Come on baby, light my fire

Turns out that candlelight is much easier to shoot effectively than a campfire!

A side view, and top view, of some tea lights.

I think I'll read for a little while

Not too long ago, I received notice from United Airlines that my frequent flier miles were going to expire. I didn't have enough to get a ticket or even an upgrade, but I DID have enough to take them up on their offer of some free magazines. I selected some and promptly forgot about it.

This stack represents just SOME of the issues we now receive each month. (Some, like Sports Illustrated and Newsweek, come weekly). It's crazy! This time of year is very busy for us and we are lucky to read the covers, let alone the content.

On top of the stack, however, ALWAYS read cover-to-cover, is Photoshop Elements Techniques!! Although I pass most of these along to friends, the PET mag stays right here at home.

Memories of Arizona travels

We were fortunate enough to take a couple of trips this year. In late March, our travels took us to Arizona, where we spent a day hiking in the Superstition Mountains. I shared some photos from that trip last spring, but I thought I'd post another one to remind me of bright sunny days!

Shiny!

This old truck has obviously been pampered in its day.

In our town...

...the town Fathers recently unveiled a new sculpture near our river-front bike path. The best view of it has tons of power lines behind it, so I took a photo from the side.



I also shot the base, from the front, catching the reflection of a beautiful maple tree. This image reminds me of Iona's orbs!

Trash, or treasure?

You decide. Long ago, an old log got stuck while floating down the river that divides the east side of town from the west. Some clever soul painted it and decorated it as the "Rock Ness Monster". Grrrrrr! Years later, another, smaller log got tangled, and now Rock Nessie has been blessed with a little one.

Leaves

A touch of Topaz Buzz Simplify. I like the mottling of the foreground leaves against the backlit yellow of the background leaves.

Food...glorious food??

This is an oldie that I came across while sorting through some print photos. It was taken on a film camera, through a shop window in San Francisco. I'd forgotten about it, but it is so unusual, I thought I'd post it. This little shop sold all types of Asian food, and this lizard-on-a-stick was one treat (???) I was HAPPY to pass up!!

Movie Title

Anyone care to guess?

History in the 21st century

The quaint little building houses a town museum and historical society.

Not stars, but ...

...stripes! Playing around in the Photoshop Elements camera RAW editor on this early-morning shot of some railroad tracks.

How do you like your burger cooked?

A nearby restaurant, called the Backyard Bar and Grill, has this mural painted on the side of the building, for their patio diners to admire as they enjoy their grilled ribs, fish, chicken and burgers.

Down by the old mill stream

This is all that's left of an original mill, perched on the banks of a river in a small town near where I live. Back in the good old days, this mill provided a place to grind down corn. Now, it's just a pretty little building on the outskirts of town. I'm 5 feet, 7" tall, and when I walked up to the door, I found the front eaves were just about at eye level. I figure that would make the top of the door about 5 feet high. They must have grown millers shorter in those days...

A different kind of playground

On our visit to Salt Lake City this summer, we took some time to hike up to Lake Blanche in the Twin Peaks Wilderness. Mountains are my favorite kind of playground! Here, we had to puzzle our way across and down a rock slide area to pick up the trail on the far side.

From the stash

It's been raining much of the week here, and with mid-terms just ending, I've been swamped with work. Here's an autumn shot from 2008, showing off the rolling hills of a nearby state park.

Larger than life?

Certainly, in a literal sense, this statue of Chief Blackhawk is much larger than he was in life, but this statue commemorates a man who may have been, in his time, larger than life. You decide.

Ah, the good old days

By parking this old, unusual bike out in front of a modern bike shop, the owners call to mind times gone by.

Mismatched?

Hmmmmmm.

Grumpy, or creepy?

The bookstore manager at school has this creepy-grumpy looking poster hanging up for Halloween across the hall from where this stairway door lets out. Coming down, this face greets you through the window in the stairwell door.

I had a heck of a time trying to get my camera to capture what my eye sees. The poster is probably 3 feet beyond the window in the door. The face was too dark and I couldn't get my camera to focus on the face and throw the foreground into blur. A flash, of course, lit up the door like a Christmas tree and made for a solid black image in the window. I ended up shooting the door, then going out into the hallway to shoot the face, then combining the images in PSE. The image below is a pretty good representation of what you see when you stand in the stairway, looking through the glass at that icky face!

I'll meet you at the corner

I liked the details on the corner of this building's roofline. This building is one block down from yesterday's church, one block up from the river with the high-school view, and just across the street from the headless-horsemen straw man and the phone-less phone booth. Amazing what you can find within a two-block radius!

"And raise vine eyes to the heavens..."

I pass this lovely church on the way to work, and I finally stopped to photograph it. I've never seen the vines green up, but I can imagine they'd add a nice splash of color to this beautiful building.

A fashionably blatant bloglift

Thanks, Tammy, for the idea of photographing dressed-to-the-nines street poles! Passed this one on the way to work and had to hop out and memorialize it. Ladies and gents, I present what the best-dressed scarecrows and headless horsemen are wearing this season...

In my (work) neighborhood

A few miles up the road (and river!) from where I work is this high school.I see this view on my drive in. It always reminds me of a castle.

Something missing?

Interestingly, this is in front of the offices of a regional telecommunications company. Hmmmmmm.

What's not to love??

Reese's is my favorite candy!

"Seed" what I eated for breakfast?

Nothing like an everything bagel!

Can you guess the theme?

Is this where they fill quilts?

From the up-side down? :-D

"All I've got is a photograph..."

This is from my summer stash. We came upon a large herd of elk grazing near a pond in Rocky Mountain National Park. This woman was so intent on zooming in on the distant elk that she completely missed the one not 10 feet behind her. I wonder what her photographs looked like?

Smoke?

More like vapor, coming from the nuclear power plant near my work. Usually, both of them are puffing away. Today, just one.

Timmmm-berrrrrrr!

I always found these metallic signs signalling a roadside picnic area a little odd. Why is the tree tipped over? Is it windy? Poor root system? Had Paul Bunyan happened by? Please, someone, make a sign where the tree is upright!