I find it interesting as I log into my blog that my last entry was exactly one year ago. Before the world changed like I have never seen before. Home life changed, work life changed, social life changed.

The weekend drive to our favorite diner in Malin was pretty much cancelled. Oregon shut down and all food establishments ended up doing carry-out only. While I have no issue doing carry out, it made no sense to drive 35+ minutes to get food. So we quit going. Once we opened back up under restrictions, we would go maybe once a month. But it just wasn’t the same.

Not going out on the weekends pretty much meant staying home to stay safe. We did continue our weekend drives from time to time, but things just seemed different.

Last year I didn’t use my camera near as much. I want to change that. Sometimes it seemed like a hassle to load everything up, drive to the Refuge (mostly) and not see a whole lot of birds and animals. As the summer hit, we didn’t have a lot of water on the refuge, which meant of course not alot of birds. We were blessed with seeing the goslings and ducklings. My favorite Eagle road was shut down from March through July, so there was no shooting the Eagles and their babies.

We did get out tho. Just not much with the camera.

Yesterday the Mr. and I went for a drive on two refuges. The first refuge Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, was frosty, and there were a few eagles. I captured this eagle amidst the frost on the willow trees. I have to say it is one of my favorites!

I was excited to get home and look at these images from the trees that were trimmed in white frost.

We drove our usual route on the refuge and got discouraged. There is not a lot of water, therefore there isn’t a lot of waterfowl, and less eagles.

We decided to drive to the Tulelake National Wildlife Refuge. I was on one of the local Facebook pages and people were posting some Eagles from that refuge. So we hit the auto tour route and were not disappointed! Almost every power pole for a good 2 mile stretch had Bald Eagles perched on them!

It was amazing to see three together. One looks mad. But they were just so awesome to watch. I stayed in the truck (as I normally do) and the husband creeped and stopped, I opened my door and got the shots I wanted.

There are times when getting out of the vehicle is necessary, like when shooting the goslings and ducklings. You can’t get a good shot through the weeds!!!

Who knows what this year will bring. So far I am not too impressed. I don’t want to cancel my subscription to 2021, I just want peace.

There will be changes this year for all of us. I know I am tired of hearing “This is the new normal”. Personally I want my old “Normal” back.

All we can do is keep our chins up! And be thankful for every day we wake up! Be grateful for all that you have and all that you are! Don’t forget to reach for the stars and get out there and capture what your eyes can see! Share your happiness, share your world!

Happy New Year To You All

May you all be blessed.

T Lynn