Post #201

I am a slacker! This is ONLY post 201 in however long I have been blogging here. I know many people are way ahead of me in their counts but I'm okay with that. It has been the hardest week I have had in a long time, some bad breaks, some loneliness, some desperation, alot of tears and then on the plus side: WHALE WATCH! Christmas was so depressing for me and I was a puddle of mucus and tears that day and the next day whale watch cheered me up.

Last night I came off of 2 cruises (whales during the day and sunset in the evening) and my car wouldn't start. I fiddled under the hood and got it going and was half way home, going uphill, hit a stop light and was thereby stranded. And holding up traffic. For an hour while I waited for a tow truck and threatened a popo if he called in his tow truck as I didn't want to be left stranded in the dark, on foot, by myself and told him I would be delighted to hit him if it got me a ride to county lockup for the night and off the road. He saw the humor in it and my desperation and giggled and generally helped me make light of the situation until both trucks arrived at the same time and I was able to use mine, which is covered by my insurance.

I made it home late, tinkered some more, talked to a friend in Colorado until 2 am and was exhausted so I went to sleep pretty quick. Ahhh, but then work called this morning and they needed me for whale watch so I explained the car situation, said I would try to get a bus and be there before they sailed. Upon calling the BUS and discovering that I had just missed it and would have to run (yes, on foot) to get to the bottom of the valley, I took off without so much as my first cup of coffee or ciggy and although I made it to the dock on time, I was not the happiest camper and said as much when I arrived.

The people boarding were grumpy and rude, too and I was thinking it was not going to be the best day but I was on the board as first up with the camera for whale watch so that made me feel a whole lot better. And when the naturalist said "whale", I was on deck with camera in no time flat. And I got some of the most amazing shots. AND I was NOT thinking about all the shit that is disturbing my sense of mental health and well being. So what if I don't know how long it will take me to get home after work or that I am swimming in my size 6p's or how I am logistically going to get parts for my little bronco to fix her? I am capturing nature at its finest, moments in time and loving my job more than any other I have ever held. And THAT is saying something.

And even though I was getting some great shots I longed for something more, so I said "God let it come up right by the boat so I can get an eye shot, I want a shot of its eye" and not more than 2 minutes later, it surfaced right there and I was scrambling with the focus to get a closer shot since the 400 lense made it look like something you couldn't figure out and I was still shooting and even though I didn't get my eye shot, I got the most incredible shot of the hump and every single little scar on the back of that mammal and man I was thrilled. Then I said I wanted a blow shot and the mother and baby did indeed blow and I caught it!

When it came time to put the packages together of the best whale shots of the day, the majority of them were mine! I cannot describe the emotions that go with having your photos be sold as the best of the day, considering the owner, who is a professional photographer, was the person on the other side of the boat taking shots. And she IS good. And maybe it was just God answering my prayers or her being kind to me or both, and it doesn't really matter in the end, but the most sold pic was of the hump and scars, combined with my double blow, my mom tail and my bosses baby tail shots (all on one large photo, I'll try to get it on here soon so you can see how the layout is) but it all made my day.

It may be a couple days before I am able to get back here because I have to work on my bronco and work every day, tomorrow I am doing the sunset cruise, then we go out for dinner before getting back on for the NYE and fireworks cruise. This week will no doubt fly by and as long as I am on board, life will be good indeed.

So until later, love love to you all.....