Palmer Park Rocks

For Scenic Sunday this week, I'm focusing on some rock formations in Palmer Park, one of the many parks in Colorado Springs.

I love looking up at the spires.

I also love the contrasts of color between the rocks, the sky, and the pine trees.

And when the sun hits them, the rocks themselves can come alive with color.

This is a nice place to walk around in the winter as it's relatively low-altitude, at least for this area. In fact, these shots were taken last December.

Forked Lightning

I can't go too many weeks without posting a lightning shot for Skywatch Friday, so here's one I rather liked.

And there's lots more still to come!

Air Force Football

I was recently at an Air Force Academy football game.

It's always a fun thing to see, even though I'm not particularly interested in watching sports. There are interesting traditions, such as cadets doing push-ups whenever Air Force scores, one per point. In a game like this where we scored over 30 points, that's a lot of push-ups!

And of course military bands and the like are always a pleasure to watch (and photograph).

And that's part of Our World this week, and all the colors make it my entry for PicStory's "color" theme this week!

Newcastle Beach Trail (Bellevue)

Last week for Scenic Sunday I left you at Bellevue's Newcastle Beach Park. This week I'm showing you a nature trail next to that beach. It was typical Western Washington, with lots of green vegetation. It ran near the lake for a while.

After a short distance it turned inland among the trees.

It was typical Western Washington, with lots of green vegetation.

If you end up at the beach, this short trail is well worth exploring.

Mammatus Clouds

Going back to the archives (August of 2004) for this Skywatch Friday photo, here's a shot of some very distinctive mammatus clouds from several years ago, underlit by the sun, taken with a Canon Powershot. I've got lots of interesting shots from that camera, my first digital camera, when I run out of newer photos.

Mirage at Night

For this week's Our World Tuesday entry, I'm going back to Las Vegas for a couple of night shots taken in front of the Mirage.

I liked the upwards illumination of the palm tree on the sidewalk near where I took the above photo.

Newcastle Beach Park (Bellevue)

Newcastle Beach park sits on Lake Washington in Bellevue. Since I don't see many beaches in my part of the world, while my family was shopping I took a short visit there and came back with some photos! I liked the trees that lined the path to the beach.

Although the weather wasn't perfect, I loved the large expanse of water. And the solitude, as the place was empty.

And there was real sand!

Next week I'll show you some photos from a short nature trail next to the beach. But until then, visit Scenic Sunday, where I'm sure you can find more beach photos.

Partly Cloudy Sunset

Here's a Skywatch Friday sunset photo. I liked the colors and patterns in this photo formed by the various types of clouds, taken from the deck on the back of our house,

Vancouver's Olympic Cauldron at Night

Coming up with a yellow post for this week's PicStory meme, as well as for this week's Our World Tuesday post, I'm returning to Vancouver. This time it's the Olympic Cauldron at night. The lights change color, and as best as I can tell the second shot caught it when it was yellow. (I'm not very good with colors so don't blame me if it's not quite yellow, as I have particular trouble with yellow and green.)

Vancouver's Olympic Cauldron

Today's Scenic Sunday post highlights some city scenery, this time in Vancouver. The most recent Winter Olympics were held there, and here are a couple of photos of the Olympic Cauldron, in the downtown area by the waterfront.

Stop by on Monday to see this at night, when it's illuminated very nicely.

Air Force Skies

We went to an Air Force Academy football game on Saturday and I captured this image for Skywatch Friday during the flyover. If you look carefully you can see the flames coming out of the engines!

I've got more photos from the game that I'll post another time.

Dead Tree in Vancouver

This week's PicStory theme is wood. While exploring Stanley Park in Vancouver one afternoon, I found this dead tree, held up from within by a metal framework, and I thought it would be a good wooden example.

To replace My World Tuesday, which was retired after its founder Klaus Peter passed away, Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia, and Sandy have started Our World Tuesday. I intend to be a regular participant here and this is my first post for it.

The Hague Parliament Buildings

For this month's Sunday Scans meme, here are a couple of old photos from when I was growing up in Holland. These were labeled as being the Parliament Buildings in The Hague.

Visit Sunday Scans on the first Sunday of each month and link up with other scanners!

Bellevue Botanic Garden Trees

For Scenic Sunday, here's my last post from the Bellevue Botanic Garden, of some trees. Since I was limiting myself to my 50-mm lens for this whole garden (approximately 75mm equivalent in 35mm film terms) I found it quite a challenge to get some worthwhile upwards-looking tree photos. Nevertheless, I liked the deciduous and evergreen combination in this first shot, despite the dull grey (soon to rain) sky.

And I liked the shape of the primary tree in this second shot.

And that's all from the Bellevue Botanic Garden. But there will be more scenic photos next week! Maybe something closer to where I live. And thanks to Clytie for pointing out the giant heart in the first shot, and linking it to Guest Heart Thursday!