In the Keys

Looking out at sunset from the beach towards Florida Bay while finishing off supper at Lorelei Restaurant and Cabana Bar. Islamorada in the Florida Keys is a very pleasant place to be in late February.

Opposite The Bookstore

And indeed the particular Asheville bookstore is a wonderful independent bookstore. Jane and I were in town a few years ago for our Wedding anniversary and it also turned out that on this day Bill Maher was doing a show so we got to see him live. Oh, and this is a photo of a lamp with some artwork, in case it wasn't obvious!

To the Sound

When I'm in Seattle visiting my daughter I like to visit this place. There's something about seeing boats go though this type of device that's inherently fascinating, and of course there's the salmon ladder right next door.

Seaside In the Pacific Northwest

But don't be fooled. This rather peaceful scene of birds and marine mammals is actually a photograph of a display in Victoria's Royal BC Museum.

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Old DeKalb County Water Works

This place has stood in ruins for decades now and until recently has been covered in foliage, etc. A couple of years ago the bushes, brush, kudzu, etc was cleared away so that the general public had more convenient access and could possibly appreciate the ever changing grafitti that covers the old ruins. The clearing of the area was in part a response to an extension of a bike and walk path along the creek from Medlock Park over to the Avis G Williams Library.

North of Mendocino

This photo was taken on our way back to Mendocino from an excursion to the Point Cabrillo Light Station Historic Park. I believe it's looking down at the inlet to Russian Gulch State Park although it's been a while since I took this picture and at this point I'm not precisely shore about this except for the fact that this inlet is to the north of Mendocino and south of that lighthouse.

Summer Finally in Vancouver

By the time we got to the city the weather had cleared up after a miserable few weeks of rain (I gather) in June and early July. And so people were taking advantage of the pleasant sunny days and getting to the beach, and in particular this one next to Stanley Park.

Towards Marsh Island

We’re on the trail just to the north of the Seattle's Washington Park Arboretum with Union Bay ahead and slightly to the right hand side of the picture. I believe that's Marsh Island over there on the left and straight ahead you can see the Husky Stadium grandstands.

Echo Lake Indian Summer

The Columbus Holiday long weekend of 2011 was still quite pleasantly warm when I too this photograph of Echo Lake at Franconia Notch in Northern New Hampshire. In fact there are people swimming off the beach in the background which is probably something they weren't really expecting to be doing in this area at this time of the year.

Of Mice and Wine

While having a couple of glasses of red wine at this café in a famous department store near the Paris Opera we were somewhat startled at the site of a small mouse rather fearlessly walking under our chairs. Luckily both Jane and I were sitting in high chairs so our feet were above the ground and we didn't have to be disturbed by a rodent walking across our feet! Our dining neighbors however were somewhat more concerned and did kick up something of a fuss as I recall. This was last October, so possibly the mouse has found a new abode!

Late Day at Ocean Point

We'd arrived from Twin Mountain, New Hampshire earlier in the day for a couple of days of site seeing and picture taking at Boothbay Harbor. Rather than staying in that town we decided to try our luck out at the Ocean Point Inn and Resort. This photo was taken at that location close to our accommodation. The area is quite picturesque although I suppose it would be hard to find an area of the Maine coast in Fall that didn't have considerable charm.

In Madison

I did not realize until we visited the town earlier this year that Oliver Hardy had lived in the area when he was a child.

Oakhurst Walk

A few years ago I did a photo walk with a friend around this particular neighborhood. It's close to Agnes Scott College and there's also an interesting community garden to checkout.

Going to the Dogs

Our band was providing some entertainment for people participating in the Atlanta Streets Alive bicycle event a couple of years ago. I believe this animal was more interested (at least for a second or so) in a certain photographer than the bicyclists or band members!

Just One More Waterfall for Now

Okay, so this is a big one. We've looking over from the American side of the falls in late Fall towards the Canadian tourist area. Actually the best pictures are from the Canadian side, but it's all pretty spectacular.

Another Waterfall

Two waterfalls on two consecutive days. I guess all this Atlanta heat is getting to me and I'm trying to cool myself down by looking at soothing pictures of falling water. This picture is at one of our favorite locations - Lower Falls on the Ammonoosuc River next to Bretton Woods, New Hampshire.

Graveyard Fields Along the Blue Ridge Parkway

This shot was taken on a fine early Spring Saturday afternoon. We were staying in Asheville NC and decided to explore the region along the Blue Ridge Parkway to the west of the city. There are a lot of walking trails in this spot, and this particular picture shows the lower falls just past the point where the trail had been replaced by a series of wooden steps.

Looking Towards Jefferson

On this day we were up at Timberline Lodge on the slopes of Mount Hood in Oregon. The day was fine as we'd passed through the cloud cover and could look down on the top of the clouds. Here's a view out from the lodge parking lot towards Mount Jefferson. I had to actually orient myself in Google Earth to confirm that this was the correct mountain.

Woodlands Garden

This picture is taken close to home. In fact it's just a few blocks away at Woodlands Garden. I like the rather curious angle and perspective afforded by same in the image.

At the Museum of the Bread & Puppet Circus

We are fans of the Bread & Puppet Circus (at least, initially, the band component after seeing them play at the Honk Festival) and so we decided back in Fall of 2011 to pay a visit to their home base in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. This is a picture from the Museum of puppets and it is, indeed, a unique and quite astonishing attraction which is, I suspect, not on the usual tourist beat.

Saturday on the Ridge

We had a fine day for a visit a year ago when my daughter drove Jane and I from Port Angeles to Hurricane Ridge on the Olympic Peninsula. This view is actually from further up a walking trail from the main parking area.

Victoria Houseboats

This shot was taken down at Fisherman's Wharf late in the day. There's lots to see and do here, not the least is a kayak excursion around Victoria's Inner Harbor. And of course there are those colorful houseboats.

An Early Snow for Pitttsburgh

No this wasn't recently. A couple of years ago we were passing through the city of Pittsburgh in late October and the city had a snow storm. This was what we saw in the South Park area on the morning after the snow fall. It wasn't a lot, but apparently snow at this particular time of year was unusual. The colored leaves of fall can still be seen.

Pacific Grove Flowers

Here's a shot I captured on a sunny Sunday afternoon a few years ago when we were on our way to Big Sur from San Francisco. We stopped for a short time in and around Pacific Grove and I found it a rather photogenic place even if it wasn't exactly at the best time of day for picture taking.

Early Morning Charleston Stroll

Well, actually this wasn't quite such the early morning stroll that I'd wanted, but it was still good to get out onto the streets of Charleston before the early Summer heat began to really become noticeable. This was along so called Rainbow Row in the city's older section.

Chihuly Garden & Glass

This new attraction is an absolute must visit for photographers who are in the Seattle region. There’s just so many opportunities for picture taking both inside the building and in the outside garden. Here’s a particularly iconic shot of Seattle, except that of course before the last year the it might have been difficult to get a good shot of a Chilhuly sculpture and the Space Needle in the same picture!

Colorado Spring

Jane and I flew out to Denver last month to visit with Brad (Jane’s son) and to generally site-see and also catch up with some other relatives and a friend or two who are living in the area. On our very first full day in town Brad drove us up to Red Rocks where I took the following picture.

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And on the following day were drove down to Colorado Spring for a visit to the Garden of the Gods where this next picture was taken.

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It snowed while we were in Colorado and as proof here’s a picture that I took mid-week in Golden

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And getting back to Red Rocks later in the week I was able to get a pretty cool picture of the Amphitheatre

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I’ll finish off this entry with a picture from Boulder where we visited Jane’s sister and her sister and grandson. It was a fun place to spend a sunny day, although my camera did get a little dusty at point point courtesy of a motorbike emitting copious amounts of exhaust and caused us all to hold our breaths. Unfortunately the Sony NEX-6 could not do that but at least I wasn’t caught changing lenses at that time. Anyhow, here’s typical shot in downtown Boulder.

Dreams of Space

During the time Jane and I spent in Florida in late February and we took a trip over from our base in Gainesville to the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. I wasn't sure exactly how much there was to see there, but we managed (quite easily) to fill in a full day although it wasn't all that exhausting. Actually this following photo is one of the small numbers of times that we were on our feet. The rest of the visit was dedicated to watching iMax movies, riding a bus, taking a space shuttle simulator, etc. This is an original Saturn V rocket inside of a special exhibit at the center.

And here's another picture from inside the Vehicle Assembly Building. We were lucky to be able to visit this place since (I gather) when shuttle operations were in full swing, this was a working location and no visiters were allowed.

And then here are a bunch of old rockets.



Gators at Large

I'm not sure if I like the following one or not. It's there lurking in my sister-in-law's front garden in Gainesville Florida.

And then there's a perhaps this more lively example next to Lake Alice although at the moment this specimen is not exactly moving too much.

Kanapaha Botanical Gardens a Return Visit

The Kanapaha Botanical Gardens in Gainesville is a great place for photography and I’d been here once before back when I was taking pictures with my Nikon D70 camera.

Interesting patterns here

A sign showing of Spring.

Jane sheltering from rain in the forest of bamboo

In the Butterfly Rainforest

During our stay in Gainesville Florida a few weeks ago we had the opportunity to visit the Butterfly Rainforest. I've included some pictures that I took while we wandered around looking for difference types of butterflies. It was a fairly simply challenge to get pictures in focus since they didn't move too quickly while feasting!

Some contrasting colors

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Perhaps looking for sustainence

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And now for a blue theme

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Manatee Springs State Park

We got down to this park close to the Swannee River just before lunch - it's a relatively short drive from Gainesville Florida, our early spring base for various travel jaunts this year. Here are some photos of the springs and one of the river itself.

Just a patch of green

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No one on the water today

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Classic view of the springs

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A pleasant day for fishing

Black Point Life Drive Birds

We arrived at a late hour at this location after doing a tour of the Kennedy Space Center. It turned out to actually be good to arrive just before sunset, as the light was great for photography, and the birds were congregating en mass.
I definitely enjoyed the visit to this area and captured some rather nice closeups, as follows:

Jane checking those birds