A Howling Wilderness...

"Generally speaking, a howling wilderness does not howl:

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

Henry David Thoreau

Click on the Weekend in Black and White to visit B&W images

from all over the world...

Noticing the Ordinary...

"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 

Our Little Corner of the World...

Our little corner of the world, this past weekend, was filled with fabulous music...

and...oh...

definitely some beer...

It was the annual Mammoth Blues & Brews Fest

better known as

BLUESAPALOOZA!!!

Brought to us by Sean and Joyce Turner and their

Mammoth Brewing Company...

better known as "beer with altitude"!!!

Bluesapalooza began on Thursday with a

few bands, free entry, beer with altitude, 

and some great food....

Friday night the official event began with a rock and roll

style of blues, including such greats as 

Edgar and Johnny Winter...

On Saturday, the Mammoth Brewing Company

hosted a brew tasting day with lot's of great blues...

and lot's of great beer!!!

(I waited til after the beer tasting and went that night for the big bands...

TheChief hung out (in uniform!) to make sure 

the beer tasting stayed under control!)

Saturday night and Sunday we were treated to a great 

selection of blues bands...

My favorites were Betty Lavette on Saturday night...

The great Leon Russel on Sunday...

and Joe Louis Walker on Sunday afternoon...

From Thursday night through Sunday afternoon

the audience was wild...

From Rockin' Babies...

To Bootie Shakin' Granmas!!!

(myself included...and a few gramps too!!!)

This was my world this past weekend...

how about you???

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 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!

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 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!!!

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!!!

Concentration...

"Concentration is the ability to think about absolutely nothing

when it is absolutely necessary."

Ray Knight

Working on a project at home...

with friends...

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

And a new challenge for me...SHOOT.EDIT.SUBMIT !!!

And...it's been brought to my attention that this should qualify for 

the first of the month, City Daily Photo Theme Day...

Chimneys!!!

Murder and Mayhem in Mammoth Lakes???

After a day of helping TheChief with a project around the house,

murder and mayhem erupt...

Our friends, Ramona and Pat, came up from Long Beach to help TheChief 

with a project...

all survived and the project was successful!!!

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

The Eye of the Storm...

"I go where the sound of thunder is."

Alfred M. Gray

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

A Visionary Moment...

"A leader is one who, out of madness or goodness, volunteers to take 

upon himself the woe of the people.  There are few men so foolish,

hence the erratic quality of leadership in the world."

John Updike

Dave is our Town Manager...he sought the position knowing full well

that we were facing a financial crisis here in town. 

Not only are we faced with the same financial downturn that the rest

of the nation has been facing, we are also having to come to grips with 

a lawsuit against the town of Mammoth Lakes that has been fought to the 

final conclusion, with Mammoth losing the final appeal. 

The Town Council is taking hardline steps to curtail the budget...

town government has been trimmed to the quick and being asked to trim more...

we are a small town that quadruples in size during ski season and summer...

where do we cut?

Dave is our Town Manager and he has the difficult position of striking a 

balance between managing the people who work so hard for the town,  

the best interests of the citizens of our town, 

and the decisions of the council who are trying to keep the town solvent...

Dave is a good man...and has taken the challenge to heart.

I don't know about you...

but I sure wouldn't want his job...

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