Early birds

Early birds get the worms - wait!  there are no worms high in the sky!  Where are they off to?

Thick fog

Fog was thick on Corte Madera Creek last Thursday.

Tree

Fog makes a wonderful background for a winter tree.

Nicasio

A drive-by shooting on one recent Tuesday morning in Nicasio.

Red #2

Art in function.  And some of you may see a face as well!

Red

Red abstract - at The Ponds.

Sunset

Sunset through winter trees at The Ponds. There seem to be never-ending possibilities at The Ponds!

New lake

Last week this was a pasture full of cows; this week it is a new lake.

Black crowned night herons

At The Ponds at the 'magic hour' last evening, black crowned night herons are lurking. 

According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: With a range that spans five continents, including much of North America, the Black-crowned Night-Heron is the most widespread heron in the world. It is most active at dusk and at night, feeding in the same areas that other heron species frequent during the day.

Bufflehead

Recently we've been seeing a few buffleheads on Corte Madera Creek.  They are migratory and most of them winter in protected coastal waters, or open inland waters, on the east and west coasts of North America and the southern US.  This is why we are seeing them here in California just now.

The Bufflehead is the smallest diving or sea duck in North America. The name buffalo head or "bufflehead" is a direct reference to the duck's large-headed appearance. These ducks are strikingly beautiful. The male is black and white with a large white patch extending from the eye to the back of the head. The female is dark brown above, paler below and has a small white cheek patch. The male is slightly larger than the female.

The Bufflehead is a diver and unlike other diving ducks can take flight from water without having to run along the surface. Buffleheads typically eat aquatic insects, snails, crustaceans and aquatic plants. Buffleheads usually are seen in small groups. As one or two feed, the others will stand watch for potential danger.

Torture

Corporate Kaiser may advocate kindness but someone on the staff doesn't understand the concept.  In the very same room with yesterday's sign is this one right above a serving table that was empty at 5:30am, but I checked later and sure enough, there were two coffee urns!

Be kind!

Kaiser Hospital advocates kindness to one's fellow man.

Brown pelican

One sight we saw from The Spinnaker last Saturday was a brown pelican sitting on some nearby rocks, along with a gull to give some perspective on its size. 

The Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) is the smallest of the eight species of pelican, although it is a large bird in nearly every other regard. It is 106–137 cm (42–54 in) in length, weighs from 2.75 to 5.5 kg (6-12 lb) and has a wingspan from 1.83 to 2.5 m (6 to 8.2 ft).  Thanks, Wikipedia.

Brithday tulips

Friend-for-life Jackie gave me an extravagant birthday bouquet of tulips; this is just some of them!  They are so beautiful, I have to share them with you.

Sailboat

My husband Dick and daughter Elyse took me to lunch Saturday for my (mumble)birthday at The Spinnaker Restaurant in Sausalito.  It is built out over the water and is glass on three sides so the views are spectacular.  Sailboats, kayakers, ferry boats, pelicans and other birds all pass in review, and in the distance there is Alcatraz on the left and San Francisco on the right.  And the food is very good!

Cows

Geese, ducks and stilts are not the only interesting sights to be seen at The Ponds; just take a short walk back along the entry road and one can see cows and tall trees in foggy St.Vincent's pasture.

Winter tree

Trees in winter can be as beautiful as those in full leaf.  Even though it's January, I think this one is beginning to bud - on Corte Madera Creek.

Pot of gold

We drove right to the end of the rainbow, only to have it disappear!  No pot of gold for us!!

Mushroom

This giant mushroom - 7 to 8 inches - is growing under our apple tree in the front yard.  It's back in a corner where I can't get close enough to actually measure it.  It's all shiny from the rain (we have finally had rain after what seems a awfully l-o-n-g time.  And I gave up trying to identify it; so many mushrooms look so similar!

Crows

Two crows on a fence, low-hanging fog, and a golden sunrise at the Ponds - what more could one want?

Whirlpool

Corte Madera Creek (where we see it) is tidal, so sometimes there is a lot of water and sometimes the creek is very shallow.  There are a few pools on the other side of the bike path and they are connected to the creek by culverts under the path.  Last week the tide was going out as we walked the path and saw this whirlpool being created by water draining  the pool through a narrow culvert.  I've always thought that drains in the northern hemisphere flowed in one direction and below the equator in another.  Both Hans and Dick said this is called the 'Coriolis effect'.  However, an article on Wikipedia says that is probably not the case.  If you care to study this, here is the (part of) the article.

Draining in bathtubs and toilets

Coriolis rotation can conceivably play a role on scales as small as a bathtub. It is a commonly held myth that the every-day rotation of a bathtub or toilet vortex is due to whether one is in the northern or southern hemisphere. An article in Nature, by Ascher Shapiro, describes an experiment in which all other forces to the system are removed by filling a 6 ft. tank with water and allowing it to settle for 24 hrs (to remove any internal velocity), in a room where the temperature has stabilized (temperature differences in the room can introduce forces inside the fluid). The drain plug is then very slowly removed, and tiny pieces of floating wood are used to observe rotation. During the first 12 to 15 mins, no rotation is observed. Then, a vortex appears and consistently begins to rotate in a counter-clockwise direction (the experiment was performed in the Northern hemisphere, in Boston, MA). This is repeated and the results averaged to make sure the effect is real. The Coriolis effect does indeed play a role in vortex rotation for draining liquids that have come to rest for a long time. ["Bath-Tub Vortex", Nature. Dec 15th, 1962. Vol 195, No. 4859, p. 1080-1081]

In reality, this experiment shows that the Coriolis effect is a few orders of magnitude smaller than various random influences on drain direction, such as the geometry of the container and the direction in which water was initially added to it. In the above experiment, if the water settles for 2 hrs or less (instead of 24), then the vortex can be seen to rotate in either direction. Most toilets flush in only one direction, because the toilet water flows into the bowl at an angle. If water shot into the basin from the opposite direction, the water would spin in the opposite direction.


The idea that toilets and bathtubs drain differently in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres has been popularized by several television programs, including The Simpsons episode "Bart vs. Australia" and the The X-Files episode "Die Hand Die Verletzt."Several science broadcasts and publications, including at least one college-level physics textbook, have also stated this. Some sources that incorrectly attribute draining direction to the Coriolis force also get the direction wrong, claiming that water would turn clockwise into drains in the Northern Hemisphere.


The Rossby number can also tell us about the bathtub. If the length scale of the tub is about L = 1 m, and the water moves towards the drain at about U = 60 cm/s, then the Rossby number is about 6 000. Thus, the bathtub is, in terms of scales, much like a game of catch, and rotation is unlikely to be important.

Hawk

One might almost think this is a black and white photo, except for the red/brown hawk in the tree.

Paris?

Hans' coaching (he didn't have his camera along and so he just had to coach) yielded this foggy photo that evokes a Paris street scene.

Patience

The Great Blue Heron was the picture of patience Thursday morning on the bike path.  He sat right there for more than half an hour that we know of; he was there when we arrived and there when we left.

Mint Plaza

Two friends and I have been meeting for monthly lunch since 1985; we call ourselves MMR (Muriel, Margie & Rick).  Our lunch last Monday was at Chez Papa Resto on Mint Plaza in San Francisco. Mint Plaza, San Francisco's newest public outdoor space, is located in the SOMA/downtown neighborhood (off of 5th Street between Mission and Market). And its most striking  feature besides a wide-open space is ---- orange chairs.  No tables, just chairs.  People move them into any configuration they please.  Most amazing!

Bear Valley Sunrise

Yesterday, Dick, Hans and I were at Bear Valley. While Dick walked, we other two took photos - as we always do.  There was a very pretty sunrise and Hans posted his version in the afternoon. You can see it here:http://hansroenau.blogspot.com/   And here's my version.

Sunday sunrise

A little while after the blue moon faded on Sunday, the sun began to fill the sky over the Ponds.

Blue moon

Dick & I got out to the Ponds early Sunday morning for a little exercise and photographing.  The first thing I shot was the waning Blue Moon of December - not blue, of course, but just the second full moon in the month.  It doesn't happen very often; hence, 'once in a blue moon'.  I couldn't get a photo when it was full because we have have been socked in every night with solid fog.

Art installation

I think this must be a permanent art installation on the College of Marin campus, near the track.  When I sent you a picture of this a month or so ago, there were sandbags on them, as if holding them in place.  The bags are gone now, so the shapes must be permanent.

Creek and path

I often speak of Corte Madera Creek and the bike path along the creek.  Here is a good view of them both; the bike path runs along the other side of the creek as well.  We walk down one side of the creek, cross over Bon Air Bridge and come back along the other side.  It makes a 2-mile loop - a nice morning walk - and often full of surprises!

Happy New Year

This lovely winter morning sky holds promise for the beautiful day to come and symbolizes my wish to you for 2010 to be everything you hope for.

Happy New Year to All!

Love, Margie