THE DUST WILL WAIT

  When I came around the corner at dusk to see this stranger on the fence, the sight stole my breath.   So, I grabbed my cell phone and stole their moment.  Tit for tat. Yes, another February with lots of cold and snow.  

Gattina, Writers Cramps, has asked her regular readers to:   post pictures which are not at all like you had wanted and describe how it happened.    She is calling it The Muffed Target. Many of you have read about our "elevator" experience at Hoover Dam.  Right after we were "freed" I snapped a few photos in the diversion tunnel.  When my husband was downloading them to his laptop later that night he began to laugh.  I looked over his shoulder to see the following. I have no idea what  I was doing with my camera. From the looks of it I wasn't the only one still a bit freaked.  Forgive me dear lady, whoever you are.

We've been on a road trip for two weeks.  Last night we drove I-84 over Cabbage Hill (Blue Mountains) and stopped to look at the last 45 minutes of road to home. It was our welcome quilt. There is no place like home.

Last week the flowering shrubs and trees were at their zenith.  Today I captured our neighbors two dogwoods in a moment of brilliant sunshine.  The beams stole my perfect focus, but sure felt nice on my back. The blooms stubbornly hang on to their colors in spite of the wind and rain.   I’m too lazy to look up the names of these early spring bloomers.  I wish the whole flower bed was covered with them. (UPDATE:  Leopard Bane) I thought this little wonder was called a Jerusalem Lily.  Apparently, when we tore up our lawn four years ago, some bulbs went with dirt across the street to Bill’s small orchard.  They have multiplied in the absence of care, and the little happy white faces smile everywhere under his walnut trees. (UPDATE:  Star of Bethlehem above) Shhhhh….a baby fern, tended gently by the older fronds.   I wonder, is there...

Christmas Eve Morning we find ourselves once more in Portland, Oregon at our youngest daughter's house where I am using her strange little lap top.  The keyboard is made for miniature fingers and some of the buttons can do strange and improbable tasks.  If only one could make me 36 once more. I slept (not) to the stereo qualitity of two snoring men.  It is a small apartment and the things that happen in the apartment upstairs are no secret either.  Even Curlymop, the 5 year old granddaughter, was awake until 11 p.m. as the result of sipping someone's Thai Tea.  That could have been part of my wakeful problem, too.  I actually blamed it on the salad;  I crashed and burned on a whole chili that I misidentified as a dark peanut. When I did nod away, I dreamed that I didn't get any Christmas Cards.  That has been on my mind because I didn't send any this year, or for several years past.  It has to be very much like blogging.  If yo...

Nicole B . is hosting another scavenger hunt. I just love photo memes. Especially the ones with a challenge. Most of these photographs were taken since the first of May. A few had to be pulled from my archives in order for me to make the deadline and get on the road. Yes, I'm leaving in the morning and will be out of touch for awhile. So here's the list. Done at last! 1) A Souvenir . Our daughters celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary with a surprise Hawaiian luau in the back yard. That's my lei - I couldn't throw it away. 2) A Fish . "Blub Blub" and his pal were so happy in our pond. When we saw babies, we realized that happy wasn't the half of it. 3) A Religious Building . A repeat from three years ago. Yes, I've been blogging religiously for three years. June 11, 2006. Happy Blogiversary to me. 4) A Fire Department. Reminds me of those days when my husband was fighting fires and saving lives. That was years before the doors were ...

Carmi, at Written Inc, chose "Transparent" as this weeks Thematic Photograph challenge. He asks: "Why transparent?" Because we often see more when we see through something. We often see something different than we initially exp ected. We're often surpri sed. Pleasantly, even. And we all need a little more pleasant, right? Some months ago as WR and I ate lunch at a small vegan cafe in the valley, we sat next to an old 50's style block window. I could not take my eyes off the view that it multiplied for me. I thought out loud to my husband, "This must be what a spider sees!" Carmi's topic made me think of that day and the fact that I always carry my point and shoot camera in my purse. Sure enough, a search of my files revealed this transparent Spider's View of the World! There are others who explored the theme with Carmi this week. Make sure you get your "eyes" over there to look through them.

Lisa is playing a scavenger hunt hosted by Nicole B I'm not invited so I'm tagging along anyway. It's Nicole's first scavenger hunt, and I hope she doesn't mind. Because I'm leaving town until the end of the week, I don't have time to search for new ideas. Instead, I did exactly what she said not to. I went into my file archives. Here are the 25 things for which participants are to search. I may get some pictures for the ones I missed. Her hunt is open until March 15. Go over there and check it out!! 1) local currency (If you're a pirate) 2) local flag (My mom called them that!) 3) local food (Annual Corn Roast @ Charles) 4) something rusty (Bridge over wa ter skippers) 5) local wildlife (never seen one. Hope to- snort!) 6) local nature (love walking) 7) local stamp (Well, I "done-near stamped him good.") 8) part of your neighborhood (chitchatting) 9) traditional house (In original section of town.) 10) a local person (Sop...