Sunset colors

Sunset colors are often all around us - the hills, mountains and trees are usually the most obvious.  But the flowers and the other ground-dwelling plants are sometimes incredibly beautiful when the last rays of sun light upon them.  Here's a photo of the last rays on a beautiful plant on our deck.

A few shares from yesterday

Sometimes I cannot believe how many photos I take! I try walking around without my camera but then something is there and I have to take a photo!
For example, this portrait shot - Diana and I entered a small deli and I saw this gentleman sitting there.  After several attempts to shake off the "Take a photo" voice, I succumbed and walked back to the truck and got my camera.  I'm glad I did.

We took advantage of a bit of decent weather and went out to Antelope Island yesterday morning.  Antelope, buffalo, meadowlarks, horned larks, dusky flycatcher, long-billed curlew, chukar partridge - were among the nature that we saw .  Of course, the wide open spaces with the wind blowing through were very calming and refreshing.  I decided to look at these spaces with a slightly different view and see what I liked.

In this photo, the clouds were of primary attraction to me, with the ground being a supporting feature.  I de-saturated the blue from the sky and darkened the entire photo.  A bit of (over) sharpening brings out a detail that I like. However I am concerned that the color and shapes on the bottom conflict with the sky for the viewer's eye.  So below is another view.

Before

After - What can one do with a beautiful view that looks the same as many other beautiful views?  Play around with it is one option.

Liquid

We think that liquid is generally on the ground and wet!  But in this photo, liquid is in the sky and yellowish.  I love the shapes and forms and the play between sky, clouds, mountains and water.

4ever18

This is the license plate on the Ferrari that a friend of mine at work just purchased.  He's been a car nut all his life, racing in Solo 2, dirt tracks, etc., and working on a car that ran in Indianapolis 500. He's nearing retirement, so you can call this his 'second childhood' if you want, but he is having a wonderful time.  I'll take this picture to him tomorrow!

Mom at the Zoo

In between rainstorms yesterday, Mom's group took a tour of the zoo.  Mom loves animals anyway, so this was a lot of fun for her.  Monkeys, giraffes, tigers, apes, elephants, camels and assorted birds made up the day.  It was a good time and everyone seemed to enjoy it.  Here's a few shots:

Watching the elephant.

Looks very human!

Mom watching the camel.

Little chick wandering around the grounds.

Ready to go home!

Kids

I mentioned in my last post that the kids kept us from being too serious.  The three of them played and played all the time, and all that play did not seem to tire them out, unfortunately!  Braden, Kelly and Declan - two boys and a girl.  Here they are doing somersaults out on the front lawn last night.

Syracuse, New York

We're in Syracuse, NY this week, celebrating the life of Diana's sister, Kathy Maher who died last Sunday on her 61st birthday.  Funeral and a committal service today, plus food and family around all day and kids to remind us not to be too serious.  A bittersweet time - too many people dying young.

Here's a couple of photos from the day - one of my niece (in-law) Kelly with her princess daughter, Kendall!  And then Kathy's dog, Toby, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (designer dog) who is incredibly cute and loves to chase stones, of all things!  He's about 9 years old and is going to a new home shortly.

Beauty goes on and on

The beauty of the natural world continues - sometimes so much that it is hard to gather it in.  Mostly I try to capture a few moments, and here's a couple that struck me.
The Western Tanager is bathing in the sprinkler water - I walked into the living room and saw him there; my camera was laying in front of me so here we are!
The new leaves on the scrub oak - Murphy and I took a hike yesterday morning and the light and colors underneath the scrub oaks was incredible.  This is a rather poor representation of what we saw - very hard to capture all in one photo (but we keep trying!).

In memoriam - Kathleen Maher

Diana's sister, Kathy Maher, died today.  She had lung cancer that had metastasized to the liver, and she went very quickly once diagnosed.
Kathy is the youngest of four sisters - who would have thought that the youngest would go first?!  She was born, raised, lived and died in the Syracuse New York area.  I remember most the barbeques and swimming pool at Kathy's - that's where the action always was! She had a lot of friends and will be well remembered!

Joy

Spring is here - as evidenced by new plants and Diana studying which ones they are and where best to put them.  Sprouts from radishes, lettuce and peas are up - tomatoes will go in today!  Hummingbirds are here as are lazuli buntings!  A sunny deck and a welcoming dog - what else do you need?
Here's a collage of some of the beauty and activities around us!

Wild country

I've been feeling the desire to spend time in the remoter parts of Utah - and have not yet been able to do that, so wanted to reach back and feel these that I experienced outside of Moab last summer.  This was a week with John Paul Caponigro - link to his blog on the right side - a real artist who taught us all a lot about art and photography. 
While we were in the Moab area the winds were high and much dust in the air.  Made for some wonderful photos (though not so great for the photo equipment!).

Dusty sunset over Canyonlands National Park

Monolith in the dust on Park Lane in Arches National Park

The color purple

Lisa wore her jacket over Sunday eve and the light hit it just perfectly for a photo - I added the purple around the edges and then added some graininess to it, as it was shot at 3200 ISO and had a bit of grain anyway. I like it.

Bird day

It rained most of the day, but that did not stop or even seem to slow down the songbirds.  Black-headed grosbeak (male)- not pictured, evening grosbeak (female), American Goldfinch, pine siskin, Lazuli Bunting and the normal entourage of house finches and sparrows - busy, busy, busy!  I counted 9 buntings on the ground at one time - a moving blanket of bright blue!  Here's some photos for your pleasure.

Mother's Day

I was fortunate to be able to attend a Mothers Day brunch yesterday, at the place where Mom is staying.  They served a good late breakfast brunch and then had a talented young lady playing the piano and old songs; Mom sang along for a few of them.
Kayslie - the young daughter of one of the staff at the place - loves Zona and came over to sit on her lap.  Which Mom loved!  As I look at the photo I am struck by the continuation of life it represents - age and youth - and how that process rolls on and on. 
I hope you had a good Mothers Day with your Mom.

Graduation Day

Yesterday the University of Utah held its 2011 commencement exercises - some 7000 graduates!  For us, the two stars were Jane (our goddaughter) and Noah, her boyfriend.
I've been with Jane since the moment she was born - we have a unique and wonderful relationship, as she does with her godmother, Diana.  We've watched with great pride and satisfaction as she has handled life and what it has thrown at her and continues to rebound and excel!  Smart, beautiful and confident!
Here they are in the mandatory getup for the ceremony!

Sometimes

Sometimes opportunities are all around.
The orchids were highlighted with the sun from a skylight when we walked into the house!  Somehow the other items seem in support rather than clutter, providing a sense of place.

Items left on the way to another place, sit waiting for someone to gather them.

Meadow Lily

Out on the edge of the meadow down by the pond by our hosts house, are several lily plants.  They are delicate, colorful and inspirational - surviving in the middle of much grass/debris, etc.  I love their color and shapes - so I isolated those to bring the flower into focus.

Also today, we were treated to an eruption of cicadias - the 13 year ones, I believe.  Beautiful and ugly all at once - what nature can teach us if we are willing to learn!

The show is over

We wrapped it up Sunday at 5pm - what took two days to put up took two hours to take down!!! An event for the books - deep in teaching and welcoming and loving!  As well as incredibly beautiful. 
The beginning and end looked a lot alike - open and empty.  The facility is a large timberframe building used as the massage therapy classroom. The french doors open onto a porch overlooking a 50-acre meadow.  Very peaceful here.

During the show the tryptichs were up and loaded with the various pieces of art and display and fit wonderfully into the room.

Many dear friends of Carey's came and the entire event was like a love-in.  Some folks would stay all day, just hanging out, creating pieces of art and hanging them on the orange ribbon.