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June 20, 2019

WANDERABOUTING THE LUPINE

     ... john and i decided to do a little wanderabouting today ... i drove so he did the navigating ... we headed west east [cr. b.davis] towards the ocean, mostly because we could find nothing artistically noble in the thought of trying to take pictures in the woods while being eaten alive by mosquitoes ...
       
     
... we stopped alongside a pond he was familiar with that had nice cascade over the ancient dam that had created the pond ...
       
     
... then it was down to the coast ... we greatly appreciated the cool, moist, clear ocean breeze, especially since it was free of any viciously carnivorous flying pests...
       
     
... john knew of a sunken wooden sailing ship ... "next road turn left ... right ... no, not that, that's a driveway ... there, take that one," we searched for signs of the hull without luck, but in the process discovered the wonderful view from the dock of the audubon sanctuary ...
       
     
... john navigated us successfully to the "road across the sea" we discovered a few years ago ... tide was just beginning to come in, so although i believe i could've made it in my hyndai we decided it wasn't worth getting trapped on the far shore for the full cycle of the tide ... (okay, so it's most likely the hyndai's low ground clearance would've probably ended up causing the vehicle to become a giant lobster pot, but i'm convinced i could've done it in my datsun 510) ...
       
     
... at some point a "quest" was added to our wanderabout, a search for the perfect field of lupine ... the first two we found were being kissed by the heavy fog that blanketed the coast ...
       
     
... i had to perch myself rather precariously above the beach rocks to capture these images ...
       
     
... another field showed three different colors of the plants ... there are well over two-hundred varieties of lupine, perhaps another quest ... ??? ...
   
     
... if i could pick a color to be it might be this marvelous hue―after, of course, turquoise, stainless steel, and ... hmmmmm ... yup, that would be plaid, any variety ...
            
     
... on the way home we found the perfect field ... i hiked up to its center to find the vantage point i desired, the sweet fragrance of the lupine almost overpowering me ... even as i was composing this image i knew that there was no way i would ever feel any color rendition i might make would do it justice, so i attempted something even more difficult ... black & white photography of flowers, that's a test ...
            

... soft in a field, perfect, lupines, the fog-fringed tide, and a cool ocean breeze, all shared with a friend, quite possibly this is wanderabouting at its very best ... if it isn't, well, there're still so many roads, so many fields, so many shores, all patiently awaiting those who understand the joy of journey without destination ...