Our hellebore always has that effect on me. The narcissus and daffodils show themselves as they emerge along the driveway as we come and go. But the hellebore is a bit hidden away up in back among the fallen leaves, twigs, and pine needles. I come upon it about the end of February when i creep out blinking in the cold still winter early morning with my cup of coffee, muttering about the cleanup i should do, stumbling over dead branches. And there, omigosh, look at that.

Grandma and Grandpa's patio at the house on Novato Boulevard was a place of delicious chicken cremated to just the right shade of blackness on grandpas furnace of a BBQ. It was also a place of fine family gatherings. Here we have carried out the kitchen chairs and gathered around two card tables shoved together to celebrate Thomas' 6th birthday. You are looking at Donald, Sebastian, Margie, Leo, Tessie, Tom , Tony, and Elizabeth.

Every once in a while I get busy with the organizing and archiving of my huge pile of moments in time. As of now, these digital moments amount to over 60,000 images. Truly a big pile, within which wonders can hide. In stirring through the pile from time to time I'll try to run some through the flow here at mindling.com.

Herewith Thomas&Son on the 'ol kayak in 1978 down south of Novato.

I got a big day-job project out the door this morning, and I followed soon after with mtn bike and camera to explore some new territory over in the Knickerbocker area I had "discovered" while messing around in Google Earth. Some trails, slippery with mud, and wading across a couple of creeks brought me to a beautiful pond, perhaps a quarter mile long and a couple hundred yards wide. An egret was fishing among some cattails while I sat and ate my sandwich. After lunch I thought perhaps I could creep around behind the reeds without disturbing him, so off I went with the camera.

I learned a deeply technical lesson for improving photography from a friend this week - press the shutter once in a while.

Ever wonder what Eric does way down there? Hilda and I checked it out a couple of years ago when we joined one of his tours. We journeyed through the land of the Maya, from the southern mountains and deserts to the humid jungles of the Yucatan. Here is a slide show - the photos are ok, I apologize for the narration, the music is gorgeous. I think the main take-away is the contrast in wealth between our culture and that of indigenous Mexico, especially that of Chiapas. Gives me perspective when I slip into a hand-wringing mode watching our meager retirement fund becoming more so.

A winter's day at home in Cool during the week before Christmas, 2008. About five minutes.

A beautiful mid-Winters day brought four Windmills and at least three times that number of crew, hangers-on and groupies out into sunny Alameda for a delightful time of visiting and just "messing about with boats". The video is about three minutes long.