dragon boat festival

Today I went to the Colorado Dragon Boat Race festival at Sloan's Lake in Denver. I have wanted to go for years - I never seem to get around to it. All of a sudden, here it was and I decided to go and take photos. The festival always seems so colorful.

best seat in the house

It wasn't at all what I expected! The whole weekend was rather cloudy and threatened to rain off and on. Expecting lots of color, I was surprised at what I found. For me the beauty was in the sheer physical effort of the crews as they raced to grab the flag at the finish line, the enthusiasm of the spectators and .....the clouds. The color of the boats and the crews was reduced to shapes against the backdrop of spectacular skies. I posted my favorites on flickr.

bringing in Mooo Dragon

peaceful morning after the storm

a new phase - starting over

I am adjusting to being back at home. Two months is a long time to be away. I am going through my photos and savoring all of the adventures. Sitting in an office in front of a computer is a bit of a shock - not to mention the schedule change. I am thoroughly used to a nap in the afternoon.

My first sunrise back home was a little experience in near disaster. Not a disaster of any significant proportions but it shook me up none the less! I drove down to one of my favorite lakes and started to take photos of a deep rich sunrise looking over the lake. It felt SO great to be back at a lake - there are so few in Albuquerque!) But then, the camera wouldn't turn on - YIKES - was my perfect record of daily sunrise photos for almost a year to sink here on my first day back home??? I had left my battery at home - and I wasn't even sure where. I ran to my car and drove home (rather impatiently.) Luckily. I found the battery right away and headed up to Top of the World Park where I captured a gorgeous sunrise disk. Thank goodness I had a few minutes to spare and thank goodness that the sunrises here are often so colorful AND go through so many phases - especially on this morning!

I feel welcome at home. One door closes - another opens.

just for the sake of beauty - a gate I enjoyed seeing as I drove by in Albuquerque

Back Home - buried in photos

Jackson

Tonic

My adventure is over and now is the time to sort and organize my photos from New Mexico. I need to do this quickly because I have people waiting for them.
I will not disappoint them!

Besides work adventure, I had lots of family time and it was good. Besides my family, I got to enjoy their pets.

My Dad's dog Jackson loves to sit in your lap and try to lick you on the mouth. It takes an action-freezing photo to show what an advantage he has!

My sister's cat Tonic is wild - he even sleeps with wild abandon - here tucked in between the top of two fences. I think he likes the tight space and the proximity to the mulberry tree (so full of birds).

tarantula!

Let's see - cicadas, toads, what's next?

He was very polite and allowed me to photograph him without any sudden moves that would have sent me running!

days wind down

I am down to the last 2 days of work here along the Rio Grande doing bird surveys. Although I am tired of the hard work and hours we must keep, I am thoroughly enjoying my last days. The river that I was afraid to cross in May and June is now a pleasure to stroll in - shallow and cool - as we make our way from one end of our site to the other. It sure beats crashing through the Russian olive.

Yesterday, I came upon this Woodhouse toad sitting on a sandbar among some coyote willow. He sat there calmly as I dug through my pack for my camera. He didn't even seem too rattled by my "man-handling." On the other hand, I was thoroughly rattled when I almost stepped on a rattlesnake about one hour earlier. I didn't even consider taking HIS photo - you will just have to use your imagination!

Cidadas - everywhere you look

The woods are full of the sound of cicadas. It is so loud as to be deafening at times. Today, it seems there are cidada shells on every possible surface from the bark of the cottonwood trees to the dead downed branches on the ground.

Everywhere

sunrise after the rain

Summer heat has settled in. Now it seems like the desert that it is. Being on the river early morning is sometimes a break from the desert. But when it heats up, there is no escape. Yesterday there were widely scattered afternoon storms. Some areas got between one and two inches of rain. At my sister’s house we got a couple of sprinkles. At Los Lunas, where we worked today, they must have gotten more. When I got dropped off, the sun was rising over fields covered in fog. All of the plants were dripping in water. Soon I was soaking wet – just another day in the bosque!

One of my favorite parts of each work day is that moment when I break out of the forest and step out onto a sandbar in the river.