Today’s photos were taken November 13th at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge about 100 miles south of Albuquerque. Among the most populous of the many bird species that stop over at Bosque del Apache are the snow geese, some 30,000 of them this mid-November.
These photos were taken with a Nikon D7000. Click for larger versions.
Today’s photos are really yesterday’s photos, taken with an iPhone 4S and unedited except for cropping of the first. It was a wonderful fall day, as you can see. If you click on either image you can see a larger and even prettier version.
Today’s photo is courtesy of my Aunt Barbara, taken by a friend on Boca Grande Island, Florida. She says, “A gorgeous island near Pine Island (where I used to live) and often visited by the Bush families for fishing purposes…don’t hold that against the island. Katherine Hepburn had a house there also and I used to go and watch the marlins roll onto shore with fisherman all over the place. It is, indeed, a glorious place. This picture makes me want to run down there right now and lay in the sand.”
Me too.
Ho hum, more not so great photos of a nice but fairly routine sunset. All four were taken with an iPhone 4S in my front courtyard. None is edited or cropped, though they probably should be. Anyway, any thoughts on the quality of the camera?
Click any for larger versions of all four.
But the real reason this is Today’s Photo is that it was taken with an iPhone 4S. 🙂
The five Virginia Sweeties wore pink in support of Breast Cancer Awareness this weekend as they competed in fall sports leagues. (And 5-year-old Reidie explained to his Tee-Ball team what breast cancer was.) Here they are in action: Mack, Kiley, Aidan, Alex and Reid.
Triptych from Amy Davidson’s article, “Three Nobel Women” — The New Yorker Blog.
If I have to get up at zero-dark-30, you have to scroll through four more Balloon Fiesta photos.
The winds on the ground weren’t bad, but aloft they were too much for balloon flying, so the special shapes just stood up today. (The weather has been a problem three days in a row now.) Once again I was on the crew for Iwi the Kiwi representing New Zealand. These were taken with an iPhone 4 when I had a second of not holding Iwi open for inflation or helping weight down the gondola. Click images for larger versions.
5-year-old Reid saw his brother Mack using the webcam and decided he should give it a try. Looks as good as most self-portraits I see as icons and such.
Every year on the eve of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta we meet on the West Mesa and “Howl at the Moon.”
And the Balloon Fiesta is off to a great start this morning thanks to our pagan festivities — at least it looks good to me on TV (I’m not much of an early riser). It may or may not sound like much to you, but I have to say it’ll be a damn shame if you never get to see this marvelous event. Nothing like it. 555 hot air balloons were expected to launch this morning and the Albuquerque Box is in effect.
Photo taken with an iPhone 4.
Yesterday Donna and I took a little day road-trip (in the Z, of course). First stop was the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos. This fine museum is a must for anyone with an interest in science or history. We stayed about an hour, but promised each other to return soon for a more in-depth look. If you’ve never been, go. It’s free. And watch the short film.
Next we went over the pass west of Los Alamos, shaking our head at the bald hills, forested before the 2000 Cerro Grande fire, and at the newly burned trees, dead and dying, from this summer’s Las Conchas fire. Destruction as far as the eye can see in some cases. (156,000 acres burned this summer.) We saw where the fire had crossed Highway 501 onto Los Alamos National Laboratory property. (Where they keep the plutonium!)
Though encircled on the east and south by burnt, brown trees, and not as green as usual due to the drought, the Valles Caldera is still one Earth’s sublime sights. And the National Preserve was open to visit. We drove down the 2-mile gravel road to the visitor center, expecting just to enjoy the view from inside the valley, rather than only along the ridge from Highway 4 as usual. To our delight, we were offered a shuttle ride back into the Preserve to pick up some hikers (for $8 apiece, senior rate). We let them twist our arms.
It was wonderful to see — mostly in isolation as personal vehicles are not allowed — some of the other valleys and ridges in the Preserve, the original ranch buildings and old movie sets. Most exciting was seeing scores of elk enjoying the single-bar action of their fall rut (and if you’ve never heard a bull elk bugling, it is one of the great natural sounds — here’s a short Elk Call video from Yellowstone, if you can get by the people talking and the camera sounds. Why must people always talk?).
Alas I had forgotten my Nikon at home, so was forced to rely on the iPhone. Click any image for a version twice as large.
We ended the day at the Los Ojos Saloon in Jemez Springs in beautiful Jemez Canyon with green chile (fresh!) cheeseburgers, God’s personal gift to New Mexico.
That’s Sam, taking the new car out for spin last weekend. He is 6½ months old.
Untouched iPhone photo taken in front of Casa NewMexiKen at 7:08 PM.
Jill took some wonderful photos over the weekend at Virginia Beach. I just happen to like this one best, but many are splendid. Click the image to see the larger version.
She must have a really good camera.
(That’s our inside joke. People see Jill’s photos and say that — as if the photographer has nothing to do with it.)
Three boys you might have read about on these pages at a place you might also have read about on these pages. Photo taken by their mother. There is a larger version if you click on the image.
Five photos from a weekend in Santa Fe. You may click each image for a larger version. 
I love Santa Fe. I go there frequently, sometimes just for dinner and a stroll. Indeed, proximity to Santa Fe is one of the best things about living in Albuquerque.
But I’ve been to European cities too. C’mon Santa Fe. Palace? Cathedral?
Building shown (in part) in background is the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts. Photo taken yesterday, noonish.
The song goes, “If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.”
Well, the song for Santa Fe might be, “If you’re going to Santa Fe, be sure to wear a hard hat on your head.”
Photo is of the Palace Street façade of Sena Plaza. The patio is wonderful, and brunch at La Casa Sena restaurant lovely. And, being as it’s Santa Fe, perhaps the deterioration is fake.
Flowers hanging from lamppost in Santa Fe Plaza.
You know you are in the right spot in any city in the world when you are walking among the wedding parties and their photographers.
iPhone photo.
Another hanging basket in the Plaza.
The Sweeties Alex and Kiley, with their mom and dad, Emily and Rob, and the Pacific Ocean at San Diego at 6:45 PDT this evening.
That’s Sweeties Kiley and Alex with their dad Rob at Rehoboth, Delaware, touching the Atlantic at 8 EDT this morning.
More Spooky New Mexico (see preceding post). The artist behind this fine photo is brother John. He titles the picture, which he took in the deserted town of Steins, New Mexico, “The Middle Class.”
Three items first posted here two years ago today.
In all my years living in the West (more than 35), I had never been to Aspen, Colorado. And I had never been to see the Maroon Bells, in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass wilderness just southwest of Aspen. I guess I saved the best for now.
Though these photos taken in midday largely wash out the color, the Maroon Bells are actually maroon, and as you can see they are shaped much like bells. They are, according to the Forest Service, the most photographed mountains in North America. North Maroon Peak (on the right) rises to 14,014 feet above sea level; South Maroon Peak to 14,156 feet.
Maroon Creek Road ends just above Maroon Lake. These photos were taken in that area. We took a short hike, but downstream away from the panorama.
[Click the images to advance through the slideshows.]
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Colorado Highway 92, the West Elk Loop, parallels part of the north rim of Gunnison Canyon, though upstream from the dramatic Black Canyon of the Gunnison. The views from the highway turnouts are terrific if limited, though again I was unable to get the colors and shadows that the light earlier or later in the day might have enabled. Still, here’s a sample. Click image to advance through the slideshow.
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The third longest river in America begins on the north side of the pyramid shaped summit you see in the distance in the first photograph [below], the 13,821-foot Rio Grande Pyramid in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. From there the river flows nearly 1,900 miles to the Gulf of Mexico. In the foreground are some of the lakes and wetlands that form the Rio Grande headwaters. The second photo shows more of the wetlands downstream. The third and fourth the river as it bends and bows across another meadow, still above 9,000 feet.
Photos taken Sunday afternoon. Not the best time of day for lighting, but I hope to head back to this area soon. It was stunningly beautiful, with the exception of Creede, Colorado, the rattiest town I’ve ever seen (at least the part I drove through).
As the eagle flies, the Rio Grande Pyramid is about 18 miles ESE of Silverton, Colorado.
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Yesterday 8-year-old Kiley became the second of The Sweeties to compete in a triathlon. She swam 50 meters, rode a bike just under two miles and then ran approximately a mile. Competing against girls up to 10-years-old, Kiley finished 13th of 32.
The photo shows Kiley in her transition area before the competition.
“DENVER, CO – JULY 14: The sun sets over the stadium as the Milwaukee Brewers face the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on July 14, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)”
Via Purple Row
