Goodbye For a While

I'm off ot the wilds of Idaho again. I shall return in a bit over a week. Hopefully with some good pictures and maybe a tale or two.

What Is It?

I found this growing in my garden. For the first couple of leaves, I thought it was a watermelon seedling. Then it armed itself with some pretty ferocious thorns. Click here for the big version.

It ain't no watermelon.

But what the heck is it?

Blue Morning Mountains

Rose Boquet

A Short Wander Up the Canyon

Sometimes it amazes me what beauty can be found in my own back yard.

Awaiting a Pollinator

The Dangers of Flying Large

I just returned from a week in Michigan visiting relatives and attending my high school reunion. I won't tell you how many years, but I did wonder where the heck all those middle-aged goomers came from.

Both directions on this trip were plagued by "weather." I arrived about four hours later than expected because heavy thunderstorms and wind in Detroit kept the plane circling until it had to go to Cleveland to refuel. On the way back, the "weather" was at Continental's Houston hub where my insane travel agent (the Engineer) had scheduled an eight (8!) hour layover for me.

The storm started about an hour into the infernal, eternal layover and boogered up the whole airport. By the time my flight was supposed to be boarding, the storm was over, but a plane going to Ontario was offloading at the gate. My flight was two hours late taking off, which meant the plane would be landing in Salt Lake City around 2:00 a.m. - unless it flapped its wings extra hard.

To add icing to that cupcake, the Engineer, who graduated from the same high school, the same year, so it was his reunion too, had booked himself a direct flight from Detroit to Salt Lake, arriving home at 2:30 p.m. His flight was on time. The candy sprinkles on the icing - I was to take a cab home so my beloved could get his "beauty sleep." (Actually, I didn't have a problem with that, it was practical, but when already annoyed by the way the travel was progressing...)

Now any of you who have been flying with any regularity know that airplane seats have been getting smaller every year. And my butt has been getting bigger. It's a bad combination.

I had booked the exit row aisle seat on the theory (confirmed by the gate agent) that since it's a non-reclining seat it is less desirable and that, therefor, the center seat in that row would be the last to fill. At original takeoff minus seven hours it looked like a pretty safe bet, there were eleven empty seats showing.

Of course, by boarding time, the flight was overbooked.

Don't know what the story was, but a whole herd of Polynesians must have booked at the last minute. It looked like several families with children of assorted ages and about a half dozen single men. The guy who sat next to me was built on a grand scale.

The guy who got the center seat in the row behind me was mammoth; probably about 6'7" and BIG. The two middle-aged business men bracketing him took offense and called in the stewardess.

After a lot of arguing and arm waving and trying to persuade someone, anyone, to exchange seats, it ended badly with the stewardess leading the resigned looking giant off the plane.

The big Tongan sitting next to me and I looked at each other, then sat in our seats very, very quietly until takeoff.

Sparkling Dalila

Summer fun, by sparkler light.

Okay, to be honest, long exposure with fill flash. Don't mind saying, I was tickled with the result.

A Rose For Ansel

This is the only photograph I've ever actually developed myself. I took a two session community college course. Then digital came along and I got to play with Photoshop instead of chemicals, which, I'm sure, made the Engineer happy. He always claims my middle name is "Mess," don't yah know.

The inspiration for this image was Ansel Adams' "Rose and Driftwood." The Master's photograph is infinitely superior to mine, of course, but the homage is sincere (if totally backwards.)

Cactus Flowers

Sometimes it's fun to get artsy-fartsy with the Photoshop filters.

Windows

Sunflower With Fly

Rusty

KC's junior puppy, Rusty, the butt nipper.
And how do I know that, you ask?
Guess...
(Actually Rusty and I are buddies, he just gets a little excited sometimes.)

Bynum General Store

Sadly the Bynum General Store is no longer in business.

Sometimes it seems as if the world has lost texture and color, too many places in my world are parts of merchandising chains instead of being unique to the place and time. Melancholy can overwhelm me when I see the changes time wreaks.

Tiger Swallowtail

Rock Climber

Follow the Mellow Brick Road

Underfoot in downtown Salt Lake City - I think these are wonderful bricks.

Happy 4th of July!

And to make sure the Engineer was happy, I made him corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast. My first time ever. Used a recipe from Epicurious.com -- one of my favorite web sites.

I wanted to make holes in the hash and cook the eggs right in it like the recipe suggested, but there was too much hash, so each component was in its own pan.

It was my first time eating corned beef hash too, so I can't compare it to other hashes, but I thought it was pretty good.

Old Riga Rooftops

Seagulls

The Most Beautiful Girls in the World

Cat Girls that is.

Kitsu the Savage Jungle Kitteh


Sachi on Cement

P.S. That milkweed post was officially for July 1, this one is officially for July 2. Just so you know I'm trying to be regular about this...

Millkweed

or - A Reply to Kate's Butterfly Blog Entry

I like monarchs too - and milkweed.

How serendipitous.

Next year I may try to go high class with Asclepias tuberosa, but I gotta admit, I like the natural orange color rather than the fancy, hybridized shades.