More Training...this time at Panum Crater!!!

Panum Crater is the youngest mountain in the Eastern Sierras...

and yes...it's a crater...so it's a volcanoe!!!

It's off the road on the way to the South Tufa's of Mono Lake...

there's a sign, but you might need your glasses to find it!!! 

Look on the left, it's about the third dirt road off of Hwy 120...

Looking across 395 to the mountains in the West, you can see a line

just above the base of the mountain...

This is the LADWP aquaduct...AND...the level of the lake

about 13,000 years ago after the second glacial period here!!!

You can't go up in a crater and not find obsidian and pumice!!!

Lot's of interesting rock formations in the "dome"!

My head hurts from all the knowledge I'm pounding into it these days!!!

Or maybe it's the sun???

"T" is for Tree!!!

"T"

ABC Wednesday

"If you would know strength and patience, welcome the company of trees."

Hal Borland

I was entranced by this lone tree growing from the rocky cliff...

on the road to Rock Creek Lake...

Hop on over to ABC Wednesday to view more interpretations of "T"...

Our Little Corner of the World...

Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite National Park, California

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

wonder in a vast edifice of stone and space."

Ansel Adams

I just love that Yosemite is just over the pass...

Head on over to Our World Tuesday to see more corners of the world...

Kelly's New Best Friend...

Guest photographer Joanne Hunt took this close up on my iphone of Diego Byng...

Kelly's new best friend!!!

For more participants in Macro Monday...click here!

"He's kinda lil' mom...

...but he is kind of cute...

...you still love me best though, don't you???

...I guess he's pretty cute...

P-o-p!!!  

...that's MY favorite spot!!!"

Reflections....

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens

can change the world;  indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

Margaret Mead

We had a great visit with our GSE team from Mexico...truly a remarkable

group of young people!!!

To see more of James' Weekend Reflections participants, click here!!!

It was a grey day...

...in Yosemite and Mono Lake...

...but with a vibrant group of new friends!!!

...our Rotary International Group Studies Exchange group... 

Omar, Astrid, Jessica, Crystal, Will

from VeraCruz, Mexico!!!

These 5 lovely young professionals came to Mammoth on Wednesday
as part of the Rotary Group Studies Exchange program.  While here
they visited professional settings similar to their own, and of course,
we showed them a good time with dinner parties, shopping, walking around
Horseshoe lake, and our trip to Yosemite and Mono Lake.  They've
been a great group to have visit and we're sorry to see them go so soon...
Here's to our special new friends having a fabulous rest of their trip!!!

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

An Osprey in Flight...

Dedicated to Dixie Jane...

"Birds are a miracle because they prove to us there is a finer,

simpler state of being which we may strive to attain."

Doug Coupland

Today I got to see Osprey in flight and sitting on their nests...

California Gulls and more California Gulls...

brine shrimp...some even doing the brine shrimp fandango...

and little squiggly things...

and Tufa...

and more Tufa...

and Sand Tufa...

The head of the volunteer training even showed us how Tufa is made!

She took fresh water...added a bit of calcium...

then poured it into a cup of lake water...

and voila!!!

Tufa started to form!!!

Fly on over to Skywatch Friday to see more participants!

What did you do today???

Today was my first day of training as a Mono Lake volunteer...

Did you know that 80% of all California Gulls make their way to Mono Lake

to nest and bear their young???

And this is a red winged black bird...

I'm not much of a birder...but I'm learning!!!

Also, today was the day our Rotary Group Study Exchange team 

arrived in Mammoth!

We have the pleasure of hosting Astrid, a lovely young 

woman from VeraCruz, Mexico.  They'll be here in Mammoth 

until Saturday...plenty more time for pics and sharing!!!

Scrappy Seats...

"S"

ABC Wednesday photo meme

Tecate, Mexico, Corazon SuperBuild 2012

Seeing these Scrappy Saddle Sitters at the Superbuild...

I absolutely had to Snap a Savory and Savage SnapShot!!!

Step on over to Mrs. Nesbitt's ABC Wednesday to see more 

takes on the letter "S"!

Our Little Corner of the World...Expanded...

Corazon Build 2012

Tecate, Mexico

Just across the border from Tecate, California

Mammoth Lakes Rotarians, Mammoth High School Interact club,  and friends...

...headed to El Cajon Friday...

...to join Corazon...

...for a Super Build...

...in Tecate, Mexico...

...Rotary District 5300 also participated...building two other houses...

(Mammoth Rotary built one house themselves...and in record time!!!)

...Corazon provides assistance and education to indigent families

in Tecate, Mexico...the families are expected to commit to a program of 

self and community development that includes insuring that their children 

go to school, the adults get job training as well as learning about 

domestic violence and child abuse, and community responsibility...

....in return, they receive credits that can be applied to goods and services,

or a new home, with a lock and key...

...Volunteers end their day with the satisfaction of hard work, 

and having provided a family with their new first home...

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

Royal Purple...

"The World is very old;

But every Spring

It groweth young again,

And Fairies sing."

Cicely Mary Barker

Flower Fairies of the Spring, 1923

www.flowerfairies.com/US_version/home.html

Wouldn't you love to be the Flower Fairies 

who get to live in these Iris?

Bridges to Nowhere...

"Mistakes are the usual bridge between inexperience and wisdom."

Phyllis Theroux

Soo...I can't decide if it was a mistake to post these or not...
I played with the color a bit...not quite happy...

Maybe black and white...
eh?

But it's the only bridge I haven't already posted for
Sunday Bridges!!!

Rock Creek Lodge

"Keep close to Nature's heart...and break clear away, once in a while,
and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods.
Wash your spirit clean."
John Muir


Need a week in the woods???
Rock Creek Lodge is a summer lodge too...
and quite nice cabins I might add!

Click on over to The Weekend in Black and White for more wonderful B&W photos!!!

Barking up a Tree...

"As the poet said, "Only God can make a tree", probably because it's 

so hard to figure out how to get the bark on."

Woody Allen

I'm thinkin' Woody Allen knows what he's talkin' about in this photo!

Want to see more Skywatch Friday shots???  Click Here!

A Wing and a Prayer...

"I dreamed, and dreamed;

Of wings I dream; of wings.

I dreamed of wings;

Soft-feathered things,- wings.

I dreamed of wings, up-lifting things,

To pull me up to where my soul

could wander free;-

To lift me into unremembering,

To waft me from the days of things 

Into the world of wings.

I dreamed of what I must possess-

And cannot have.

I dreamed of wings."

P. Roy Brammell

Anybody lose their wings???

Red is for "R"

"R"

ABC Wednesday

Did you know that red tulips are the flower depicting 

"true love"?

I know...you're going to ask..."but what about the red rose?"

The red rose means love as well...

a single red rose can simply mean "I love you."

Hop on over to Mrs. Nesbit's ABC Wednesdays to see more entries...

Our Little Corner of the World...

"A time to be reaping.

A time to be sowing.

The green leaves of summer

are calling me home."

The Brothers Four

It's getting greener and greener up here every day...

It's Our World Tuesday again...for more shots from around the world, 

click here!

New Growth

"Growth itself contains the germ of happiness."

Pearl S. Buck

Spring is still new here...I spotted these budding leaves

on the road to Rock Creek Lake...

To view more participants in Macro Monday, head on over to Lisa's Chaos!

Celebrating Moms...Mammoth Style!!!

These ladies were riding in the Pampered Pedalers bike ride...

(Eastside Velo)

the day before Mother's Day!

I have to say...they're awesome!!!

The ride started at Footloose Sports Shop in Mammoth...

and 43 miles later...ended at the Elks partk in Bishop...

Yeah...mostly down hill...but enough uphill that I don't think 

I'll be joining this ride any time soon!!!

Now...you have to understand...the ride is all women..

and the theme was Nature...

so of course, all the riders followed suit with costumes 

depicting nature...

with a gentleman/woman thrown in as support!!!

Great fun was had by all...

A rather gruelling ride up and down the mountains to Bishop...

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Stormy Weather

"If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm,

you'll never enjoy the sunshine."

Morris West

Morris West was an Australian novelist and playwright...

His best known works were The Devil's Advocate and The Shoes of the Fisherman.

I remember seeing The Devil's Advocate...the one with Al Pacino

playing the Devil...

and I vaguely remember seeing The Shoes of the Fisherman 

with Anthony Quinn...

Do you remember either of these???

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