Cycling Mt. Constitution ~ Weekly Photo Challenge ~ Adventure

For over ten years, when Creighton and I took our summer vacation on Orcas Island, bicycling on all of the islands was our primary activity. Cycling from Beach Haven, to Moran State Park (9 miles) then up Mt. Constitution, and back to the cabin, became a yearly adventure. At 2,409 feet, Mt. Constitution is the highest point in the San Juan Islands. The road to the summit is 4.7, narrow miles of switchbacks, a true challenge with ten speed bicycles.

Half way up there is a large turn out where we would reconnect and rest. Creighton snapped the photo of me as I approached the false summit in 1988. The two photos beside it give a sense of the terrain and the view. At the top, I was pretty pleased, and the weather provided fantastic views of Mt. Baker, the surrounding islands, the Olympics and Canada.

 

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Weather Harbingers ~ Sunday Stills ~ Clouds

 Clouds are weather harbingers. On this cool July morning at Crescent Lake, Oregon, with fishing lines in the water, I looked up to see this lovely cloud formation. With no other clouds around, it drifted and faded into a clear blue sky and a hot summer day.P1000451

Altocumulus undulatus

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Talk To Me Again ~ Weekly Photo Challenge ~ Dialogue

For this week’s challenge, we are to bring two separate, original photographs together into a visual dialogue.

 

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Talk To Me ~ Weekly Photo Challenge ~ Dialogue

For this week’s challenge, we are to bring two separate, original photographs together into a visual dialogue.

 

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Hand-Cranked Wine ~ Sunday Stills ~ Alcohol

IMG_0006 In the 1990’s my husband and I began making wine. Living close to the vineyards of Yamhill, Oregon, we bought grapes in bulk and processed them through a hand-cranked stemmer-crusher. Red wines are crushed, fermented and then pressed, while white wines are pressed right after being crushed, and then fermented. These photos are of a Pinot Gris crush, when my family joined in to help.

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As we aged, and the price of good wine lowered, while the price of good grapes skyrocketed, we sold the equipment and turned our energies to other activities. What fun it was though, on those cold October days when we’d get the call – time for harvest!

wine making - Version 2

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Sanctuary ~ Sunday Stills ~ The Whole Garden

This is a collage of various gardens in my yard. It is about a quarter acre lot, and when we built, we asked that as many trees as possible be left standing. Thirty years later, I have landscaped every nook and cranny. The front yard is mostly sun all day, the back is shade, with a few hours of light here and there. It has been quite a learning experience for me to find a variety of plants that thrive in zone 7, sometimes in total shade!

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Profiles in Form ~ Weekly Photo Challenge ~ Silhouette

Silhouette:

 ~ an outline ~

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 ~  contour, shape, shadow ~

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~ an air of mystery ~

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~ of hidden secrets ~

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~ with undertones of something about to happen ~

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Albino Wooly Worm ~ Weekly Photo Challenge ~ Texture

Arthropods have always fascinated me. Somehow I grew up knowing to be cautious, but also that it was OK to be curious about what it was I was seeing. Instead of having an instant fear response, I still stop to wonder; “What is this. and how does it fit into the texture of life on earth?”

IMG_0732Virginian Tiger Moth or Yellow Woolybear Moth

Spilosoma virginica (Fabricius, 1798)

http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/

 

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Los Bambinos ~ Sunday Stills ~ Crowd Pleasers

P1000200Los Bambinos had the crowd’s rapt attention when they gave a sunset concert at Beach Haven Resort, Orcas Island, WA ~ July, 2012.

 

Polly G. Vicars – PVNN  Banderas News.com

The eldest Bambino, Carlos Salinas Morelos, began his career jumping on city buses, singing for the passengers and hoping when he passed the hat he would pick up a few pesos. He progressed to singing with his friends José and Galindo in the group Luz de Luna in the restaurants of Puerto Vallarta and the surrounding beaches.

While Carlos was enjoying success both with the group and solo, his three younger brothers Lazzaro, Immer and Giorgio were playing and singing in the assemblies of their schools and their father, a musician who encouraged all his sons, suggested that they go out into the public and earn some money. Big brother Carlos spotted them one night hesitating in front of a restaurant, trying to get up their nerve to go in and ask people dining at the tables if they would like a song. Taking them in hand, they entered together, sang and played to enthralled diners.

The youngest, Giorgio, a plump 13-year-old at that time, whose voice had not yet changed, sang soprano like an angel! Lazzaro and Immer, 16 and 15, shy, slim, handsome young men, harmonized perfectly with older brother Carlos, 23, and “Los Bambinos,” the pet name their father had for them, were born! We knew that we were listening to future stars the first time they sang for us as we dined in the moonlight at our very favorite beachfront restaurant, La Palapa.

Soon this group of young musicians was attracting attention in Vallarta. People engaged them for private parties and in the restaurants a song at one table was almost always followed by many more requests from other tables. They produced their first recording, “Fiesta Music from Puerto Vallarta” that was soon a sell out.

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Metamorphosis ~ Weekly Photo Challenge ~ ZigZag

In the depth of winter, flowing water congeals, crystallizes; transforms into ice.

This week’s photo challenge is to show an image that, in its zigs and zags, tells a story.

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