In a world of so many great photographers and writers, I am venturing into some unknown territories, leaving comfort zones, finally very willing to practice the art of seeing. By maintaining the practice of posting daily photos, I hope to continue learning about the possibilities that I trust are out there for the taking.
Before dinner and before the meeting, we decided to kill some time shopping at the Sherman Oaks Galleria, specifically, Macy’s.
While browsing the shoes, Hannah came up with an idea. “Let’s each go look over the shoes, pick one shoe that best depicts who we are, and come back to share our choices with each other?”
Sounded like fun. It was fun. We all went off in different directions trying to find….not the shoe we like the best……but the shoe that best matches who we are.
Paula came back with a high wedgy Coach checkered espadrill type shoe (pictured below). Ok, seeing her choice got my juices going. I was in the game……off I went to find MY shoe!
Paula followed and then called to me, “Here Linda. Here are sporting shoes.” I wasn’t finding anything I thought was like me so I went over to the sporty shoes. Someone pointed out the Taryn Rose shoes. I spotted a black flat with a raised black rose on the front. I had tried on an earlier pair of black flats in the other section and hadn’t liked them. The Taryn Rose shoe fit like a glove. The feel of this leather was unbelievably soft.
I’d noticed the price of this shoe which I’m too embarrassed to mention. Previously, a couple of weeks earlier when I’d been shopping with Sandi and Alima I’d seen the price of some of the high end shoes and said, “Who would ever pay these prices, as I turned my back in disgust and walked away?”
Same place, a couple of weeks later, I sat down and tried on a pair of shoes.
I am a fast forgetter. The price hadn’t been reduced! I bought the shoes. The others said, “We weren’t supposed to buy the shoes!” I just giggled. There wasn’t a cloud on the horizon. Did I really need a black pair of flats? Apparently so.
Hannah’s choice in shoes!
Once Ray spotted the hummingbird nest and bird right outside our front door, I spent at least 5 hours in the early part of the day trying to take good shots of the nest, eggs and bird. I was on a mission, obsessed and having a ball. I learned a lot about my camera settings after looking at hundreds of failed (poor lighting ) photo attempts on the computer. So much for the other things I had planned for that 5 hour slot in the day.
When we first looked at the empty bird’s nest yesterday morning around 8am there was only one white tiny egg inside. After one of the next few nest sittings, the newest member of the Jeffers family – Mrs. Hummingbird – had layed another egg in the nest. We read that they usually lay 2 eggs. So we have the exact time and day of the baby’s beginnings.
Ray went online and googled hummingbirds. Here is what we found:
Male and female hummingbirds establish separate territories–she to build a nest and feed her young, he just to protect a reliable food source. The male takes no interest in nests or the care and feeding of babies. When females enter his territory, he does aerial displays to keep them away. The males and females mate on neutral ground.
Incubation takes 12 -19 days before the eggs hatch.
Here is a video someone took from birth through the moment the babies actually leave the nest. Enjoy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG59PaCiiDg&eurl=http://hummingbirdworld.com/h/nest.htm
Photos of our hummingbird and nest outside our front door on a cactus that broken off a month or so ago. Lucky for Mrs. Hummingbird. 
She flies away every time we walk by the window too quickly. If we move slowly, she won’t fly away. Ray gets mad at me for bothering Mrs. Hummingbird when I am at my camera and startle her. Then I get mad at him when he goes in and out to the garage past her nest. We are having fun with our new family member.
Then late in the day yesterday, Ray wanted to go out in the golf cart and play some golf. I went along with my camera. He golfed and I shot photos.
I took this shot just after the sun set behind Mt. San Jacinto.
Check this out when you are free to turn up the volume:
This is from the Texas Tech-vs-University of Texas basketball game last month. The group is called the “Cactus Cuties” and they are adorable as they sing acapella.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKCVS57j284
Looking west up to San Gorgonio from the mountains above the White Water River and the White Water Trout Farm.
I wish I wasn’t going to miss Carol Leigh’s Macro Class that starts June 15 as I really would like help with macro shots.
Off to take the Mission Hills Country Club Hiking members off for a hike in this area today. I think there will be 11 of us.
Yesterday I made sure I could park in the White Water Trout Farm parking lot. The car break-in had been on the street an 1/8th of a miles from the Trout Farm. I talked to Robert at the Trout Farm yesterday…..he is the person I had stopped to talk to when he was driving by me after my break-in last Friday. He lives in a ranch nearby and is also the manager of the Trout Farm. Robert remembered me and told me that the break-in has freaked out all the neighbors. People are now locking their doors at night. Robert did say that they have not had break-ins up there before. It was a freak incident. Great.
CRITIQUE: Linda Jeffers (Reflections)
BRUNCH 
Wow. Very sharp, very clear, clean, crisp! This is
a case where you could have easily just blown out
the white gull, but you didn’t — we can still see a
lot of detail in the feathers. Your camera could
have seen all the darkness above the bird and
exposed for that — meaning that the bird would
have been just a big white blob in your picture. So
kudos on handling a challenging exposure
situation.
I like the darkness up top, but I’m wondering
why. Usually I would say that so much dark space
is heavy and weights down a shot. I think the dark
area, however, is tempered somewhat by the
horizontal line of tan/white stuff, breaking up the
black and dark grey. So with that in mind, I might suggest getting rid of whatever that is in the
upper right corner of the frame (and its attendant reflection) to keep that upper line as clean as
possible.
You should be very proud of this picture — well done!
(Since this critique I took out the stuff and the stuff’s reflection that was in the upper right hand corner.)
LAKESIDE TREES
Hey, you’re two for two! I like what you
did here. Your picture consists of a bunch
of triangles pointing this way and that,
giving your picture a great feeling of
movement. The wedge of blue sky moves
our eyes from left to right. The wedge of
land (and its reflection) leads our eye
from right to left. (But the trees
themselves have a sort of eastward slant
to them, which counteracts the previous
movement.) And then there’s a wedge of
water which leads our eye from left to
right. (I hope that all made sense. Me? I’m
dizzy at this point.)
(I took a photo below of the photo my teacher had inserted in this critique showing the triangles.)
Basically, what I’m trying to say is that
you’ve created “arrows” that lead our eye
back and forth. It’s a good effect.
Isn’t it interesting how dark the
reflections are compared to the land,
trees, and sky? It’s important to
remember this when we shoot.
Your exposure is good, and so’s your
focus. The only thing that’s interrupting
the flow of your picture (but really not
that much) is the mass of darkness on the
far lower right. I think maybe some foreground foliage cluttered up your clean reflection a bit,
but it’s not overly obtrusive. Good eye for spotting this scene. You handled it well.
ME, IN A WINDOW, IN A WINDOW
And there you are, way down low, a tiny
little Linda peering out . . .
You had a couple of options here in that
in addition to this version, you could
have zoomed in tighter and filled your
frame with just the window. Would that
have been better? Not necessarily. By
moving farther back, by using a widerangle
lens, you’re telling more of a story.
You’ve got that fantastic melaleuca (?)
leaning off to our left with a large branch
curving to the right, seemingly
embracing the window. Then you’ve got
the window with its echoing arching
element above it. And then there’s you,
with the tree branch arching overhead
again, only in warmer tones.
Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel . . . you’re protected by a tree, by an arch,
and by a reflection of a tree. (Too bad the tree couldn’t protect you from camera thieves, but I
digress . . .)
What’s also kind of neat is how the surroundings are in shade, but the reflection is a sunny one!
Three good pictures, Linda. Kudos to you.
Carol Leigh
I have got to get to training for my NM hike. Too soon, Cupcake will pick me and JJ up on April 25th to drive to the ADZPCTKO kickoff weekend I attend every year. I will be all packed up for my CDT hike as Cupcake will drive me and my hiking partner, La Zorra back to the beginning of our hike in New Mexico (We will leave on the Sunday at the end of the ADZPCTKOP weekend). I’m 12 pounds heavier than I’ve ever been before starting out on a long backpack, my body is untrained, AND I haven’t planned a darn thing for this hike yet. It is time to make the hike a priority and stop letting everything else get in the way…… like car break-ins!!!!
By the way, JJ is a friend who is a PCT thruhiker this year. JJ will have already begun hiking north on the PCT and will hitch down to my house from the trail up Hwy 74 on the 24th, spend the night, clean up and EAT before Cupcake picks us up and we all drive down to the ADZPCTKOP weekend. Lots of hikers who will have started the PCT early will also find a way to get back down to this fun kickoff weekend held every year, for the last 11 years now.
Yesterday morning Katy and I recommitted to hiking the Bump and Grind hill, which is only 7 minutes from home, every Monday and Wednesday mornings at 5:30am. How easy it is to get back to a routine once I stop it for some lame excuse. I can’t afford to make one excuse or I’ll just make a ton more.
Katy and I both commented on how wonderful it was being out early enough to see the sunrising.On our hike we talked about how much better we feel the rest of the day when we have exercised early in the day. I, of course, forget how much better I feel during the day when I listen to my head, while I’m still under the covers, when it says to me, “It’s too early to get up…..or…….you can exercise later on (and then rarely do).”
This morning Ray and I took a 50 minute walk in our neighborhood. Look at the snow still in the San Jacinto mountains.
Off to get ready to drive in to the Book Study.
I have received a number of understanding and caring emails from friends regarding the loss of all my camera gear. Thank you so much.
I also received many emails from my fellow photo classmates who live with this fear daily. But I am posting an email from my photo class teacher Carol Leigh:
Linda, I’m so sorry about your gear being stolen. My heart just sank
when I read your post. You experienced something we all dread. I
remember sobbing when my house was burglarized and my camera gear
taken — the only stuff in the house I really cared about. Another of
my students parked in front of the Strybing Arboretum in San
Francisco. She chose the gear she wanted to take in and left the rest
in her van. Someone apparently was watching. She lost not one but TWO
tilt-shift lenses, a couple camera bodies, various other lenses, etc.
The only things we can do is keep our equipment to a minimum, don’t
leave it in the car, and double-check our homeowners insurance. Easy
to say. I get impatient with Chris, who INSISTS that before we arrive
at our destination we stop somewhere else first and gather together
what we think we’ll need. Then when we arrive at the photo
destination, we simply exit the car and head up the path with no
hesitation. I’m going to be more patient with his OUTRAGEOUS REQUESTS
from now on. 
It’s just stuff. Now you’ll get newer and better stuff! But I do feel
sorry for you. We all do. We’ve all been there. We all have the same
fears and trepidations. And our collective heart goes out to you.
Carol Leigh
The following letter to my photography teacher will explain “Car break-in”.
Congrats Carol! How exciting to have been acknowledged for your California Wildflower Hotsheet website, and to have been acknowledged in the WSJ. I love it when people who are anonymously always of service get recognized at a larger group level. You deserve the recognition. I feel so lucky to have you as my teacher.
Yesterday I was out on a 4 hour training hike along the Pacific Crest Trail. My husband was kind enough to follow me while I parked my car at the Whitewater Trout Farm. He then drove and dropped me back at the I-10 Freeway where the PCT passes under the freeway before heading north and then west up into the San Bernadino mountains. From my first step on the trail I was blown away by the color display in the normally dry, brown mountains. Splotches of gold and purple continually caught my eye higher up on the hillsides every direction I looked.
The wildflowers were a bloom like I’ve never seen before. The over grown trail was sometimes scary but exciting to walk on (hidden rattlesnakes). Everything looked different because of the atypical abundance of color. Normally dry and brown hills and mountains were blanketed in green. Blooming mustard grew well into the trail. Yellow, deep pink, purple, low, high, big, small….wildflowers were everywhere. When I got higher up on the trail I was presented a Mary Poppins-like view of hills covered in POPPIES!!! As I rounded trail bends, the brilliantly blue sky complemented the orange poppies beautifully. I couldn’t believe I was out hiking and not out photographing with all my camera equipment. I did however snap off many photos as I hiked with the little Sony I always have on me.
I got back to my car only to find that two back windows had been smashed in. Glass was everywhere. My heart sank. I had said to my husband before we left home, “I really should take all my camera equipment out of my car. Nah, it’s safe there!” I hadn’t followed my intuition, and ALL, I mean, ALL my 4 lens, filters, shutter cable release, cleaning equipment and camera were gone. The thieves left the cheapo tripod. My home owner’s insurance deductible is $2000! Oh well, that’s half the expense.
I am sick. These next two weeks were going to be spent photographing wildflowers.
But….
At least I had finished my assignments!!!
I called Carol Davis for consolation. None of my other friends would have understood the loss I am feeling. Thank you Carol Davis.
Linda Jeffers
A big thanks to my hubby for coming back to stay with me for the 2 hours until the police arrived.