Friday, April 4, 2008
Cottage Inn

Well, there were some technical difficulties with publishing to the site so I'm sorry for the wait! I have quite a few images that should be posted in the near future, but with several big projects and tax day (what fun!) it has been hard to get to the maintenance of my site.

A few days ago we were in Pismo Beach for a project. When I went out to get breakfast the morning fog was just breaking up. I thought about skipping breakfast to take pictures, but I finally thought better of it so I would have some energy for the drive home. (Besides they have REALLY good waffles.) The timing was perfect though. This was right after breakfast. All of the clouds in this shot are actually wispy remnants of the morning costal fog. They are almost close enough that you could reach out and touch them. Not 20 minutes later the fog was back thicker than ever.

Monday, March 5, 2007
Pismo Beach Sunset

Click for a bigger image

It's not really the most popular time of year to go to the beach around here. But, then most people are not crazy photographers. (thank heavens!) Ya don't get sunsets like this in the summer around here.

The flowers in the center are Japanese Irises, on the right is a bird of Paradise.

Sunday, February 6, 2005
Dollars in the Sand

I have seen a few sand dollars in my life but this was the first time I ever saw live ones. There were a few burying themselves right in the middle of the beach where everyone walks, so we moved them to a more secluded area in a tide pool.

These guys are related to sea urchins and star fish, and the way you can tell they are alive is the small spines move like waves. Unless they are frightened, then they play dead. Of course, there was no doubt with most of these. We could actually watch them trying to bury themselves.

When I was searching Google to find out a little more information about them it was interesting to see that the majority of sites referring to live sand dollars were talking about how to kill and clean them. I'm thinking more people need to invest in cameras. :0)

There were a few good sites however...

• Monterey Bay Aquarium.
  One of the best sites I have found for information about sea animals.
• Gifts of a Sand Dollar.
  At least I am not the only one who is crazy enough to throw them back!