We arrived at our winter home at the Salton Sea in California in mid January to temps in the mid 80’s and have continued to stay way above normal for this time of the year. Our yard and house were all in great shape with only a quick clean up outside and set our patio furniture back up to enjoy the wonderful weather.
The sunsets in the evening just made our little home a paradise again to enjoy. Our landscaping has grown more giving us an oasis look around our home that was completely bare when we bought it 4 years ago. I have designed and planted to keep our landscaping as maintenance free as possible. However the additions always continue.
When we first arrived here there was not a bird to be heard around our house, but within a couple of days of putting out the sunflower seeds and other birds seeds our place is filled with the songs and sounds of their lovely happy voices.
Prior to coming here Sheaba our new dog was just beginning to come around and show happiness in being around us, but now after the trip traveling in the truck with us and now sleeping in our bedroom at night she has bonded completely with us and shows happiness and tail wagging all the time with both hubby and I. Sheaba was an abandoned dog that I captured last winter here in the Salton Sea after 2 winters of trying to gain her trust. After 8 months she has finally excepted us as here pack and feels secure and safe and she shows affection and love all the time. She is still taken for walks every morning and evening on a long leash here in the neighbourhood, but when we are in the desert we let her loose and she always stays with us. We seem to have no problem now with getting close to her to put her leash back on when it is time to leave. She also jumps in and out of our truck front and back and enters in and out of our house with ease. She still likes to just lay around in the house most the day, but when we are outside she will lay around the yard near us. We have no fencing so have to make sure she doesn’t wonder off as their is a leash law here in the housing area.
We have been doing some hikes right near our area. This hike was just adjacent to our neighbourhood on the west side of highway 86. From the highway you would never know that small canyons exist when looking towards the mountains. We started up a wash and soon were in a small canyon following it for a couple of miles. When we would climb out of the canyon there were always views and more interesting formations.
You often feel like you are on the moon when hiking this area. On our return trip the sun was just setting.
The colors here in the desert are so bland I have been taking some photos using my expressive art setting on my camera which add some interesting colors and effects to the photos. I call the series
A Strange New World..
Here are some photos in and around our neighbourhood using the expressive art feature. When the devolvement was put in the the early 60’s every lot had a palm tree planted and over the years many have died leaving just stumps behind. Also left behind from the building boom of 2006 are homes that were only framed and then abandoned when the building boom collapsed.
We had friends visiting for a few days and took a hike in an a area where sandstones with interesting formation and continued to hike on down to the Salton Sea. Hubby drove the whole way as he was on medication so had to stay out of the sun. We walked almost 2 miles down to the shore of the Salton Sea while passing through the desert and interesting landscapes and remnants of building from years gone by.
It got very hot and when we approach the sea the land become barren with much dried clay in areas that flood during rains. Every year in the past 8 years I have found the desert around here to be browner and browner in vegetation, but the sea is still blue and beautiful to view.
The Salton Sea still remains beautiful to look at and explore, it is still filled with many varieties of water birds. The shore line can now be walked along in many places with huge open areas that were once under water, but now the sea is drying up and the shore is getting further out in many places. The sea is surround by mountain ranges on both the east and west side the always create a dramatic backdrop.
Well if you can’t beat them might as well join them. Seems in my neighbourhood almost every photo I try and take the power lines are in it. I don’t have that problem at my ranch up North. I decided since there were a part of the landscape and very prominent in places I created a series of photos with them. So here is a new series of mine.
The Power of Energy
When the big building boom came to this area in 2004 builders choose to run power above ground as it was cheaper. This was not a new development , but an old one the had been started in the early 60’s where water had been put in but no power, but only a handful of homes were ever built. So there was so many different companys that began building in 2004 that all power went above ground in the housing area. Then of course there is always the bigger power lines that run through the desert around us. I now look at them differently and I realized all the patterns they created when I pointed my camera just right. So now instead of taking away from the photo they are the subject of the photo.
We we had more company come and go and expecting more during our winter stay here keeping us very busy. During my down times I have worked on my homemade greeting cards and will soon have almost a hundred cards made for different occasions, then I will begin on my Christmas cards again. The unseasonal hot weather had kept me inside during middays often, so I can work on my cards. Otherwise I would be out walking or expanding our landscaping. Visitors here have also kept me away from my creative work, but that is the contrast here from my hermit life at our ranch in British Columbia. I seem to have no problems being away from the internet. I have to force myself to make a trip the the library every couple of weeks to get my E-mail and make sure all accounts are ok. I find it hard to blog as visiting everyone's blogs always gets my creative juices flowing. But this winter I really wanted to try and put out a blog or two from the Salton Sea.
So as the sunsets on the desert here I say hello or goodbye
and wish you a
Good Morning… Good Afternoon… Good Night…
Whatever it is to you
Photo & Words
by
Here I Am Carrie
