These are the Friday photos posted in 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025. Please note all photos may be viewed larger by opening in a new tab (right-click)

 

December 5, 2025. 

I eventually processed several photos from this corridor, at Labrang Monastery in China, the "Pilgrim's Way." If I remember correctly, it's about two kilometers of solid prayer wheels. "Pilgrims" walk it turning each prayer wheel, often chanting mantras. It's a very personal, intimate form of spirituality -- just you, your own heart, and the prayer wheels in your hands. 

*12.05.2025*

 

November 14, 2025.  I have very rarely seen giraffes sitting down. If ever. I'm quite sure in any case these are the only photos I've taken of them in this vulnerable position. Should a predator suddenly appear, they are not particularly quick to get up to run or fight back (their kicks can be brutal, even fatal, to a lion). These two were lounging in the Mahango Core Area in northeastern Namibia.

*11.14.2025*

 

October 24, 2025. Just visible from the road, we walked down to check out this cool old ruin outside Victor, Colorado, earlier this year. Another area that had a gold boom in the 19th century, and is now littered with the abandoned mine buildings. These are of a much larger scale than around our house in Nederland. I'm putting together several articles on the Victor area, so stay tuned!

*10.24.2025*

 

September 5, 2025.  So there we were meandering through the forest on our summer off-road adventures in our 'hood and we came across this! It is certainly one of the least expected things we've ever run across. I first saw an old cabin and was poking around it when Erik yelled to me impatiently, "You've got to come see this!" Inside was merely an old compressor thingy (technical jargon). Clearly it has been parked for some time, as the forest is growing up all around it.  So this year has been slim on blog posts including Friday Photos, as I've been recovering from one surgery, and heading into another in a few days that will render me unlikely to update for another few weeks. But remember you can follow me on Facebook and scroll back through a lot more photos I've posted there. 

*09.05.2025*

 

August 15, 2025. Pikas! The pika is a tiny critter related to rabbits that inhabits very high altitudes in the Rocky Mountains ... mostly above tree line. The live in rock falls and do not hibernate, but rather spend all summer and fall manically gathering grasses and flowers to stash in their homes deep in the crevices of the rock falls. It is one of my favorite past times to watch them scamper around. 

*08.15.2025*

 

August 1, 2025. After a couple weeks the carcass from July 11 post was nearly gone. Over that time it become broken apart and scattered across the field, I only saw a few isolated vertebrae left. But during that time the wildflowers explode into carpets of blooms, particularly the lupines. Here a few shots from Caribou taken in the last couple weeks.

*08.01.2025*

 

July 11, 2025. Another unusual find this summer -- the complete spine of a moose carcass. The predators and scavengers certainly did a thorough job of removing everything else. 

*07.11.2025*

 

July 4, 2025. Hmm a holiday on Friday ... seems like I should post something from my home turf on the day that commemorates the founding of my country. Here is a photo I snapped a few weeks ago on a trail that begins roughly half an hour from my house, outside the city ("city" ... really more of a town population-wise) of Blackhawk, Colorado. A sight that is pretty uncommon around here -- an old waterwheel. The creek runs quite a ways below it in the valley, so I'm not sure if at one point the creek had been diverted, or if once the wheel was no longer operational it was hauled uphill to decay. Most of our local non-structural ruins are metal mining equipment, so a wooden water wheel was a surprise to find. 

*07.04.2025*

 

June 13, 2025.  A post on Facebook yesterday, from Neil deGrasse Tyson's page, about shoebill storks really made me laugh ... it's funny because it's true: "The shoebill stork isn’t graceful. It’s terrifying. Standing nearly 5 feet tall with a prehistoric bill and an expression carved from dusk, this bird doesn’t stalk prey — it judges it into stillness." Ha! So I went back to my photos from Uganda and processed this pic that pretty accurately reflects the text of that post. There was a shoebill at the UWEC while I volunteered there. They are super sinister creatures in spite of their intriguing beauty. A couple zoo keepers had been seriously injured by the shoebill at the UWEC. I think they are as scary as ostriches, though some websites will claim they're totally docile toward humans. The injured people will beg to differ. I actually loved walking by its enclosure, though, because it was a marsh full of frogs and weavers, and walking by at night, it was deafening with the sounds of insects and frogs. 

*06.13.2025* 

 

March 28, 2025. Well I've been traveling for a lot of the first quarter of 2025. And otherwise swamped at home, so it's been a while since I've logged into my travel blog! These photos will win no awards for technical merit ... I only had my 100 mm macro lens with me at the time I encountered these flamingos -- really not an appropriate lens, as these birds were very far away from me. But I caught a few moments of their lives, nonetheless. This is a little drama of two birds. Looks to me like a couple was hanging out then had a little quarrel, a little chase, and then a little making up. haha Photos highly cropped in. 

  *03.28.2025*

 

January 10, 2025.  With winter in full swing here in Colorado and below-zero temperatures forecast at the end of the upcoming week, now is when I like to sort through my flower photos from the summer! Here's a little compendium of tundra flowers. I took these right around summer solstice. Although for many regions that signals the height of summer, for us, it is barely the beginning. The tundra flowers are actually some of the first to bloom. These tiny things grow on exposed rocky ground at high altitude, above 10,000 feet. They are so small and interesting, it's surprising what an amazing garden nature cultivates in such a harsh climate. We got to these with our trusty 4Runner with whom you are likely familiar by now, Chewie. I included my happy hour beer in the last photo for a sense of scale. 

*01.10.2025*

 

12.20.2024. Now, most penguins I would happily encounter anywhere anytime. As long as I don't have any rocks for them to steal for their nests, they seem quite amicable. Except this guy. He looks like an angry mob boss. Taken at Brown Bluff on our way sailing to Antarctica. 

*12.20.2024*

 

12.06.2024. Little vervet monkey in a field with its mom (leaning against her back). They're pilfering little rascals around humans. I've learned tricks that usually allow me to keep my food to myself, but if they break through my defences and snatch something, they're just so dang cute, I have a hard time getting too upset. But it's certainly more rewarding to see them in their own space enjoying more appropriate monkey food. Their little furry hands ... they kill me! This from Uganda. 

*12.06.2024*

 

11.08.2024. Probably my favorite find of our summer explorations was this old chest with cool latches, the leather having nearly rotted away. It's quite large and I sure would love to know what was once in it when it was hauled into the deep woods to work a small-scale mine in Colorado. I've never run across anything quite so intriguing in all the ruins we've explored in my 'hood. I can't help but think of a pirate's chest. I think it was quite fancy for the day and location considering who the miners tended to be. 

*11.08.2024*

 

10.04.2024. Autumn in the Colorado Rockies. 

 *10.04.2024*

 

09.20.2024. A road to nowhere. Technically a track to nowhere ... or so it seems. This is a common site in the old gold and silver mining regions of Colorado. Mining cart tracks lead into abandoned mines that have since been collapsed and filled in (for safety reasons). They run into a solid mountain, and often the mill or ore bin they once led into has since collapsed, so the tracks seem to end at "nowhere." The iron tracks are often some of the last remnants of a mining site to be reclaimed by nature. But you can see here, it does inevitably happen, however slowly. You can see the wooden ties near the bottom of the frame being digested by moss and the creek. Anchor Mine, Boulder County.

*09.20.2024*

 

08.30.2024. Long Lake is one of my favorites in Brainard Lake Recreation Area at the northwestern edge of Boulder County, my home turf in Colorado. It has one of the most outstanding wildflower meadows, but it's also great for me because of the super easy terrain. Some reflections on the lake from this summer. Leads to reflections on life, no? :-) 

*08.30.2024*

 

08.09.2024. "The Witch's Hat, " an old mining mill tucked into the mountains along a 4x4 trail in Colorado. We keep tabs on it from year to year, knowing one day we'll come back to find a pile of logs. This last winter it survived a four-foot snow storm. A little more ragged this summer, but still hanging in there. 

*08.09.2024*

 

07.26.2024.  Well, it's wildflower season in Colorado's Rocky Mountains. Can I help myself from posting a wildflower bonanza of pics the next couple months? Probably not. The blue columbine is our state flower and we found a profusion of them this year blooming silently whether or not any of us people come along to revel in their beauty. 

*07.26.2024*

 

07.12.2024.  An old sweet cabin nestled in the woods. One of many we run across exploring the maze of Forest Service roads in Gilpin County, Colorado. I think this one is particularly picturesque tucked away in the trees. As there are sadly too many people who engage in unfathomable behavior of wanton destruction and defacing of the treasures in our woods, I always keep GPS coordinates out of the meta data on my photos. Hopefully this one will remained unnoticed by anyone else in its quiet little paradise. 

*07.12.2024*

 

06.28.2024.  Alberta Falls in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Late June in maximum snow melt season. The high country had a lot of snow this spring, and the water is raging! Just a cell phone pic but I think it captures the feeling.

*06.28.2024*

 

05.24.2024.  I recently visited the New York Public Library main branch on 5th Avenue in Manhattan. I've never been to a library where people are queuing up all the way down the front steps, which are rather long and grand, waiting for a library to open, haha. But wow, it's quite a place. I was in the queue because I was taking a private tour that started at opening time. A beautiful building with a lot of interesting things about it and its collections. Perhaps I'll get a wee article or Tuesday Tale put together. 

*05.24.2024*

 

05.10.2024. Peacocks really are stunning birds. Watching this guy open up and close down his enormous spread of feathers several times was fascinating and really quite magical, in Garvan Gardens, Hot Springs, AR. I can't even imagine how thrilling it would be to come across one in the wild. Such opulent creatures, like something out of a dream. Unfortunately I didn't have a real camera on me, these are just phone pics, but they can still give a feeling for this bird's majesty. 

*05.10.2024*

 

04.19.2024. If I lived in a warm climate I would be sure to have a koi pond! Garvan Gardens in Hot Springs, Arkansas. A large pond with just a few very large koi ... it gave me the feeling they were predators lurking through the water adeptly gobbling up smaller fish. Don't they look kind of shark-ish approaching in the water? haha

*04.19.2024*

 

03.15.2024. Watching the birds milling around the shore at Playa Linda in Ixtapa, Mexico, was an amusing activity one day. These double crested cormorants seemed particularly anthropomorphic in their "poses." The top bird looks to me like he is in a very happy mood, I really can't explain why, but I imagine he is smiling and whistling a tune as he's heading to the water. The bottom bird looks to me exactly like a conductor. I'm not sure who exactly is in the orchestra -- maybe fish in the water? Other birds farther out? The water itself coming in gentle waves? In any case he seems very serious about it and I'm sure it's a musical masterpiece whatever he's conducting. 

*03.15.2024*

 

03.01.2024. The vast Etosha salt pan in northern Namibia covers an area of 4,700 square kilometers. Along the edges wildlife can thrive. The lone giraffe in the distance seems rather epic to me in its solitary journey. It might be a little hard to pick out the animals in the scene, but in addition to the giraffe there are orxy, springbok, jackals, and vultures feasting on a carcass. Just outside the frame, several ostriches are pecking at the ground. The chalky blue sky is typical of Etosha but there were also storm clouds gathering making it even darker -- a nice contrast to the white ground. I suggest right-clicking to open this one in a new tab and view at larger size. 

*03.01.2024*

 

2.16.2024.  This egret struck me as a little poetic, a lone sentinel gazing into the ocean. Rather reflective of myself, a habitual gazer. On the beach at Ixtapa, Mexico.

*02.16.2024*

 

2.02.2024. Two elephants in lockstep, heading toward a water hole in Etosha National Park, Namibia. Even their trunks are the same shape. It's like the little guy is the shadow of the older one. 

*02.02.2024*

 

1.26.2024. I watched an intense lightning storm in Namibia recently. I was sitting on the shore of the Okavango River in Namibia watching the storm hit on the other side of the river in Angola. It lasted for a couple hours. I managed to capture some of the lightning just with my phone camera -- it's an old and slow camera, so considering how many shots I got with such poor equipment, you can imagine how prolonged the lightning flashes were for the phone to be able to pick them up. It rumbled thunder the whole while, but over on my side of the river we barely got more than a few drops of rain. I got at least 20 shots with lightning bolts in them; these are a couple of my favorites. 

*01.26.2024*

 

1.12.2024. Well, who's in the mood for a baby elephant? This is for you. Okaukuejo water hole in Etosha National Park, Namibia. October 2023. 

*

 

1.05.2024. Oryx, also commonly called gemsbok, are one of my very favorite antelope species in Africa. This is the first baby oryx I've seen. Or maybe not quite a baby, but the youngest one I've seen, anyway. A little tough to photograph from quite far away, but I think you can gather the degree of its cuteness. 

*01.05.2023*

 

12.29.2023. So this is the water hole at Okaukuejo Camp inside Etosha National Park in Namibia. We were staying in a primo chalet here, almost as close to the water hole as you could stay in a chalet. At night I walked out to the benches at the lit-up water hole barefoot in my pajamas with a mug of amarula. But this afternoon we had returned from a drive and I popped over to the water hole to see if anything was going on, and this herd of elephants was all in the water splashing around and having a grand time. I only had my zoom lens and cell phone on me, and I grabbed a couple short videos of the elephants in the water, then I decided this would be a perfect time to be able to use my wide angle lens I'd brought with me to capture the entire water hole with everyone in it. The elephants were so engaged with the water, I presumed they'd be there for quite some time. Even so, I did not saunter back to my chalet; I speed-walked with excitement back to my chalet, grabbed the camera with that lens and speed-walked back. And this here below is what I saw. The elephants had all gotten out!! In that tiny amount of time. Like some bugle had called them back into the woods. I was stunned. I really couldn't believe it. But that's the way my luck goes these days. Sigh. Well, at least I saw them for a moment in the water, and this photo I got of them exiting actually amuses me with the different lines of the animals -- the elephants leaving, the zebras approaching, and the springboks drinking. And another faint line of zebras in the background facing a different direction than everybody else. 

*12.29.2023*

 

12.22.2023.  From a popular water hole at Etosha National Park, Namibia. I liked the different poses of the giraffes -- all relatively small ones. The exposure was super tough in harsh midday sun that both bleached out and made funky the colors. When that happens and I can't fix it, I usually try converting to black and white. And so I did, and then for hoots I tried reversing the color gradient so it's more like a film negative. I like how the patterns on the giraffes turned out in the reverse. Fun with Photoshop ... my extraordinarily ancient version of it. 

*12.22.2023*

 

12.15.2023. Rock rabbits! What funny little critters. I think more formally known as a rock hyrax. And informally referred to as dassies. They look like rodents, right? But the don't belong to the rodentia family. They are more closely related to elephants and manatees. They live in colonies and love to sunbathe on the rocks. These guys were at the Hardap Dam outside of Mariental in Namibia. 

*12.15.2023*

 

12.1.2023. Kudu are probably my favorite of the African antelope species. Well, I should say of the ones I'm familiar with, anyway. While I've encountered quite a list of them over the years, this is a huge category of animals! This is a male and a female we managed to glimpse through thick bushes along the road in Etosha National Park a couple months ago. 

*12.01.2023*

 

11.17.2023. Young male elephants tussling. The Okaukuejo water hole in Etosha National Park is a great place to watch wildlife up close and you don't even have to be cooped up in your vehicle. There are benches placed around the hole, even a little kind of grandstand. So you will seldom witness the wildlife in solitude -- though it can happen, especially at night -- but during the dry season it's a very, very good bet you are going to see a critter there, and likely, many many critters. 

*11.17.2023*

 

11.10.2023.  Ahhh nothing like a nice dust shower on a hot afternoon! Near a water hole, a group of elephants was having fun kicking up the dry dust with their feet and then hosing themselves and their pals with it. But it's not just for play ... mud and dirt also act like sunscreen and insect repellent on the elephants' skin. Etosha National Park, Namibia.

*11.10.2023*

 

11.03.2023.  Dik-diks are a most darling African antelope species, very petite creatures only 15 or 16 inches tall at the shoulder. I just love their eyes, so big and beautiful. The first one is a male, you can see his tiny horns. In the frontal shot is the female, they are larger than the males. Her eyes look so exotic, like the kind of eyes that these days Disney animation gives to princesses and heroines -- kind of almond-shaped and slanted inward with long eyelashes.  We visited a particular water hole in Etosha several times, I think at least four, and every time this little pair of dik-diks was in the thorny shrubs in the exact same place beside the road. The last time we drove to the hole, I was saddened to see only empty space in the shrubs. But then we found them just a little further down the road. Yay! So although I do not know from any textbook anything about their behavior, I'm going to guess they have a specific home that they live in and forage from, rather than meandering from place to place.

*11.03.2023*

 

10.27.2023.  Back in the saddle ... back from a recent trip to Namibia. As I went to visit a friend and work on a personal project, there are not likely to be many, if any, feature posts from this trip, so I'll probably just share wildlife pics throughout the next months here on Friday Photo. It is the end of the dry season in Etosha National Park, so the animals are flocking to the water holes. Here are a few elephants on their way. 

*10.27.2023*

 

08.18.2023. OK, so the summer, so short in my 'hood in the Rocky Mountains, has gotten the best of me. I haven't visited my travel site for enjoying summer! How would you like some baby moose for your Friday today? This little family did us the favor of visiting us in our yard, so I didn't have to go far to take photos! I love going out to see the world, but I also like when the world comes to me! 

*08.18.2023*

 

07.14.2023.  Have you ever seen a hummingbird nest up close? I've found a few in the forest by observing the behavior of hummingbirds flying around me. This year is my best score because the nest is at eye level, whereas the others have been significantly higher up in a tree than my head. The nests are fascinating works of art. Being so small makes them somehow even more exquisite. 

*07.14.2023*

 

06.09.2023. From a recent pop up north in my state a few weeks ago to Red Mountain Open Space. It's only about 2 hours driving from my area of Colorado, but very different landscape. A whole post on our hike coming up very soon. 

*05.09.2023*

 

05.26.2023.  I've been playing for awhile now with black and white conversions of some of my older photos. Mostly portraits of people but now I'm starting to try animals. Just for fun. Why not. This is a conversion from a photo taken in the Nxai Pan in Botswana, 2016. Seems like yesterday. Like most things anymore! 

*05.26.2023*

 

05.12.2023.  Gold Hill Cemetery, Colorado. Established 1866. I can't say more about this marker except that the "not forgotten" is forgotten to all but the stone itself and the earth that is digesting it. 

*05.12.2023*

 

05.05.2023.  New Mexico is the ancestral home of several Native American populations. You can find ancient petroglyphs in several areas. Petroglyphs are rock carvings that were made with a chisel and hammerstone. Some are protected within national and state monuments and parks, and some are just scattered about the landscape any old place. So when you are walking around, be sure to look down! 

*05.05.2023*

 

04.14.2023. Recently reunited with some wild horses near Placitas, New Mexico. Everyone in the area where they live has their own names for them; our friends in their 'hood call this one Angelo. 

*04.14.2023*

 

03.24.2023. Rocky Mountain National Park is a relatively near local attraction I visit fairly frequently, as I get an American the Beautiful Parks Pass each year. In summer and autumn, as of a few years ago, you now have to have a reservation to enter the park during the day, with the Bear Lake Corridor being a special (and more popular) area that can be difficult to get reservations for. It's really a bummer, especially for locals who used to be able to pop over on a whim if the day was nice and they had free time, but the size of the crowds was getting out of control, so I guess I can't begrudge the new system. Anyway, the good thing about going in winter (especially a weekday) is no crowds! You can find parking even at the most popular trailheads during the day. We just went to Bear Lake and saw these beautiful ice falls. 

*03.24.2023*

 

03.10.2023.  Springtime is still a ways off in the Colorado high country. It will be a few months yet before the tundra flowers are in bloom and the young critters of the area are running about. This is from a few years ago. I'd drive up more often to see these guys, it's not a terribly far drive, but I find the road absolutely terrifying. 

*03.10.2023*

 

02.24.2023.  

I see a lot of photos circulating around of the Deadvlei in Namibia, part of the Sossusvlei desert area. Which kind of surprises me, I thought it was a little more off the beaten path, haha. It still probably is, relatively speaking. It's probably just that everyone who sees it is moved to share their photos. It's a place unique to my experiences. Just a small clay pan full of long-dead trees. Kind of spooky and eerie. I'd like to see it under a full moon. But alas I was there in the searing bright daylight with an intensely blue sky. The contrast of red and blue is almost as striking as the trees. Almost, not quite. I'm not now in Namibia, this is a blast from the past. 

*02.24.2023*

 

02.10.2023.  I'm always going back through my trip photos, especially ones from African safaris. I always find new ones I like but I seldom go insert them into articles I've already posted. Here is a new one I "found" with two cheetahs of a famous 5-cheetah coalition in the Masai Mara, Kenya. The whole pile was sleeping together in the shade of a tree. This trip was in 2019. 

*02.10.2023*

 

02.03.2023.  Recently someone contacted me about a blog post I made from Tunisia about a line of old WWII tanks and vehicles we saw out in the middle of nowhere driving between Djerba and Tataouine. He was in Tunisia and wondered if I could tell him how to find that. Well, there aren't that many routes to choose from. Erik and I got out our maps we used and Erik looked on Google Earth trying to find it. We arrived at an educated guess of where they were and relayed the coordinates to the guy. He wrote back awhile later to say he went to those coordinates but there was only a small pile of metal there, no tanks or full vehicles. So I'm guessing this is one (of many) sights we've seen on our travels that are no longer able to be seen. If anyone knows what happened to these vehicles or if they're still there (2023) and we misled the fellow, let me know! 

*02.03.2023*

 

01.27.2023. Magical winter morning in Colorado. I love when every branch and stick of the trees and bushes is encrusted with snow, untouched yet by the inevitable wind. That small slice of time between the utter new-fallen stillness and the incessant winter wind is a special time. 

*01.27.2023*

 

01.06.2023.  Who's ready for a nice chalky mud bath? This elephant has excellent technique. You can see why some people call elephants "hose heads," haha. It really does look like a powerful stream of muddy water coming out of a fire hose. Mud can act as a sunscreen for elephants in the hot African sun. This fellow is in Etosha National Park, Namibia. Zebras loitering in the background. 

*01.06.2023*

 

12.16.2022.  One of the delightful happy hour spots near Nederland, Colorado, along the FS505N. A route we have traveled often but has become more challenging with the deepening of an infamous mud pit on the south end of this valley.

*12.16.2022*

 

12.09.2022. This was at a pretty cool botanical garden we stopped at near Tampa, FL, Bok Tower Gardens. The centerpiece is this "singing tower" that houses a carillon and is played every day (I think) for half an hour or so. The more worldly of you may know, but I had no idea what a carillon was until we were there. You can't watch the players in their "playing cabin," but there's a live stream video in the gardens you can watch. It's like playing a giant organ, but it's so huge you use your fists on the "keys" instead of fingers. Also pedals like on an organ. Each key and pedal is connected to a clappered stationary bell in the bell tower. The music rings out over the entire gardens.

*12.09.2022*

 

12.02.2022.  OK, so I'm not doing very well this year with the "a photo each Friday" in this section! But you get a lot of 2-fers. These are a couple old buildings from the ruins of gold and silver mines near Central City, Colorado, once known as "the richest square mile on earth." What I want to share in these photos is the interesting metal siding put over the original wooden structures. I don't know just how the buildings looked when the metal was first put up, but I love the variety and richness of colors that the metal has aged into. 

*12.02.2022*

 

10.28.2022.  More from Caribou Ranch Open Space (see also pic on 10.7.2022). I've walked this area often, but I don't think I'd ever noticed the meager remains of this cabin before. They're not far off the trail, so I was quite surprised to notice this "new" thing. It just goes to show how much there is around us (or me, anyway) that, even when mindful of our present surroundings, we can miss. And there was an old tea kettle sitting serenely on a lichen-covered rock, waiting — who knows for how long — for someone to call tea time.

*10.28.2022.*

 

10.21.2022. Exploring the mining country around what has been called "the richest square mile on earth" is our primary summertime hobby. We seem to find new treasures each year, even though it is a small area in Colorado. There were just so many small-scale mines in the forests. We wish we had started this earnest exploration a few decades ago, as a lot of what we find by now is simply piles of wood from collapsed cabins, mills, shafthouses, etc. This is one of our favorite finds this year. By the looks of items left inside, I'd guess it was inhabited until the 1970s or so, which explains its relatively good condition. 

*10.21.2022*

 

10.7.2022. A couple photos of this year's autumn aspen colors at Caribou Ranch Open Space in Nederland, Colorado. This is one of my favorite haunts for its scenic and historic components. You can read more about this area, through which the old Switzerland Trail Railroad once passed, in my post about it HERE.

*10.07.2022*

 

09.23.2022.  The Theresa Mine headframe along the Vindicator Valley Trail just outside of Victor, Colorado. This gold mine operated from 1895 - 1961. I didn't have time to walk the 2-mile trail around a bunch of mining ruins, but there is no doubt I will be back soon to walk it. The old mines in this area of Colorado tend to be much larger and were begun much later in the 19th century than the old mines near me in Gilpin and Boulder counties. This one is pretty impressive, looming against the dusky sky. 

*09.23.2022*

 

09.02.2022.  One way to date the old cabins and mining ruins around Colorado is by the items in the midden heaps. Particularly metal food cans. The heydey of the gold and silver mines was in the 19th century. The "hole-in-cap" cans, such as this one sitting in the window sill of an old cabin at a mine, with soldered tops and seams, date to the mid-to-late 19th century. It's harder to find these relatively in tact now, most of them left on the ground are disintegrating back into the soil. Even from 20 years ago, they have become harder to find. I think it's fun to discover them and know the site is a particularly early one. (See the light-colored ring on the top of the can and the dot in the middle — this is the soldering you can recognize to date the can by.)

*09.02.2022*

 

08.26.2022.  Wildflower season coincides with exploring season! When we take our 4WD vehicles out in the maze of roads around our area scouting for old ruins from the 19th and 20th century mining era. Scouting for new ones and revisiting old ones, charting the progress of their sad declines as time and the elements and the forest overtake them. We've seen this one from a main road for years but only this year stopped to explore it when we realized how easy it was to access. Gilpin County, Colorado. I need to do more research before I can tell you more about this mine. (and I have plenty more pics!) 

*08.26.2022*

 

08.05.2022.  It's that time of year when I'm going bonkers posting wildflower photos from the fields near my home on Facebook. This year I bought myself a macro lens and have been having a blast with it. Here are a few insect travelers I captured traveling around their floral world. The flowers in order:  paintbrush, bistort, blue columbine, unknown leaf, buckwheat ... lady bugs don't look quite so cute head on! 

*08.05.2022*

 

07.22.2022.  We recently took Pinzy up on our annual pilgrimage up to Kingston Peak, a tough 4x4 route in our 'hood. Apparently, this was earlier in the year than we typically go, as we crested a hill and rounded a corner to find a sight we'd never before: this glorious field of yellow. The sun was lighting it up perfectly. 'Twas a rather magical moment. We seldom run into other vehicles up there, but this day a 4Runner came by and this adorable, frenetic dog came bounding through the flower field to me. The driver stopped to talk to Erik and the dog stopped to solicit some petting from me. I snapped a few photos of her in the flower field. I showed one to the guy on my camera and he thought it was really sweet. I told him that if he wanted to have me send him full size pics to look me up on Team Killer Rabbit's FB page (Erik's page for Pinzy). I posted the photos there, and Erik told me this morning that the guy did find the page and was happy to see the photos of his dog. These are a few pics of the field and the dog. 

*07.22.2022*

 

07.15.2022.  Pretty much our backyard, west of Nederland, Colorado. You can hike or take a 4x4 above the old mining town of Caribou. The first view is looking southwest, the second view is looking east to the Front Range plains and you can see Pinzy down below, looking so small amid the grand landscape. The altitude here is above 10,000 feet. Our town Nederland was named by Dutch miners after their home country, the name means "Low Lands." Everyone wonders why Nederland, at 8,200 feet above sea level, is named Low Lands. It's because the mines were at Caribou at 10,000 feet and the mills were in Nederland, relatively low lands compared to Caribou. 

*07.15.2022*

 

07.01.2022.  Hopefully I will soon have a new post up about the cemeteries at Central City, Colorado. There are four main ones that I know of and one small one containing I think it's 12 graves. Last fall and this spring I spent some time among them. As all cemeteries of the old mining towns do, these all have a disproportionately large number of child graves, often marked only with "baby." These are a couple more elaborate baby tombstones at the Nevadaville Cemetery above Central City. 

*07.01.2022*

 

06.10.2022.  I guess she didn't want to get her feet wet! Funny, most of the other elk were wading through or standing in the water. Big Thompson River through Moraine Park, Rocky Mountain National Park. 

*06.10.2022*

 

06.03.2022.  My favorite time of year along the Peak to Peak Highway (Colorado) and in Rocky Mountain National Park is the short spring when the mountains still have snow and the meadows are green and sprouting flowers. A day just like this day (taken June 1, 2022). This is my favorite view in the park no matter which season -- from Upper Beaver Meadows.

*06.03.2022*

 

05.20.2022.  Last week I was introduced to somewhere I've never been before, only about an hour's drive from me down on the flatlands near Erie, Colorado: St. Vrain State Park. It consists of a series of ponds, a creek, and camping pads, making for a nice little getaway. It's right next to a major interstate, I-25, so I can't claim that it's a *peaceful* getaway, but the birds certainly do not seem to mind the traffic hum, and it's a pretty location, you can fish on the ponds. I was happy to learn of it. It was a brooding overcast evening, so the Front Range mountains were largely obscured, but on a clear day, the view to the west will be outstanding. We saw several osprey and although I didn't see them, bald eagles nest here. 

 *05.20.2022*

 

05.13.2022.  I drive by this lovely church, "Chapel on the Rock," outside Allenspark, Colorado, fairly often and I almost never stop to take a photo in spite of how photogenic it is. Well the other day I stopped, as I liked the snow-patched peak lined up behind the center peak of the chapel and the side tower on the right lined up with the slope of the mountain as if the ridgeline would collide with the tower.  

*05.13.2022*

 

05.06.2022.  Another bird species I saw nesting this year in the dense foliage of Popoyote Lagoon in Ixtapa was egrets. I'd never seen baby egrets before, and my goodness were they cute. I love their fuzzy coloring of white and gray. Here are a couple shots of busy egret parents and their demanding chicks! 

*05.06.2022*

 

04.15.2022.  I noticed a yellow crowned night heron once before at the Popoyote Lagoon in Ixtapa, Mexico, several years ago. I was excited this year to see not only another one, but three other ones. I noticed a lone heron and then this couple who were building a nest some distance away from the main fray of spoonbill, egret and woodstork nests, in a very secluded nook in a tree. I watched them for a very long time on two different days waiting for them to look at me, but they never did! They looked to the sides, at each other, and away from me, showing me their butts. I felt like it was rather personal! 

*04.15.2022*

 

04.01.2022.  As I mentioned last week, I hit the jackpot with baby birds. The first ones I saw were the roseate spoonbills; I've only seen babies one other time and my excitement was high over seeing a nest of them. Then another nest. Then another, and another. Then I realized all the nests of other species, too. But here are a few spoonbill chicks. The chicks in the various nests had hatched at different times, some chicks were still so tiny I could barely see their heads over the top of the nest and some were quite a bit older. The first one below I named Baby Baron because it was always spreading its wings and looking over the edge of the nest. The next one, I just love the expression on its face. 

*04.01.2022*

 

03.25.2022.  After taking a year off last year due to COVID, I returned to Ixtapa to find my Popoyote Lagoon absolutely overflowing with nesting birds and squawking chicks of several difference species. This is later in the year than I have usually traveled there, and I hit the jackpot with baby season. Very difficult to photograph them through the dense foliage, but I certainly made heroic efforts, haha, and will share some in the coming weeks. This is a nesting couple of roseate spoonbills, looks like their babies have not hatched, and they were still busy constructing their nest. 

*03.25.2022*

 

02.11.2022. Another wild horse eye today. I find them captivating. On this horse, I like her white-brown-blonde colors — white star on her forehead and lovely blonde mane. 

 *02.11.2022*

 

02.04.2022.  Placitas, New Mexico, is home to several bands of free-roaming wild horses. It's a beautiful sight to see these animals who are otherwise so associated with humans, like they've become appendages to us, running free. As it is a time of severe drought in the area, humans do pitch in and put out hay and water for them, which they surely appreciate, but they are free to come and go wherever they choose. I don't think I've ever seen a truly wild horse, belonging to no one, until we saw these in New Mexico.

*02.04.2022*

 

01.21.2022.  Happy new year, dear readers, a little late. I spent the first half of the first month of 2022 dealing with an extremely painful tooth abscess! It was delightful. One thing I accomplished last year was to recreate my photography website that was lost in a server crash. It was a lot of work but in one way a bit of fun to have to go back through all my photos I've posted over the years and decide which ones to include and what categories to make. I made one gallery all about doors and locks, and ran across this photo in the process. I like it because of the textures. Taken with a simple point-and-shoot camera while in Tunisia. 

*01.21.2022*

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