Spirit Room

When we had visited Jerome in the past, we’d always taken note of the Spirit Room, a bar on the corner of the main drag. We had never been actually able to get inside, but always paused outside to listen to the band inside and to observe the scene- motorcycles pulling up out front and the crowd spilling out onto the sidewalk. I guess we had never been there early in the day before, because when we went in to get some water (yes, water) last Saturday, it was basically empty. While we sat and drank our waters, the motorcycles began to pull up, and by the time we left, it was getting full.

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Silliness in Jerome

Our friends of 45 years plus, Joan and Rudy, came for the weekend to celebrate Joan and my birthdays- just 5 days apart. It was a quick visit, but we managed to have an outing to the old mining town of Jerome, just over the mountain from us. Joan had been there before with us, but it was Rudy’s first trip there.

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Jerome is a funky and fun town, which inspired a bit of silliness in us.

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The photos were edited with some HDR-ish effects in On1 for an over-the-top look which I think is fitting for Jerome.

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Golden Morning

I guess it does pay to get up early, even though you’re retired. It’s a rare day that I don’t wake up before the sun comes up; however actually getting dressed and out of the house is more challenging. The golden light backlighting the flowers after sunrise caused me to dash outside with the camera- it seems like Spring is here at last!

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Fun with Thistles

Purple thistles abound in our area! We have a lot of weeds and native plants in the strips along the roads and sidewalks and in fields near our house, and this time of year is great for finding them in bloom. And every year I photograph thistles.

I added textures to these thistle photos and then took them into On1 for frames, stepping outside the box a bit when I chose these cool emulsion borders.

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Imperfect

This week, my little photo group is meeting to discuss photography and share photos. We took photos this time that have some aspect(s) of the principles of wabi-sabi. Here are three of my photos that celebrate imperfection and the passage of time.

Just ordinary stuff- some frayed dishtowels, a basket detail, and my childhood cereal bowl and creamer:

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Morning Stroll

This morning I was out with my macro lens, trying to capture the early morning light on the flowers when I became aware of some movement across the street.

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It was a javelina!

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He seemed on a mission and continued up the hill and up the driveway of our neighbor’s house, where I lost sight of him.

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We have lived here almost three years and, although herds of javelinas can be seen throughout Prescott, especially in early evening, we had never seen a javelina in our neighborhood until today. I know from neighbors that they are around, but they seem to avoid my camera. In fact, last month something rooted up all our bulbs in the front flower bed- and damaged some of the drip system. And now I have a potential suspect!

Unfortunately, my 80mm macro lens was on the camera, so I wasn’t able to zoom in on our visitor. The first two photos are cropped.

FYI, javelinas are collared peccaries, not boars or pigs.  They are usually in small herds or family groups and can be aggressive.

And they sound like this! http://www.desertmuseum.org/books/audio/javlina_medley.mp3

 

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