Hoping to see Old Faithful and Yogi Bear when visiting Yellowstone National Park, I found Old Faithful but was disappointed not to find the Bear. But better still, and to my utter delight I discovered these Vivid pools:
These astonishing colours have an astonishing explanation: heat and bacteria. if you want to know the science click here.
If you want to see more pretty colours in the WordPress Photo Challenge, click here!
So where’s Yogi? Have you seen him?
Purple Haze all in my brain,
lately things don’t seem the same,
actin’ funny but I don’t know why
‘scuse me while I kiss the sky.
~Jimi Hendrix
On the Way in a roundabout way from the train station to Seville Cathedral in 2006 we happened (as we do in our unplanned way) on La Noria (Ferris Wheel) in Prado de San Sebastian, the whole of which was enveloped in a purple haze of Jacaranda blossom.
I’m feeling a little bit like this tree, Broken, . . . . . .
. . . . but look carefully at the uppermost branch on the left. It’s regenerating! And so am I.
I have not, however, been struck by lightning.
. . . . . Enveloped in plastic . . .
. . . we took our life in our hands . .
. . . to board Maid of the Mist . . .
. . . and headed into Niagara Falls . . .
. . . and disappeared, enveloped in mist.
This week’s photo challenge is to illustrate the word enveloped. Click here to see other entries to the challenge.
To see Niagara Falls enveloped in snow and ice visit Joanne Sisco’s great post A Winter Day At The Falls.
. . . . not Hoodoo or Whoohoo!
While living on the outskirts of Phoenix I witnessed several extreme dust storms, also known by the Arabic name of haboob! I can’t even say it without an exclamation point in my voice.
They would sweep through the valley between our balcony and the distant mountains giving us a perfect view of these Forces of Nature. Only once did I get a mouthful of grit and have to make a hasty retreat to the apartment.
The view would completely disappear behind the spooky murk.
Moments later as the wind blew through the dust would disappear and the view of distant mountains and our ‘world famous’ fountain rising up to over 500 feet would reappear.
And later, a perfect moonrise over Four Peaks was revealed – two more forces of nature:
This is no longer our ‘corner of the world’ but nature is more genteel in this corner of the world and I wanted to share the noxious dust storm pictures with you.
Another entry for this week’s photo challenge of Intricate , but what is it?
Is it an avant garde artist’s latest creation?
Nooooo.
Is it ice crystals on strawberry ice cream?
Noooo.
Did it fall off Lady Gaga’s latest outfit?
No!
So what is it then?
Scroll down and see:
Did you guess it was a tulip? You didn’t cheat and look at the tags did you?
The hoodoos of Bryce Canyon have to be seen to be believed – difficult to describe!
Hoodoos differ from pinnacles or spires with their Intricate shapes formed by erosion of layers of rock of different types.
Hoodoos are also called tent rocks, fairy chimneys and earth chimneys. Which is your favourite name?
These photos are all the same vista taken with wide angle to zoom at Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, U.S.A.
From East – Wild Bill’s Airboat Tours on the Withlacoochee River in Florida . . . . .
. . . . to West – jetskiers on Lake Powell, Utah . . . .
. . . . this week’s entries for the WordPress photo challenge of Motion.
. . . . . sunrise at Long Key in the Florida Keys:
. . . . . and no I did not pop over there this morning. Photo taken December 2009. I knew, of course, that it would eventually come in handy for the WP photo challenge this week of Early Bird.
It wasn’t difficult to rouse myself for this photo op. I had the beach to myself, a lovely cup of tea and a spectacular show to watch put on by Mother Nature. The only problem was that the heat and humidity kept fogging my camera lens having just stepped out of the air-conditioned RV. Have you experienced that? It was a new one on me.
Do you see that blob with her arm out under the rear stripey sail? That’s me at the helm of ‘Nightwind.’ The photographer was Walter Cronkite.
It was the late 70’s and I was crewing on the charter yacht ‘Nightwind.’ Walter came down from New York with his wife, son and friend to spend some down time cut off from the world as this was before the days of mobile phones.
We were ghosting along under a light wind and Walter and the skipper hopped into the dingy to take some rather splendid souvenir photographs of ‘Nightwind’ under sail, some of which he posted to us later after they’d been developed (remember doing that?). Sadly, this one is now faded, scratched and blotched.
An enduring memory of THE Mr. Walter Cronkite was that he would ascertain our destination for the next day and read aloud about it from the cruising guide after dinner. Washing up, tinkering and tidying would halt and the other five of us on board would gather round to listen. I knew the guide off by heart and the islands were completely familiar to me but his sonorous voice, relaxed by his vacation, was mesmerizing. It was his news voice tuned down to a lullaby. What a treat.
I lived Afloat on this boat for two years cruising with charter passengers between Martinique and Grenada. And am still drifting.
If you are interested, or my terminology offends you, the rear stripey sail is the mizzen staysail.
I could have just re-posted Put That Back, a photo of Floating Islands desserts for this challenge, but that seemed a bit lazy.
Which Way Now 101 