Diane’s labored for three years to entice humming birds to her feeders, and this summer she’s finally been rewarded. The photos are grainy at an iso of 1600. If I don’t shoot fast the feeder looks good, but the bird is a blur. And, like Adam and Tricia’s, the damn thing flits away when they detect human movement.
Hi Mike,
As you know, earlier this August, Beth and I went with 3 hiking buddies of mine to Glacier Nat’l Park. Beth acted as a re-supplier for our backpack trip, and made our loads lighter by meeting us midway at a road camp to supply us with more food and clothes. We all had a great time despite the extensive pall of smoke from a forest fire just west of Kalispell. Later, from our highest trail, near Browns Pass, we could see the smoke off in the far distance to the south, and could even smell it from 50 miles away.
Our hike started in Waterton, Alberta, where we took a ferry into the USA. While we started hiking, Beth took the ferry back to Waterton Park, and drove around to meet us 3 days later at Lower Bowman Lake. While the 4 of us fogies backpacked, she went on day hikes and listened to ranger talks. She camped with us one night at Bowman Lake before we headed up for a 3-day circuit of Quartz Lakes.
The streams we passed were mostly dry, but at high elevations there were still valleys full of alpine grasses and flowers and crystalline waterfalls. We saw lots of wildflowers that I’ve never seen in Colorado. Due to the lateness of the season and the dry summer, I found only one Beargrass flower and one Columbine, but there were Fireweed, Western Anemone, and spectacular St Johnswort and Lewis Monkeyflowers. We also hiked through countless thimble berries in the woods, and grazed on them along the way. Our nicest camp was in a wonderful cirque full of alpine meadows and trickling falls. It’s called Hole-in-the-Wall after a huge cleft in the cliffs above the cirque.
We saw no Grizzlies, but saw their signs, and heard stories from other hikers about their spottings of bears.
I made a short album of our pictures.
You can click individual thumbnails to enlarge them or see a slide show by clicking the arrow button at the top far right.
–rakkity
PS: next for the blog — our ascent of 13,500-ft Navajo Peak
Saturday morning, on our return to Adam’s after gathering exotic wood from the Agassiz Theater in Harvard Square, and then breakfast at La Pro with Dan and Mark, we spied a skittish hummingbird dipping into the new feeder outside his back window. I ran to my truck to retrieve my camera, and then back to the room with the view, but the bird spotted my movements and flitted away. He’d come back, but disappear as soon as I raised my lens.
The fruits of my labor.
Adam said, “You need a blind.”
Yeah, well, not today, I don’t. I gathered my last cup of decaf and headed home. The very next day I opened an email from Adam and lookee here:
The bearded chess players isn’t the only old photo I stumbled across while looking for Menemsha pics for Mary’s new computer. When I first saw this pic which Matt took, I didn’t really know who that girl in red was.
I may have posted this before (it’s gonna happen), but this is one of my favorite photos. That’s me on the left playing against Andy Vince in 1972. I was a fair chess player, but I almost always lost to Andy.
Mike,
Every week or so, I discover another mural in Boulder–usually on the outside of a wall, sometimes on the inside of a restaurant or a store. There’s a few more murals that I haven’t managed to photograph, but there are enough now on my camera disk to make an entertaining collection.
Enjoy the free-spirited artists of Boulder!
–rakkity
(P.S. An album of Glacier National Park’s high country is in the works, and will come to the blog before Aug 30, my “drop-dead” date.)
Mike,
Every week or so, I discover another mural in Boulder–usually on the outside of a wall, sometimes on the inside of a restaurant or a store. There’s a few more murals that I haven’t managed to photograph, but there are enough now on my camera disk to make an entertaining collection.
Enjoy the free-spirited artists of Boulder!
–rakkity
(P.S. An album of Glacier National Park’s high country is in the works, and will come to the blog before Aug 30, my “drop-dead” date.)
Yesterday was Big Push day. Matt goes back to school at the end of next week and Goose will be gone from this Thursday late until Monday, and they still have the garage and maybe my barn to paint. With that in mind, and substituting pads for paint brushes, they second-coated nearly three quarters of the house with that eye popping blue. They made so much progress they’re hoping to finish (lots of trim yet to be painted) by the end of tomorrow.
Early morning rock and roll for Diane.
Stand By Me
Ben E. King
When the night has come
And the land is dark
And the moon is the only light we’ll see
No I won’t be afraid, no I won’t be afraid
Just as long as you stand, stand by me
And darlin’, darlin’, stand by me, oh now now stand by me
Stand by me, stand by me
If the sky that we look upon
Should tumble and fall
And the mountains should crumble to the sea
I won’t cry, I won’t cry, no I won’t shed a tear
Just as long as you stand, stand by me
And darlin’, darlin’, stand by me, oh stand by me
Stand by me, stand by me, stand by me-e, yeah
Whenever you’re in trouble won’t you stand by me, oh now now stand by me
Oh stand by me, stand by me, stand by me
Darlin’, darlin’, stand by me-e, stand by me
Oh stand by me, stand by me, stand by me
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