The muted grays of a rainy morning contrasted with the bright blue sky and puffy clouds as the rain disappears for the day. Arizona winters at their finest.

Cracklin' Fire

We had a truly Arizona winter tradition of marshmallows over the fire pit tonight. I built up a fun size fire and the kids gorged on fat white marshmallows until they were quite ill. After they ran off to expend the sugar energy, I got some peaceful time by the fire to enjoy it's warmth and beauty. I miss fireplaces, but I do not miss cold and snow!

Capturing Cats

These are some picture of my sister Lucy's kitties. They were patient enough to let me shove a big black camera in their faces and try to capture a bit of their souls. Mine won't let me near them with the camera!

Smurf was all into having his picture taken

Socks was a bit hesitant and shy

Catching those wide eyes without a flash on a moving kitty was tricky business

After a couple of shots, she was shooting daggers at me!

I'm still culling through my photos and editing, but here are some of the good ones.

Port of San Francisco as seen from the water.

The "Painted Ladies" juxtaposed with the modern financial district in the background

A common Golden Gate Bridge tourist shot

A Moody Skyline

San Francisco

A few standard tourist shots until I get a chance to load up some more! It's cold and foggy/rainy today, plus we were running around a lot today, so not as many pictures. Tomorrow promises to be a touristy (and rainy) day, it'll be fun to see what I can shoot pictures of.

Golden Gate Bridge taken from Vista Point north of the Bridge.

No lights on the bridge. boo.

But it made for a more dramatic view of the bridge architecture.

Looking at the Bay Bridge and the downtown S.F. skyline.

Another random set from the past few days....

A trip to San Francisco this weekend! Stay tuned!

Reflections

Art installation at the children's museum

Orange glow

and, because I like lights in the darkness

It can be cold in AZ

Two random pictures....

Everyone is complaining about the cold and snow all over the country...blah blah. We have our own winter troubles here in Phoenix. This is frosty grass, leaving work one morning. Can you believe my car window had frozen frost on it?? I had to sit in the parking lot for 10 minutes until the car got warm enough to melt it off. If that's not hardship, I don't know what is! :)

BRRRR, just the memory of that frigid morning made me cold, so here's a close up of some roses (yes, my roses are still blooming) in my warm house that had just been watered to get the aphids off of them. I would call it a dew drop, but I haven't seen any dew in Arizona. So a real rose, with a fake dew drop:

Hummingbird Park

Late post today. And brief...so very tired. Took some pictures this afternoon at our local park where they have a small hummingbird sanctuary. No hummingbirds in residence tonight, but pretty evening and waterfall shots.

Park entrance

A welcoming doorway. I enjoyed the beckoning view framed by the entryway

Waterfall

Side view of the waterfall.

In my sleep deprived eyes, this looks like a muppet

from the Dark Crystal or a lizard head.

Frozen waterfall droplets

Iconic Arizona sunsets

I worked last night and am going back again tonight, so I'm cheating a bit and pulling out some of my favorite sunset pictures taken on our way back from Flagstaff right before Christmas. I told you I wouldn't bore you with too many sunset pictures. yeah...um...I lied. I think sunsets are one of my favorite things. I could take pictures of them forever. :)

PS: Happy Birthday to little brother! I know he checks this blog at least ten times a day. :) Have a great day, Sam!

Fun with the Sun

The sun setting over the prayer garden at church while I was waiting for the kids to finish up their religious ed. classes. I thought the rays of light over a place of reflection was quite symbolic.

As I finished my second ascent up "A" Mountain in Tempe, I was lying on a bench catching my breath when I caught a glimpse of the early morning sun peaking through the mesquite trees at he top of the mountain.

Both pictures were taken with my 5mp Motorola Droid phone. The colors are definitely not as sharp as the Canon, but the phone is good for capturing must have pictures on-the-go and much easier to carry around!

Goodbye Christmas...

...until next year.

Normally, I wait until Epiphany (Jan 6) to take down the Christmas decorations, but I'm working this year on the 5th and 6th, and I think everything will be stale by next weekend. So I took advantage of today's 70 degree temps to open the windows, air out the house and take down the decorations.

So, a bit sad to see the season end; here is my homage to the christmas season.

Christmas lights, with a warm fuzzy feel

Star of Wonder

tree

Noel

Lazy pajama days playing Wii

Cards from friends. How lucky we are to have so many!

We'll miss you Christmas...can't wait until next year!

Once in a Blue Moon

New Years Eve and last night were the nights of a rare Blue Moon. I was working on New Year's Eve, but I was able to go out last night and shoot a few pictures as the moon rose through the trees in the neighborhood. It's tricky to get a good shot of a full moon. It's so bright, that you can't see many details of the moon. And if you decrease the aperture to let in less light, you lose any hope of capturing the moon's surroundings.

These pictures are what I ended up with. These shots would look cooler in October, but if I wait to post them, I'll forget about them. :)

Exposure: 2 sec

Aperture: f/4.5

Focal Length:147mm

ISO Speed: 200

Exposure: 1/10 sec

Aperture: f/5.6

Focal Length:300mm

ISO Speed: 200

Big Sky

Canon EOS Rebel T1i

Exposure 1/60

Aperture: f/5.6

Focal Length: 55mm

ISO Speed: 400

One thing I LOVE about Arizona is the big endless sky and the beautiful, breathtaking sunsets. I saw these clouds on the way home from an outing with the kids. As I pulled into the driveway, the sky was vibrant with color. I parked the car and ran into the house, grabbed my camera and leaped into the backyard and started shooting. Within 2 minutes the colors had faded away completely and the kids had made their own way in from the garage. :)

Canon EOS Rebel T1i

Exposure 1/3200

Aperture: f/8.0

Focal Length: 77mm

ISO Speed: 400

This picture was taken from a nearby park while the kids played on a beautiful evening. There were just enough clouds in the sky for a magnificent 24 karat sunset. I promise not too bore you with too many sunset pictures, but they are some of my favorites!

Welcome to a New Year!

Welcome 2010!

Today's picture: a solitary candle and it's reflection to remind us to keep things simple and where there is light, there is always hope.

One of my resolutions this year is to start and maintain this blog on a daily basis. At least one picture a day. I have no idea what I will be taking pictures of or what I will be writing about, but I'm guessing this blog will be a mix of photos of life, nature or whatever catches my eye that day. Daily accountability and creativity will be a huge challenge for me! Please help keep me on task! Comment freely!

Have a great New Years Day!