Monday, October 14, 2013

Oysters And Images

I thought life was moving fast before, but now it seems to have shifted into warp speed and I expect Captain Kirk to teleport in to my kitchen at any moment. If he does, I'll take him out to Inverness for oyster stew.

I have two old and dear friends from my boarding school days in France, Bonnie and Sunny. The three of us are roughly the same age and have somewhat the same backgrounds, all being daughters of naval aviators and who grew up in that peripatetic Navy life.  We have all settled in northern California within a 90 minute drive of each other, too, so we have become good buddies again, fifty-odd years after we met in that long-ago école. 

We are all interested in photography, too, so we met out in west Marin county last week to photograph the beauties and oddities of Point Reyes.  We arranged to spend a night there so we could have two days of photo safari together.  As we wandered through the woods, beaches, and state parks (Point Reyes National Seashore was closed due to the government shutdown - grrrr!) we were amazed at how we each saw the same things differently. 

Sunny is the most experienced and professional of the three of us, with a very expensive camera and lenses, and lots of hours in the saddle. Bonnie is learning from Sunny, and she totes an impressive array of camera equipment, too.  I am far less invested in both my equipment and my time than they, but I'm proud to say that my funny little Canon point-and-shoot camera gets some excellent shots, too.  

After a long day of hiking around to beauty spots, we were more than ready for dinner. Our first choice was closed since it was midweek and the tourist season out there is winding down, so we drove into Point Reyes Station to have dinner at the Station House.  

We eased into a booth, each a little weary from the long day, and checked out the menu while our very nice waiter outlined the specials. Sunny and I both chose the oyster stew, since Point Reyes is a great place to enjoy fresh, local oysters.  We also ordered an appetizer of pork terrine and that was a mistake.  Not because it wasn't delicious - it was. Because it was hefty, and so was the amazing oyster stew that arrived steaming hot at our table a few minutes later.

I hope you'll forgive another dark, unappealing photograph.  It doesn't begin to do justice to the stew, but it does show you the essentials. Unlike oyster stew I have had in the past, this one was almost spicy with tarragon, chunky with tender potatoes and plump oysters, and inspired with the addition of a hefty chiffonade of Swiss chard, which had been added at the last minute, so it retained a little crunch. Each spoonful was a happy partnership of creamy broth, tender and briny oyster, and textured chard to cut through the richness. Absolutely the best oyster stew of my long life.

I tucked myself into my B&B room that evening, pleasantly tired from the day and very full of oyster stew and images. I didn't have the energy to call up the images from my camera, so I just sorted through them in my mind as I drifted off to sleep.  My life may be traveling faster and faster these days, but it is crammed with interests, activity, friendship, and images. Kind of like my own little Star Trek episode.

*If you'd like to see some of the images I took on this safari, clickie here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pampoint/



3 Comments:

Blogger Diane said...

what wonderful connections. love your photos. delighted that you put them up on flickr to share.

Monday, October 14, 2013  
Blogger Greg said...

Both the oysters and images are lovely! As the owner and carrier of large photo equipment, a comment. It's not the equipment but how you use it ! :)
A good number of the photos on my blog are from a Nikon point and shoot.It is discrete, easy to carry and always at the ready.
BTW if you send me a copy of photo I can make it brighter in post production. Keep shooting!

Tuesday, October 15, 2013  
Blogger Zoomie said...

Greg, which photos did you think needed brightening. I have a simple program for stuff like that (Picasa) but rarely use it. Thanks for the kind words - coming from you, they really mean a lot.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013  

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