The Last Hurrah

Phew! Another blogging year down! I posted every day this year, but made liberal use of my free themes in the busy month of December. So glad to have made some new blogging friends and to have kept up with the old. Looking forward to next year's Challenge-52! Happy New Year, everyone!! Thanks for visiting!

Unnamed mountain near Sierra Vista, Arizona.

Free theme: Challenge

I don't know how my DBF Jon does it - photograph birds. I enjoy being out in the fresh air and sunshine, but waiting for a bird to stop and pose for me challenges my patience. I was tracking this hummingbird and managed to catch him in flight.

Free Theme: Unexpected

One would not expect to find a large, glistening lake in the desert climate near Phoenix Arizona, but Saguaro Lake  is an unexpected surprise.

Only two more days to go, folks!!

Free theme: arches

I liked the arches under the bridge that spans Tempe Town Lake near Phoenix.

Free theme: Hefty

Jon and I spent a morning in the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch in Gilbert, AZ, enjoying the weather and the many species of birds. This fellow was serious about his bird photography, sporting a hefty, camo lens.

Free theme: loyal

This loyal horse waits patiently to head out on the trials in the San Pedro River Nature Conservation Area in southeast Arizona.

Free theme: Woof!

Heidi the dog poses for a photo in her holiday wear. Happy holidays to all my blogger friends!

Free theme: Vast

Early in the week, we were in southeastern Arizona and we drove into the Las Cieneges Natural Conservation Area. I loved the vast expanse of grasslands spread before this range of mountains.

PS: I have no idea why there was a pattern on yesterday's Technology post. Must be the way the phone and the Blogger app compressed the image before upload??

Free theme: Technology

Technology is allowing me to use an app to post to my blog from my phone. The photo was also taken on my phone. I love technology

Free theme: Spider

We are visiting Arizona and spent the afternoon at the Desert Botanical Gardens, which was hosting an interesting art installation. Throughout the garden were oversized bugs fashioned from cedar, black walnut, and other woods. One of my favorites was this spider and her web.

Sharp

On our visit to Ramsey Canyon in Sierra Vista, Arizona, was saw this beautiful Painted Redstart perched on the roof of the visitor's center. He sat so still I was able to get a nice, sharp photo.

Hiding

Jon and I are in Arizona for the Christmas holiday and we took a drive down to Sierra Vista,  in the southeast corner of the state. Hiking into Ramsey Canyon, we almost missed spotting this deer, who was hiding in plain sight. She seemed completely unconcerned by our presence, and after taking a few photos, we walked on.

PS: Steven...in yesterday's post, work your way up from the ground line about halfway and you'll see the line of demarcation between the lake and the sky. See it? It's pretty big, for a lake. ;-)

Free Theme

Finals week has been busy - no time to take pictures...soooo....free theme here I come. I took this picture in a lakeside park in Chicago in early November. You can catch a glimpse of Lake Michigan between the trunks.

Handbag

This shopper carried a stuffed monkey in a hand-held bag from Eddie Bauer. Some lucky child will enjoy a new toy this holiday season.

Softness

Soon we'll be off to Arizona to visit family. This is Pluto, the family cat, in a photo from a family gathering in June. You'd think the theme was family, but actually, I'm focusing on the softness of Pluto's fur.

Laundry

Smells

On this gray, dreary day, I decided to post a photo I took back in May. I'm sure this daffodil smells sweet...

Sports

Members of sailing club on the Charles River in Boston ready their boats for a Sunday morning lesson.

I love . . .

. . .quotes from literature found in unlikely places, such as on a bridge face. Taken at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, when fellow blogger and Village member Ellen and I met up for a fun photowalk back in October.

Domestic

I've never cared for the taste of beer, but Jon enjoys sampling ambers from microbreweries. When he finds one he likes, he keeps the bottle as a reminder. All of these beers were brewed in the US, so they are all domestic, at least to us. Maybe not to Ron.

Homemade

...with a little help from Betty Crocker

Obligations

As a teacher, one of my obligations at the end of each semester is to write, administer and assess final exams.

Soothing

The owners of this charming house on Plum Island (Mass) must find their back deck view very soothing. I know I did!

Holiday

Remember this post, from back in April? Same house, same tree, different bike, different holiday. Always festive!

Thriving

I think these are Bittersweet (Ellen? Confirm??), but whatever they were, they certainly were thriving out on Plum Island.

Slowly

These two women and their lovely dogs make their way slowly into the mist on a recent early morning walk at a local park.

Joy

I took great joy in watching these tiny Sanderlings along the water's edge on Plum Island, Massachusetts. When the water would recede, they would all scurry onto the newly-soaked sand, scrounging for a bite to eat.

When the next wave rolled in, they would turn, almost as a group, and scamper away from the curl of the water.

I managed to also catch them mostly in profile. They were a joy to watch!

Alive

Yesterday's building was also reflected in North Pond, across the street from the LP Zoo. There was enough breeze to ripple the water, making the reflection look almost alive.

Contemporary

Back to downtown Chicago. I liked how these contemporary apartment buildings were reflected in the tranquil lily pond at Lincoln Park Zoo.

Disorder

The main floor of this upscale department store might look orderly, but the brown display table nearly in the center of the photo is off-kilter, creating, for me, a sense of disorder.

Square

I enjoyed this whimsical, square storm drain in place along with walkway beside the Charles River in Boston.

It's December 1st everyone! Just one more month to go!! Let's finish strong!!!!!

Pleasure

Judging from the number of footprints, many people took pleasure in the beach at Sandy Point on Plum Island, Massachusetts on an early November weekend.

3-exposure HDR processed in Photomatix.

The Arts

Walking along the Charles River in Boston, we crossed under a road through a viaduct that contained this tile mural depicting a scene from Revolutionary War times. I enjoyed this blend of history and the arts.

Symbol

My grandpa, an engineer, graduated from this fine institution. Today, my aunt, his youngest daughter, lives within a 10 minute walk of the campus.

"N" is for

...never be afraid to ask for a critique. Here is my second try at the cove at Stage Fort, after some feedback from the blogosphere. Less heavy handed....is it nicer? More natural?

Heavy

Topaz Adjust 5 has a setting called Heavy pop grunge. I like what it did to this image of the beach cove from Stage Fort State Park. This image is taken across the cove from last week's photo.

Here's the original:

What do you think? Is Heavy, too heavy?

Rule of thirds

As many of you know, my DBF Jon is very interested in bird photography. I frequently accompany him on his outings, so when he wanted to leave for Thanksgiving dinner at his sister's a couple of hours early, I knew he had a bird-scouting adventure in mind. His sister lives about 30 minutes from Horicon National Wildlife Refuge. Jon had read on a friend's blog about seeing a snowy owl in the Refuge, and he wanted to see if he could find it. The friend's description of the location was "along Dike Road".

Hmmmmm.

Still, Jon's a great spotter, and it wasn't long before he found this beautiful bird. We took a few photos, piled back in the car, and headed off for a terrific day of family, football and food.

Home, I cropped this image down to follow the rule-of-thirds (I think), by positioning the eye of the owl in the upper third intersection of the photo. A little sharpening and here's my image.

Generous

Mother Nature served up a generous helping of gorgeous scenery on the rocky Atlantic shore at Halibut Point State Park in Massachusetts.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Be generous with your thanks today!

K is for . . .

. . . knowledge. In yesterday's post, many of you wondered what was at the end of the boardwalk.

Now you know. Top shot is looking south; bottom shot is looking north. Interesting how the camera interprets the light differently. Both shots were taken about noon.

Flat

Although the dunes on Plum Island in Massachusetts were fairly rolling, the boardwalk was flat enough to make it an easy walk down to the beach.

(Yes, I am a shameless theme-stretcher...)

Interior

The interior of Plum Island in Massachusetts was largely made up of these lovely salt marshes. The grasses were a beautiful gold, there was still a surprising amount of color in the trees, and the day was mild for November. A touch of Topaz brought out the distant trees.

Renewal

A lone oarsman likely experiences a renewal of spirit as he cruises in the reflection of buildings on the Charles River early last Sunday morning.

Topaz really helped with this one. This view is facing east, about 8:30 AM. The buildings and trees were in shadow as I aimed into the rising sun. Using Adjust 5, I was able to recover the beautiful colors in the trees along the riverbank. The original image appears below.

From my past

What (or who?) can be more from your past than your relatives! Jon snapped this picture of me with my Aunt Celeste. Many of you "know" my Aunt Betsy from Bobbie's mentions of her in her blog. Celeste is the youngest of the three sisters on mom's side. (My mom was the oldest). She hosted us during our Boston weekend, and came along on our day trip to the Gloucester coast.

Isolation

What better place to find peace and isolation than a November beach on the Atlantic coast?

Cove at Stage Fort State Park, Gloucester, MA

Warm

On Saturday, November 12, it was warm enough in Massachusetts to take a shirt-sleeves hike through lovely Halibut Point State Park, which boasts this pretty fresh-water quarry on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean.