

Invasive but striking, Oxalis or Bermuda buttercup, is another native of South Africa.

Wild lilacs greeted us at the beginning of the Cypress Grove Trail.

As did this nettle, coastal hedge. You can look, but best not touch.

I had my nose in a flower when Peggy said, “Curt, check out this buzzard.” She had photographed it with its wings spread. We were on the Whaler’s Cove Knoll trail on our way to Whaler’s Cove.

It had ignored Peggy but it started to give me the eye with a hungry look. Or was I imagining things?

Hmmm. I wasn’t sure about being eyed by the buzzard, but I admired its beautiful feathers.

This may the occasion for one of those “You know you are old when a buzzard thinks of you as a potential dinner,” jokes.

The daisy I ‘had my nose in.’ I totally missed the spider!

Another daisy of a different color. Our flower app identified it as a seaside daisy.

A small museum housed in an old whaler’s cabin at Whaler’s Cove provided a bit of history. I should not have been surprised to learn where Monterey Jack Cheese came from. Jack made it. Grin. Actually, it was originally known as Jack’s Cheese. The Monterey was added later. A number of industries were located at Point Lobos. In addition cattle ranching, cheese making, and whale hunting, they included the largest abalone factory on the West Coast.

One reason I wanted to hike over to the Cove was because the last time I was at Point lobos, I saw a seal nursing its baby there. We missed that, but we did see a mother with its baby swimming along behind. We had to travel down to the southern part of the park to find more mother seals and their pups. We will be featuring them, along with cormorants, and more great scenery in our next post.

1 Alfred Hitchcock mannequin in Bodega California

Alfred Hitchcock’s film, The Birds, is forever entwined in the history of the small town of Bodega, California where parts of it were filmed. A mannequin of Alfred Hitchcock welcomes people to the town. Got Birds?

I like birds. We feed a lot at our home nestled up against the Siskiyou Mountains of southern Oregon. As I write this, I am looking out at our backyard bird feeder. It’s being stormed by Chickadees and Oregon Juncos. A couple of weeks ago it was sparrows. They attacked in mass, emptying the feeder in record time. Not only were they greedy, they were messy. As many sunflower seeds fell on the ground as went into their tummies. Scrub and Stellar Jays gobbled up the escapees, aided and abetted by a fat gray squirrel and two turkeys.

I look out on the bird feeder from my writing chair. It provides endless entertainment. You never know who might be hanging out. Deer often sleep under it. This morning they were up the hill. Earlier we had counted 1o bedded down on our road and the hillside.

Interest in the bird feed goes beyond birds as this gray squirrel demonstrates. It shimmied up the pole, which was quite humorous as he kept slipping down.

I caught this Acorn Woodpecker earlier in the year. I was impressed with his Linda Blair ability to swivel his head all the way around and give me the evil eye. He would have made a great extra for Hitchcock’s film.

I went out to replenish the feeder and was roundly scolded for interfering. By everyone. When I returned with more sunflower seeds, the sparrows decided they had waited long enough. They flew down from the Madrone tree and directly into the feeder, which I was still holding! Surprised and amused, I put the feeder down, rushed inside, and grabbed my camera. Peggy wasn’t home so it would have to be a selfie. Soon I had birds perched on my head, shoulders, hands, and even on the camera. Unfortunately, their fluttering and jumping around, made photography difficult, to say the least. Luckily, a few paused to eat.

With one hand holding the feeder and my other hand my camera, I worked to catch a photo of the busy sparrows.

The birds reminded me of my experience in August when I visited the small town of Bodega, which is just inland from the larger town of Bodega Bay on the north coast of California. Alfred Hitchcock had come here in 1961 to film his classic horror film, The Birds. It’s a story about our feathered friends getting nasty and attacking people. I had watched the film when it had come out in 1963 and visited the area a few years later. It was in the fall season and the local birds were gathering in large flocks. Normally, being mobbed by sea gulls doesn’t bother me, but…

Bodega has incorporated the movie into its history and people still visit the area from all over the world to see where it was filmed. Local grocer Michael Fahmie has turned his Bodega Country Store into something of a monument to the movie. A large billboard featuring Alfred Hitchcock is on the outside of the store while the inside is crammed full of memorabilia from the movie. A Hitchcock mannequin greets visitors. I said hi to Al and went inside. Afterwards, I hiked the short distance over to the movie’s most famous Bodega sites: the 150-year-old Potter School and the nearby St. Teresa Catholic Church. In the movie, kids had run screaming from the school for sanctuary in the church, with the birds in hot pursuit.

Hitchcock was always great at promoting his films. This was from the Bird's movie billboard outside of the Bodega Country Store.

Hitchcock was always great at promoting his films. This was from the movie billboard outside of the Bodega Country Store.

A number of film posters are found inside the Bodega Country Store. I've included this one featuring Tippi Hedren for my followers from France.

A number of film posters are found inside the Bodega Country Store. I’ve included this one featuring Tippi Hedren for my followers in France.

A film still from The Birds shows children running from the Potter School in terror.

A film still from The Birds shows children running in terror from the Potter School (on the right).

The Potter School as it looks now. Today it is a private residence.

10 Potter school and St. Teresa church in Bodega California

I’ve included this photo because it shows the location of St. Teresa’s Catholic Church in relationship to the Potter School.

St. Teresa’s was already famous when Alfred Hitchcock came to town. In 1953 Ansel Adams photographed it. He’s one of my all time heroes. I couldn’t resist getting my camera out. I am not a professional photographer. Mainly, I have fun. It was interesting for me to compare my efforts with those of Adam’s when I got home. The power of the Ansel Adams’ photograph is immediately apparent. It is easy to see why he is recognized as one of the world’s greatest photographers. Still, I was happy with my efforts.