Winged Wonders !!

Being near to the ocean brings one near to the shore birds ... they are smelly, noisy, grey and brown (in addition to white) but they are beutiful in their own way ... One such popular birding spot in Bay Area is Palo Alto Baylands. Easy to reach and plenty of parking space makes this place a birders paradise and runner's heaven.

Couple of weekends ago I visited this place as part of a meetup arranged by The Bay area Photography & Exploration Society. It was nice to meet other photographers in Bay Area. All with varying levels of expertise, using different makes and models of photon collectors like Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Sony etc ... 30D, 40D, D2X, D300 and so on ... attached with cool accessories like 100-400mm L IS USM, 70-300mm, 300mm VR ... there were some point-and-shoot also ... Anyways, the point is to learn more and practice photography ... and discuss about photogenic places ...

I got few good pictures ... Still have to upload most of them ... One of them is posted above !!

I am bored ...

Its been a while I went out hiking or camping ... which is extremely odd for me ... I spend my weekends looking at the blanc ceiling lay down on the bed or stare at my hurting ankle ... with all my weird emotions intertwined it feels kind of another worldly experience ... mostly boring and painful ... I feel like a piece of my life is missing ... hiking breathes life into me ... climbing a peak is something and standing on a peak gives me an immense satisfaction of life ... walking on the tree canopied trails ... strange shapes of the trees, fallen trees and the hundreds of mushrooms and bugs on them, music of wind to which bird sing their song ... walking in the open grassland under the sunshine ... music of the cattle bells ... ocean ... the restless waves ... the wonderful life beneath those waves ... I miss everything ... every piece of me is waiting for my ankle to feel better ...

Heaviness of the stress at work mixed with the unhappiness of not being able to hike is sinking me into the ocean of moodiness. Though I cover it up from others being absolutely brave and strong, at home I probably sit and stare at a wall. I have started dreaming of lying on the grass, looking up at the starts and just smile at the stuff going on in my heart ...

I went out last few weekends and even today to shop ... everywhere thanksgiving sale ... Bloomingdale's and Saks 5th Avenue are crowded ... even in this recession ... may be there are many like me ... couldn't go anywhere else so shop ... bought some accessories ... there was sale in the shop of my religion ... REI ... but didn't know what to buy ... still I bought some things ... because I didn't know what else to do ?

I know this is just a temporary set back of life ... I will get out soon ... running fast ... up the hill ... up and up in the air and soar like a condor ... and catch one cloud ...

Sri Lankans know India better :)

Beautiful ad huh ? Makes me miss those silk sarees ...

Squirrel story ...

9th November 2008

Squirrels are rodents just like rats and mice. But, some how they are not victims of human disgust. May be because of their bushy tail and cute style of sitting. Today I visited the Central park in Fremont and I saw these squirrels running around. I sat in a place and watched them.


They were very busy, slowly they came out of hides and cautiously surveyed around like NCIS agents. Then coming completely out and watching around some more ... move swiftly to a place and pick something to eat ... eat there itself or take it to the hideout in a swift ... The way they sneaked and crawled to steal the food from other aquatic birds there was fantastic to watch ... More pictures here ...