• fall season,  leaves,  Plants,  seasons

    A walk with my camera

    October 16, 2022

    Dew is the result of water changing from a vapor to a liquid. Dew forms as temperatures drop and objects cool down. If the object becomes cool enough, the air around the object will also cool. Colder air is less able to hold water vapor than warm air. This forces water vapor in the air around cooling objects to condense. When condensation happens, small water droplets form—dew.

    The colors in town have been vibrant this year or I’m more alive to them than previously. The sun was warm and bright yesterday morning making things look vibrant. So, I took my camera and the 35mm f2.0 for a walk. Only makes sense to photograph all this beauty.

    Wisdom for today: I need to walk away from food rather than around food.

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  • lake,  landscape,  mountains,  reflections

    Mary’s Lake

    October 14, 2022

    Our first stop on our Peak to Peak highway drive on Sunday was Mary’s Lake. Hardly any breeze so the lake was smooth as glass. Every plant still in the shade, had a coat of light frost on it. Marys Lake is part of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project. There are 2 dikes on the shoreline of Mary’s Lake, located approximately 2 miles from Estes Park, Colorado. Mary’s Lake serves two primary purposes: it acts as an afterbay for the Mary’s Lake Power Plant, and it helps regulate Colorado-Big Thompson Project water on its way to the Estes Power Plant.  I guess another purpose is to provide beautiful reflections.

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  • landscape,  natural areas,  Plants,  Reservoir Ridge Natural Area,  sunsets,  trees

    Busy Day

    October 13, 2022

    It was a busy day yesterday. Started laundry about 7:00 am, made a quick trip to the grocery store then arrived at a coffee shop by 8:15 am. Had a zoom meeting at noon followed by a 2 1/2 hour lunch with my friend Duane. Finished off the day with a walk a Reservoir Ridge Natural Area for this image. I then curled up with a book and headed for bed.

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  • insects,  John O'Donohue,  natural areas,  quotes,  Reservoir Ridge Natural Area

    Dangerously free…

    October 12, 2022

    It is a strange and wonderful fact to be here, walking around in a body, to have a whole world within you and a world at your fingertips outside you. It is an immense privilege, and it is incredible that humans manage to forget the miracle of being here. Rilke said, ‘Being here is so much,’ and it is uncanny how social reality can deaden and numb us so that the mystical wonder of our lives goes totally unnoticed. We are here. We are wildly and dangerously free.

    John O’Donohue
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  • architecture,  Church

    St. Catherine of Siena Chapel

    October 11, 2022

    This past Sunday Joan and I were able to drive the Peak to Peak highway. We had planned on making the drive this past Friday but poor weather changed those plans. We chose Sunday even though it would be more crowded. Most of the fall colors were gone, missing them by about 2 weeks. Just outside of Estes Park is this lovely chapel along the Highway 7. It is known as the Chapel on the Rock or Saint Catherine of Siena Chapel. The chapel is located on the grounds of the Saint Malo Retreat, Conference, and Spiritual Center of the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver. We stopped to stretch and take a few photos.

    There were areas of trees with color but most of them were barren. We drove as far as Nederland and returned through Lyons rather than Boulder. We spent time at a coffee shop called New Moon Bakery and Cafe to enjoy a latte and a pastry on their patio.

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  • insects

    Katydid

    October 10, 2022

    I think this is the leaf katydid which is widely distributed in Colorado, found in both eastern and western Colorado and also common in many urban areas. They are related to crickets and grasshoppers. It is one of the most often heard Colorado insects, making clicking calls in trees and shrubs during late summer. They make the noise by rubbing a hind leg on one wing, similar to cícadas, and use it to attract the ladies. I knew they existed as I hear them quite often in the evening but seldom see them. Anyway, this one was on the sidewalk outside my door late Saturday afternoon. And, they were quiet. I almost stepped on it.

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