Monday, 9 January 2017
First I thought I’d write about these ice mini-towers, maybe 3cm tall in total.
Then I saw these buds…when I looked at the close-up, gee, they looked crinkled and…unpleasant. Frost/cold is the culprit, I think. [Some woody shrub I don’t know the name of.]
I liked these mushroom gills the best!
Saturday, 7 January 2017
We made it out to the beach for a bit of a stroll. Almost no beachcombers, and few birds….
The last hurricane damaged the pier, and apparently also most of the walkways across the dunes to the beaches. Visitors just walk through the dunes (the walkways were to protect the dunes, so total failure with that maneuver), but this barrier is more robust. We could see that the end of the pier was missing…yup, dangerous out there.
I don’t remember seeing these huge round cotton bales before. Round hay and straw bales, yes. I think these are larger—and far larger than the old hand-picked bales, too!
We found ice still glittering in Atlanta’s trees where it remained protected from Mr. Sun. We found a dusting of snow remaining in our yard, to be sustained overnight with the below-freezing temps predicted for us.
I remembered another pork item from yesterday’s breakfast buffet, bringing the total to nine, seven of meat, and two dishes with some meat added….
Thursday, 5 January 2017
Hey, we’re on the Gulf Coast, so of course we saw…a lighthouse!
And wading birds! Is this a limpkin? I think so…. Watched her/him for some time….
We also saw birds of several colors and configurations (including Snow Birds), two gators, one armadillo (wait, that was yesterday), shrimp and oysters (on our plates)….
But the best shots of the day were from Drone-y/Roney…above this white sand beach with the narrow peninsulas extending out from the beach during low tide…
…and this sunset shot. You can see a sliver of the Gulf past the river….
Wednesday, 4 January 2017
We found golden light on the backside of a renovated hotel/apartment building, way down in SoGA*.
No where near as flashy, but I liked this arboreal skeleton, also created by uber golden light.
And, funny thing, we discovered that we could cross the GA–FL line on a dirt road. Packed sand, that is. Great surface (today). And a canopy road at that. (Yes, that’s a term.) Only saw one deer family, and none were close enough to be dangerous.
* That is, south GA.
Saturday, 24 December 2016
We creased Santa Fé…
…and drove north—and up—toward Taos.
Here’s a residential back alley in Taos.
And, the luminarias are already out in the plaza, ready for the evening’s celebrations and rituals.
We also drove north to Taos Pueblo, and turned around in the parking lot, so we only have a few shots. Here’s an animal pen by the road. The residents are fiercely protective of their privacy, as is their right, and no cell phones or cameras are allowed in.
We headed east on US64, through the mountains. We knew we’d have a good window after the sun had melted the snow and before it began to refreeze, and we nailed it. Just gorgeous. If my phone is correct, the highest pass was a tad over 9K feet—that’s high!
Here’s a scenic formation in the Cimmaron Canyon…turns out cimarrón is Spanish for bighorn. Amazing what you can learn from Goo_Translate!
The highway eventually spat us out on the upper plains, and we relearned what flat means. We corralled our horsepower to motor farther eastward. When dusk arrived the sky to the north had ROYGBIV colors, but upward from the horizon, the color order was BIVROY (not sure what happened to G), which I don’t remember seeing before. I’m sure prismatic specialists are snorting with “of course,” but I do not know why that order. Pretty, though!
We have been driving for days through terrain that stretches away from the eye at interstate speeds, and appears very horizontal. I’m certain that those on foot find the verticals very present and substantial.
Friday, 23 December 2016
Semis are constant companions to personal vehicles traveling interstate highways. They require large parking areas, and those that don’t require backing are preferred, although drivers I have noticed are adept at backing their big rigs.
We’ve also been accompanied lately by an overage of Route 66 mentions. This tableau takes the cake, I think. Also, the cafes and restaurants in this town all bragged on their “buffalo” burgers. [Bet they were made with bison meat….]
As we pulled away from under the rain clouds I enjoyed watching these mountains recede in the rear-view. Snow-capped! Probably the snow was augmented last night, although at the elevation we traveled, the precip was rain. Whew!
We had very high-quality low-angle sun. This train looked far better than it normally does, I’m sure.
Whatta stack of bridges! [Reminds me of redwoods…plus air.]
Wednesday, 21 December 2016
We began the day with a beach-visit, and rewarded with mists in the inlets and expanses of shadows and sunlight, and just pure ocean loveliness. And haystacks.
Then, we tried closed-in views beneath massive redwoods and their forest friends, which include low-down rotting sibling redwoods and green ferns.
This pile-up will stick with me. Three giants that, over time, fell atop one another. I think the top one came down since we were here last, and the bottom two must be darned strong to make a REDwood splinter like that. You have no visual scale…these each would take something like five-or-more people to reach around (if you could get to them).
As we rolled among the mountains, if we crossed or went along a river, we saw more mist, as we had at the coast. Very decorative.
To pass logging trucks and hay trucks and refrigerator trucks, JCB sometimes used Ludicrous* mode. Very vroom!
We turned inland, and discovered Californ-y has a lake country. Reservoirs, really, but even sailboats.
We’re really heading inland at this point, with the redwood forests and higher rainfall of the coast behind us, replaced by these mossy oaks, some very gnarly.
Ah, the continuing lowered rainfall…the mountains are now hills, and trees are fewer and particular about where their feet are…drainages preferred….
And, whoop! Around the last curve and over a hill, and we faced flat. Central Valley flat. Massive flatness. Of course, there’s a downhill trend, but most of the other variation has been removed by zealous agriculturalists, making our home grocery stores’ bounty of fragile veggies possible through our winter months.
We also discovered that the flat ground hosts terrible traffic backups. Lost the better part of an hour in three of them. One hoped-for escape route that we tried ended in a surprise “road closed”; Plan Z required!
* “Ludicrous” term thanks to Mel Brooks. Homages on the screen are as recent as “Good Behavior,” where it was applied to a Tesla. Hrumph; Prius Primes, too!
Friday, 16 December 2016
Today, the moon graced our gorgeous Olympics-across-the-Sound view. Considerable shipping traffic, too, including a large multi-deck vessel that looked military.
When there’s a youth event, and the youths get out of school the day before for a few hours to practice, and they are instructed to wear the shoes they will wear for the event…this is what happens. Note that this youth has met the shoe requirement…without excess…saving the long pants and good socks for tomorrow….
Thursday, 15 December 2016
We were busy with various chores today, but did spot these two eagles (left) cruising over the edge of the sound. I thought there might have been a second pair a bit later, but they were farther away, and I wasn’t sure. Still: whatta show!
We ended up dining at Chiang’s Gourmet, which I often call “chang’s”, and GooMaps still knows what I mean. The magic of modern technology…. Also, note the reflection showing the double-curved rear window….
Wednesday, 14 December 2016
But first, a weather report. Darned cold this morning—frosty cold. Sunny for a bit in the morning, but overcast came raring in.
This 2010 sculpture by Marvin Oliver is offering a Salish welcome, and is intended to honor the (long-gone) native peoples of this area and is intended to remind us “that we are stewards of this evolving, living landscape”—can’t say how that stewardship is going….
This monumental beast is the famous Fremont Troll, and dates to 1990. It’s a bit bigger than the Oliver sculpture, but of course is only head and shoulders, whereas the Oliver fellow is head to toe.
I was playing with the fish-eye again—and made The Guru’s finger monumental. He is not a sculpture.
I’m also counting the snow-dusted Olympics we can see across Puget Sound even as dusk sets in as monumental—MaNachur’s work. They are older than any of the pieces above. That MaNachur often operates with a l-o-n-g time-scale.