Home again.

I've just returned from a wonderful two-week trip to Rome.  Part of the trip was a workshop with Valerie Jardin.   Wandering around Rome streets withValerie Jardin, Shareen Hanlon and 11 other photographers -- a very exciting, full, memorable week.  Prior to & following the workshop I wandered on my own, including two bus tours to spots I wanted to enjoy outside of Rome.

As I process the seemingly endless number of pixels, I'll be posting now & then.  So here we go, the first of my attempts at street photography with Valerie.  

 This dog left his owner & came to investigate.  I was afraid he was going to lick the lens.  Ha!  

Loved the red pants.  As you look at this photo, check out the graffiti on the doors.  So sad!   Another blog coming on the graffiti & locals' comments.  

Busy day in my garden

Thanks to Susan Elms for pointing out the noisy road runner!   We were standing in my back yard looking at plants & behind us, on my neighbor's roof, was the road runner just singing for all to hear.  This is a first in my neighborhood for me.  The rabbits & doves are regular visitors.

Spring color in Wickenburg AZ

Beautiful spring color.   Thanks to Judy Rice and an off-road tour of her gorgeous area.  We  ended up back at her house for a great spaghetti dinner, conversation, lots of laughter & good company.  Thanks Judy & June.  

Course clean up at the San Diego Crew Classic

We wondered what this boat was doing when we first saw it.  There was a man in the front holding onto a huge red rake -- a leaf rake on the water?   We kept an eye on him as he slowly moved up & down the course.  Finally saw the reason:  course clean up!   Probably the most thankless job of the day!   But a very critical job --  if these clumps of seaweed got on the course they could slow a boat down.

Wonderful day on the water with my camera.

I volunteered to be at the San Diego Crew Classic today.  Mission Bay Yacht Club for many years has provided support for course safety & clearance.   The course area (Fiesta Island) is closed two days out of the year to provide safe racing for the crews.   MBYC provides help keeping it safe.  I was on an escort boat this morning.  Any boats, kayaks, canoes, jet skies, stand up paddlers that wish to cross the course are escorted.  We wait until a race is underway & the top part of the course is clear, then escort the boats across to another waiting boat who takes them over to the other side.

Meanwhile, I had my camera and was busy taking photos!   Here are a few favorites from the day.  The SDCC ran 114 races in two days.   You can see some info SD Crew Classic  at the link.

Birds and a lizard in June's yard (Wickenburg AZ)

We enjoyed sitting on June's patio and watching the birds that came to her feeder and the trees surrounding her yard.  Also saw a beautiful lizard, which I think  is the Western Fence lizard.  If I've mislabeled any of the birds or the lizard, please let me know.

Doves nesting high in the palms

Oriole

House finch

Western fence lizard

Arizona Road Trip

Officially  the Route 66 part of the road trip ended with the WigWam Teepees in Holbrook AZ.

We returned to Flagstaff, and stayed in the wonderful Little America Hotel.  I highly recommend this hotel & their dining room, but especially recommend the Chocolate Martini I enjoyed before dinner!

From Flagstaff we drove south and enjoyed the hospitality of a friend, June, in Wickenburg AZ.  We enjoyed sitting on June's patio bird watching and some photography here too.    She took us to a local junk yard where we really had a lot of photo ops.  Spent the morning there, then back to town for a great lunch.

Here a few photos from the junk yard (south of Wickenburg).   This is a very tidy (!) well kept junk yard (not that I've been in many others).   Everything was lined up -- one area had half barrels each filled with door handles, misc parts, another section had hoods lined up, then tires, piles &  piles of tires.   We had the run of the place, drove from one section to another, did our photography then drove on to another section.  Yes, it's that large!  More photos to come in a later blog.

Owner Reed