Watery Wednesday - Little Comic

I developed the roll of film that I had also taken on the trip to the lake and found this on it ...

Remember this little fellow from last weeks WW post ?

(Click on photo to enlarge.)

'You put your right leg in, you put your right leg out..
You put your right leg in and you shake it all about..
You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around ...
That's what it's all about !!!'

My World Tuesday - Reno

(Click on photo for larger view)

Looking down the Truckee River towards downtown Reno and the Carson Mountain Range.

This photo was part of my first attempt at shooting monochrome, using Kodak BW400CN film..

It just seemed to suit the mood of the day as the season was just changing from winter to spring and there was a storm coming in..

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

ALERT !!!! Many of you may be having problems opening Blogs when using Internet Explorer. Apparently the Followers widget is the cause. Go to this post by Speedcat Hollydale and get an explanation on how to fix it.

As a result, my Followers widget, is now in the footer of my blog page.

Even though you may not be using IE yourself, some of your visitors may be, which means less visits to your blog if they cannot open it!

Mellow Yellow Monday - An Abundance Of Yellow..

ALERT !!!! Many of you may be having problems opening Blogs when using Internet Explorer. Apparently the Followers widget is the cause. Go to this post by Speedcat Hollydale and get an explanation on how to fix it. As a result, my Followers widget, is now in the footer of my blog page. Even though you may not be using IE yourself, some of your visitors may be, which means less visits to your blog, if they can't open it!

These were taken on a school field trip, last week, to Animal Ark.

The desert, bordering the road leading up to the animal sanctuary, was covered with these yellow flowers. Not sure what they are. Maybe a variety of sunflower?

(CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE.)

Whatever they are, they are very cheerful. :-)


This closer look, has a little visitor on one of the flowers..


Looking down from the picnic area, towards the parking lot.

How many yellow objects can you see ? :-)

Have a great Mellow Yellow Monday and a Happy Memorial Day to those that celebrate it.

Memorial Day, here in the US, is the day that they remember all of those in the Armed Services, that have given their lives in defence of our freedoms.

I think it is also a good day to remember those soldiers from the Allies, that side by side with the US, also gave their lives, defending those same freedoms ...

Camera Critters - Animal Ark

In the last three weeks, I've been out to Animal Ark, twice, on field trips with kids from school.

First time was a group of second graders.

The second time was with about 90 kindergarten kids. That was .... interesting ! We managed not to lose any, despite the kids best efforts...

Animal Ark is an animal sanctuary, near Reno. It takes in animals that for whatever reason, can not be released back into the wild.

For many or our kids, it is the first time and possibly one of the only times, that they will see real, live animals of the type that are at Animal Ark.

While I would much rather see animals like this, wild and free ... they do serve as a valuable teaching tool for these kids.

(Click on any photo to get a better view)

This is Effie, an Artic Fox.

She was raised by humans but escaped from her owners. After a short stay with a Wildlife Rehabilitator she went to a wildlife park. however, she did not do to well with the other foxes.

She then came to Animal Ark, where she has lived quite happily in her big enclosure..


Another sot of Effie, taken on this weeks visit.


As you can see, she has a very sweet face and was very curious about us...


Meet Tonka, the mountain lion..

Tonka was bred to be trained for films, studio work and magic tricks. As he got older it became clear that he was not suited for this work.

Unfortunately, the usual fate of animals deemed to be unsuitable, is euthanization.

Fortunately , in Tonka's case, Animal Ark agreed to take him in.


One of the three cheetahs at Animal Ark. I think this one is Zulu.

I believe she came to Animal Ark from a private breeding facility. She has helped raise over a million dollars for cheetahs in the wild.


These two may be Moyo and Jamar. They came to Animal Ark for the De Wildf Cheetah and Wildlife Trust in South Africa.

They take part in educational programs, a running program that hopefully will help exercise other captive cheetahs and as Animal Ambassadors.

Now go to CAMERA CRITTERS and join in the fun.

Skywatch Friday - Sunsets, Glorious Sunsets !

I love looking at the sky .... it has so many faces and moods !!

This was a sunset that I captured a little while ago, while the Hubby and I were out on an evening walk.

I think that there had been a number of bad wild fires in California, which tends to make for spectacular sunsets here in Northern Nevada..

The sky literally looked like it was on fire and the colours changed as we stood, spellbound, watching....

(click on any photo to enlarge)




In the summer of 2007, there was a large wildfire, up in the hills, directly in front of us. As the sun started to slip behind the plumes of heavy, yellow smoke, it started to turn red.

made for quite a spectacular sight...


Unfortunately, it looks very much like there will be more opportunities, this summer, for photos like these. :-(

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

Watery Wednesday - Nanny McGoose ...

These were taken last Saturday at Virginia Lake, Reno, NV.

(Click on photos to enlarge.)

The Mum and Dad of this large brood, obviously need a little help in the shape of Nanny McGoose. She's the rotund lady bringing up the back of the parade.

I had to giggle watching her swim . She had quite a waddle on her. :-)


" Mum, Dad can we pleeeeeease go for a swim !! Look, one of you can even hold my wing if you're worried I might swim off. "

Mum and Dad stood on the bank, preening themselves and watching the other geese swim by, totally ignoring their tween offspring, who was jumping up and down, impatiently waiting to hit the water...

I have a love affair with water ... without it, I couldn't spend hours, entertained by the antics of those that live on it :-)

My World Tuesday - Virginia Lake, Reno, NV

One of my favourite places to go in Reno, other than the Truckee River, is Virginia Lake.

I'm very lucky in that it is only about 10 minute walk from my house.... so I spend a lot of time there :-)

These were all from a walk I took around it, last Saturday morning...

(Click on any photo to enlarge)

This man found a peaceful spot to practice is guitar playing. I stopped and listened to him for a minute or so ...


Looking across the lake to the Grand Sierra Resort. The sky is a deep blue and cloudless, which heralded a very hot day. I think it ended up in the mid 90's, which is hot for Spring.


There is a small, affordable housing development, that borders one side of the lake. The houses are quite nice, resembling the row houses, that can be seen in parts of San Francisco, etc.

There are black spots all over the sky in this photo. They're not spots on my lens, but little black, flying insects. I was standing in a cloud of them as I took the photo ! :-)

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

Mellow Yellow Monday - It's Everywhere !!

Isn't it funny, how once you become focused on a certain colour, you begin seeing it everywhere. :-)

Like these yellow cars, which were parked near or under something yellow ..


This one I snapped on the way to work, the other morning. It was parked under a yellow tree ..


This one I saw while walking around the lake this morning. It was parked opposite a yellow balloon ..

I was almost beginning to think they were the same car ... however, I don't think it is.. :-)

I now can't see something yellow, without thinking 'Hmmmm, that might make a good subject for MELLOW YELLOW MONDAY :-)

Camera Critters - Ducks, Ducks, More Ducks & A Goose :-)

This week, we are out of the desert and into the water... I took these during a walk around the lake, late in the afternoon, last Monday.

Never fails to amaze me, how many different shadings I can see on the ducks at our local lake.

(Click on any photo to enlarge)

This little one had some interesting brown markings on it's head ..


This young lady paddled along beside me, around half the lake. She was obviously hoping that I had food in the pockets of my camera vest..


I loved this black and white duck....


These three had me amused for awhile.

The drake beside his mate, had one eye on me and the other on the drake behind him, who was valiantly trying to attract the attention of the female.

Every time he swam towards the pair, the other drake would drive him off with wings flapping and beak outstretched. Quite funny to watch..


Another one of my camp followers, a goose this time, who was hoping for a handout. He even came up out of the water at one point and plodded along behind me. :-)

Now go to CAMERA CRITTERS and join in the fun.

Skywatch Friday - Desert Weather.

My first entry in Skywatch ... so I went into my archives.

A couple of weeks ago, we went fossil hunting near Hazen, NV.

The area that we were in, was the bed of an ancient lake, that existed about 9000 years ago, called Lake Lahontan. This part of the Nevada desert is rich in gypsum and fossils.

When we left Reno, it was raining. However, out in the desert, while the clouds were dark and glowering, it stayed dry though a little windy.

The desert sky certainly had a wild beauty about it, that day, which matched the land underneath it ..

( Click on any photos to enlarge. )

Meesha, surveying the vastness of it all ..


Disused gypsum mining pit ..


Looking towards the far off mountains, as the sky darkens. Still didn't rain on us, though !

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

Watery Wednesday - Veil Of Water ....

My first WW post :-)

The Peppermill Hotel Casino recently underwent a huge transformation, which included a number of water features.

These two shots were of the water feature at the front of the building.

It's like a veil of water falling in the form of a square, from the roof of a small stone pergola, that sits in a pool of water.

When you look through the arches of the pergola, you can see statues lining the wall to the side.

If you're a people watcher, like me, the stone ledges, surrounding the pool, make a nice, cool place to sit, on a hot summer's day, and watch the world go by :-)

Playing Catchup !

The hubby ended up in the Reno Gazette Journal, this week.

He had gone out to a Job Fair at 'The Legends', a new shopping an entertainment complex, that is being opened in our area.

There were 700 jobs available, but organizers were expecting more than 3000 applicants to show up. As happened, there were 5,200 in all, which shows the level of unemployment in our area. That stands at around 11.2 % currently, I believe.

I basically woke him up, the morning of the Job fair, and told him that he was wearing a suit. Poor guy wasn't even properly awake and was a tad grumpy until he'd had his coffee..

I cut and pasted this from the RGJ ... as you can see, Jay gives full credit to me for him being in the suit. :-)

' ... The crowd ranged from people wearing business suits and professional attire to one job seeker in an AC/DC T-shirt, shorts and a baseball cap.

Jay King, 56, was perhaps the best dressed, in a suit and tie his wife told him to wear.

"She said you have to stand out in the crowd because there are going to be a lot of people that, as you can see, are not dressed in the same way.

"When I woke up, the first thing she said is, 'You are wearing a suit,'" King said.

The proper attire was important to many of the businesses, some said.... '



He looks pretty spiffy, if I may say so myself :-)

The reporter that interviewed him, Ray Hagar, said some very nice things to Jay, during the interview. Which did a world of good for Jay's self confidence, which has been slipping a little lately as the job search winds on.

Ray later told me, that he thought J was one of the CEO's overseeing the whole fair ! :-)

Other than that, life is trundling along...

Only 5 more weeks to go before school ends for the year (we are a year round school). I'm currently going on plenty of field trips as I am involved with three classes.

We were at the Animal Ark last week.

We are going to a movie tomorrow. Something to do with the Earth.

The Animal Ark next week with a group of kindergarten kids, Should be fun ... sighhhh.

Then we are out to Carson City with some 1st Graders at the beginning of June. That is always a great trip.

On the weightloss front, not a lot of progress. However, I am getting plenty of exercise, which is a good thing.

Have new neighbours that are driving me insane. They are basically all teenagers. Two of the girls are pregnant. There always seems to be some type of drama or teenage angst going on.

I've been taking part in a few photography memes and really enjoying it. :-)

Now I'm off to school. Have a good day, y'all !!:-)