Hair New Era

Today we went to Bodega Head, hoping to see some whales. There were days when we never saw any whales and other days when we saw many. Today falls in the second category.

So this is the middle of January - I remember this to be winter - right at the Pacific Ocean. It is supposed to be cold and very windy. Instead, the sun is shining and there is almost no wind. Unbelievable...


I spent some time taking pictures of the waves that thunder against the rocks at the shore. I love the mist that hovers above the waves before they break. Seagulls were sitting on a huge rock right in front of me, others were noisily flying around.


Apart from the waves at the shore, the ocean was like a blanket which made watching for whales super easy. You just watch for spouts - when you've discovered one, you focus in with your binoculars and actually see real whales.

About two miles out there was an entire pod of whales, very likely humpbacks, playing around. A little bit further south we discovered another big whale who traveled south - probably a gray whale.


Everybody - there was quite a crowd - was excited, either looking through their binoculars or taking pictures.


The whale watching volunteers who are at Bodega Head every weekend from January through April (whale migration time) and sometimes even during the week if there are many whales, were happy to tell everyone about the whales and answer any question that would arise. They had some interesting stuff on their display table, like this vertebrae of a juvenile gray whale.





Afterwards we went to the "Sandpiper" in Bodega Bay, our favorite restaurant there. Tonight I opted for the Fisherman's Crab Stew - messy but oh so yummy...

It's time to take a peek at desks again - if you don't know what this is all about, just hop on over to the lovely Julia at Stamping Ground.

Actually there is nothing on my desk today. Well, not quite true, there is something, but I still don't want to show it. It's a little piece for the online baby shower for Kelly Rae Roberts. I hope I can show you more later.

Since I can't show you my desk, I thought I give you a view of my IKEA shelves that line one of my walls.

Not a very good picture as it turns out... Anyway, on the right you see all my scrapbooks, not all of them finished. I'm kind of a random scrapper and have a hard time to work on just one book at a time. To the left several small containers that hold buttons, brads, beads etc. The round basket with the lid holds my Native American stamps, but it is already bursting, so I need to find a different storage item for that. The Starbucks frappuccino bottles are waiting to get decorated (great for little gifts or favors; a few years ago I made bottles for the girls in my Girl Scout troop). Somerset magazines at the bottom, the white basket holds clear stamps and you can also see some acrylic paints. The house template I just used for last week's Tuesday Taggers' Challenge.

The left shelf - containers hold 12x12 Halloween and Fall papers, paper scraps, stickers and stuff, stamps, yarn, pens, inks. The painting of John Muir was done by my daughter for a school project. The paper bear head in the top left corner is a lantern that I made when my daughter went to toddler's group in Germany. On the evening of St. Martin's Day (Nov. 11) the kids in Germany walk with their lit lantern, singing songs and just having a good time. A very sweet tradition that I miss here in the States.

That's it! I hope to visit at least some of your desks today, otherwise tomorrow. I've heard that there are a lot of whales around these days and I'm thinking of driving out to the coast and have a look. Usually the whales are here from January to April, so this is quite unusual.

Have a happy WOYWW day!