Utah - Red Rock Country

After whizzing through Colorado, our next leg was to take us just into Utah on I-70 and then cutting south toward Moab, and along the east side of the state. We were in Moab at the onset of a gale force wind, announcing a fast-moving storm. It was fantastic! During our time in Utah, I kept mentioning I'd never seen it so pretty so late in the spring - there was much remaining green, and having actual cloud cover was fantastic. My last camping route through the area was in May, prior to Memorial Day a few years ago, and the heat (at 92 degrees) was unbearable - mostly due to the lack of any possibility of cloud cover. We had great weather for our trip, in fact keeping us quite cool until we reached Vegas (at 102). Some Utah pics:


This is probably my favorite: Fisher Towers on the left; Colorado River at the bottom; snow-capped La Sal mountains behind. yay!

A real-life tumbleweed on a fantastic reddy-purple sandstone background.

The electric-spandex-discotronic PT Cruiser. PS: Chrysler, I'd be glad to lease you a copy of this image...

Onset of storm. This literally blew in during the time it took us to fill up the tank on the car, and take a bathroom break. There were trashcans rolling down the street.

Heading south from Moab, adjacent to Canyonlands. Some real, and some ghost rain.


Mmmm.....red geology........




The goosenecks of the San Juan River.

Grand Canyon 08, with Norwegians

We made it to the Grand Canyon with plenty of daylight left to eat, shop, and do a little hiking before sunset. And, in keeping with our trip's trend, just as Anita was wishing to see elk, they seemed to stumble right across our pathway - nibbling on the grass in front of Bright Angel Lodge.







And Arve, the perennial quiet humorist, has a great sense of physical comedy!


Hufta!!

Watch out, Vegas.......

Anita & Arve arrive in the morning, and we'll launch into our whirlwind tour of the West - Denver to Vegas, via Moab, Canyonlands, Monument Valley, the Grand Canyon, and the Skywalk bridge. More to come soon!

Congratulations, Nepal! You new Republic, you.....

In another post of shameless self-promotion, I present to you another photo of mine published by a news service, regarding a topic especially close to my heart. Nepal! And its newborn freedom!

And here's a link to this story (my photo, ahem, at top right...).

Old Farm Accents

My friend Jim's family has an old farm nearby, and I visited recently to snap a few photos of what I call 'interestingness'. Enjoy.

Mmmmmmm.........Lilacs!!

39 and counting

Today, I turn 39. Call the senility hotline. For some reason, I put my entire roll of Reynold's Wrap aluminum in the dishwasher. Of course I only realized this when unloading the dishwasher. Off to a great start!

ps - the roll of foil is fine, if damp - but the entire outer box lost its color and design. In case you were wondering.

******************
I'm NOT senile after all! Turns out Jim put it in there, after being flustered while trying to find the real place for the foil - and in theory, I would have found it and chuckled. Oh, well!!

The great thaw of 2008

Spring has sprung, the birds are singing, and everything is greening up and blooming. My fave tree in the yard is this cherry willow. I took the shots of this tree on Friday, April 18th. At mid-day, many of the blossoms had just opened up - widely. The day before, they were all just buds.

Then, last night, we did a little cooking on the grill - outdoors - without coats - and burned some scrap wood in the firepit. It was a fantastic evening, and at one point, my friend Jim suggested taking night-photos of the cherry willow. I thought that was a good idea, but reminded him that my tripod got 'accidentally broken into pieces' during our Christmas hike up K2. So, sans tripod, and sans flash (I hate flash), here is my fave shot of the cherry willow at night:

...and this one is Jim's fave. The difference between them is the ground spotlight. In my photo, we have that light diffused (albeit through a dish towel). In Jim's preference, below, we see spotlight unabashed.
So, Happy Spring, y'all!

Whaa......Spring??

While I'm still hesitant to put the coats and jackets away, I have finally moved the snow shovel from the deck back into the garage. I was so eager for spring this year I started growing some things indoors. My favorite: the tulips!!


And, it seems this week everything in NW Ohio not only enjoyed good weather (one day getting up to 77!), but also began vigorously sprouting and blooming. Which means I am spending more time outdoors.....

This shot is of my tulip tree. It's like a naked magnolia, except the flowers are a little less sturdy than regular southern magnolias, and a little less fragrant, but not by much. There are a few trees like this in the neighborhood, and at first glance, I can't help but think that someone's tree has recently been tp'd. Albeit creatively.

I've got a scattering of daffodils in the front, back, and side yards...

And new this year, two forsythia bushes.

Animistic Fun!

I don't want to be one of those folks who sends 2 dozen photos of all their kids' or pets' antics to everyone in their email list (a few is fine, thanks friends!) - so instead, I'm going to load some recent pet photos here. I've mentioned before that Djiini (pron.: Genie) just hates to be photographed face-on. She's really camera shy - I've tried several times to get a good facial or close-up shot. I've been very unsuccessful. But, I was recently able to capture her in one of her more odd positions: sitting on the back deck, monitoring the yard for squirrels. (That's the old bbq in the background.)
And, on one other occasion, I was able to bribe her into a face shot with the carrot of "wanna go for a WALK?" Of course, this only worked once, and in a low-light situation, I wasn't able to get a crisp shot. So, this will have to do.

Now, with Kathman(du), I've got no problem getting portrait-style shots out of him. He looks directly at me, even in low light requiring long exposures (and by nature, stillness). He is a zen-cat. Here, he's peering down from his perch atop the bookcase:

...and, still on the bookcase, not at all perturbed by my many photo attempts, here he is at eye level: perched, but not really ready to pounce.

Where in the World is it the 21st,, the 22nd, and the 12th century - simultaneously? Why Nepal, of course!

Happy New Year, or Navavarsha, Nepal! Today, April 12, 2008, is the Nepali New Year: 2065, or 1129, 2140, or continuing 2008 - take your pick.

Not to be forgotten, the large number of Tibetan refugees in Nepal celebrated Tibetan New Year, or Losar, previously - on February 28th. By this Sherpa calendar, derived from Tibetan and Chinese calendars, February 28th turned the page into the year 2140.

On the Nepali Sambat calendar, today is the first day of 1127 for the Newar people of Nepal, who count the years since a prominent citizen paid off all outstanding debts to provide a new beginning for his countrymen.

The current government calendar, the Bikram Sambat, is a North Indian calendar adopted in Nepal in the early 1900s. By the Bikram Sambat calendar it is 2065. This according to multiple Nepali friends, who generously sent me well wishes for "2065 BS". However, Kantipor - Kathmandu's main newspaper, the last day of 2060 BS faded without much ceremony - yesterday.

These are of course in conjunction with the western Gregorian calendar, which is more predominantly used for commerce.

And all of this comes amidst a hive of other activity for the tiny country: Tibetan protests against the Chinese embassy, and the related crackdowns; and an election.

The election was for a constituent assembly, and occurred on April 10th, 2008, 2064 BS (or 2060 BS), 1126 NS, or 2140. This election will decide the fate of Nepal's future: federalism, or continuing the monarchy - a pivotal point in its history. This was no small feat for those who voted. You think things are hectic here with a mostly 2 party system - try choosing candidates from a choice of 55 parties!

P. S. - Additional April New Year Celebrations...

Well, seems I've inadvertently overlooked several other New Year's celebrations. Not to be dissed, Happy New Year to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Tamil New Year (Sri Lanka, Singapore), and the Dai of Yunnan, China.