Returning to CrowMac Creek

     Sometimes it’s difficult to spend much time in CrowMac Creek. Finances, work, and other crises such as Laura’s time spent in hospitals: Her last stay was a full three days, and her doctor wanted her to stay longer. It doesn’t help much when each and every day I have off is overcast and cold! But I’ll get back there to CrowMac Creek, to my dream job and the old family cabin.

     Sitting on the screened in porch with Cheyenne snoozing on her old rug, watching folks enjoying sight seeing and enjoying Ponderosa Pine lined back roads of CrowMac Creek. It’s the way things could have been; should have been. But it’s okay. Give me an hour or so to prepare for my visit, and I will be back, sitting in the rocker on the front porch, Cheyenne lying on her old rug and things will be good again. I love CrowMac Creek.

Who is Linda Taylor?

     I don’t know that I have introduced Linda Taylor to my readers. I have known Linda for nearly forty years. Howard Ray and I graduated from the same high school with Linda, and she was the best student with the highest GPA. She was chosen to give the graduation speech, but on the night of graduation, Linda was noticeably missing. Since then, I haven’t known what she was doing or where she was.
     Linda had been hired by the CIA, trained as a photographer, and her work has not been overlooked. She was there when the Vietnamese Buddhist priest set himself on fire, and she shot photographs of those who were unable to board helicopters out of Viet Nam. She continued her service in the CIA until she witnessed prisoners being tortured in the cells of Guantanamo. She quit the “Company” in 2007 and has lived a peaceful retirement with her husband in CrowMac Creek. Linda gave up all of the equipment she had been using and purchased a Nikon D3200. Since then Linda has been shooting flowers, butterflies and birds, and has developed a following of people who appreciate her art.
     Last month, Howard found that Linda had moved to CrowMac Creek and invited her to work as head of Photography. Since then, she has accompanied me on my excursions, and has added quality and dimension to our articles.

A Bad Day at Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge

     Last Wednesday, Linda and I hit the Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge hard with nearly all of the equipment we own. We arrived shortly before the hours where birders have seen the greatest number of birds. We were prepared, but the weather was damned cold, and the birds sat well off shore. The only birds in photographic range were Canadian Snow Geese, and hundreds of black birds hiding amongst the branches of anything still remaining after this cold winter. Even Linda’s tenacity with her camera didn’t bring much if anything. With my zoom lens, I was able to get a couple of photographs of Canadian Geese but nothing of any quality. Frustrated and with a tinge of dread, I gave up shooting, packed up and warmed myself in the car. It wasn’t long before Linda gave up as well. By mid-afternoon, we were on a luckless run back to KC.
     I knew Howard at the paper would not be pleased with our results, but with the changing weather patterns, shooting birds is a crap shoot, and today we shot craps, not birds. After arriving at the hotel, I pulled the memory chips from both cameras and deleted most of my shots before I began the editing process. Out of the original 88 photographs,
only three had any potential; and those were not of the quality needed for publishing. I closed up Corel PaintShop, shut down the laptop, and thought of the conversation I’d have with Howard at the Chronicle. Dreading this, I only caught a few hours sleep. Tomorrow I would send my photos to the paper and I knew Howard Ray would not be happy.