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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | FEBRUARY 2024 53 We started off our first meeting of the year with the "Back to Basics and Beyond" photography discussion. This time is used to help each other with questions about photo technique, using our equipment, and passing along general photographic information. During our first meeting of 2024, we delved into the world of black and white photography (B&W) and discussed how B&W can be dramatic relying on the whites, black, and gray tones to evoke a feeling. We talked about editing to bring out the details — to dodge and burn in the digital world. Our photo challenge for February is to shoot in B&W and to find a previous photo and turn it into a B&W version. The club had our first photo outing of the year to San Jacinto Wildlife Preserve to photograph the many birds that winter over in the area. It was a little chilly but well worth it. This month's trip will be to the San Diego Safari Wildlife Park. We meet in the RCN Main Room the first Thursday of each month — 6 pm to 6:30 pm is our open discussion, and from 6:30 to 8:30 pm are presentations and reviews. All levels of photographers are welcome. To be added to our mailing list, please email jacquesneddon@gmail.com. ~ Jacque Sneddon Photography Club Writers' Club Aging's Unique Joys, Chapter Two It's me again. Wide awake at 4:40 am. I have to say, in his defense, that this time, it was not his fault. Ladies: Do you spend time just before you can go to sleep at night going over in your mind the things you need to do the next day? Of course you do. I've been told that the remedy for this is to immediately leap out of bed, grab the handy tablet you have within reach, and make a list of all that's on your mind. Indeed, I have tried this, but all it does for me is keep me awake the rest of the night, fretting I've missed some vital element in my list and can't for the life of me think what it was. Of course, by this time, I realize I must have coffee to think more clearly. And yes, this does interfere with any hope I might have had about going back to sleep. Some writers claim that writing whenever the mood seizes you is the best time to do your best work. And with coffee, I usually need something sweet. You know how it is. at makes me more sleepy but unable to go back to sleep aer that first cup of coffee. Indeed, my best hope of going back to sleep is to read. I do get some of my best reading done in the wee hours of the morning, but this technique, I confess, does not help my writing in the slightest. Instead of getting my creative juices flowing, that cup of coffee and leover pie only stimulate my gastric juices, with oen disastrous results. What's your favorite method of slipping back to slumberland? Mine is too oen trying to remember the words to a long-forgotten, obscure popular song, and then I have to grab my handy phone and look up song lyrics until I find it. en I berate myself for being so forgetful. Aer all, who could forget the words to such classics as Stardust, or e Sleepytime Express! Aer looking them up, I must sing them quietly to myself several times (so I don't forget them again). And now I'm REALLY wide awake! Want to do some writing? Join us in the RCN Conference Room, second Tuesday of the month at 1 pm. Text me at (707) 239-4060 for info. ~ Mary Lynn Archibald, mlarchibald@mac.com Mountain Winter by George Meister Poinsettias by Bill Christelman