Cornfield at sunrise

Chandler and Perkins

Drove to Chandler yesterday for a photo shoot at the Route 66 Interpretive Center in the beautifully restored WPA armory.

Also shot the 1930 Phillips 66 station on Highway 18, being restored to original bright colors. Then to Perkins to locate the WPA outhouse at the Frank Eaton (Pistol Pete) house and found some interesting railroad history objects.

Hiking in the Wichitas

Climbed Elk Mountain this past weekend. Always some nice photo ops. 

New IPhone Photos

Photos from a walk in the neighborhood yesterday

Traveled this week to Baltimore, Maryland to participate in Baldrige Examiner Training and realized I would have some free time on my first afternoon in town, so I thought I would find a dayhike I could do on the Appalachian Trail, which runs through Maryland about an hour west of Baltimore. I rented a car and drove to a trailhead just outside of Greenbrier State Park. This 3-mile hike (each way) would take me to the first Washington Monument, erected in 1827. It was raining lightly as I started out, and the rain persisted for the entire hike, which took me about 2 and a half hours and actually measured a total of 6.4 miles. The last hour and a half the light rain changed to a heavier rain and I was pretty soaked by the time I reached the car. But the hike itself was a great experience. The forest it runs through is lovely, and so much like the Ouachita National Forest with its green-lichen covered boulders, mayapples and ferns and tall deciduous trees. There was considerable elevation change here and there, but nothing too challenging. The only other living thing I saw was a squirrel. So now, I have hiked (on) the Appalachian Trail, ha! Here are a few photos:

Peonies and Hydrangeas

A good day for iPhone photos

Palo Duro Canyon, Texas, April 2013

Trail to the Lighthouse Formation, early morning, Palo Duro Canyon, Texas



Lighthouse Formation, Palo Duro Canyon



Lighthouse Formation, Palo Duro Canyon

My photo of the sign outside the now-closed Eagle Park Amusement Park was featured in the Last Look section of Slice Magazine this month. Took it with my iPhone almost a year ago. http://www.sliceok.com/

Nepal! But first, Alaska!

I am amazed at the blessings! As runner-up in the Backwoods Ultimate Outsider contest, Bill will have all but his airfare to Kathmandu paid for the Backwoods Adventure Trip "Trekking in Nepal." Naturally, I wouldn't let him go without me! That means we will be leaving for Nepal less than 60 days after we return from an epic trip to Alaska. And I am still trying to get our photos organized from our trip to Utah in May and write a story about that trip. I also still have a Haiti story in the works that I need to finish. Perhaps I will get a lot of writing done while Bill is gone to South America this fall. Oh my!

I have several new photos just hung or about to be hung at La Baguette. I am taking a few of these over tomorrow to hang:

Red Rock Canyon, in the Calico Hills

Sunrise, Valley of Fire

Atlatal Rock petroglyphs (Valley of Fire) in blackand white

Atlatal Rock, Valley of Fire, in living color

Red Rock Canyon petroglyphs in black
and white

Redbud in Red Rock Canyon, near petroglyphs

Petroglyphs, Red Rock Canyon

Gnarled cedar in Red Rock Canyon

A lovely evening . . . Bill and I walked to Cool Greens for dinner and had a "Vacation" Salad. Yum!

Attended the Quest for Excellence Conference in Washington, DC this past week. Got home late Wednesday night and still haven't quite recovered! Here are a few photos I took with my iPhone while in Washington.

Scarves at an Indian women's clothing store on Cathedral Ave. in the
Woodley Park area of Washington.

I ran a couple of times along Rock Creek and
Potomac Parkway. One time a white-tailed deer
 bounded out of the woods, across the park and
into the busy street! It was very surprising, hopefully
the deer made it across the street, I couldn't tell
from my vantage point.



I liked these colorful row houses on Calvert Street when our group was
walking to dinner.



We ate Brazilian food at the "Grille from Ipanema.'

After I got home from Washington, D.C., I had a busy two days in the office. Thursday evening I got out for a walk and snapped this photo of a beautiful sunset.

We got to have dinner with Mark, Jessica and Sophia at the Mont this evening. They had just returned from a family camp weekend in northeastern Oklahoma.

Very Oklahoma

Bill in the Calico Hills, Red Rock Canyon, NV

We returned this afternoon from a trip to Nevada where we were blessed to do some hiking in between meetings at a conference I was attending in Las Vegas. We visited both Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire during our trip. It was a great time to be in the beautiful deserts of Nevada, with temperatures relatively cool. We took several hundred photos and will post our Phanfare library of those (or at least SOME of them) this weekend. Flying home today, we heard there were thunderstorms in Oklahoma and after we landed at Will Rogers, we learned there was large hail in Norman, along with a tornado warning. What a greeting! In fact a tornado did hit Norman, with considerable property damage. Certainly made us feel right at home, very quickly . . . .
Having been in the desert all week the lush green of home was very striking. The garden in our back yard was awash in a sea of pale yellow iris. A lovely sight.

Iris bud in our garden between rains