The Wild Blue Yonder....

The wild blue yonder is getting ready for a wild week...

Snow is in the forecast...

But I'm not ready to give up my flip flops...

A Hobbit Home???

Wouldn't this be the perfect setting to build a Hobbit home???

"Take one baby, a toddler and a building site.  Mix well with a generous helping of

mud, combine with 6 weeks of solid welsh rain whilst living under canvas.  

Do this in candle light without a bathroom or electricity for three months.  Chuck

in living with your father for good measure.  Top with an assortment of large slugs.

The result is a hand crafted home of beauty, wamth and health for about 

3000."

Check out Michael d'Estries How to Build A Hobbit House

(That You'd Actually Want to Live in!)

For real!!!

Walkin' on Water!!!

Hey mom!!!  How'd they do that???

Right about now...the one guy said to the other guy

"I hate my life..."

No Slow Burn Here...

What do you think?

Forest Fire or Lightning???

Definitely a bear's winter home!!!

El Capitan...

El Capitan, Yosemite National Park, California

"But no temple made with hands can compare with Yosemite.

Every rock in its walls seems to glow with life...

as if into this one mountain mansion 

Nature had gathered her choicest treasures..."

John Muir

The Path I Chose...

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path

and leave a trail."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Just recently I was talking with my sister about life and living...

she was out of sorts and we were talking about our lives and our choices...

I find it fascinating, looking back, how much my life was impacted

by the philosophies of the times (the 60's and 70's) and the songs..particularly the 

Beatles and the song "All There is is Love".

As the years have gone by, the idealistic views of my life have been

tempered by the realities of life and and a lifetime of work...

when I became a manager of employees and saw the kids that came 

through our school who were products of social promotion...

my perspective began to change...

At this time in my life... I wish I had followed my heart and values more...

I gave up bits of myself along the way...particularly in relation to 

two previous relationships  (ok...previous husbands...)

I look back now and I see opportunities I lost along the way, and yet the path 

that I followed made me who I am today...
(Something the Chief reminds me of when I get philosophical...)

Would I really change the path I took???  

Food for thought...

For more participants in Sunday Bridges...click here!!!

Ahwahnee Hotel...in Black and White...

Ahwahnee Hotel, Yosemite Valley, California

"Yosemite Valley, to me, is always a sunrise, a glitter of green and gold

wonder in a vast edifice of stone and space."

Ansel Adams

For more participants in The Weekend in Black and White, click here...

What do you see???

"i thank you God for this most amazing day,

for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, 

and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural,

which is infinite, 

which is yes."

e.e. cummings

For more participants in Skywatch Friday, click here...

Surrealism...Mammoth Style...

A bit of an incongruous juxtaposition don't you think???

Join me in a cup of Java???

ABC Wednesday

"J"

Tuesday was Just that kind of day.

It was a beautiful day all day...then a few Jaunty white clouds rolled in.   

Not long after, the clouds grew dark and covered the sky...

Seemed to me to be the perfect setting for a Cup of Joe and 

some Jazzy Jazz on the stereo...

Join me for a cup of Java???

The Sun Sets Only to Rise Again!

"It is so small a thing to have enjoyed the sun, 

to have lived light in the spring,

to have loved, 

to have thought, 

to have done."

Mathew Arnold

A Single Flower...

"If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, 

our whole life would change."

Buddha

Yosemite...a Dangerous Beauty...

I just recently read that this year there have been about twice the average number of deaths

 in Yosemite...17 total by mid August...I didn't realize that even half would be a normal number.

When my granddaughters and I were visiting, we saw some news vans and instantly

thought something had happened...but then we realized they were from 

one channel and thought...maybe it's a special interest story about Yosemite...

We found out on our way home that 3 people had lost their lives going over what I believe were 

these falls.  

Yosemite is gorgeous...but it is also wild and can be very dangerous.  

When you visit...pay attention to the signs telling of danger as they may

just save your life.  

For more information, click here.

For more Weekend in Black and White participants...click here!

Reflections of Another World...

Weekend Reflections...

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."
Ralph Waldo Emerson




For more participants in Weekend Reflections...click here!

Thunderstorms and snow....already???

This last winter was an "epic" winter.  Over 664 inches of snow 

covered these mountains....as you can see, some is still there after our short 

but very sweet summer...

For the past week we've had clear blue skies in the mornings with 

beautiful billowy white clouds...only to have it cloud over 

with grey and menacing thunder clouds in the late afternoon.

Yes...we've actually already had snow at 10000ft...

just a dusting, but it's there...

Some say we're in for another epic winter...

Some are predicting 30% more snow than last year...

But then, just how often are the meteorologists right??? 

For more Skywatch Friday participants, click here...

A Photographer's Dream...

Lately I've been taken with seeing other photographers absorbed in 

their vocation...

I'll bet they got some great photos!!!

"To me, photography is an art of observation.  It's about finding something

interesting in an ordinary place...I've found it has little to do with the things 

you see and everything to do with the way you see them."

Elliott Erwitt

The most Important spot in Mammoth!!!

ABC Wednesday

"I"

Little did I know that when we moved to Mammoth, the US Post office

would Indisputably become the most Important spot in town...

Mammoth Lakes does not have street delivery...I know...

but apparently the sleet and snow the postal service will go through 

to get our mail to us is strictly on the way to the Mammoth Post Office!!!

It's up to us to check our boxes and look for the yellow card that means

"You've got packages!!!"

The Post Office here is quite the social scene...

generally speaking TheChief runs into someone daily...

Now you've probably noticed that our Post Office is quite 

beautifully landscaped...

that's thanks to Elizabeth Tenney...one of our Planning Commissioners

who took it upon herself to beautify our social center!!!

Indisputably one of the most beautiful Post Office social centers 

anywhere!!!

(I must apologize though...I took this yesterday...quite at the end of our 

summer blooming...it's quite extraordinary when in full bloom...

I promise next year...early spring!!!)

Click here to visit other participants in ABC Wednesday!!!

It's been a Mammoth summer...

Mammoth got a rather late start for Spring or rather Summer...

and the flowers are still blooming...

Another Photographer!!!

Meet Doris!!!  My stepson Tom's girlfriend...

Also into photography!!!  

Which is a good thing...'cause I didn't pick up my camera much 

when we were in Sequoia :(

Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning...

It's hard to believe it's actually been ten years since our world stood still 

while we all watched the horrors of that tragic day....

Since the beginning of September, the National Geographic channel has 

been airing the most amazing footage of one of the most horrific tragedies

in our lifetime.  If you haven't seen them, do make a point to do so. 

As I've watched the various episodes, the emotion of that day and the days following

floods back...and I again wonder how any human being could 

willingly participate in such a horrific attack...knowing that they too, will not survive.

It is unimaginable to me.

What also came back to me...was the incredible realization that so many
throughout the world were as horrified as we were...
regardless of our different ideologies...

and took time to ceremonially honor those who had died in our 

American tragedy.

 God Bless the more than 3000 souls who lost their lives that horrific day.

Thank you to all those who participated in the recovery and cleanup following this tragedy.
You are all heroes...

Where were you when the world stopped turning?

Alan Jackson

Yep....we're home!!!

I think Sadie and Cleo have finally figured out that this is home!!!

Skywatch Friday....

"Twilight drops her curtain down, and pins it with a star."
Lucy Montgomery




Oops!!!  I thought I'd already posted this...better late than never...

Skywatch Friday...

Gnarly

Saw this on the hike the other day...

I wonder how it grew this way???

Happy Hiking!!!

ABC Wednesday...

"H"

Heading out on one of the best hikes ever...

across the river and up the side of the mountain...

We had to walk with our eyes roaming as there had been 

a mountain lion sighting...

No mountain lions, no bears...just gorgeous trees, sunshine, waterfalls...

and good friends and family!!!

For more participants in ABC Wednesday...click here!!!

It Was a GREAT Weekend!!!

Just got back from our other favorite spot in the mountains...

and the inspiration for our feeling so at home in our new home in Mammoth!!!

A Dichotomy of Life...

"There are two lasting bequests we can give our children:

One is roots, the other is wings."

Hodding Carter

Nature's Bridge...

Did anyone say the bridge had to be man made???

For more Sunday Bridges...click here!!!

Stay on Track...

Frustrated with all the rules and regulations regarding driving cars???

Check out some of these railroad prohibitions!!!

"Putting salt on a railroad track in Alabama was once punishable by death."

"It is considered a misdemeanor offense to throw pickle juice at a trolley on Rhode Island."

"In Seattle, Washington, women who sit on men's laps on trains without placing a pillow 

between them would face an automatic six month jail term."

"In Wisconsin it was once illegal to kiss on a train."

For more railroad prohibitions...click here!!!

Visions of Heaven...

"Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt,

dance like nobody's watching, and live like it's heaven on earth."

Mark Twain

Click here to visit more participants of Skywatch Friday...

Restricted Activity??? Bah...Humbug!!!

Yes...as you might remember...Kelly's on restricted activity...

Aw mom....the box of kleenex was just lying there...I figured you put it 

there just for me!!!!