Healing Field

Today is Nine Eleven. I will always associate that day with our daughter’s wedding which happened 11 days later in the aftermath of that terrible day. Today we visited the Healing Field in our neighboring town of Prescott Valley. The Healing Field is an annual tribute to the nearly 3000 lives that were lost September 11, 2001- one flag for each life, with a tag telling about that person and where they died. The flags seem to go on forever, a sobering reminder of how many families lost loved ones that day.

I was especially moved by the BOOTS! Each flag that memorialized a firefighter had boots at the base. I couldn’t help but think of the firefighters fighting so many wildfires today- especially in California (my home state). God Bless our Heroes!

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Hummingbird Portrait

August 2020 was the month of the hummingbird in our garden- they rule the back yard. When we are outside we are constantly “buzzed” as they make sure we know we are in their territory. We’ve had many more than ever before- is it the hot, dry weather? the fires elsewhere? Whatever the reasons, we have enjoyed having so many!  Our local bird expert writes that some will start leaving soon (as they always do in September), but we imagine that we will continue to have a few that will stay around through the fall.

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Once Upon a Time in Bodie

A fun image I created for my photo group this week . . .

This image brings back great memories of our group’s trip to Lone Pine, California. We had to cancel last semester’s trip to southern Arizona a few months ago due to Covid (of course), but I’m looking forward to the day when we can start taking trips together again. As a self-taught photographer, I found this group of talented photographers so intimidating at first- the skill level, the knowledge, the gear, and the creativity. I’m still awed by the the images produced by my fellow members, but have made good friends and consider our meetings (now on Zoom) to be the highlight of my week. AND things are going my way- one assignment this semester is Shallow Depth of Field and another is Photoimpressionism!

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Adios

I was out with my macro lens among the flowers and the hummingbirds and one bee this morning. I was able to capture the bee as it landed in many shots- but my favorite one for some reason is this one, as it turned his back to me and flew on to pollinate another flower.

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Little Roughneck

There seems to be a Hummingbird Fight Club going on in our back yard these days. In the last month, we have had more hummingbirds than ever before, and although it has thinned out a bit in the last week, we have constant territorial battles going on- especially in the mornings and early evenings. We have four feeders, but there is always one that is the feeder of choice that must be guarded by whoever seems to be in charge at the time. Often there are six to eight hummers involved in the dispute over the chosen feeder! I like this shot because this little one chose to take a break on a high willow branch, which made a nice composition.

 

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Adorable

We ventured out beyond the confines of Prescott a couple days ago to BEARIZONA, a wildlife park in WIlliams, with the exclusive intention of photographing the three baby grizzlies they acquired a few months ago. Baby animals are always cute, but there was something so adorable about these cuddly little guys who will grow up to be soooo dangerous. We watched their antics for over an hour as they played, bathed, and chased the ravens who hung around their area. Great entertainment!

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Hiding in Plain Sight

We have been enjoying watching the bunnies that have taken up residence in our yard. We often see them in the early evening scampering in the front yard- and then freezing in place as they realize we are outside.

There is actually a second bunny hiding in the shadows in the flowers behind the first one.

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Hey, Good-lookin’ !

We are home a lot these days (no surprise. . .) and have plenty of time to watch the hummingbird drama unfold in our yard! This handsome little guy is one of a group of newcomers to our yard and has the others on their toes, so to speak, as he chases them away from the feeder. I have yet to capture a good photo of him hovering, so here he is just after landing on the feeder.

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Chasing Sunset

Since moving to Prescott, we have developed a tradition of going out after dinner to watch the sunset- either from our driveway or getting in the car and driving to a good vantage point. We have become cloud-watchers and predictors of when there will be an especially good sunset display. Last night I thought there was a 50/50 chance of a great one, but I wasn’t convinced that there was enough sky visible- it was overcast in our area of town. But Lonnie had been out and about and pointed out blue sky to the south, so we headed out to find a good view of the Thumb Butte. As we drove in that direction, it was obvious that we had a magnificent sky with great clouds. The photo below was taken before sunset, when a golden glow was just beginning on the Thumb.

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Happy

Isn’t this a happy scene? This photo pretty much just took itself.

We drove over to Granite Basin Lake a tiny lake at the base of Granite Mountain here in Prescott and walked around for awhile, enjoying the scenery and taking a few photos. We spotted some dragonflies and dozens of butterflies, but only one single bird, a hummingbird. We are talking about going over again and bringing our lunch.

 

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