BIRDS AND TRAINS, FEBRUARY 28

Two weeks have been filled with photography and other events.  Once again I went to Santee Lakes to photograph ducks in flight and seemed to get a few good ones, mostly of a mallard drake. Also got a pintail looking handsome, and a wood duck showing off.

This past Saturday my husband and I joined others for a trip to the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum which is located in Campo, CA. It is fully manned with volunteers, and you can take an hour and a half train ride with them which we did not do. I had fun wandering around taking photographs of old railroad cars, and gear. George photograph some of the train equipment, and then went wandering in the field nearby and in quest of animal life.

On the way home we stopped in Guatay, CA for a delicious ice cream cone, and a visit to Tryyn's Wooden Spoon Gallery where you can find all sorts of wooden tools for cooking - stirrers, spatulas, spoon, etc. along with pendants. In a side gallery he displays and sells work from other artists - potters, painters, and glass blowers. It is a wonderful place and Bill is very friendly and helpful. We have gotten a number of items from him in the past and did not leave empty handed this time either. Regrettably I did not take any pictures there.

Some of my time this past week has been devoted to judging the Coachella 2014 International Exhibition of Photography. This involved viewing about 1200 pictures in the Nature Division. I finished the first round of judging on Tuesday, and tomorrow, Saturday, I will travel to Riverside to complete the judging process with the two other judges in person. This time we will discuss the images and make the decisions on awards and honorable mentions. It is a lot of work, but an honor to be asked to judge such an event.

Next week we are off for a short camping trip to Joshua Tree National Park. I hope to get a number of photo ops with sunrises and sunsets, and lots of big rocks and beautiful joshua trees. It will also be a shakedown or breaking in of our new tent which we plan on using this coming summer as we travel for two months to Vancouver, B.C. and back.