Clouds & Lightning

I really liked the outline of the cloud and the two lightning strikes in this photo I took back in the middle of last August, so in the absence of anything recent it's my Skywatch Friday entry for the week.

I'm frequently asked how I get my lightning shots - go to this post to see my explanation.

Airplanes & Engines

For Our World Tuesday this week, here are the last of the photos from the Wings Over the Rockies museum, here's an airplane!

I took lots of photos of assorted engine-related things.

They even had an X-Wing fighter, smuggled here from the distant future!

And that's the Wings Over the Rockies museum, a good way to spend an afternoon.

Kona Hotel View

Back in 1997 when we were in Hawaii, this was the view from our hotel room just north of Kona. To an Englishman like me, this looks like paradise! (I still remember the tsunami evacuation signs, something I've never seen anywhere I live.)

It's another in my never-ending series of scanned photos.

Stanley Park Beach

Going back to last summer's trip to Vancouver, here are some photos from a beach in the magnificent Stanley Park.

And I think this qualifies for a Scenic Sunday post.

Word Verification Back On

I tried turning the comment word verification off yesterday to see how it would go (I've had people indicate it's causing them trouble). Unfortunately, within a few hours I already had several spam comments, including links to pornographic sites and fake sites to sell assorted products. As a result, I've decided to turn the word verification back on. My blogging time is limited and I don't want to spend it sorting though spam comments. I apologize for the inconvenience, as these spammers really frustrate me and take some of the joy out of blogging. But I really enjoy my real readers' comments so please keep them coming!

Maybe blogger can come up with a better spam filter...

August Sunset

I'm going back to the archives for this Skywatch Friday post, for some photos of an August sunset when I was walking our little dog Socks.

I've turned comment word verification off for now as a lot of people have trouble with the new verification style Blogger is using. I'll see how it goes as in the past I've had lots of spam comments, some with links to unpleasant sites. I don't want to spend effort approving every comment, as my blogging time is very limited.

Airplane Closeups (and a Bomb)

From our visit to the Wings Over the Rockies museum last year, here are some closeups of airplane parts. Here's the light at the end of a wing.

This one speaks for itself.

This looked like something that would measure windspeed.

And I have no idea about this last one, it was on top of a wing.

And finally, here's an atomic bomb (presumably disarmed since it's in a museum).

Okay, that last shot isn't of the bomb (it was behind an engine), but I thought it was appropriate, and it's my entry for Tina's PicStory theme of "Creative." And it's also part of Our World Tuesday.

Kona, Hawaii

Continuing with photographs from a 1997 trip to Hawaii, here is a seaside shot of the pretty town of Kona, scanned from the original print made with my point-and-shoot camera of the time.

Palmer Reservoirs

For this week's Scenic Sunday post, here are some shots of a trail just to the west of the small town of Palmer Lake. It leads up to a pair of reservoirs, and these first shots are of the lower reservoir.

 I like to call this Rhinoceros Rock.

And finally, a few shots from a side-trail that's a longer, prettier way to get between the lower and upper reservoirs than the standard one. Earlier in the year I'd tried to take this trail the whole way and failed, but this time I made it the whole way!

Old Towering Clouds

When digging through some photos from 2004, I came across this late-day photo of towering clouds (taken with my old point-and-shoot digital camera) that I wanted to put up for Skywatch Friday. So here it is!

Ice, Ice

I went out yesterday morning to take some photos in the yard for Our World Tuesday, and also for Tina's PicStory theme of shadows. We've been cold the last week, and an overnight freezing fog had just lifted. This fog left pretty ice petals on everything, and that's what you see here. This is not snow!

These photos had no definition straight out of the camera, so I had to play with various settings and curves in GIMP to get them to show the delicacy of the ice formations. That's rare for me, usually I post my photos without editing them.

Holei Sea Arch (Hawaii)

Continuing with my 1997 Hawaiian vacation, here's the Holei Sea Arch on the big island of Hawaii.

Vancouver Harbor at Dusk

For this week's Scenic Sunday post we're going back to the exact same spot we visited last week, Vancouver Harbor. This time the photos are taken at dusk (all handheld as I didn't have a tripod - it can be done if you've got a fast lens, even with a low-end DSLR like mine). The lights on the hill in the back of this first one is a ski area, although it wasn't operating in the summer.

 Here's the gas station for boats.

You can see the Lion's Gate Bridge lit up in the middle of this one.

And finally, I enjoyed seeing the seaplanes here - that's not something I'll see in my part of the world!

Red Rock, Blue Skies

For the Skywatch Friday meme, here's a photo taken on a hike this past Sunday with Socks in Red Rock Canyon.

It's hard to judge the size of the rock, but notice the fully-grown pine tree in the bottom-left of the photo to get a sense of the scale.

Bellevue Bridge

Tina's PicStory theme this week is "B", so I thought this railroad Bridge in Bellevue (Washington) would be appropriate. And I'm also linking it with Sunday Bridges.

Snow in the Park

Here are some fresh photos (within the last hour) of our recent 11 inch (28 cm) snowfall - first looking at our yard.

But drive a couple of minutes to the local park and then the snow's beauty really comes to life. I don't think anybody will be using this picnic table today!

I saw cross-country skiers and snowshoers - I'd love to do both of those things one of these years.

And of course those incredible Colorado blue skies.

This is the way our weather usually goes around here - brief but sometimes intense storms, but once they move out the blue skies are back. And that's my (early) entry for Our World Tuesday this week.

Hanauma Bay, Hawaii

I plan to make a habit of posting old scanned photos most Saturdays, exploring one holiday trip for several weeks in a row. For this week's old photo, I'm starting on my first trip to Hawaii, taken with my wife back in 1997. This is Hanauma Bay, on the island of Oahu. This, and all the upcoming shots of Hawaii, were taken with a simple point-and-shoot film camera and scanned at home; compared to the ancient scans I've been posting these have held up very well.

Vancouver Harbor

For this week's Scenic Sunday entry, here are some shots of Vancouver's Harbor, right next to downtown and the hotel in which we stayed.

I love the fuel station in the middle of the harbor!