The Birds

Bodega Bay is the setting for Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 horror film The Birds.  This is the school house used in the film.  In the movie it gives the impression the school is near the bay itself but in reality it is inland a few miles separated by hills and you cannot see the ocean from anywhere around the school house location.

This is the hill the kids are running down away from the attacking crows.

 I was thinking there was a from the behind scene in the movie

 but this is all I could find and it is looking uphill.

I'm surprised no one has made a remake of The Birds now with the computer generated imagery they use in movie making these days.  Well there was a half-hearted attempt back in 2007 but development of the movie sort of stalled.  Tippi Hedren (the leading lady in Hitchcock's film) stated her opposition to the remake saying "Why would you want to do that? Why?"  

Guess you don't mess with Hitchcock. 

One doesn't make a trip out to the coast without getting a large cup of clam chowder.  

I like the red style myself.  Yes, it was delicious.  

It was half gone before I thought "I'd should have taken a photo!"

Bodega Bay continued

To the left of that crescent of land is the bay and calm waters.

You can see the fog or low cloud cover, whichever.

To the right is open ocean although it is still somewhat protected from the waves of the Pacific.

That is Doran beach and as you can see there is camping there.  Looks nice but there is one problem.  The Coast Guard station is there also and out on the very end is a fog horn that bleats continuously off and on, fog or no fog.  It can become maddening and difficult to ignore.  I guess you eventually get used to it and don't notice it anymore but I've never been that fortunate. 

The waters inside the bay is the perfect place for these kayakers. 

That is some very expensive real estate in the background.

Part of the docks at Bodega Bay.  Pay heed to the sign in time of earthquakes.

Bodega Bay

These images are from Bodega Bay a large water inlet from the Pacific 

so none of the high rocky cliffs or big surf are to be had here.

Someone planted some driftwood upright to look like a dead tree.

Inland further is a water estuary with a nature trail passing through it.  I thought this scene would look good in black and white in an abstract way but it didn't, so I left it in color.

 He knew I was there and was trying to make up his little crab brain to scurry away back to the surf or stay put and not move.  I didn't want to get my feet wet so there we were, neither of us moving.

More of the Sonoma Coastline

A nice clean beach.  No sea foam suds here.

This man knows how to spend the day.

Some of the local residents.

A Day at the Coast

An early morning decision to take a drive found me out along our Sonoma Coast.

A lot of our coastline in California looks like this.  

After all, we're on the edge of a continent slipping off into the waters you know.

It was to be in the 90's (32c) at home an hour's drive inland. 

I had to wear a light jacket at the coast which had gray skies and no sunshine.

Looks like someone dumped a big box of laundry detergent in the water.  I've never seen foam like this before in the ocean and it makes me wonder if something not good is going on here.

With some imagination it looks like clouds don't you think?

One Way Street in San Francisco

I enjoyed doing the Chicago Alley drawing I showed last month and thought I would try something else along the same theme but in a slightly different technique.  

Lines are fun.

Last Train Leaving Imaginary World

All of the locomotive shots in this series, the train was moving but you wouldn't know it.

This is the only one that gives a sense of motion.

This was my favorite diorama.  People on holiday.

Click on the image and you can see the people better.  See the Jeep towing the trailer, the couple on the bench, the sunbathers, the girl falling out of the canoe, the bear?  Lots going on here.

Kids today love their Legos.  Not me.  I had an Erector set but hardly played with it.

If I were a kid give me the materials to create a world like this and I'd be entertained forever. 

Because in my imaginary world you can have your home right next to the train tracks 

and that is okay.  Notice the boy washing the car.

This concludes the train show series.  Back to reality now.

Good Old Days in Imaginary Trainland

This one is kind of funny.  You can almost step from the canoe to the row boat to cross the pond.

The tractor lost a wheel and fell over too.

Notice the small sign in the middle.  

Do you remember buying gas for 27.9 cents a gallon?  I do.  

Normally the price of admission to the Community Playhouse for a movie is 75 cents.  But for dancing on Saturday night with Fat Hogg calling the steps and the Lumberjacks providing the music you get in for 50 cents.  What a deal.  Did you ever square dance?  I remember we did in the third grade as a classroom activity.  It was fun.  It was also the only time you got to hold the hand of the girl you secretly liked without her objecting.  I remember one girl had rough scaly hands.  It gave me the willies to hold her hand.

More of Train Town

The Lionel train locomotive I had looked like this.  

That is why those Lincoln Log walls never stood a chance.

Those Were the Days

I made an effort to catch the trains as they passed by which now I see was silly.  They could be standing still for all you would know.  I should of shot video. Duh!

Taking pictures without flash meant a slow shutter speed which creates a small depth of field thus hardly anything is in focus.  Duh!

Moore & Company's signs read Only the best from east to west and Importers of premium quality goods.  Yep, like I wrote in the last post, these scenes take you back to better times like before we became flooded with all the Chinese junk we buy these days.  Remember back when Made in Japan was something we used to raise our eyebrows up at?

The Train Show

There was a model train show nearby.  I went to look.  I had a Lionel train set as a kid. I used to build walls with my Lincoln Logs, position the cowboys and Indians on and around the walls and bust through it all with my larger scale locomotive at high speed. Great fun.  Although the trains are enjoyable to watch, I am more fascinated by the little dioramas.  It is so easy to transport yourself into the scene,   a time and place of much better times.

I didn't notice it while there but the round barn in the distance is a landmark here in Santa Rosa.

This is reproduction of one our the shopping malls where I live. 

You can tell by the cars they've stuck to a specific timeline in these scenes.

Now wouldn't you like to be here?  There is a Twilight Zone episode this reminds me of.

- more to come -

Murder in the Forest

The crime scene.

There were no body parts to be found.  Only scattered remnants of the victim's clothing. 

The murder took place in a dense forest.  Who could have done such a heinous crime? A fox? 

A bobcat?  No, I think the most likely suspect is a hawk for they have been seen in the area. 

Case closed.

Snake Photography

It is always nice to see a snake while hiking.   

When you do, stop where you are, slowly get your camera out and get that first photo in the "bank".

Then you can slowly take a step closer and get a better photo.

It was when I stooped down to his level to get the "money shot" is when he turned and slithered away very fast so I did not get that great photo I was hoping for but at least I had something in the camera.