A Camera and a Bike

A camera and a bike puts the FUN back in exercise!

Nature's Grafitti

Stopped on my bike to snap this one . . . then another day -->

a few days later

To catch the wind . . .

We have breezes in the desert, but quite often they morph into full-force winds--the knock your fence down sort!

I was out on my bike, working with this natural resistance training, when I stopped to take another picture of our neighbor's liquidambar (or sweetgum) tree.  Hold your breath, wait for the pause in the gale, then SNAP! 

Back on my computer, this pic was about to be deleted, because obviously I had missed the pause; but then . . . I saw it!  Do you?  I couldn't discard it because I realized in a moment that I had caught the wind!  :-)

curves not Curves . . .


 I really did mean to go exercise at Curves.  I was dressed for it and I walked up to the door.  But I forgot they are not open early on Saturdays, and I had a coffee date at 9, so I decided to do the other curves.  I headed west, following the curves out to the farmlands.  The day was cloudy with the sun desperately trying to peak through.  Sadly, there was too much glare to get the kind of pictures I wanted, but, at any rate . . . this is my exercise for the day!

Parking lot at Curves!  See, I was there. :-)

Then home again, home again jiggity jig to capture the birds at my feeders.  This pleasure needs to have burned at least a few calories.  :-)

More color and comment (sarcastic, of course) in the desert . . .

11-'11

I ride around on my bike, looking for pictures to take.  Crisp fall air and photography take the sting out of exercise. 

This top one was taken a little off the road near where a car was parked.  I didn't notice till I got back on my bike that there was actually someone in the car, who I'm sure thought me an idiot.  But to be fair, I think he was a robber or a sexual predator casing the street!  Or he might be stealing a smoke because the wife won't let him smoke in the house.  Maybe that.

With this picture, I look up at the flaming deciduous against the backdrop of conifer and try to imagine that I'm not surrounded by a housing tract and an asphalt drag strip, with a scary tattooed guy quickly approaching me on the sidewalk.  Mmm, I'm on a bike, he on foot.  Do I think he can run faster than I can pedal?  Maybe.

This liquidambar tree is certainly living up to its name.  It caught my eye from a side street, and I needed to go back and capture its soul.  The house on whose lawn it stood was a bit run down, and I wasn't sure it was even inhabited; though, I did have an inkling that if I heard a "sic 'em" from behind the peeling door I would need to make a fast getaway.  It was the sign "Pit Bulls R Us" that gave it away.

Though these little red wanna-be trees bloody the sidewalk, they make a beautiful flaming site on this nice fall day!

And then I bike home to nurse my knees, and my own roses have shaken off the heat and gloom of boring blue summer skies and are once again blessing us with heady blossoms!  I love the fall!

It's a Neighborly Day in This Beauty Wood . . .

Okay, you know you're getting more mature when you go for a Sunday drive, and it's the most fun you've had all week.  :-)

We drove up to a lake in the mountains near us.  It hasn't been cold enough to have a lot of leaf color, but it was a beautiful day with lots of beauty to take in.

It's fun to have little kids in the foreground of nature shots, but you need to be careful you don't look like a white-haired grandma-type predator as you are grabbing your shots!

On our way back down the mountain, we stopped by St. Andrew's Abbey to take some shots at the reflecting pond there.  It has changed a lot since the last time I stopped by.  They have added a fountain, some walkways, and stonework.

On the way home, I had Kel stop by the powerlines on the back road.  There are myriad metal high power towers and lines, but this string of wooden ones stood out to me in that congregation of electric sentinels.  What was weird, though, was the very loud humming.  When you drive by, it is not noticeable, but stopping, getting out, and defying rattlers, to get a picture, the hum is overpowering.  It was rather spooky, and I certainly would not want to build my house anywhere nearby with that kind of juice filling the airways.

But all in all, a very pleasant day in the "neighborhood," and taking pictures makes me happy! :-)