This meadow stands ready to greet visitors at one of my favorite places on the planet;   Roy's Redwoods, near San Geronimo in Marin County.

Space between the trees is important, also...

The northshore at Point Lobos is a dramatic collection of cliffs and drop-offs and fragile ground cover, so travel is limited to established trails.   This is a sneak peek at where you (and me) are not allowed to go.   If you promise to keep these photos a secret, you will find more photos of the dramatic northshore over at:
http://photoarrow.com/pl/northshore01loop.html

And this year's iris crop will be arriving shortly...

At this point I don't know the name of this wildflower.
I assume that is is a wildflower because I found it growing along the banks of the Lagunitas Creek, but it also looks very similar to something my parents had in their yard years ago in Pacific Grove.   If you know it's name, please post a comment. (sign in as anonymous if not a Blogger member)

San Francisco had a very noisey and ugly Hotel Service Union strike last fall.   The workers finally got a good and well deserved contract for their efforts.   But they were a grumpy and loud bunch.   Their dirty yet effective tactics were to make so darn much noise that people couldn't stay in the hotels.   It was an ugly situation for a few weeks...

If five or six birds somehow ever got organized enough to start a rock-and-roll band, a good name to use might be; The Beach Birds...

when you've gotta go, you've gotta go...

One of the great things about digital photography is that I no longer have to worry about the expense of taking the large number of photos that is sometimes necessary to finally capture "a moment like this"...   And the bird and I found this fine moment near Pescadero, on the San Mateo coastline.
http://www.photoarrow.com

It just doesn't get any more peaceful than this.
And this is the way it should be for humans too...
I found these sheep enjoying the day on the northwest side of Wilson Hill, near the town of Marshall.

This is the beach at Gazos Creek, about half way between San Francisco and Santa Cruz.   The isolation is refreshing. The windy cold can freeze a person's head off...
The birds love it...   I love it...   I bet you'd love it too...

You will find more photos of the San Mateo Coastline at:
http://www.photoarrow.com

Yes, brown is beautiful, and Mt. Tamalpais is beautiful whatever her color at that particular moment...

Here is a little "spindrift" on the San Mateo County coastline.
As you can see, the horizon is not level, and I could have straightened this out in Photoshop, but in this case, if I straightened the image, I would completely lose the bird at the top.   Oh, I guess I could get really creative with Photoshop and paste-in the bird in a lower location, but I think the "askew" horizon, and the little bird jammed right up there at the top of the picture, give the photo a sense of "dynamic movement"...   WHAT DO YOU THINK?
http://www.photoarrow.com

Pyramids abound in San Francisco.   Here's two.
http://www.photoarrow.com/sf/transamerica01loop.html

Hang-gliding off the side of Mt. Tamalpais is a popular sport, and the flight and the landing at Stinson Beach must be one of life's ultimate thrills...   Definitely a sport for persons with more nerve then me...
http://www.marinpix.com/hgloop5.html

I've been trying to be a little bit more "creative" recently, and I've been experimenting with saving jpg images as gifs.   The effect can produce rather interesting "posterized" effects on certain photographs.   [ Other photos, such as the one shown here, look terrible if saved as a gif ].
The results of saving a photo as a gif can be rather stunning, or, in some cases it can be like getting hit over the head with a load of color.   You'll have to be the judge.
If you get tired of the gifs, you will also find a gallery of regular jpg images, such as the one shown above, for your viewing pleasure.
http://www.photoarrow.com/big/index.html

Splish, splash, I was taking a bath...
Well, I've only fallen into the Lagunitas Creek once...
http://www.photoarrow.com/lc/

Yep, I couldn't believe it when I first saw it, but on San Francisco's Embarcadero, you will find this giant bow and arrow sticking out of the ground.   Absolutely amazing!
http://www.photoarrow.com/sf/bowandarrow01loop.html

If you don't dislike cats, you will probably enjoy reading about Kitty each day over at Pestbouncer.com
http://www.pestbouncer.com/index.html

If you didn't already know, images are normally made into .jpgs, but I've been experimenting with certain images made into .gifs...
What do you think?
Yes, ma'am or sir, you can be the very first person to drop a comment on this site. Come on... Don't be shy...
http://www.photoarrow.com/big/index.html

About half-way between Santa Cruz and San Francisco you will discover the lighthouse at Pigeon Point.   Just south is Ano Neuevo, which is a prime breeding ground for elephant seals.
http://www.photoarrow.com/sm09loop5.html

Last Fall I played "tourist" and visited some areas of San Francisco that we "locals" usually never visit.   At Fisherman's Wharf I found an old WW2 Liberty ship named the O'Brien, and a submarine named the Pampanito.   This is a gun on the sub.   The seagull is another local...
http://www.photoarrow.com/sf/obrienandsub01loop.html

Perhaps we all feel safer in our own little bubbles...
http://www.pestbouncer.com

Most merchants in San Francisco's Chinatown are quite "camera-shy", so you've got to sort of sneak-up on them...   I've been "run-off" and "yelled-at" more than a few times...
http://www.photoarrow.com/sf/chinatown01loop.html

Point Lobos, just south of Carmel, is a very, very special place.
As a teenager I spent a lot of time here...
http://www.photoarrow.com/pl/misty01loop.html

Here is your standard "tourist" photo, but I like it, and hope you do to.
See more at:   http://www.photoarrow.com/sf/ggbridge03loop.html