There's Always Something...

Vine on Weathered Barn | Seeded Earth

Being an old Wisconsin dude, I always read this page. The Vine on a Weathered Barn image is one I often took in my 10 years in Green Bay. The memory brought gentle tears to my eyes.

Vine on Weathered Barn | Seeded Earth: " BLOG PORTFOLIO RECENT POSTS VINE ON WEATHERED BARN EASTERN HEMLOCK FULMER FALLS BUTTERMILK FALLS RUSTY BRIDGE DINGMANS FALLS ABOVE DINGMANS FALLS RURAL ROAD DISTRACTIONS A SIMPLE LEAF AUTUMN: DECLINE OF DOGWOOD CATEGORIES ARCHITECTURE AUTUMN DOOR COUNTY WI GARDEN HAIKU LIFE LESSONS MACRO MADISON MILWAUKEE WI NATIONAL PARKS NATURE NEW YORK CITY OLYMPUS E-3 PHOTOGRAPHY POETRY QUOTATIONS SPRING SUMMER TRAVEL » NEW YORK CITY WABI-SABI WILDFLOWERS WINTER WISCONSIN BLOGROLL BFK PHOTO BURSTMODE CAPTURE THIS DAILY PRACTICE I HEART FILM IT'S MY NATURE LIFE IN THE BOGS MT OUTDOORS QUINN CREATIVE REDRAVINE RON DUBIN PHOTO SCOTT THOMAS PHOTO STOP AND WANDER SUE HENRY PHOTO SURFACE-SURFACE CONTACT BO SUBSCRIBE VINE ON WEATHERED BARN 10-09-09 Autumn and its Lesson To attain knowledge, add something every day; to attain wisdom, remove something every day. — Chinese proverb There is no hanging on to summer once October shows her hand, cools the air with her breezes, and begins the process of c"

(Via .)

Saguaro...

We went up into the White Tanks on a picnic recently and I caught this Saguaro at rest.

Lightning Bugs...

Garrison Keillor shares a touching poem on childhood innocence. It brings back many memories, lo, these many moons later. It ends with shattering beauty.

Reverence

by Julie Cadwallader-Staub

The air vibrated
with the sound of cicadas
on those hot Missouri nights after sundown
when the grown-ups gathered on the wide back lawn,
sank into their slung-back canvas chairs
tall glasses of iced tea beading in the heat

and we sisters chased fireflies
reaching for them in the dark
admiring their compact black bodies
their orange stripes and seeking antennas
as they crawled to our fingertips
and clicked open into the night air.

In all the days and years that have followed,
I don't know that I've ever experienced
that same utter certainty of the goodness of life
that was as palpable
as the sound of the cicadas on those nights:

my sisters running around with me in the dark,
the murmur of the grown-ups' voices,
the way reverence mixes with amazement
to see such a small body
emit so much light.

"Reverence" by Julie Cadwallader-Staub, from Friends Journal. ©Religious Society of Friends. Reprinted with permission.

102' in the Shade...

Today is our first day to top 100' in the Valley of the Sun. Some folks around the country are digging out of snow storms. I don't complain. Temperatures are expected to return to the low 80's later on in the week. Things are like that around here.
We often wonder what it must have been like for our pioneer Arizonans. They had no air-conditioning. As I hear the stories, many, perhaps most, used to sleep out under the stars to keep cool at night. What a relief that must have been from the blazing heat of the days.

We walk our dogs in the early mornings now. The streets are too hot for their paws from mid-afternoon to after dark. We're thankful for shade, the inevitable breezes and, of course, air-conditioning!

December Full Moon...

There's a full Advent moon out back. Makes a man glad to be here.

They Cut it Down Today...

Mt favorite dead tree. A century old monument that housed each year a little family of hawks, much to the wonder of folks who live northwest of Phoenix. Taking its place - new housing for seniors. Just 2 blocks from my house and featured repeatedly on my photoblogs. Goodbye, great tree!

Grand Canyon Flood...

This morning I came upon this blog - probably the most interesting and exciting piece I've read during my few years of blogging. It's about a group of friends camping in a beautiful section of the Grand Canyon when an earthen dam broke upstream and almost wiped out everything and every one.

If you follow up on the above link you will see several other links the author did about the trip, including one with photos of the flood. Hold your hats and check it out!

What an Honor!

Some amazing news from a country preacher. Today one of my Photoblogs, "Secrets From the Desert" ranks number 5 in the "Outstanding Photo" category and my photoblog has made their "Hall of Fame" at number 25. I find it a bit hard to believe and, of course, with characteristic humility, hasten to share it with you.

Here's the picture that got the honor. The two trees in question are scheduled to be cut down tomorrow. I'm heading over today with my Nikon to get a few last shots.

Too Excited...

Well, I got too excited last night to shoot the promised pictures of our Chicken Cacciatore feast with the LA guys. But it was wonderful.

To compensate for my negligence, I offer you a link to todays photo-blog by Moose Peterson. I read him every day.

He's an outdoor photographer who regularly does truly weird and adventurous things -  like spending a whole week up north surrounded by Grizzly Bears.

In fact, that is what this link is all about. I truly admire the guy and wish I were young enough and brave enough to join him. Failing that, I recommend him to you highly. What a guy!

Meditation and Nikon...

I wish you would view my two photoblogs today.

http://citrus.pixyblog.com/

http://citrus.wordpress.com/

They are a pair of personal meditations for the weekend.

On the surface, they are identical. Upon deeper reflection, you may find them to be subtly different. After shooting the photos in the woods at Hassayampa, I was culling the ones that seemed to have little promise. This photo barely made the cut.

As I looked a bit deeper today with my Nikon Software and Color Efex Pro, I began to find some startling elements in a scene that didn't sink in until I really looked at it. Look.