Big sky after sunset

Lonesome dove

All squared up perspective in a rectangle

Convention Center

Square in the middle in the alley

Under the bridge

Through the wire

Off to the Rail Yards we go

Memorial Day

I walked out to the Rio Grande a 14:25. The weather was partly cloudy and about 80º F.

Clouds were starting to build up in the western sky at 14:26

I walked south about a mile and then back to the Rio Grande at an hour later and the clouds were building up over the Sandias.

There were thick, dark clouds and thunder in the western sky at 15:20.

I got back to the house at 15:30 and it started raining hard at 15:39.

The wind blew hard, bending the bamboo over.

The storm blew over, the skies started clearing by 17:30, and we had grilled steak, potatoes and asparagus to celebrate our 35th Anniversary and Memorial day at 18:15.

The clouds were really breaking up by 17:24 and the temperature had dropped to 60º F.

We went out for a walk after dinner and the wind had broken a huge branch of the neighbor's cottonwood tree.

About 30 minutes before sunset the western sky was almost clear.

At 18:16, about 5 minutes after sunset, only a few clouds floated over the Sandias, there was no wind and the, and the temperature was cool.

I'm not sure the beaver could see us, but he seemed to hear us talking.

I was talking to a couple who live two properties south of us who were walking on the ditch bank this evening. The sun had been down about 20 minutes, so it was pretty dark, but I noticed a little movement on the bank across the clear ditch from where we were standing. I asked the couple if they could see the beaver on the bank. The woman said she could see it, but the man was having a difficult time seeing it. I set my ISO up to 3200, focused the best I could on the beaver, and snapped a couple of shots. The couple asked if there was enough light to photograph the beaver. I said, just barely, and showed them the images on the screen. They were amazed that I could get such clear photos out of the darkness, but I explained that while the images looked clear on the camera's little screen, they might not be very clear on the computer. About half of the shots were relatively clear, and these three are the best of the set. It was nice to get photos of the beaver out of the water.

Despite our blabbering on about him, he foraged around a little in the grass on the bank.

Not too sure about us standing above him talking, he got back in the water. He swam around a little, got back out onto the bank, and then got back into the water. All those shots were marginal.

Rosencrantz

kitties like living and sleeping on the edge of things. The only kitty I did not get a photo of on the edge of anything is Loki.

Sasha

Spunk

Silver

Najar

Spunk

Marble

Lola on the edge of a Armani perfume page out of Laurie's Vogue.

She rolled in the perfume on the paper, and smelled like perfume all night.

When I saw the graffiti on the lower edge of the fence a couple of things came to mind. Earlier in the month I was switching between radio stations while driving to work, and came on a morning show where a parent was talking about an after school program his kids were in that put on an opera which included a finale where wolves, who were the bad guys, killed President Trump for building a wall. The parent said that a 7 year old girl was interviewed after the opera and explained that Trump and the wolves were both bad guys, but the wolves became good guys after they killed Trump. He said the girl’s mother was proud of her daughter’s interview. When I heard the story, I thought how sad that a 7 year old would be brought up to think that it’s not only acceptable, but good to kill a person who does not hold the same political views as her mother. But sadly, that is the state of many households in American today, and home is where the hatred is.

I also thought about our dancing days in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s when we often had dance practice sessions and dance parties where Spanish speakers from all over the world, Italians, Brazilians, and Japanese and people from the Middle East and Africa would show up. There were artists, dancers, students, musicians, professionals, laborers, and educators all with varying political, sexual and religious affiliations and orientations.  We came together to dance and listen to music, but we discussed politics, religion, race and sexual preferences along with music and dance, and everyone managed to be civil and everyone got along. 

Our daughter, Tristan, grew up in an environment full of people from different cultures, with different skin colors, who spoke different languages, and held a wide range of views on life, politics, religion and morality that were as different from one another as their languages and skin colors, and very different from ours, as well. I don’t believe Tristan could have comprehended the thought of killing a person whose political views were not the same as ours. But sadly those days are gone, and the words spray painted on the bottom of that fence are a terrible reminder of the world in which we live. Maybe someday when people can lay their hating aside, and begin to tolerate one another, someone will paint over it.

Fire after sunset

Starting to burn

Closer view of pink water and fiery sky

The river's down. I can stand by the tree again. The water was up to where the soil gets lighter.

Last of the fire

I believe these are Cattle Egrets that were flying high hover head.

Four locomotives pulling one passenger car

Gloves holding up a shovel

Sandias through the looking glass lightly

Pull my finger

Rock 'n Roll

While on our evening walk along the river, I spied this pair of Great Horned Owls sitting high in a cottonwood.

The larger owl on the left (I assume the female) turned around and looked back at me before taking flight.

By the time she flew out of the trees where I could get a clear shot of her, she was almost over Laurie. Owls are silent in flight, so she flew over Laurie without notice.

I walked around the other side of where the male was perched and got a good shot of how well his feathers blend in with the cottonwood's bark.

He turned around to see what I was up to, and gave me a sideways glance.

So I moved around and got a sideways shot of him.

I was waiting to see if he would fly, but he was content on staying perched and looking demure.

Bullfrog peeking out at me through the moss and algae.

Billy Momo Released a new video today, Following Me Following You, which is a wonderful song and video.

Bullfrog sunning himself on the moss and algae in the middle of the clearwater ditch.

This bullfrog was really blending into the moss and algae. 

Very green bullfrog half buried in mostly red algae.

Bullfrog pressing himself into the moss and algae, but not very well camouflaged.