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!

Sunset - Moonrise

Finally clouds are arriving here in the valley after two weeks of cloudless skies. Weather is changing, cool front on its way in and hopefully some rain over the next few days.
With the clouds always there is some drama in the sky - and there was tonight.  Here's a few shots of what I saw, and look closely to see the crescent moon in the photos.  Wonderful way to end a day!