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Thanks to all who sent me birthday wishes for Saturday, most of them came via facebook which means I really should try actually logging in there one of these days. To be honest, I hadn't expected to be sitting at this particular computer typing this. Had things gone as I had planned them, I would have been in the South of France, but a red light runner put paid to that. Then, of course, I had some bones that needed to heal so I could get back on my feet, so here I am.
It's quite interesting the way a crash like that can change your perspective on the world. There are some things I appreciate more than ever, and there are other things about which I have become even more cynical than before (even though I didn't previously think that was possible). I did manage to buy myself an early birthday present (pictured above), so that is some compensation for the lost time.
Either way, I'm glad to be here, hopefully with many more adventures to come.

Manawa Trail Day

Thankfully, we got some clouds this morning. Instead of normal Saturday Ham Radio breakfast, I attended the THOR Lake Manawa Trail Day. Stopped by Panera Bread to pick up a dozen of bagels for the crew.

I headed to the second section of the trail with my loppers. I had not been down there since late April. WOW, have the weeds have been growing! This photo depicts the hemp "forest" that the trail cuts through.

Didn't cut much. Mostly, I wanted to check out the trail and get a couple photos. The are section of the new trail that a lined by 10+ foot weeds, some sections of flowing singletrack in the woods, and some fine (silt) sand.

Met up a trail crew group rerouting a section of the trail. By the time I made it trough the trail section, I had enough for the day. While a nice breeze today, there was just no air moving in the woods.

It was ther first time I rode the full section of the trail. Did not check my computer then I headed into the trail section, but the times I looked, guessing there is over 1.5 miles of trail in there.

Brought the older point&shoot camera with me. Should have brought the newer one. Another day. Need to get out there to check out the first section of the trail and grab some photos.

Another trail day tomorrow morning at Manawa. Supposed to be hotter. Think I am gonna skip it and do normal Sunday morning at Panera.

Sometimes the Gift Outlives the Giver

I thought about my Aunt Phyl a few days ago. At the beginning of November the Mexican holiday of Dia de los Muertos and the Feast of All Souls remind us of family members who have died and my aunt has been gone for many years. Remembering her now might be appropriate but the calender didn't bring her to mind - it was an unexpected bud on a plant.
Phyl loved clothes, parties, plays and gourmet cooking, but she was also a gardener. I can remember being a child in her flower border, watching as my aunt showed me how to squeeze the sides of the blossom to make Snapdragons talk. A few decades later, when impatiens was a newish, trendy annual, she showed me how to snap off a few flowering stems and arrange them on needlepin holders for a sunny table, telling me that way they'd look good while growing roots to make more plants for the garden. She handed out divisions of Siberian iris and Annabelle Hydrangea and Jack-n-the-Pulpit - all still growing in the gardens of my family back in Illinois.

Aunt Phyl gave me starter plants of another passalong back in the late 1980's. It grew as a houseplant in Illinois but has been a porch plant since I brought it to Texas. Here's that bud unfolded:
Its names are Starfish flower, Carrion flower, and Stapelia - possibly Stapelia gigantea. The thick stems look almost like a cactus but are relatively soft and have no spines.

I brought one plant with me and have started several more in the last 8 years. I lost a few to sudden cold snaps - this plant is happy outside in mild weather but the pots must be taken in and out of the garage when the temperatures approach freezing. This was the first flower in a couple of years - strange and spectacular, with long hairs all over the edges, and they emit a faint scent of meat to attract a pollinator - flies!
Once the flies showed up I realized that white shelf was a little too close to the door and the floral display moved down to the other end of the veranda.

It seems ironic that such an odd plant brings memories of my rather glamorous, well-groomed aunt - but it's the only passalong from her that made it to Texas. Maybe she'd be amused.

Wildlife Sightings Today at McKinney Falls S

Here's what we saw from our front door this morning...











Love nature!!

If you are intimidated by rough water....

The Gales: A Storm Gathering will be a great place to learn or improve your rough-water paddling skills.

Daybreak with waves.

During one recent foray in Lake Michigan waves, a fellow coach and friend mused about how few paddlers go out on truly rough days. Are they intimidated, he wondered, or just uninterested? What would it take to bolster both their confidence and ability?

One answer is the upcoming rough-water symposium, The Gales: A Storm Gathering, which will be held October 8 through 10 in Marquette, Michigan. Over the course of three days, there will be courses in surf kayaking, sea kayak surfing, rock gardering, rough water rescues, incident management, and open-water and night navigation, along with "long boats in current" classes on the nearby Menominee River. Registration is still open. Local accommodations are very affordable. So if the following images represent the kind of paddling you'd like to enjoy, sign up soon!

Sharon gets ready to launch. Waves always look smaller from the shore. Learning to estimate wave height is a useful rough-water skill.

Punching through the surf zone requires timing and technique.

The same is true of surfing back in.

Boat control in rough water is essential.

Clapotis offers rough-water opportunities, too.

We'll be there, paddling and coaching. We hope to see you there, too!

All's well that ends well

I'm happy to report that our tourists are on their feet and enjoying the wonders of Scottish scenery. Whatever it was that laid them low has passed. my bet is that they were escaping from an attack of the Highland midge, but many other creative suggestions were made.
And the rabbit is still there.

Yosemite National Park

After spending Christmas in San Francisco I drove on to Yosemite National Park, which is a few hours away from San Francisco. I arrived in Yosemite in the late afternoon on Christmas Day, with enough time to scout a location to shoot for sunset. Even on Christmas Day there were quite a few visitors in the park. Luckily I was able to find a location that I had all to myself when it came time to start making images. There was snow when I arrived at the park and it looked like it had fallen a couple of days earlier. It was a fairly mild evening with temperatures hovering in the mid-30's, which made for some beautiful fog that hovered just off the ground throughout the floor of the valley. The fog also meant that the trees and shrubs were all covered in frost.


After the sun had set I drove around for a little while looking for locations to do some star shooting once it was dark enough. I found a couple more fantastic spots and as soon as the stars became visible, I was shooting again. I had a wonderful time shooting the stars in Yosemite Valley, and I have a feeling that is something that not many people have done. I have seen many images of Yosemite, but only one or two night-time images. There was a little bit of moonlight which provided some nice illumination on the rocky cliffs. The moonlight wasn't bright enough to wash out the stars, though. And boy, let me tell you.... rarely have I seen a sky so full of stars! It was an incredible night, one I will not soon forget!


I returned to Yosemite again the following day, but the conditions for photography were less than favorable. It was a chilly, damp day with gray skies. I ended up driving around some more on the park roads to some areas that I hadn't seen the day before, but I really didn't take any pictures. I also visited the Ansel Adams Gallery, which is located near the park's visitor center. The gallery is definitely worth a visit. They have some really amazing framed prints of some of Ansel's most famous images, as well as images by other photographers that are well worth a look. Do yourself a favor and check it out if you ever find yourself in Yosemite!