The Promise Of What's To Come ...

Ah! Sunflower

Ah! Sunflower, weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the sun;
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the traveller's journey is done;

Where the Youth pined away with desire,
And the pale virgin shrouded in snow,
Arise from their graves, and aspire
Where my Sunflower wishes to go!

William Blake





Blue skies and cheerful sunflowers, from the end of last summer..

Go to SKYWATCH for views of the sky from all over the world ! Have a great day everyone :-)

Sunsets..

The smoke plume from a wildfire on the outskirts of Reno..taken in the early evening.

Two days later ..all the smoke particles in the air certainly made for some brilliant sunsets..




Go to SKYWATCH for views of the sky from all over the world !

Skywatch Friday - Blue Skies At Last !!!

After weeks I've fairly dreary skies, interspersed with the occasional blue, we are finally seeing consecutive days of brilliant blue up there in them heavens!! Spring may finally be on the way. :-)

While there is nothing really remarkable about this photo ..it does mark a big forward step in my learning curve with my 35mm SLR film camera.

A photographer friend of mine, suggested that I buy a polarizing filter for my lens.

Oh, the difference it makes, especially when you are photographing a scene with a blue sky and clouds.

Run of the mill photo or not ..I was over the moon when I brought this snap up on my computer. I saw a bright blue sky and white fluffy clouds .. instead of the pale, whimpy images I'd been getting previously.

Three cheers for polarizing filters!!! :-)



Taken at Virginia Lake, Reno, last week ... the trees are still bare, but beginning to bud and the lake was free of ice. The sky was glorious !

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Watery Wednesday - This Is Special :-)

Today I have a special Guest Photographer !!!


Meet 8 yr old Taylor ... a little friend of mine, who is 8 years old. I look after her, while her Mum and Dad work.

Yesterday, we took a walk over to the little lake, near where I live and I started teaching her the basics of photography.

She took these photos using my little digital camera. I had it attached to a strap around her neck and a strap at her wrist. No way was she going to drop it :-)

I don't think she did too bad her first time out, in fact I think she did pretty well for an 8yr old ! What do you think ??


She was really excited and proud about this one. After she took it she came over and said that she'd got the goose's reflection. Not a bad eye to be thinking about that..


Mum and babies ..


She was really fascinated with the clouds and the gulls flying above the little island..


She loved those clouds :-)


I think the goose thought we had food, because it started swimming towards us at a great rate of knots. I think the way she caught the reflections was really cool as well..


I'd been explaining to her about not putting her subject center of the photo ... I think she achieved that really well with her photo of the fountain..

I think her final count of photos was something like 140. She had fun. I also had a ball passing on the little things I know. :-)

Have a great rest of the week. We are going out on Thursday or Friday to take more photos. :-)

My World Tuesday - A Taste Of Home

Well, sort of ...

(Click any photo to enlarge)

This mural, on the wall of a Foley's, a local Reno bar, owned by an Irishman, reminds me a little of some the pubs found, back home, in New Zealand and also in Britain, Australia and Ireland.

Foley's is about two blocks from where I live and is the only place in Reno where I can watch rugby on TV.

It was where I cried into my beer, when the All Blacks (NZ's national rugby team) bombed out of the 2008 Rugby World Cup. I was depressed for a couple of days over that one!! I was kind of glad I didn't wander over and watch the match, the other day, between the AB's and France. The AB's lost that one as well.

Foley's also do some nice Fish & Chips and Shepherd's Pie ...plus a traditional English style breakfast..

It also tends to be a gathering place for all the expat British, Irish, Welsh, Australian and the occasional Kiwi .... so I feel quite at home ...as in, most of them know what I'm talking about and I don't need to translate my Kiwi English into American English. :-)


Fish & Chips, Shepherd's Pie ... Oh My !!


The Mrs and the friend seem to be having a grand old time. Hubby looks a bit bored though, don't you think ? :-)


Love those fur lined slippers. :-)

Now, go to MY WORLD TUESDAY where people from all over our globe , show off their little corner of the world !

Mellow Yellow Monday - One Loaf Feeds Many ...

(Click on any photo to enlarge.)

First there were two dining on a loaf of golden bread, that someone had kindly thrown out for them..


'Excuse me, may I join you?'


'Okay, who rang the dinner bell !!!'

Have a great Mellow Yellow Monday !!

Skywatch Friday - Is It A Bird ... Is It A Plane ??

No, it's a pesky helicopter, that spent most of last Sunday, flying above us, taking photos of the facelift they've given the Peppermill Casino.

I wouldn't have minded so much, if they hadn't started the flights at 5.30 in the morning !!

These were all taken with my little point and shoot.

Took others with my 35mm SLR, but haven't got the roll of film developed yet..


Early morning..


Flying against the sunset...


Hmmmmm ...maybe it's heading off to the airport...


Nope ...here it comes again..


Ahhhhhhh ... blessed peace !!!

Have a great weekend all !!!

I just bought a Tokina 70-210 lens for my film SLR, so I'm hoping to get out, this weekend, and play with it. :-)

What are the rest of you doing ??

Go to SKYWATCH for views of the sky from all over the world !

Skywatch Friday - The Changing Sky

Our skies, here in Northern Nevada, have been interesting the last couple of days...


The mornings have been starting out with brilliant blue skies, and a few wisps of white clouds..


By the afternoon, the thunderclouds have rolled in and the heavens have opened..

This particular downpour was preceded by a sound on the roof like an approaching freight train and then the noise of a couple of hundred young voices screaming in unison, as they fled the playground...

Not much sympathy from us adults ...'Oh for heavens sake, stop the drama ! The rain isn't going to make you melt!' :-)


The following morning, the puddles make for interesting photo opportunities...

It's made reading blogs a bit of a challenge, as we have had the computer of a bit due to the lightening strikes..

Have a great weekend, all !!

Go to SKYWATCH for views of the sky from all over the world !

Watery Wednesday - Cool reflections..

I think I've probably mentioned, in recent posts, the lack of rain where I live.

Well, a couple of days ago, that all changed, thanks to a depression parked of the California coast, which is making our atmosphere, here in the High Sierra Desert, a tad unstable.

That means thunder storms, and thankfully quite a bit of rain !!

(Click To Enlarge)

Yesterday's rain left lots of puddles.

I found these reflections in the ones I saw in the parking lot, next to my bus stop, this morning.

Trees and sky in this one...


Part of the front of the Peppermill Casino, just across the street, is reflected here. I like the texture that the edges of the puddle give...


The Peppermill again.

I thought the reflections were rather cool :-)

Camera Critters - The Young Ones

'The young ones
Darling, we're the young ones
And the young ones
Shouldn't be afraid
To live, love
While the flame is strong
For we may not be
The young ones very long'


'Tomorrow
Why wait until tomorrow
'Coz tomorrow
Sometimes never comes
So love me
There's a song to be sung
And the best time
Is to sing it while we're young'


'Once in every lifetime
Comes a love like this
I need you,
You need me
Oh, my darling, can't you see'


'That young dreams
Should be dreams together
And young hearts
Shouldn't be afraid
And some day
When the years have flown
Darling, then we'll teach
The young ones of our own.'

Credits ..

'The Young Ones' - sung by the one and only, Cliff Richard.

First photo - taken by my hubby ..

All other photos ..well, that was me :-)

Now go to CAMERA CRITTERS and join in the fun.

P.S... If you want to listen to Cliff singing the song, here it is, Video quality is a bit poor and the sound isn't synchronized, but it shows that he's still got it! Not quite a Camera Critter, but I couldn't resist. :-)

Skywatch Friday - Clouds Of Promise....

Around these parts, we get a little excited as well as apprehensive when we see clouds like these, rolling in.

They hold the promise of rain, which is something that doesn't happen very often, hence the excitement !

Unfortunately, they also hold the promise of dry lightening, which is what often accompanies clouds like these. Thousands of wildfires are sparked every year, in Nevada, by lightening strikes, so hence the feeling of apprehension..

I love looking at the clouds though ... they break the monotony of days of nothing but clear, blue skies..


I can see a little dog lying down, in this one. His head is a bit blurred by a wisp of dark cloud..


In this one, he seems to have turned around and is now prancing on his hind feet. You can make him out to the right.

Maybe he's begging the cloud gods for some rain ?? :-)


They started to roll in over the mountains, but unfortunately, came to nothing. The sky was pretty grey to the back of us, and there were a few lightening strikes, (hopefully I caught one on my 35mm SLR), in the distance. No reports of fires though, thank goodness !


So why am I posting a photo of the road, you may well ask?

When I was downloading these photos, from my camera to my computer, I was once again reminded of what can happen, when you hand an 8yr old your camera to hold, while you frantically rummage through your bag for your ringing phone..

Why she felt the urge to take a photo of the street, is something that I don't think even she can answer, however, at least this time it wasn't of my rear end !! :-)

Have a great weekend !

Go to SKYWATCH for views of the sky from all over the world !