Happy New Year!

Here's wishing all my readers a happy 2015. It's been cold and snowy at my house the last few days (it was -13 °F or -25 °C last night), so here's an appropriate photo of Garden of the Gods from earlier this year.

Skywatch Friday

Rugged California Coast

Blue Monday

Our World Tuesday

Merry Christmas

Photos taken at Union Station, Kansas City, Missouri.

Missouri Botanical Garden at Night

When we were in St. Louis recently we visited the Missouri Botanical Garden at night, as it was decorated for the holidays. I was very happy to have the new camera so I could take some shots in this low light, and was very impressed with the gardens.

Every path had something new to see.

I loved this forest of blue.

Crouching down I captured this photo through the fire towards the Climatron dome.

There's even a great Dale Chihuly glass sculpture in the main entrance.

Our World Tuesday

Pikes Peak, 1993

Vintage Weekly

More Old Lightning Photos

These have been sitting in my to-post folder since July of 2013!

Skywatch Friday

Holiday Shopping

From our Thanksgiving trip to the middle of the country, here's a famous shopping area in Kansas City (Missouri) called Country Club Plaza all decorated for the holidays (and one shot a mile or so from there).

Our World Tuesday

San Fran Seals

I loved the seals near Fisherman's Wharf when we were in San Francisco last year.

Camera Critters

Saturday's Critters

The Arch

(In St. Louis, Missouri)

 (Skywatch Friday)

Mission Dolores Interior

Continuing from last week's post, here is the interior of Mission Dolores in San Francisco.

Inspired Sunday

Our World Tuesday

Baler

For the Vintage Weekly meme, here's a 1977 photo of a machine that makes bales of hay, in the English countryside.

Mighty Mississippi

This week's Skywatch Friday photo is from the banks of the Mississippi River in St. Louis, where we were for a couple of days last week. The skies were mostly grey but the sun broke through before we went up the famous Arch.

Mission Dolores

Mission San Francisco de Asís, more commonly known as Mission Dolores, is the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco - the original building in the foreground of this photo was dedicated in 1791.

The larger structure shown here was completed in 1918.

It includes a graveyard.

Lovely artwork can be seen.

Next weekend I'll show you some photos from inside the basilica. Please visit Inspired Sunday for more photos on this theme, and Our World Tuesday for assorted shots from around the world.

Golden Gate Skies

For Skywatch Friday, here are a couple more shots from the Golden Gate Bridge from a 2013 trip.

These blue San Francisco skies were wonderful!

I'll be taking a short blogging break to spend time with family over Thanksgiving - I'll start posting again after the long holiday weekend!

Golden Gate Bridge

From a trip to San Francisco a year ago, here are some shots of the famous Golden Gate Bridge.

It spans a lot of water - this is very obvious when walking on it.

And it carries a lot of traffic, although not on this day.

Finally, here's a view from the bridge towards Horseshoe Bay.

Our World Tuesday

Laika's Winter Coat

On Sunday afternoon we were above 61° F (16° C). By Tuesday night temperatures dropped below -3° F (-19.4° C), and Wednesday night was -11° F (-24° C) - that's a 72° F (40° C) drop in a couple of days. The cold doesn't bother little Socks as he's got a thick coat, although he still can't stay out too long because it hurts his paws. But Laika's fur is very short, so it's time for her to start wearing her new winter coat when we take her out.

It's easy to put on with Velcro fasteners. Isn't she fashionable? I didn't know how she'd react to it, but it doesn't bother her at all.

Camera Critters

B-52 at Night

Here are some more night photos from the United States Air Force Academy this weekend, showing scenes more commonly photographed in daylight - this time it's the B-52 bomber.

It's a real B-52 that flew many combat missions, now mounted for an impressive display.

I liked the moon behind the plane in that last shot. It was also the highest ISO I used, 12,800.

Skywatch Friday

Air Force Academy Chapel at Night

Since my new camera is suppose to take good photos in low light, I went to the United States Air Force Academy yesterday evening to try some photos of the famous Cadet Chapel. I was very pleased with the results - my old camera wouldn't have worked without a tripod, and even then it would have had trouble with the exposures and autofocus.

All these photos are handheld, and it was much dimmer than the photos appear. The camera was pulling out details I couldn't see with my eyes.

This one is taken at the bottom of the previous one, at right angles.

This is the front of the chapel - I thought it looked almost like a landing strip, appropriate for the location.

And finally, here's the other side of the chapel, which wasn't illuminated - I was astonished that I could get a hand-held photo here at all. A couple of stars showed up and the autofocus was even able to lock on. This one's grainier because I had to push the low-light performance almost to its maximum.

Inspired Sunday

Our World Tuesday