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top 25 items viewed per day
Week reset Sunday, Month reset the 1st, Year reset 1/1 |
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(217 views)
Our frontyard white hellebore was loaded with many blooms this year.
The green leaves caused the white blooms to appear yellow.
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(216 views)
Leaves were just beginning to appear among last year's dead leaves.
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(214 views)
Our leaf compost bin was almost full and waiting for summer.
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(214 views)
The bird bath in our side-yard raised-bed vegetable garden remained full and reflective in the rain.
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(206 views)
The Winter Plum hellebore flowers bloomed in the back corner of our backyard.
It bloomed despite being covered with fall leaves.
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(206 views)
The pump/filter, in he middle of our first pond, had lost its good display.
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(156 views)
A light rain partly filled the gutter in front of our house.
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(145 views)
The Spectacled Bear is the only bear that comes from South America. I hope this unique and beautiful endangered bear survives.
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(141 views)
Listening
Copyright 2008 Bryan Costales
Joey Cloperd stopped his bicycle to watch. As a young teen he was
often bored out of his mind and at wits end for want of something fun to do.
A middle aged woman rolling a baby in a stroller stopped next to Joey.
The baby looked asleep. The woman had a happy look on her face as if
the world was an endlessly interesting place.
The woman spoke first. "What do you see?"
Joey looked back at what he had seen that caused him to stop his bike
in the firs . . . |
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(141 views)
It surprises me that a big bird like a Pelican can fly so effortlessly.
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(141 views)
Chair George
Copyright 2008 Bryan Costales
Ron Greysmyth had been in grammar school when his Granddad
died. The folks bundled he and his older sister up for a visit
to his Grandma.
Ron remembered that visit and asking, "Grandma, why does this
chair say George on the back?"
"That was your grandfather's name. George."
"Can I sit in it?"
"No!" She had sounded angry. "That was your grandfather's
chair. I don't want anyone to sit in it. Not ever. It was his."
Ron's mother asked Grandma, "Do . . . |
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(140 views)
Dancing
Copyright 2008 Bryan Costales
Lunch at the Streetfront Restaurant on the second story of the
New Montgomery Hotel was always delicious. And it didn't hurt
that the senior menu was dramatically cheap.
Norma Birdie and her dear friend Lena Yanershin met for lunch
in the Streetfront early every Saturday for lunch. They'd just
started to sip their soup when Norma noticed the bouquet water.
"Look," she nodded at the vase in the center of the table.
"The water is dancing."
Lena swallow . . . |
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(140 views)
Donna Woke Up
Copyright 2008 Bryan Costales
Purely on a whim she peeled her first orange and ate it in pieces.
Before that, she'd sliced an orange with a knife, a technique taught
her by her mother. But at fifty, exactly at noon on her birthday,
Donna Shipley woke up.
Before that day her past had been a muddle. Like mud covering everything
after a flood. Like the dark when the power failed unexpectedly.
A noon on her fiftieth birthday, Donna realized she had not
lived her life. Donna stood . . . |
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(140 views)
Looking For Dad
Copyright 2008 Bryan Costales
Bess Castleman and her brother Dutch knew their dad was crazy as a loon.
But they never --not even in a million years-- expected to find him
dressed in long red underwear, wearing a Santa hat, yelling at
passing cars.
"Oh, good God no," Bess spotted him first.
"Is that dad?" Dutch was always a bit slow in the uptake.
They just happened to be walking to brunch to discuss what to do
that afternoon, when they spotted him.
"Hey Dad!" Bess yelled . . . |
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(140 views)
Video Nut
Copyright 2008 Bryan Costales
As a young boy, Dole Eppler believed he was God's gift to music.
On his sixteenth birthday, Dole concluded he was a musical maladroit
who couldn't play his way out of a paper bag. Later, married and
working at a good job, he began to collect musical instruments merely
for their value as art.
Dole's second wife, Mary, was a video nut. She liked most to record embarrassing
moments. Dole wasn't sure how he felt about that. He supposed he
just put up wit . . . |
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(140 views)
Dad's Clock
Copyright 2008 Bryan Costales
When Joe Samosa was a young boy of seven, his Dad installed
a clock on the front of their house. It was a large analog
clock that could be seen a block away. As Joe grew older,
the one thing he could always count on was that the clock
was exactly right.
Joe was in his last year of high school. He'd lost interest
in after school events. His buddies were currently
into dirt bikes, but Joe didn't own a dirt bike. His girlfriend
had recently dumped hi . . . |
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(140 views)
A flock of pelicans flying in typical formation with Anacapa island in the background.
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(140 views)
Idle Word Games
Copyright 2008 Bryan Costales
"That tire looks tired," young Robby Waxman said, his nose pressed
flat against the bus window.
His brother Tim, in the seat just behind him said, "That wheel looks
weary."
Tim was a bit older so could use a bit larger words than Robby could.
It wasn't a matter of pride. He was only older, that was all. But
his vocabulary could sometimes bother his younger brother.
Robby tapped the glass and asked, "What does weary mean?"
"Tired."
"So the w . . . |
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(140 views)
The larger Great Egret was stalked by the smaller Snowy Egret.
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(140 views)
A great egret at the edge of the bay looking for food. It is a very graceful bird whether walking or flying.
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(140 views)
Diamond
Copyright 2008 Bryan Costales
"What are you looking for?"
Ralph Emerson asked as his wife Sue rummaged through his
right coat pocket. "I keep my handkerchief in the left now."
"Oh," was all she said. They were both getting old. Ralph
seemed to be growing more loquacious. Sue less.
Ralph handed his wife the handkerchief.
"Chilly out here on the breakwater, isn't it."
"I find it nice." Sue blew her nose and handed him back
the handkerchief.
Ralph helped his wife step to the next b . . . |
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(139 views)
Pelican posed aboard an old fishing boat.
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(139 views)
Art Shoes
Copyright 2008 Bryan Costales
Soma Sousa was older than his brother Doug by four years,
but was also a foot shorter and frail. Soma always thought
they had different dads but their Mom denied it.
It was Saturday, so the two were walking together to the
library. That is, Doug was walking and Soma trailed him.
Soma leaned against a wall to rest.
He jumped when his brother threw a tennis shoe against
the wall.
"Careful," he said. "You might damage the wall."
"You're nuts," Doug sai . . . |
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(139 views)
It was beautiful day in Santa Cruz and I had been photographing the sea lions when this pelican landed a few feet away on the pier railing.
If there was ever a compelling visual argument for birds being the modern descendants of dinosaurs, it's the pelican. I could easily imagine them flying just out of reach above the snapping jaws of some aquatic sea monster.
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(139 views)
Thread
Copyright 2008 Bryan Costales
She missed her dead husband so desperately, she could not let go.
The former Mrs. Wendy Franks saw aspects of her husband in all men she
passed. A young man's full mane of hair reminded her of her husband
when he was young and spirited. A bald man made her
miss all the more her last moments with him.
Months like this passed. Her women friends told her
to travel. "Costa Rica," one friend said between bites of
gourmet vegi-burrito. "It's a gentle country. . . . |
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