Northern CA; Southern OR

Flowers in Arcata, CA

Walking Above Squaw Valley, CA

Tahoe Two

When I was five, I broke my right arm playing rocket rides on our front lawn in San Jose, CA with my siblings and some neighbor friends. 

Six weeks in a cast later, we found out my arm didn't heal properly; the doctor had to break it again and reset it. 

I vividly remember lying on a hospital bed, looking at my sleeping arm as it lied on a pillow next to me. It was as if my arm wasn't my arm. The doctor came in. I watched him take the arm and break it. I was six more weeks in a cast. 

 My family and I went to Lake Tahoe that year. 

That was back in the day when you couldn't get your cast wet or it would disintegrate and smell worse than it was already disintegrating and smelling. My mom put a plastic bag over my cast so I could at least wade into the clear water. 

I was jealous of my siblings splashing and playing in the lake. Since I couldn't swim, I stared at the light, the water, and the beautiful pebbles and wished I could be under the water with them. I can still see that image. 

Today, the water didn't look as clear or as clean as I remember, but it was fun to think about how I visited this place 42 years ago, about how many other bones I've broken, and about how much more of life has happened since then.

At Lake Tahoe, CA

Unedited M

Zoo Peacock

Round Table Food

He was asked to bring food fit for boy scouts to the monthly round table to help give other scout masters ideas of what they could make at camp. Most people will probably bring meats or desserts. There will be dutch ovens. He didn't want to cook tonight and those boys need their fruits and veggies too.

Fruit kabobs are fun to make and to eat. The boys could even make their own skewers. Yes, there is the potential worry of sword fighting at the end of it all. They could always think of it as part of a cooking/safety/first aid merit badge all wrapped up into one.

Jordan River Temple Flower

I noticed this flower (reminds me of cosmos but it has black thick leaves) next to the sidewalk on our way into the temple.

"I'm going to take a picture of that when we come out," I said to my sweetie.

After the session, when I was kneeling down to take the picture, a lady gardener drove up in a little green truck and said, "Are you stealing flowers?" She was smiling when I turned around.

"No, just keeping them forever," I said.

"I like to take close ups of flowers too," she said and then drove away.

Quail Babies

I should always carry a camera. After a walk, I approached our home and saw ten baby quail with their mom and dad on our sidewalk.

I was at the end of the driveway. They were not frightened. As I slowly approached, the mom and dad moved to our grass and became alarmed. The babies ran into the bushes. I went inside and grabbed the camera.

The mom was further from our front door, but she stayed relatively close. She chirped at me and for her babies to follow. It was fun to watch them dart away. They stayed in the bushes when they could. If they couldn't, they ran right next to walls, window wells, and fences to safety like tiny ninjas. I managed a blurry picture of the mom and the last three babies just before they all ran under my neighbor's bush and into her backyard.

On the Way to Highland Park