Another Orchid

Although this isn't an orchid, it sure does look like one.

Glen Avon Falls, Beaver River

Taken last Wednesday on our way home from Duluth. We took a short detour off Highway 61 and headed up to Glen Avon Falls on the Beaver River. This was only my second time visiting this location, and I can't wait to go back and see it when the water is higher. It is a spectacular section of the river with lots of photographic possibilities.





























I had a lot of fun with my 100-400mm lens taking shot after shot of this particular spot in the river. It was at the bottom of one of the many cascades that make up Glen Avon Falls. Each shot was so different from the one before, amazing how infinite the patterns of water can be when you freeze the action like this!

Xtreme Wheels Century

No, I did not ride the 100+ miles today. But I was up bright and early to take some photos. A good turn out, great weather. Hope every had a good ride.
After the Century Ride start, I took my normal Sunday Morning Ride with Dennis. Was a gorgeous day - Was in the mid 70s and no the light wind. We got stuck by a train - waiting about 20 minutes. Made it was a long ride. The rest kind of rejuvenated me.
After the ride, I headed home to process the photos. Left a CD at the bike shop.
Backing up a couple days, we had a good Friday Night Ride at Lake Manawa. The trail was in mostly dry (just some slick/soft/muddy spots). The sunset is starting to cutting into our riding time.

Snow and Icicles and Pizza and More!

Help! We don't even know where to begin, except to woof that we all had the most awesome time in the snow! It was Avalon's first Christmas, first New Year's (of course!) and first snow; both of us were enchanted by all of the festivities and miraculous acts of nature! While we did a lot of trail running with our peeps and also a cool hoo-guy, who took us on super walks through the snowy woods, our peeps went skiing on some days. Above is a picture of Lake Tahoe from the chairlift.
Here we are at lunchtime, trying our best to score some delish snacks! Don't we do a good job of beggin'? Later, we got yumzers Pizza - woo hoo - was it good!
This is the backyard of the house we stayed in - I've played in snow before, but have never seen so much! We loved our house - there were so many icicles hanging down - Mom said it made the place look charming - like a glittery old European postcard, whatever that means!
Here's Avalon tending to her investigations - of what... I couldn't woof.
Tandem investigating... and below, a longish photoshow - please biggify for best viewing!

The Truckee River with snow-laden pine trees lining the banks.
This is a picture of Percy, who owns the house where we stayed. This was such a cool place - everywhere we looked, there were photos of goldens; there was a deck of cards in the shape of a bone, a huuuge basket full of dog toys for us to play with, an emergency dog medicine kit in the front hall and towels to wipe ourselves dry when we finally came in from the snow! One of the coolest ideas he had was to provide tags for us to wear that had our Tahoe address on them - how pawesome is that? Percy laid it all out for us and we are furry grateful! Hands down, it was the best place for dogs and kids! If you want to see photos, you can go here - and that image of Percy, above, is by Keoki Flagg, who is pretty famous - out here, at least. Check out his site here. And lastly, we are furry proud of our former-ski-instructor Dad (years ago) - he still cuts quite the carvy turns. We'll leave you with this movie - he's the last one comin' down the hill in the white jacket!

Tea Olive Beauty

I confess that I bought my tea olive bush because I liked its name. Little did I know that it would grow so big or smell so good. It smells like an orange tree or something mighty similar. It's blossoms are tiny yellow flowers that all fall off the same day and make this lovely, mass profusion of petals.
I wonder why it's named Tea Olive? And does it only grow in the South? I've never seen one anywhere else. Does anyone know the history of this plant? Do you have one?

Goo to you

Big spring rains = orange goo.

This year we had an overabundance of the Cedar-quince rust (gooey bits seen here) and not so much Cedar-apple rust (noodly orange meatballs).

Sporulation, my new favorite word.
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These photos are really from about 3 weeks ago - I forgot to post them earlier. I have been forgetting a lot of things lately.

Know What You Want

I found a great article on a blog called Helen Jane. Here's the link:http://helenjane.com/../05/23/know-what-you-want/">
I made a list of what I DON'T want. :
THINGS I DON'T WANT IN MY LIFE
IN GENERAL
1. Negative people and/or people telling me I can't do something
2. Frantic activities
3. No margins
4. Being gone from home too much
5. No time for creativity
6. Being overweight
7. Sickness/Weakness
8. Spending too much time on minutia
9. Spreading myself too thin in time and/or relationships
10. Ungratefulness
What do I WANT in my life? The opposite of the above plus some.