The date of this email from Ron LeValley is December 10, 2005.

"Ron’s Outside My Window is a recent photo that I have taken. It usually has some natural history theme (but sometimes not) and I sometimes miss a few days and catch up later. Much of the reason that I send out these pictures is to increase awareness of the natural world, awareness of the wonderful things that are ‘outside’ our windows, beyond the insulation that that much of our daily life imposes on us. Please feel free to pass this photo along to anyone you think might be interested. If your e-mail box is getting too full, let me know and I will remove you from the list. I also appreciate comments or questions about the photos, and any way you think this effort can be improved. Enjoy (and) take the time to look outside your windows!"



Burrowing Owl by Ron LeValley





Since that Dec. 2005 email I've been saving some of his pictures in file marked Outside Ron's Window. A few weeks ago, I asked him if I could post one once in a while. "Of course," he said.

When I asked him if I could use his amazing wave shot as the wallpaper on my blog he said, "Of course." 



I met Ron nearly twenty years ago when I was president of our local Audubon chapter. I invited him to give one on the dozens of talks he's since given to our chapter. That's not counting all the pelagic trips he's lead. In all those years, I've never asked Ron for a single thing, that I didn't hear "of course." No one I know has. Not the Study Club, not Point Cabrillo Light Station, not the City of Fort Bragg, not the Audubon Society. He never says no. He is passionate about his family, his community, and the natural world, and we all richer for knowing him. (And he's one of the few people who knows where our Blue whale is buried.)



To me, his photographs are a window into his soul. He is honest, loving, gentle, and generous. Please join me in supporting him, and his family.