Thursday, December 12, 2013

December Days, Cool Cats.

When sunny and blue-skied but windy and very cold, short December days are very well spent snuggled up inside with a cat or two (or more in our house, usually, especially if a fuzzy blanket and the comfy chair are involved). On the other hand, when the light is so tempting, a bright December day is also well spent photo-ambushing said snuggled-up cats…


Abby has never minded having a camera in his face.


Well, not much.


"Oh damn and Bastet, hours later and she's still pointing that thing at me…"


Costello, brother to Abby and in the house two years now, has finally given up his deer-in-headlights expression when having his photo taken.


He was being very patient, even though I still can't get cat eyes in focus. (Hey, cat noses are cute, too! And far less intense when in focus than cat eyes. Out-of-focus small predator eyes may not be a bad thing, really…)


And perhaps Tells has come so far as to vogue a bit…


Corson is about the most laid-back cat I've ever had. Cameras are to be be ignored or at the least tolerated just like everything else the crazy human does. (I can sooo picture Cory dressed in doll clothes and draped in plastic dress-up jewelry in his past life [whatever that was] with the world's most patient "Whatever" look on his face; he's just that kind of cat.) 


Toes are nearly as cute as noses, especially when crossed with such feline suavity.


I never could understand why no one even wanted to foster Snickers (let alone adopt her) when she landed (through no fault of her own) in a shelter nearly twelve years ago, for she has quite a sunny and silly personality. And with her tuxedo markings just a bit awry, she's cartoon-cat cute! Never understood until now, that is; her funny face can actually come across as quite intimidating…


Aw, she's trying!


See?! Isn't she adorable? That's my Doodle Cat…

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Treasures on a November Beach.

Stone Harbor Point, New Jersey...









Sunday, December 1, 2013

November Beaches: Stone Harbor Point.






Dunlin, dolphin and turnstones.


Ruddy Turnstones.


(This one has been hanging out on this jetty all fall according to the band re-sighting records.)


Dunlin.


Friday, November 29, 2013

November Beaches, Part the Sixth.

Another advantage to autumn and winter beaches is that you can actually do some decent beach combing. They rake the beaches during the tourist season, scraping off trash and treasure alike...


Purple sea glass!





And sometimes the trash can be the treasure...


"X" marks the spot!


Sunday, November 24, 2013

November Beaches, Part V.

One major advantage to walking the beach in late fall is that the beach looks like a beach should, with all kinds of interesting stuff left on it by the wind and tide...







Friday, November 22, 2013

November Beaches, Part 4.

Let's go back to Seven Mile Island (Avalon and Stone Harbor)... Click on 'em to bigify photos.


Thousands of shorebirds (mostly Dunlin, a few Black-bellied Plovers, and at least one Ruddy Turnstone) amassing on the beaches in Avalon... See that squarish shadow on the horizon to the right? That's Atlantic City, about 40 or so miles north.


A lovely day for a sail!


Dunlin. (Why are my best shots entirely due to pure luck...?)


 Very quiet surf this day, but still enough to kick up a bit of froth.
And to make interesting patterns in the sand...



(Along with some help from a few of those peeps...)

Sunday, November 17, 2013

November Beaches III.

Cape May Point's beaches are so manipulated (in order to protect the towns there) that pretty much the only natural thing about them is that there is an ocean at the bottom. But the dunes aren't doing too badly...


Goldenrod.


Shrooms in sand! Bit surprising...




They just keep adding sand... Good for the dunes, bad for the beach profile.

Friday, November 15, 2013

November Beaches, Part the Second.

I've said it before, but it bears repeating: Avalon and Stone Harbor, for the most part, have very good policies regarding dunes and their importance...




Wednesday, November 13, 2013

November Beaches, Part 1.

It's a good thing that the local beaches still have much to see even in winter, given that that's about the earliest I get down to them. Far fewer people and much more natural stuff, and the weather holds out long enough to actually make the trip pleasant... So here's the start of a series of photos from some beach walking I did during a week in early November.

I don't understand the visual draw of an endless, relatively empty ocean, but sitting listening to the planet's heartbeat--that I get...





Monday, November 11, 2013

Veterans' Day.


To all who have served... May your sacrifices never be forgotten.