Tag: mountains

Cactus Ranch

My throw-back Thursday image is one that I really love. It makes me a little homesick for the desert and the Catalina Mountains I saw every day. I think I took them for granted. Sorry!

When I first got my Nikon camera, I played a lot with settings and this image is one that came out pretty good, I think. The sun was starting to set on the mountains and peering through the storm clouds that were gathering for a summer rain that evening.

We called this place the cactus ranch because it was eight acres of cactus; all shapes, sizes and varieties. But even cactus has it’s own beauty.

Be good to yourself and each other. Namaste’

Escape

This week’s photo challenge is ESCAPE.  I took this shot last year during my 366 project and believe it depicts what we all think about from time to time.  Escape from jobs, toxic relationships, illness, worrying about what others think, keeping up with the Joneses’, negative people, and the list goes on.

What do YOU want to escape from?  Click the link below the photo for an awesome video.  Namaste’

09.12.12.fence

“Whatever you don’t decide, others will decide for you.”

 

Purple Mountain Majesty

Coming in from walking the dogs, I saw the mountains and realized that a scene similar to this is where the phrase “purple mountain majesty” probably came from.  Of course, one of our desert cotton tails posed for me in the foreground.  (One that Foxy and Daisy would like to chase down, I’m sure). Click to enlarge. Namaste’

The Heart on Fire Award

I have been terribly behind on the awards that my blogger friends have kindly bestowed upon me, so today is the day I begin to catch up.

Thanks to Jeremy for the Heart on Fire Award.  Please visit Jeremy’s blog if you haven’t already.  His photos and descriptions are uniquely inspiring and creative.  To keep this award, I have to share seven facts about myself:

  1. Reading and writing have both been my life-long passions, whether it’s a hard-bound book, a paper-back, reading/writing an article or blog, or reading a book on my Kindle Fire. Thanks to my WS (wonderful spouse) for that beautiful Christmas present.
  2. I worked in the staffing industry for 25 years – started out by being a temp.
  3. I co-authored a book with my WS about how to find a job using staffing services.
  4. I’m a huge fan of Neale Donald Walsh – having read every single Conversations with God book in his series.
  5. I am proud to be “owned” by two wonderful mutts, Foxy and Daisy.
  6. Being a believer that humans simply can’t be the only forms of intelligent life in our universe, I’m a student of anything that points to the truth of that.
  7. Taking pictures has always been a thrill for me and this is the time in my life that it has evolved into a passion.
  8. My uncle taught me the most about taking good photographs with my very first SLR camera, a Pentax K1000.  It was a completely manual film camera which I took on a trip with him, my mom and my kids back in the 70’s.  At one point we were so engrossed in photographing the indoor pool at Hearst Castle that the tour bus almost left without us 🙂  And he held onto my legs while I leaned over a cliff at Big Sur to get just the right shot of the pounding surf at sunset.

OK, you got an extra tidbit thrown in for good measure.  And now I’d like to recommend some blogs for this award (in no particular order).  Please take a look yourself.  They’re pretty cool.  Note to nominees:  don’t feel bad if you don’t have the time to go through the procedure for this award.  Just know that I think highly of your blogs.

Today’s photo is of my favorite mesquite tree, backlit by the sun, illuminating part of the Tortolita Mountains.  Click to enlarge. Namaste’

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