Bright Spot in a Dreary Day...

Today was Friends of Bodie Day...and I had every intention of going...

Kelly and I got a later start than I had planned...

and on my way north, the clouds got thicker and grayer...

it started to rain here and there...

some drizzle, some real rain...

then in Lee Vining, some really great thunder, and of course, lightning...

I decided to keep on going and see what it was like...

well...

it was gray, rainy, thundery...

yep...I kept on driving and headed to Bridgeport!

These flowers were outside the 1881 Cafe coffee spot that 

was open for the first time since I've been going up there!!!

Not too much of a reflection in those windows...

but maybe enough to link to James' Weekend Reflections!!!

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...

Truly...Fire in the Sky...

"It is not light we need, but fire;

it is not the gentle shower, but thunder.

We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake."

Frederick Douglass

Wednesday, I was on my way up to Minaret Vista in the early afternoon

 when I saw a shaft of lightning off in the distance...in the direction of Mono Lake...

I don't know if that shaft of lightning was the one that set off this fire...

but when I went to Mono Lake to do my volunteer thing...

this is what I experienced...

The fire was south east of the lake...burning toward the South Tufa, 

but still a pretty far distance away...

Do click on SkyWatch Friday to see beautiful skies around 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 

A Bird's Eye View...

"I don't ask for the meaning of the song of a bird 

or the rising of the sun on a misty morning.

There they are, and they are beautiful."

Pete Hamill

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???

Funnnky!!!

Ok...so it's not quite a macro...it's as close as I could get!!!

This is a street lamp outside the studio where I took the workshop, 

"Chasing the Light"

A Shared Moment in Time...

"In the world of photography, you get to share

a captured moment with other people."

James Wilson

Thank you for sharing my moments...

The Photographer...

"There is only you and your camera.  The limitations in your photography

are in yourself, for what we see is what we are."

Ernst Haas

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

Evening Song...

"Beauty...is the shadow of God on the universe."

Gabriela Mistral

My number one shot of the evening...

Happy Birthday Chief!!!
You're the BEST!!!

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

It Was a Beautiful Evening...

"Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, 

invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears."

Edgar Allen Poe

Tuesday was my day to be at Mono Lake again...

it was a beautiful evening...

warm, clear, thunder storm in the distance, 

even a day away from a full moon...

magnificence!!!

(And this isn't even my number one shot!!!)

Perfect Flight...

"You will begin to touch heaven, Jonathan, in the moment you touch perfect speed.

And that isn't flying a thousand miles an hour, or a million, or flying at the speed of light.

Because any number is a limit, and perfection doesn't have limits.

Perfect speed, my son, is being there."

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Richard Bach

Please visit Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday...