Tag: animals

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Cali Decorates Every Room

A year ago today, my daughter’s stray cat Cali moved into the Wilcox household. I want to know where 12 months went. Whoosh! As I shared last Day of the Dead, the tortoiseshell kitty adopted my daughter soon after she moved into a group house near San Diego State University, where she goes to school. We inherited the furball, after a roommate demanded she go (the girl supposedly had animal allergies).

Cali is a stoutly independent cat. She’s a hunter and would do well on a farm. Our hefty ginger, Neko, and her are a bonded pair now. We hoped they would tolerate one another, because you never know with felines, and they’re friendly enough companions. Any time two territorial cats share space, that’s bonded enough. 

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Eight Years Later

On this day in 2007, the small Wilcox clan relocated to San Diego—to be closer to my father-in-law, who turns 94 in about two months. We sacrificed much, and gained some, too, by leaving the Washington, D.C area. Daisy, as seen in one of her last romps in our backyard, is among the many things precious we left behind. I still miss that rabbit, which surely has exhausted her lifespan by now.

If I could redo any part of my life, we would stay somewhere around Washington and never move out West. The community left there, we never really regained here. My daughter’s burgeoning ice skating career collapsed with the loss of coach and friends. While she found other mates at San Diego High School and San Diego State University, she left behind more—as did my wife Annie and I. 

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Flickr a Day 252: ‘Happy Hour’

The animal parade continues, and choosing wasn’t easy. Ingrid Taylar presents a National Geographic-like menagerie of beasts and birds that captures character and detail. Self-titled “Happy Hour”, which she shot on May 31, 2013, takes the Day for being interesting. How often do you see something like that? Ingrid used Olympus OM-D E-M5 and Panasonic Lumix 100-300mm lens, because “my workhorse, the Olympus E-3 is in the shop”, she says. Vitals are not available.

From San Francisco, Calif., but living in Seattle, Wash., Ingrid is what I call a “lifer”. She joined Flickr in August 2004, about six months after the service was founded. Her blog, “The Wild Beat” is a real treat,

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Which are My Fav Flickrs a Day?

As the 250th photo in my Flickr-a-Day series approaches, I review those that have come before and think: “Which are my favorites?” I pick pics for many reasons—among them which others there are in the series and the stories behind the images or about the photographers.

I have my own tastes, too. So why not give fans of the series—eh, there are some?—sense of what appeals to me. I pick 15 from the 248 and identify the top five favs.

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Flickr a Day 220: Chat

For some people, photography is a way of life. For shooter Erik Hagström, it is a way of living—of expressing himself in ways his body otherwise limits. There is a cool, somber ambiance to his art I could see, before learning his story, that captures more than just images in around the French Alps, but essence.

About himself, Erik explains: “After two cerebral accidents vascular in 2007, making me lose most of the control of my members, reconquered gradually, not being able more to play of musical instruments, or use pencils to draw and paint, I turned to the photograph”.