Tuesday, June 30, 2009

More Mountain Biking

So what do you do with a ski hill in the summer? Well here on Vancouver Island and quite a number of other ski hills in British Columbia they open their hills and chair lifts to mountain biking and hiking. This last weekend found myself, my Step Son and Son in law to be out getting muddy and having a blast! I managed to keep up with them and also managed to keep the bike under me most of the time...
Nothing like a good romp in the mud to bring out the kid in an old fellow. The only down side is all the aches and pains I don`t remember having when I was a kid! LOL



The things you see in the big city


I had to go into the city yesterday for some parts that aren't available to us country dwellers. It was 88 degrees with 70% humidity and not a cloud in the sky. I really felt sorry for this guy!

Monday, June 29, 2009

Cloudscapes

I don't know what it is about clouds, but they just draw my attention. Maybe I day dream too much!

Sunday, June 28, 2009

In Motion

I came across these two bucks battling it out in the woods early one morning. I shot the photo at a slower shutter speed thinking that although it was a little slow, it should be fast enough to freeze the action. As you can see, I was wrong but I thought it was an interesting photo even with the blur. Not every shot has to be "perfect".

Saturday, June 27, 2009

The Arizona Sun

Arizona is a great place to do some hiking and see the scenery but if you are planning a hike I would definitely go during the winter months. They say the summer heat is a "dry heat" but dry or not, 110 is 110!

The main reason I keep going back to Arizona for the hiking is the little gold flakes you can find in the quartz rock out there!


Friday, June 26, 2009

Back to the Mainland

I don't want everyone getting bored with Hawaii so I have jumped back to the mainland, Arizona to be specific. But don't worry, I will post some more Hawaii photos again. I just can't help myself.

This photo was taken in the mountains east of Phoenix, AZ looking east at another mountian range.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Reflections

Penguins in Paradise? Why not? The resort where my wife and I stayed at on Maui had several animals around the property to keep the "stupid tourists" interested. It seemed to work well with me! These are an African penguin who prefer the warmer climate to the cold. Can't say that I blame them, If I had a choice of living on an ice shelf or in Maui it would take me about a milli-second to make that decision!

When I took the photo I was tyring to bring in the reflections of the palm trees in the water so that you could see it wasn't cold. No, really, I was!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Warm Tropical Breezes

For me this picture brings to mind the warmth that gets to your very core when you are in this place, not to mention the sights, sounds and smells that are unique to the Islands.


The Green Spaces


When you are in Hawaii the photo opportunities are endless. The green areas can be as good if not better than the ocean for photos as Paul has shown us in his last post. Getting off the beaten path can give you the opportunities that some of the other tourists never get.

I too strayed off the beaten path on occasion. In these photos I was able to capture a small waterfall that fed into a stream leading towards the ocean.
Had I not made a wrong turn walking back from the spa after my massage I may never have seen these things! Thankfully the path I chose led me past these wonderful sights and straight to the bar, being lost can be a stressful thing! LOL

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Upper Nuuanu Stream

Even the green spaces in Hawaii have their own unique beauty. This was a mostly undeveloped portion of Nuuanu stream with almost no access except a steep narrow dirt path from the nearby road. I couldn't help myself, I had to climb down and take a couple of pictures.

The Early Morning Sun

I am still stuck in Hawaii. This first photo was taken just as the sun was peeking over the mountain behind the hotel and the first light was catching the palm trees. The yellow that you see in the palm trees is the sun hitting the trees just as it gets high enough in the sky to catch the tree tops.

This is another shot taken just minutes later as the sun hit the water. It brought out this fantastic blue in the water so I just zoomed in and took a shot. There was just something about the color that made me want to take a photo.
Early morning on the islands is a great time to just sit back and relax and enjoy the surroundings. There are only a few other people up and it's nice and quiet. Just the sound of the ocean and a nice breeze. I don't know that I understand the people that spend 8-10-12 hours on a plane to paradise just to get up early in the morning to go jogging but to each his own.
I noticed that around 6:00 to 6:30 a.m. just about the only people out are the health nuts, the guy cleaning the pool and one man with his metal detector working just off the beach in the water. I really enjoy the early mornings on the islands. Any other time I would still be in bed!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Island Time

I apologize for the video moving around on the blog. I was trying to post the name and artist of the song with the original post but with my finely honed computer skills I managed to screw something up somewhere and I had to re-post the video.

The song is by Jimmy Buffett and it is from his "Take the Weather With You" CD. The song is about Waikiki but this video was taken on Ka'anapali Beach on Maui. The island in the background is Lana'i.

Along the black rock beach

I've been thinking about Hawaii lately so I thought I would put up a few more photos of my favorite place in the world. This photo was taken on Maui near Honokeana Bay looking back towards Lana'i. The black rock is from the volcanic rock of the island that is slowly being beaten into black sand by the ocean.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Dreaded Hotdog Wolves!


Slowly and deliberately the "Hotdog Wolves" inched closer to the terrified little girl. Low menacing growls issued from behind their driping yellow fangs. Then just before the evil "Hotdog Wolves" pounced the clever little girl poped the last bite of hotdog in her mouth and walked away unharmed.

Sittin' on the dock at the bay, wasting time............

OK, I wasn't actually sitting on the dock and I wasn't even really at the bay. I was sitting on my lanai having a cup of coffee and watching the early morning activities on the island. And I don't really think I was wasting time, just taking in the scenery and the mood of the island. There's nothing like island time!

This was taken on Maui looking toward Lahaina. It was fairly early in the morning and the cruise ships had arrived a couple of hours earlier and were preparing to send their passengers to shore for a fun filled day on the island.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

EGG

My first attempt at minimalist photography.

Butting heads

These two male elk weren't banging heads, just trying to push each other around a little bit. It did make for a good photo opportunity though.

Friday, June 19, 2009

No match!

This 2 ply roll of toilet paper was no match for our Vortex Brand Paper Shredder (AKA "Little Miss") ...LOL

Two more from Sedona, AZ



The Sedona mountains of Arizona are made of of some very colorful red and orange dirt. It makes for some great photo oportunities. It's also a really nice and laid back place to visit for a few days as a short vacation.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Sure Signs...


Sure signs that Summer is nearly here!

The mountains at Sedona, AZ

This was taken on a mountain above the town looking back across the top of the town. I was near one of the famous vortexes when I took this photo.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Black Bear Skull

Stephanie and I went for a bike ride last Sunday afternoon, eventually we stoped for a rest. Where we stoped was a wide spot along the logging road. I had a look around the nearby woods and there I found the final resting place of a poor Black Bear. What you don't find...


The lazy deer

I guess the deer in Oklahoma don't swim. They just lay in the shade trying to hide from the humans. You can't see it well in the photo but there is a second buck just behind and a little left of the first buck hiding in the shadows under the tree.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

What you don't see...

Several times over the years I've seen a lone deer swiming from one island to another, but never had a camera with me at the time.

This time I had my camera and saw 2 bucks and a doe heading across the inlet. Where they were crossing was 3/4 of a mile from shore to shore.

Deer swim suprisingly well! I don't think I could have kept up had I been in the water swiming with them.

Is it a close up of cauliflower?


Vegetables? Not me, I'm a steak and potato man. This was taken with a Tamron 18-250mm lens as a storm was approaching the city I was in this weekend. This is a close up of the thunder storm cloud.

A photo of the whole cloud, as it was approaching is below. These were both shot at the same location at the same time.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Small forest fire

The weather around here has been unseasonably hot and dry (usually not like this until August). A couple of days ago a small fire of unknown origon got started within a few hundred feet of where the water treatment plant draws it's water from.
Fortunately the wind was calm and the fire was quickly brought under controll with only 1/3 of an acre burned.
I took quite a number of pictures but these ones of the chopper bucketing the fire were the most interesting.







Sunday, June 14, 2009

Flying Scissors

I was out for a hike yesterday and just as I was getting ready to enter the area I was going to this scissortail came flying by. He landed on the fence wire a little ways from me and I got a few more photos but I didn't think they were as good as the in-flight photo.

I might also mention that the hike wasn't the smaretest of ideas. I was in Oklahoma and it ended up being very sunny and 95 degrees with about 90% humidity. I definitely like hiking in the winter better!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Dandylions

It must be that there had been no wind for a few days when I found this roadside patch of dandylions. Having not seen this many in one area at one time I took a few pictures. The next day I drove past the same place and there wasn't a dandylion to be seen, the wind had blown them all away.


Polly want a cracker?

I couldn't resist taking a few photos of some tropical birds that were on display in our hotel. You just can't pass up the colors.

Friday, June 12, 2009

A bit of sun

All that rain and cold has given way to warm sunny days! Then suddenly as if on cue everything blooms! Just like Hawaii around here for about 3 months a year... Gotta like that!


Thursday, June 11, 2009

Yet another Bird of Paradise


Well as long as we're on a Hawaii theme...
This wasn't much of a picture to start with but after making corrections for light, colour, croping and some cloning out of clutter I was able to get to this... What did we ever do before Photoshop?

No Work, No Worries, No Problems

This was taken somewhere along the West Maui Coast, I think near Napili with a Minolta 35mm camera. It was just one of those spots where no one else was around and you could sit in the shade and listen to the ocean. I guess I should have been paying more attention to where I was but hey, it's an island, how am I going to get lost?

All this photo needs is a small table with a couple of Coronas sitting on it and I could be making a commercial!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Black footed Ibis

Ok I made up the Black footed part but it sounded good.

An Ibis riddle: (you have to say it out loud to apreciate the twisted tounge part)

"What kind of noise anoys an Ibis?"
"A noisy noise anoys an Ibis!"

Found this fellow just hanging around watching the world go by while we were visiting Hoomaluhia Park Botanical Gardens on the windward side of Oahu.

Point & Shoot

It looks like we are going back to Hawai'i, my favorite place!

This was taken from our lanai one evening using a Sony DSC H-1 point and shoot. At the time it was one of the better point and shoot digitals on the market at the time. It doesn't compare to a DSLR but at 5MP it's not a bad camera. I would also say the operator of the camera was still in the digital learning phase and under the enfluence of a few "island drinks" at the time. LOL

The pool is at the Hyatt Regency on Maui.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Time to mow the lawn...

You will recall the picture of the Byodo-in Temple I posted, well this is a small portion of a clump of bamboo that covers about a half an acre behind the Temple and stands 40 ish feet tall! I would love to get a cutting of this for the yard... (I left the "stupid tourist" in the picture to give an idea of the scale of these things).

Stalking the big game


I haven't been able to get out and do much photography the last few days so I have been stuck looking for things to shoot around the house. I decided to try a little more up close and personal shots with the "wild life". LOL

Monday, June 8, 2009

Video from Rumble Mountain

So here it is, my first and probably only video blog posting... It only took about 25 minutes to upload this 5 second clip. By the way this is D90 "Hi Definition" video...

I wish my neck was this flexible!


I came across these swans a few days ago at a "pond" in the city. I guess one of those city boys wanted some live yard art for his big yard.