…in the sun. This little guy posed for me the other day in the little-park-with-no-name.
He still wasn’t close enough to get a good shot but I liked that he and the branches were all golden. One of these days a hummer is going to come right up to me when my camera is all set to go.
My next post (possibly the one after that) will be the announcement of my giveaway to celebrate my First Blogiversary on February 13th. It will be a prize package with a theme to commemorate another event coming up very soon (not Valentine’s Day). I will post the contents of the prize package and hope that I get some entries, including guys!
This was also taken in the park. The blue paint on the right side is how the block wall really looked but I guess the big golden sun is a lens refraction. I thought it was kind of a bonus…sun graffiti.
No, that’s not Arizona. Tony took this shot a few days ago from the plane on his way to Portland.
Mount Hood, called Wy’east by the Multnomah tribe, is a stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc of northern Oregon. It is located about 50 miles east-southeast of Portland, on the border between Clackamas and Hood River counties.
The exact height assigned to Mount Hood’s snow-covered peak has varied over its history. Modern sources point to three different heights: 11,249 feet (3,429 m) based on the 1991 U.S. National Geodetic Survey 11,240 feet (3,426 m) based on a 1993 scientific expedition and 11,239 feet (3,426 m) of slightly older origin. The peak is home to twelve glaciers. It is the highest mountain in Oregon and the fourth-highest in the Cascade Range. Mount Hood is considered the Oregon volcano most likely to erupt, though based on its history, an explosive eruption is unlikely. Still, the odds of an eruption in the next 30 years are estimated at between 3 and 7 percent, so the USGS characterized it as “potentially active,” but the mountain is informally considered dormant.
(Wikipedia)
These were taken with his point and shoot. I think they’re really pretty, especially enlarged. I told him he should start his own travel blog.
Back to AZ in my next post.
Filed under: Blogging, Photography | Tags: 52, Blogging, Parks, Photography
There’s a little park close to our house that we walked through on Sunday, just so I could get some photos for the blog and my 52 Project. It was pretty fruitful, you’ll be seeing some of those images in days to come. This is a bottlebrush, I had never seen one until moving to Arizona, and thought they were the strangest-looking things. This is just a small one, the brushes get much larger. They are drought-tolerant and suitable for xeriscaping, attractive to bees, butterflies and birds. I’d forgotten about them but it might be fun to have one.
For this week’s contribution to my 52, I decided to scale back since I was up to hexaptychs last time and, really, 6 or 7 images is probably the limit for one of these collages if any detail is going to show. So I went back to a triptych this week.
What are you up to? I’m working on a valentine tonight…and I’m getting ready to have a blog giveaway in the next few days and will be announcing it soon.
Filed under: Arizona, Art, Phoenix, Photography | Tags: Arizona, Phoenix, Photography, Scottsdale
“The West’s Most Western Town.” I’ve thought this was funny for a long time because there is a lot about Scottsdale that isn’t “western” at all…like all the 5-star resorts, lush golf courses, expensive shopping, the nip and tuck crowd that lives there, the multi-million dollar homes…Scottsdale trademarked the slogan in 1951 but the city has tried to cultivate a more sophisticated image since then. As a result, one of the last vestiges of its Western heritage – the Rusty Spur Saloon – finds itself sandwiched in among chi-chi spots like the W Hotel, AZ88 The Bar, and RA Sushi Bar.
In fact, the other day, as I strolled through Old Town, I couldn’t find the slogan prominently displayed anymore like it used to be. Although I’ve worked in Scottsdale for almost the whole 30 plus years I’ve lived in AZ, it’s Phoenix (and Tempe) that I really love. But Old Town is fun. Even though it’s very touristy, it’s not like North Scottsdale, which is where the big $$ and glamour is. There’s still some quaint charm left in Old Town.
A recent Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce survey found that fewer than 11 percent of registered voters even knew they lived in the “West’s Most Western Town.” Sheesh, I just work there and I knew it.
You can ride in a horse-drawn carriage in Old Town.
You can see some wild horses, too. They’re just not real.
And you can see a lot of questionable Western art like this.
Yeeha! (<—play me)
(If you want to see more of Old Town, this is a post I did almost a year ago.)
Filed under: Arizona, Photography | Tags: 52, Arizona, Photography, Scottsdale
I went for a little stroll after work today in Old Town Scottsdale. Cavalliere Blacksmith is one of the oldest buildings there, founded in 1910, still a working blacksmith shop.
A couple buildings north is the Old Adobe Mission, completed in 1933, and currently being renovated.
Our deep blue skies have returned and it was a beautiful afternoon. Los turistas were out in full force and I was one of them. And consequently, I completed this week’s 52 Project, “Old Town Sampler,” before my self-induced deadline (it’s a hexaptych).
Arizona is so gorgeous this time of year!
…I don’t already spend enough time on my computer, here’s another free photo program to while away the hours. I first heard about Poladroids on the photojojo forum. This free program turns any photo into an old Polaroid, some complete with thumbprint smudges (I haven’t gotten any of those yet).
The program puts this cute little Polaroid camera on your desktop, where you simply drag and drop a photo onto it, and after the development time and some entertaining sound effects, you have gone back to a time when photos had garish colors, dark edges, not-so-crisp details, and development smudges all over them.
Now you have something to do with those photos that just aren’t quite good enough to post! Almost as much fun as the other free program mentioned in my last post, Shape Collage, where you can do cool things like this:
Filed under: Home, Phoenix, Photography | Tags: 52, Home, Phoenix, Photography
An unusual sight in Phoenix…
I don’t get a chance to photograph raindrops very often and I knew I needed to have my 3/52 done by tomorrow so last night, in a storm, I ventured way out to my front porch.
They look so luscious…the berries and the drops.
Late tonight/early tomorrow morning, a really bad storm is supposed to hit…the one that just did a bunch of damage in California. I pretty much hate storms but know we need the water. It’s predicted to rain continuously for the next few days.
Wish I could just stay home throughout it all but I have to go to work. At least Tony isn’t traveling right now. So, I made a couple more beds out in the covered carport and alcove for the outdoor kitties so they all have a place to sleep under a roof and I’ll have to hope they stay safe and close by.
Now I just have to decide how to put Week 3 of my 52 Project together…do a diptych, triptych, quadtych, whatever, or just use one photo.
In yesterday’s photojojo newsletter, they mentioned Shape Collage, a free download that automatically arranges your selected photos into different-shaped collages. The free version is limited but still pretty cool and the paid version is only $25 and offers a lot more features (I just used the free version). Here’s a collage of my photos from last night:
You can have hours of fun with this program!
Updated: This is what I decided for my 3/52, actually called a “pentaptych.”
Filed under: Blogging, Greater Good | Tags: Blogging, Community Outreach, Global Community
Food…
Water…
Shelter…
Peace.
It’s what we all need.
If you’re concerned about Haiti, are an animal lover, and have a few bucks left over, consider the animals who are also suffering there.
In the past few days, several organizations have joined forces to create the Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti (ARCH), with the goal of raising funds to help animals in the earthquake-stricken country and to provide direct aid to animals once rescue teams can be assembled in Haiti.
The ASPCA is the latest to join. In addition to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, ARCH now includes The International Fund for Animal Welfare, the World Society for the Protection of Animals, American Humane, Best Friends, The Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International.
According to the ASPCA, “There are an estimated 5 million head of livestock in the country (mostly goats), a large stray dog population, an untold number of companion animals and native wildlife all adversely affected by the earthquake.”
“Currently, a team is staging in the Dominican Republic waiting to get into Haiti to begin work. IFAW and WSPA have also begun to stock a mobile clinic with vaccines, antibiotics, bandages, food, and other supplies in anticipation of bringing direct aid to animals,” the release adds.
You can read more about ARCH here.
A little can go a long way, for the people and the animals.
Filed under: Home, Photography | Tags: 52, Home, Photoblogging, Photography
He and his friend dart all around our yard…
This time of year they go from the aloe and the pyracantha…
to the feeder…zipping right by my face…unless I have my camera. Then they become elusive. So for my 52 Project, Week 2, this is all I could get…which I made into another triptych.
Someday I’m going to get one of those beautiful, close-up shots of one of them that everyone else seems able to get. But not for Week 2.
I have no clue what this is.
Most days I drive by it on my way home from work and it has intrigued me for a long time. It’s in the front yard of an older house in Scottsdale.
I like to think that these are prayer flags or something with a spiritual or celebratory significance but maybe it was just a way to save a dead tree from removal. At least someone with an artistic sense created it.
It’s hard to get a good shot of it because it has distracting backgrounds from every angle but it always makes me happy to see it.
Have you ever seen anything like this and know what it might represent?
