Tomorrow is Obsolete

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Red Rock Canyon

Just southwest of Las Vegas (you can see the casino's on the strip it is so close) is Red Rock Canyon. It is what I think of when I imagine Nevada. It gets its name from, you guess it, the red in the rocks and mountains. It is the same red that is all over Valley of Fire.

Red Rock Canyon also has cactus.

Tucked away in the canyon is a waterfall and stream. In the area fed by the stream are wonderful trees with green and yellow leaves. In a place where moisture is abundant, a tree is just part of the scenery. In the desert, that same tree is an oasis of green and life.

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Valley of Fire

Just north of Las Vegas is a wonderful state park called Valley of Fire. I had heard my sister talk about it a few times but we never got around to going there until our last trip to visit them. I am kicking myself that we never went sooner, and hoping we will go again.

To say it was amazing would not come close to capturing the feeling as you first are able to see the pink-orange landscape. If I ever wondered what it might be like to stand on Mars, I think I have a good idea now.

The girls had fun climbing around the rocks and inside the caves and holes.

The day ended with a spectacular sunset.

Sunday, February 01, 2009

While they look at Geocache treasure...

... I take pictures. It makes a good cover too. I just do not get that excited over the actual cache part of geocaching. I love that it gets us out to new places we have not been before. Here are some pictures I took of the girls while geocaching in Sacramento.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Fun with leaves

One thing I have missed since we moved here is Fall leaves. Most of the trees here are pines, firs, and Eucalyptus. Even the trees that do lose their leaves, like our fruit trees, can't really tell what season it is and when to drop their leaves since the weather is so mild. Our poor plum tree still has half of its leaves and January is nearly over.

So, it came as no surprise to me that the girls though raking the leaves at Grandma's house was great fun.

Even playing in the green-waste bin was fun.

You may notice that Autumn is missing from these pictures. She's gotten too that age where she won't let me take her picture. So, no pictures of Autumn in Autumn this year.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Islay Hill

If I am going to the beach, I love a clear blue sky. Not when I am taking pictures. We took a hike up Islay Hill one rainy day and I was in photographer heaven. The views were amazing and the sky was a wavy ocean of grey.

Just down the other side of the hill we came upon this cross.

The railroad tracks curving through Edna Valley.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Rough day

Today has been thoroughly depressing. My team was laid off today. The fact that I lost my job is actually not what is depressing me. I know there are lots of exciting things out there for me to work on and we planned for this so the financial aspects of it are not devastating. What is making me sad is leaving a company I really enjoyed working for and a team that I loved being a part of. I am so bummed that I will not get to continue working with my colleagues. I know I was not going to stay in this job and with this team for my entire career. It just feels different when you make the choice to make a change versus when someone else makes it for you, and by surprise.

My blog is going to change a bit going forward. I will still be blogging pictures but now that I do not have my work blog, I will be blogging geeky stuff that I used to blog there.

In the mean time, I am going to enjoy some time with my family, the beach, and getting my garden ready for this year.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Zebras, elephant seals, and windsurfing

Not windsurfing zebra or elephant seal though, too bad. I am once again months behind in my pictures. I am mot sure how I keep letting that happen but it seems to be the norm rather than the exception for my 2008 pictures.

Back in October we spent some time up in San Simeon. Here are some pictures from our day.

Laura wanted to take pictures too.

Did you know we have zebra here... I mean ones that are not in a zoo? We do. It was a trip the first time I saw them. W. R. Hearst brought them here when he had is private zoo at Hearst Castle. Now they live on the hills next to Hwy 1 along with the cows (and eat from their troughs).

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Toilets

I am always looking for fun and unique picture opportunities. I really enjoy taking time to appreciate things that we overlook every day. So, to say I was excited when my friend, Henry, told me about a big pile of old toilets walking distance from my house is an understatement.

There is a group that takes out older, water-wasting toilets and puts in low flow toilets. At least some of the removed toilets are all out in front of their office near my house. Laura and I went over to take pictures and had a great time.

This one was Laura's favorite because it had butterflies on it:

My little photographer:

I noticed they have different toilets out there now and I am going to go back and take some more pictures soon.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Two

Mae turned two at the end of August. (Yikes, am I really only to the end of August when it is nearly Thanksgiving??) I just could not decide where to have her party. Last year we did it at a park and that was fun. I thought about places we could rent to do her party but she is not quite old enough to care so why spend the money? I kept avoiding the idea of doing it at home. We did a couple of parties at home with Autumn and learned they are a huge headache. You clean up all day so you can have everyone come over and mess it all up again. In the end, we decided to give a party at home one more try. We brought out all the yard toys, the kiddie pools, and then did our best to keep it all outside. I am happy to say it worked!

Here are some pictures of the day, most taken by my friend, Elena, since I was too busy being hostess to be the photographer.

(I did the post-processing on this one.)

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Cupcakes

I had the idea that it would be fun to get together with a group of friends and their kids and take some pictures of them eating brightly colored cupcakes. I was hoping between all of us with our cameras we would get a cute shot of the all the kids that we could submit to our TMN site's 2009 calendar photo contest. As it turned out, that was really hard to do and no one got a really great shot of all the kids together but there were so many cute shots of them individually or in small groups. Here are some of the ones I took:

Yes, the frosting really was that saturated with color, those images are not enhanced. Go industrial strength food coloring!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

My poor blog, feeling so ignored

If I thought life was busy before, it is even moreso now! I can't believe it has been a month since I posted. As of last Friday I was 3 1/2 months behind in pictures!

I can't really complain too much, I have been having lots of fun. In September, I was asked to join the board of directors for The Mommies Network, a non-profit which provides support and social networking sites for moms. I've been involved with my local site since its inception nearly 3 years ago. Now I am overseeing all technical issues and development for all 109 sites. It is really exciting and a great opportunity for me to work with some technologies I have not had the chance to use in my day job.

Enough about me, what about the pictures? For the long Veteran's Day weekend we went to stay at my husband's childhood home with no internet service (because no one lives there regularly anymore). It was nice to get disconnected for a few days and in the evenings I had a chance to catch up on pictures. I am now only 1 1/2 months behind. :)

Catch-up time... Kings Canyon, Part 2 - July 2008

Enjoying wildflowers

Once, this was a Sequoia Grove...

Dragonflies near Hume Lake

Sunset

Lots more coming!!