Sunday bird blogging

A beautiful California scrub jay in Albany.

I'm heading home tomorrow, after three much-needed weeks in the company of very good friends. 

A few more puddles

Saturday reflections

There have not been many reflections apart from rain puddles where I've been in the Bay Area the past few weeks; fortunately the puddles have been abundant.

Plus there were views

Trees

A few of the many beautiful trees in the park. The steady drip drip drip of melting snow from the leaves made it feel a little like spring.

Snow day

Sunday we drove to Mount Diablo to see the snow that had fallen during Saturday night's storm -- and yes, I mostly restrained myself from making snide comments about “real” snow, because it was a beautiful day, if cold enough to make even my jaded New York teeth chatter, and the dusting of snow was a lovely garnish.

Here are some cows outside the park. That figure on the right that appears to be some kind of pied piper leading them into bovine mischief is actually a tree that's lost its crown and most of its branches.

Astronomy Tuesday

I'm in the mood for a planet this week.

The Juno probe captured this image of Jupiter in December, showing the Great Red Spot and a large storm system with the rather unimaginative name of Oval BA.

The storms we've been experiencing in the California BA haven't been that dramatic, but I've had ample opportunity to regret leaving my down coat behind in New York because I assumed that it would be much warmer out here than it has been.

Image credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstadt/Sean Doran

Sunday bird blogging

A Western bluebird in Pleasanton.

I had never noticed a bluebird in the Bay Area, and was surprised to see them pop up on my Birds Near Me phone app when I was trying to identify a woodpecker I'd seen. So I went out the next day and looked closely at all the little songbirds up in the trees and sure enough, one of them had a bright red breast. I chased him across three different trees to get this picture.

Saturday reflections

I haven't been seeing many reflections these past two weeks; it's been a pastoral of sea and sky and trees and neat suburban houses.

But it has been raining a lot, so here's a puddle, reflecting some, but unfortunately not all, of a tree on one of the pretty paths in the Albany Bulb, a parkland along San Francisco Bay.

More visions by the Bay

More examples of the beautiful light at Cesar Chavez Park in Berkeley.

We had set off for a lunch in Sonoma, only to find ourselves sitting in an immobile sea of cars -- the Richmond bridge was closed in both directions due to falling concrete. But an afternoon stroll along the Berkeley Marina was more than consolation. It's a beautiful view and the light was exquisite.

Sublime light

Amazing light today at Cesar Chavez Park in Berkeley, looking across the bay to the Golden Gate Bridge.

Astronomy Tuesday

I know I had a picture of galaxies last week, but I could not resist the sheer joy of this image, as if the universe were throwing the best New Year's Eve party ever.

The Hubble image shows a random patch of sky, containing thousands of galaxies. The curves and squiggles are nearby asteroids photobombing the deep space image, like astronomical confetti.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, and B. Sunnquist and J. Mack (STScI)
Acknowledgment: NASA, ESA, and J. Lotz (STScI) and the HFF Team