Browsing the Archives

 What better thing to do in the winter when outdoor activities are limited than to browse my very extensive photo archives from four different computers.    I was quite remiss all these years in establishing an orderly organizing system that would enable me to find a specific photo without tedious searches.  

  I'm not there yet, but am a lot farther along than I was a year ago.

In the meantime, it's been a blast finding photos I'd forgotten about.    Here are a few:

I didn't take the above photo but it is one of my favorites.   This is a formation in the rock of Uluru also known as Ayer's rock in the Australian Outback.   There is an unmistakable spiritual sense of this place.  It is a revered place for the Aboriginals.  I look at this photo and imagine that I am in the arms of Uluru.

Riding the mules to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, over-nighting at Phantom Ranch, and riding back up?   Priceless.   Notice the shape of the mule's tail.   That designates that the mule is old enough to "stop being silly" and is vouch-safe to carry a rider.

This is a spot along Turnagain Arm where the railroad tracks make an S curve.   It always catches my eye because it is so photogenic.   I'm trying to photograph it in all seasons.   I like the ethereal look here.

I was lucky to see this little tree swallow make its first flight.   I followed it a hundred feet, watching the other swallows diving at it, flying around it, encouraging it.   I got this photo when it landed.   Other fledgling landed nearby but this one needed to sit awile and ponder this thing called flying.

I was astonished when this Wandering Tattler let me get within ten feet of it.  

Why?   I just like it.

Those twilight minutes when everything is bathed in mauve.   Love it.

I've taken photos of birds that are a lot nicer than this, but this one is my all time favorite.   A boreal chickadee in a snowstorm waits for me to hand it a peanut.   Tough little birds.

Now, back to the archives.