Dreamtime

We spent the afternoon on Antelope Island with our friend Carey.  Sunny, light wind, and incredibly beautiful - and quiet.
The landscapes have a dreamy quality to them, that even though I normally love high contrast, I really enjoy these. It is what the Great Salt Lake is at many times - kind of a dream time, a world out of place with our society.
Western Grebes and Clarks grebes were migrating through in large flocks; swimming near each other but not mixing. A group of grebes swimming together is called a "water dance" and that describes the birds.

Backyard Beauty

Wandering through the backyard this afternoon as the sun slants from the southwest and illuminates things that I haven't seen before - Clematis and grapes-leaves. A wonderful time of year and it is very hard to keep up with the beauty.

Posting from the refuge

Last Friday morning, Murph and I went out to Farmington Bay Wildlife Refuge; we hadn't been there for a while and wanted to catch up on what was happening.
Well, what was happening at 8:30am was duck hunting - a war zone, it kind of sounded like! So we took a walk on a dike that looked like it had no hunters on it and enjoyed the sun.  Lots of mosquitos and lots of grebes. The grebes are a lot cuter than the mosquitos!

The colors on the Wasatch are spectacular - the cold weather and rain due this week will probably get rid of all the leaves, but in the meantime, WOW! We also spooked a blue heron who flew in circles around us for 5 minutes squawking all the time :-). A wonderful time to be alive and outside.

The fish was just too big for this guy!

White pelicans soaring over the marsh.

Murphy looking for coyotes.

The blue heron

Coming in after a morning of duck hunting.

I love their red eyes!

Classy 90-year old!

Mom's place had a Halloween party Friday, and in the process was provided a hat that matched her outfit - I got this side shot and she looks pretty classy, don't you think?  90 years young!

Moonrise

Sometimes all you have is the sky, trails of clouds, color and the thin, sparse crescent of the moon that still lights up the deck early in the morning.

Big Brown Eyes

Here's my buddy Murphy, looking so pathetic and forlorn and pleading for a treat!
He does this often when we are at his Grandma's.

The finished items

Here's what the finished photos looked like - I don't think I will use that green again as it bleeds over onto the subject and is hard to remove.

Dogs and Halloween

Saturday eve I spent at Murphy's "Doggy Day Care" for their annual Halloween party. Folks bring their dogs in, most of them dressed up, and they and the dogs have a good time.  Fun to see the dogs interact in an environment that they are comfortable in; often we wonder what they do all day.  Murph hung out with me, and then he would visit other dogs, and people (especially if they had treats) and then come back and lay down by me.  I had a continuous stream of dogs visiting me, from small ones that fit in my hand to a great dane that was twice as big as Murph.  Really a great time with all the dog energy!!
Here's a few shots from the night. Yes, there were a lot of Bassett hounds around.
I shot them all on a green background, which I then desaturated to get a nice grey.

Fall, continued

Our incredibly beautiful fall weather continues and with it all of the opportunities with light.  Here's a rose that caught my eye - softened beauty.

Lazy fall days

The days are getting shorter, the light is changing (and is the fall fantastic light), hummingbirds are gone, a new batch of arugula is sprouting, time to plant garlic, roses are coming out in full force, the Meyer lemon tree is flowering, bluejays are hiding peanuts everywhere - a wonderful time of year.
Here's a visitor doing a yeoman's job of pollinating what flowers are blooming now..cute little devil!

October moon

The full moon this month according to the news, was a small moon compared to the super moon in March or May.  Whatever it was, we've essentially had a full moon for about 4 days now - it looks very full despite not being full. And it lights up the night and accompanies me to work in the morning!!
Here's a shot from my way to work this morning - slightly stylized in Lightroom.

Pointing

Pointing fingers can have a very emotional impact - such as "Don't point your fingers at me!", and, when we are kids, the 'finger of blame"!
I love my mom's hands - 90 years old but not so impacted by arthritis and wear and tear. But definitely old person's hands.  Here's a color view and and black and white view of her pointing finger! I think when I was very young this would have struck fear into me.
Today it was about pointing at a Witch riding a bicycle that was suspended in the air!
Which one do you like best?

Magpie - Redtailed hawk dustup

Sitting on my deck yesterday afternoon, and I was watching this redtail in a tall tree.  Normally we don't see redtailed hawks here, just Coopers and Sharpies, so this one interested me.
Sure enough, a magpie soon flew over to the tree and landed below the hawk.  After a couple of minutes of the magpie changing locations, he flew at the hawk and we have the sequence below.  After this occurred the hawk spread his wings and glided away.
Quite interesting what you can see in the city.

The Official Sign

The official sign that cold wet weather is here is shown below!  Both cats curl up on the chairs in the living room, Diana has provided towels to try to keep down the detritus, and they will spend the night inside!  Amazing, 'cause in warm weather they are not around much at night (unless Fuzzy brings in a mouse or something to play with and wake us up)!
Anyway, it is fun to see these creatures of habit repeat the same habit every year.

Uinta trip

The last time Murph and I were in the Uintas there were lots of sheep moving through. They get a bit lost in the vastness of the open areas as shown below.  But they do smell!
Kestrels were playing on the road markers, usually reserved for mountain bluebirds.  We saw 4 of them flitting back and forth and one posed for us for a bit. They are beautiful birds to just watch.
After the snow storm last night, I would guess the roads are a bit slick up there today.

Blessings from the garden

While the weather this year has been different - cold, wet spring and long warm fall - we have been blessed with abundant produce from the garden. There was a while, tho', when we thought we would be eating fried green tomatoes all winter!  But nature prevailed and ripened the heirlooms and we have feasted on them - us and many others.
The heirlooms are so tasty and vibrant, often sweet and just melt in your mouth.  They are well worth any additional effort (not much) to grow. You are well rewarded - mozzarella, tomato slices and balsamic vinegar make a feast!
Here's a couple of shots of a basket of them - Diana has taken the Roma-style, sliced them and baked them with olive oil - wow, what an addition to crackers and cheese!

St Francis Day - The blessing of the animals

Today, St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral celebrated St. Francis Day, with a ceremony that included the blessing of the animals.  Cats, dogs, (all sizes, shapes and colors), mice, rabbits and other furry creatures, were there to receive a blessing from a clergy person. A wonderful potpourri of humans and animals - and both seemed to be well behaved during the service.
When there was clapping, one dog started to bark.  This was especially appropriate as we welcomed our new dean, who is an animal person also.
Murphy came along, and was pretty well behaved.  However, at one point on the way back from the blessing he decided he really didn't want to go any further - and when Diana pulled on the leash, it came off over his head! Quite cute, if frustrating.  Below you'll see what he was doing most of the service - he is very adaptable!
The young baby was in front of us and playing peek-a-boo with Diana and I - look at those blue eyes!