Our Little Corner of the World...

While the police department was working hard in town...

The fire department...

...aided by the Forestry Fire Department...

held canoe races all day on Saturday!!!

There were hamburgers, hot dogs, sno cones, and a fair amount of beer...

And wet dogs...one of whom snagged a burger...

"Awwww P-O-P!!!!  But that burger REALLY smelled good...and it was right there...

Annnnnnd....can't I P-L-E-A-S-E run around with the other dogs off leash???"

Then, of course, there were the canoe races....

...with a fair amount of pushing and shoving and capsizing...

The leaders of the pack...

And the winner is....!!!

The Firemen's canoe races is a fundraiser for the all volunteer
fire department of Mammoth Lakes...


Click here for more participants in Our World Tuesday...

A Wet Dog...

 ...is a Happy Dog!

"The most affectionate creature in the world is a wet dog."

Ambrose Bierce

For more participants in Macro Monday...click here for Lisa's Chaos!

Salt of the Earth...

"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

It sounded like the folks swimming were from the Netherlands...

all I know is their skin is probably still soaking up the lotion!!!

Mono Lake is more than 2  1/2 times saltier than the ocean!!!

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

The Edge of Dreams...

"What orbit of the planets has put you and me in this place, 

at this moment?

Where time takes a breath, 

and we dance on the edge of our dreams?"

unkown

For more participants in the Weekend in Black and White, click here!

Howling at the Moon...

"Generally speaking, a howling wilderness does not howl:

it is the imagination of the traveler that does the howling."

Henry David Thoreau

(Do you see the wolf howling at the moon?

But then again, I still say the tufa look like the moon or a sci fi planet!!!)

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

Travelers...

Over all, while working Mono Lake, I've met more folks travelling from 

Germany than anywhere else...

Of course, I had to tell them that my mom's parents immigrated

from Switzerland in the early 1900's...

I'm not sure that they were all that impressed, but it did spark some

conversation!!!

Ever Been to Bodie Mike's???

Bodie Mike's is a great little barbecue spot on Highway 395

in Lee Vining, overlooking Mono Lake...

Try the tri-tip sandwich...and don't forget the jalapeno rings!!!

Our Little Corner of the World...

"Life is full of beauty.  Notice it.  

Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces.

Smell the rain, and feel the wind.

Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams."

Ashley Smith

Just another day driving home..."chasing the light"!!!

For more participants in Our World Tuesday...click here!!!

Need to Break a Few Chains???

"Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken."

Warren Buffett

If you're in the LA area and want to break through a few chains in 

your photography...

Check out one of Ibarionex Perello's

Photography Workshops!!!

Yep...another shameless plug!!!

This photo is one I shot during his workshop on Saturday...

Chasing the Light...

For more participants in Lisa's Chaos Macro Monday...click here!

Chasing the Light...

I've been down south these past few days...

getting caught up on a few things like hair and doctor appointments...

I also got to visit with my cousin and his daughter (though she wasn't feeling too well). 

But the main reason I scheduled everything for this past week

was because I had the opportunity to go to

Chasing the Light...

a photography workshop by

Ibarionex Perello

Held in downtown LA...it was a hands on seminar...

with opportunities to shoot, show, and critique...

exploring the concepts we were learning throughout the day!

If you're in the LA area...and thinking about expanding your photography skills...

check it out!!!

And if you're not in the area...

check out his book and dvd!!!



The Ahwahnee Hotel, Yosemite National Park, California

Designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood, the Ahwahnee Hotel opened in 1927...
and has been flourishing ever since!

Quite a number of famous guests have had the pleasure of staying
in this fabulous hotel including:
Queen Elizabeth II, Walt Disney, Charlie Chaplin, Lucille Ball, Will Rogers,
Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan
and of course...Ansel Adams!!!

A lesser known fact about the hotel is that in 1943, the US Navy converted
the hotel into a convalescent hospital for war veterans.

In addition, Stanley Kubrick modeled the hotel in his movie The Shining.
Footage of the hotel was also included in The Caine Mutiny
and Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day.
For more participants in The Weekend in Black and White, click here...

A Tree Against the Sky...

"A tree against the sky possesses the same interest, the same character,

the same expression as the figure of a human."

Georges Rouault

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

(I'm taking a bit of a break and will be commenting sporadically for the next few days...)

For everything there is a season...

"And when the day arrives I'll become the sky and 

I'll become the sea and the sea will come to kiss me

for I am going home.  

Nothing can stop me now.

Trent Reznor

This past week, the town of Mammoth Lakes lost two of it's 

long time and beloved residents...

Ellie Randol      Skip Harvey

 They will be missed...

Psychedelic Evolution???

"It's time to move on to the next step in the psychedelic revolution.

We've reached a certain point, but we're not moving any more."

Ken Kesey

Somehow, I don't think whoever owns this has moved on to the next step...

Our Little Corner of the World...

Ok...sooo do you REALLY 

want to see the highlight of our 

Little Corner of the World???

Addison Bailey was proud to grace with her presence,  the 

Campbell Cup for the Western Division Championship

of National Hockey...

but then...

She made herself quite comfortable in the one and only...Stanley Cup!!!

Yep...the one and only, numero uno, honor of the year for the greatest hockey team...

The LA Kings!!!

(and of course, daddy, who just happens to be an integral part of the 

LA Kings organization)

She's a rather happy fan!!!

But, then again, she's a pretty happy kid...

And certainly a heartbreaker in the making!!!

All photos were taken by her mama...

Melissa Watson Smith!!!

For more participants in Our World Tuesday, click here!!!

#1 Blogging Assistant...

Sadie is my number one blogging assistant...

Sometimes sitting on the desk tracking what I've posted...

More frequently draped across my lap like a blanket...

Click here for more participants in Macro Monday on Lisa's Chaos!!!

Thunderclouds....

Thunder clouds over Bishop California

"We can never have enough of nature.  We must be refreshed by the sight of 

inexhaustible vigor, vast and titanic features, the sea-coast with it's wrecks,

 the wilderness with its living and its decaying trees, 

the thunder-cloud and the rain."

Henry David Thoreau

Oops!  This is my first Sunday Stills post...and I didn't realize the plan was
to post two of the past challenges...

My first was clouds...
and now my next is from my archives...for blue...

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

Sleek Reflections...

"I feel the need for speed."

Top Gun

Click on over to James' Weekend Reflections here...

or for Dragonstar's The Weekend in Black and White, click here...

A Universe on Fire...

"Even if there is only one possible unified theory,

it is just a set of rules and equations.

What is it that breathes fire into equations

and makes a universe for them to describe?"

Stephen Hawking

For more participants in SkyWatch Friday, click here!

Let There Be Light...

"It is obvious that we can no more explain a passion

to a person who has never experienced it

than we can explain light to the blind."

T.S. Elliot

What is your passion???

The Golden Hour...

"But what minutes!  Count them by sensation, and not by calendars,

and each moment is a day."

Benjamin Disraeli

Our Little Corner of the World...

"I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown,

for going out, I found, was really going in."

John Muir

One of the things that I love the most about the Eastern Sierras

is the ruggedness of the mountains...

We're a combination of high desert and an absolutely

sublime mountain range...

For more participants in Our World Tuesday...

click here!!!

A Little Nip and Tuck...

"People from a planet without flowers would think we must be

mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us."

Iris Murdoch

Just a few nips and tucks on one of my earliest "practice photos"

from my first digital slr...

For more participants in Macro Monday...click on over to Lisa's Chaos....

And click here for Macro Monochrome...click here!!!

A Sunday Bridge...

This is actually a bit of a foot bridge...over a culvert for snow run off...

For more Sunday Bridges, click here!!!

Feeling a bit hot???

Need to cool off???

Just thought I'd post the photo I donated today to the

Mammoth Schools NOW Education Foundation for the  

Mammoth Food and Wine Festival!!!

Hope you have a cool weekend!!!

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

Full Moon Rising...

full moon over Mono Lake, Califonia

"For most people we often marvel at the beauty of a sunrise

 or the magnificence of a full moon,

but it is impossible to fathom the magnitude of the universe that surrounds us."

Richard H. Baker

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

It's a Parade!!!

Diego...hands down...the star of the parade...

Kelly...proud surrogate mom of Diego...

Getting into position...

Definitely a hot entry!!!

We were part of the Corvette brigade...

nope, this isn't the one we were in!

Kelly sat in the well in front of me...Diego on driver Joanne's lap...

and Olympian  Robyn Morning on the bac...

A parade's eye view!!!

Yep...you guessed it...the Trojan Horse comes to Mammoth!!!

After some of the budget cuts, the fire department had to downsize...

Everyone who's anyone was in the parade...if not...they were

watching!!!

What's better after a parade than a free concert in the park???

Everybody got into the spirit of the day...

Even Kelly!!!

Kelly really stepped into her surrogate mom role today...

after the concert in the park, Kelly and Diego approached a couple

of GoldenDoodles...they became aggressive and charged Kelly and Diego...

Diego scooted back to Kelly and positioned himself under her belly...

Kelly simply stood there and said "Really???  You're going 

to go after my kid here???"

The Golden Doodles backed off and all was well.  

Sorry to say there were no pics...it all happened too fast!!!