Some one’s white duck was in the irrigation ditch tonight.
I spotted a Beaver on the other side of the river.
He slithered into the water.
Swam toward me like Jaws.
He made a right turn,
Then a left turn.
Then Splashed me after I was yelling at him to splash for quite some time.
Daddy Owl
Is there a dragon in the clouds?
The Sandias with a soft pink.
The first day lily bloomed this afternoon.
Graham Thomas
Tatones on Resa’s Tree. They will open soon sending cotton blowing in the wind.
Cotton blowing in the wind from tatones on other cottonwoods in Corrales.
May Peace be with you.
Wild, pre-sunset clouds looking east.
The color remained close to the horizon as the sun was tucked away for the night.
Silver: “There ain’t no stinking Silver in those colors!”
Hmm! Well! It seems like there’s lots of sliver in the storm clouds blocking the sunset, Silver.
I went out a 4:30 am this morning to let in the irrigation water. The sunrise had a bit of color. A vulture circled over head eyeing me the whole time. I assure him, no matter what he thought I looked like from getting up a 4:30, I was alive and kicking. I got to work late because of the irrigating, and left work late getting work done. Alameda Blvd was at a standstill at the office, so I went south to Paseo Del Norte, which was slow but moved along. It took me 30 minutes to get home instead of 15 minutes. I would have probably been in traffic for an hour or longer on Alameda. The sunset was not very colorful, but I did take it from the four cardinal directions.
We had our 8th Annual Corrales Rose Society Dr. Huey tour in person this year. Susan came out in the late afternoon, and we walked around and looked at all the Dr. Hueys on the property, which are many this year. I also photographed other roses and Ladybugs.
Julie’s giant Dr. Huey in front of Rebecca’s black bamboo, and Marina’s Incognito pear tree blending in on the side.
Sleepy Owl was perched in a tree
Leaned forward wide eyes askance
Then the little fella
Puked up a pellet
“Oh! What a good owl am I!”
Gigi’s tree in the foreground with Resa’s and the neighbor’s trees in the background.
Purple Stain
As with most parodies, Purple Stain started out to be humorous. However, the lyrics took a turn toward the more serious aspects of life. Purple Stain was inspired by Holly at House of Heart in the Fall of 2020 when we were commenting back and forth on images and poetry. I thought for a long time about how to do a video to go with the song. I finally worked it out.
Many of us don’t fit “Normal” as defined by Miriam Webster*:
For we who have fallen outside almost all of the above definitions of “normal” at one time or another throughout our lifetimes for various reasons that are often outside of our control, we have dealt with “normal” people who do not understand the issues surrounding the problems we have had, problems we have to deal with continually, and the problem of being different and trying to fit into a “normal” world.
Purple Stain
By Timothy Price
Inspired by Holly Rene Hunter
Cleverly we put off until tomorrow
Wearily the things that make us go insane
Fondly running into the waves and splashing
Fondly raising our glasses, waking with a purple stain
Purple stain, Purple stain
Are we insane? So insane
Purple rain, Purple stain
So here we are scrubbing and washing out that purple stain.
Forever longing wanting to be like others
Our sensitivities make us like the strangest friends
Unfortunately we feel our sensibilities are plundered
Again the same our glasses raised as we pretend
Purple stain, Purple stain
Are we insane? So insane
Purple stain, Purple stain
Funny how we see, we see how things are changing purple stain
You and I we need to live as two
Look! Something new
That time we had to greet her
She stared at us like we’re insane
I thought you were going to lose it
As it was all about it was all about our purple stain
Purple stain, Purple stain
Are we insane? So insane
Yeah!
Let’s get us out of here purple oh the pain
Walking hand in hand
We only want, we only want our sanity
We only want our sanity
Storm clouds built up in the early afternoon, with a constant rumble of thunder as the clouds rolled in. I took the above photo at 1:30 pm and the temperature was 81ºF (27.2ºC). Thirty minutes later the clouds pelted us with hail and heavy rain that lasted for thirty minutes or so. The temperature fell to 55ºF (12.7ºC) in a matter of minutes. Needless to say, our poor peonies got beaten up by the hail.
Thirty-nine wild skies. One for each year Laurie and I have been married. Be sure to click on the gallery to view a slide show of the photos.
All of the clouds to the north at sunset tonight were contrails.
The owlets were lined up tonight in their order of age. Major Tom Peepers on the highest branch in front. Mona Lisa in the middle, and Sleepy mostly hidden farthest back.
All of the blood moon photos were shot between 4:30 am and 5:04 am. I changed my exposure allowing the non-eclipsed portion of the moon to washout. When there is no cloud cover it easier to keep the non-eclipsed portions of the moon from washing out. The bright parts of the moon cast a glow off of the thin cloud cover that turned into heavier clouds as the moon sank toward the horizon. After the moon slipped behind the tree I walked up the road to where I could barely see the white sliver of the moon through the haze. After that it disappeared. The full eclipse was at 5:18 am, but it had slipped behind the clouds and out of sight.
More flowers and roses for the Super Flower Blood Moon.
All three owlets have flown into the bosque. They are near the Tangle Heart Tree. Can you find them in the above photo? I’m not sure you can see Mona Lisa from the photo. I believe she is blocked by a branch. This is a higher resolution image than I normally upload, so you can click on it to see the full image and enlarge the image to help find the owlets.
A super-wide view of the area the owlets are in with the Tangle Heart Tree on the right.
Contrails when I got home.
Wild sky of the Sandias and Rio Grande.
More wild skies. The last shot was sunset tonight.
The Flowers: Mutant Peace, Peonies and Rio Samba.
The western clouds were beautiful, but not promising for a clear sky in the wee hours of the morning when the Super Flower Moon gets bloody. I’ll get up a 3:00am and check the sky.
The Super Flower Moon Rise.
Super Flower Moon
Super-wide-angle view of the Super Flower Moon rising over the Sandias and Rio Grande.
Super Flower Moon in the clouds.
Can you find Venus?
You should be able to see Venus in the above photo.
There was nice color in the west, but I missed most of it photographing the moon.
Swallows from below and above.
Rose in the late afternoon light.
Bird on a line, owlets in the cottonwood. Sleepy is wide awake.
Moon through clouds.
They sky was crazy tonight. It had me running from one end of the property to the other the get all the angles.
Intermission: I walked up to the fence along the north side of the property to do another panoramic photo, and got a horse kiss.
The end of the crazy skies.
Off Center & Not Even 