John and Karen invited us to their house for dinner, and we arrived just as the sun was setting.

John and Karen invited us to their house for dinner, and we arrived just as the sun was setting.

Photo taken by BirdBrain in Ecuador.

“This little humingbird is call the Booted Racket-tail…. very fierce with other hummers (who, I am sure, lust after his boots!) but only the size of my index finger.”

Many birds and the beating of wings
Make a flinging reckless hum
In the early morning at the rocks
Above the blue pool
Where the gray shadows swim lazy.

In your blue eyes, O reckless child,
I saw today many little wild wishes,
Eager as the great morning.

Carl Sandburg

This is a must see.

I asked a woman, who was a friend of my father’s, and who’d double majored in Econ and French, if she were still fluent in French.

Hi Michael –

Let me put it this way………..25 years ago I lived in France for a year and could actually think in French. Now……I’m pretty effective if the speaker would just take the time to not speak actual French directly to me…….but instead just write everything down and let me read it!

When my husband and I traveled to France a few years ago, we went into a men’s clothing store. The clerk asked my husband a simple question and I translated for him. After I finished, the clerk looked at me with pity…….then she told my husband in English what she REALLY SAID!

Ciao……..Margaret

From Jen

And one of two (there is always next week) that I stumbled upon.

Hi Mike,

Knowing your love of panos, I’m sending a first cut at a 7-panel shot I made from the east side of Boulder a couple of weeks ago. This is not the final version–there are lots of joints visible, and the exposure varies from picture to picture, and there are 2 more photos to be pasted in at the left end. But what the heck, it’s a beginning. There have been some much better days with more snow on the foothills, but I couldn’t get out to the vantage point at the right time. As the fields green up this month, we’ll have even better views to make a better pano.

rakkity

The rest of Saturday night’s party photos . I don’t know why I’m posting pictures of people no one but I know, but here they are anyway. Amelia became a US citizen on Thursday.