The Island

I've been really busy lately, so haven't been out walking much.  And I've been thinking a lot about where I grew up.  So here's a picture of the island in Massachusetts where I spent a lot of time: 

 

Above the island, you can see the confluence of the North River (coming from the left) and the South River (coming from the right).  The Atlantic Ocean is outside the mouth of the river (to the right side of the photo).

I'm so glad to have a picture like this of where I grew up. Looking at it brings back so many different memories.  Just one photo helps to maintain a long-term sense of place.  I hope all of you have some pictures or memories of important landscapes in your life.

1000!

This is my 1000th post!  It's a little hard to believe.  

I knew this day was on the horizon, and I had been contemplating what type of photo might be appropriate for the occasion.  To be honest, I wasn't coming up with any ideas that I was happy with.  

And then Eric thought of a photo mosaic.  I could create a picture made up of 1000 images from previous blog posts.  That sounded like a great way to celebrate, and luckily there's software available to help.

I think you'll be able to tell that the first mosaic is an aerial view of Bodega Head.  You can click on the image for a slightly larger version.  But because it's so much fun to scroll around and reminisce about all of the individual photos, I've uploaded a full-size version of this mosaic to Flickr.  Click here to download a full-size version of the Bodega Head mosaic.  When you're on the Flickr page, use the download button in the lower right corner and choose "Original Size."

 

The Bodega Head mosaic came out well, and included some nice photos, but the original image lacked certain colors, which meant some blog photos were left out.  So I chose another image that included warmer tones (oranges and pinks).

The next mosaic is a sunset from Bodega Head.  It's a little abstract, but very pretty, don't you think?

And once again, if you want to have fun checking out close-ups of the individual pictures making up the mosaic, you can access the full-size version on Flickr.  Click here to download a full-size version of the sunset mosaic.

 

And I couldn't resist including one more mosaic.  Eric suggested a good title for this one — "eyeNaturalist."

 

When the final rendering was revealed, I wasn't sure what to think at first, with my eye surrounded by lots of figures and text, along with all of the plants and animals and landscapes and seascapes.  Then I thought that it was quite appropriate.  I'm always looking for interesting things, trying to learn more about them, and thinking about the best ways to share information.  This isn't a bad visual representation of that process!

Click here to download a full-size version of the eye mosaic.

And remember, all of the images in these mosaics are from previous blog posts.  It turns out that I've used a little over 4,000 images on the blog so far, so there were plenty to choose from!

It took me longer than expected to make these mosaics, so it's pretty late (at least for me).  However, at this significant milestone, I wanted to express my thanks to all of you who read this blog and discuss natural history with me.  It's all more meaningful than I can say.

I listened to an interview with Mary Oliver today.  In it, she said, "Attention is the beginning of devotion."  I've been trying to pay attention to the natural history of Bodega Head for a little over a decade now.  I know learning about it is endless, but after 1000 posts, I think I can say I am devoted to it.   ;)  So on to 1001!

1939

After seeing last night's post, Janet wrote to ask about the history of Bodega Harbor and the jetties at the harbor entrance.  There are many stories to tell there (too many for one night!), but her questions spurred me to include this picture of the entrance to Bodega Harbor in 1939.

Many people haven't seen what the entrance to Bodega Harbor looked like before the North and South jetties were built in 1942.  Note that the tip of Doran Beach was recurved inward towards the inner portion of the harbor (on the inside of Campbell Cove) — creating a very narrow entrance to Bodega Harbor (sometimes referred to as Bodega Lagoon at that time).  It now curves outward, but the current shape is artificial and is dependent on the jetties and bulkhead (on the inside of the spit).

This U.S. Army Corps image also shows the natural shoreline before Westshore Road was constructed and before PG&E began development of the site for a nuclear power plant (never completed) at Campbell Cove.  

It also illustrates Gaffney Point (the sandy point at the top of the image) in a nascent stage without much vegetation (dune or salt marsh)...and the Gaffney Ranch site just to the right of Gaffney Point.

Thanks, Janet, for inspiring me to share this historical image!

Aerial view

 

I didn't get a chance to go for a walk today, so I decided that it would be fun to reach back into the archives and show an aerial view of Bodega Head.  This is a photo I took from a small plane on 31 January 2009.