Monday, July 31, 2006

Feast or Famine

Albuquerque view, looking south from the northern end of the Sandias
After that long, long period of dryness... it sure has been raining a lot lately. I'm still grateful for it (just wishing a little more blue sky would come our way).

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Friday, July 28, 2006

Blue Dasher

blue dasher dragonfly
A blue dasher dragonfly at the Rio Grande Botanic Garden pond.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Foothills Hikers

hikers in the rocky foothills of the Sandia mountains
Hikers are dwarfed by the boulders of the Sandia foothills. The rain has brought more green to the foothills, a wide variety of wildflowers, and -- unfortunately -- zillions of buzzing, biting gnats.

Monday, July 24, 2006

Foothills Storm

storm in the sandia foothills
Thunderstorm in the Sandia foothills (the Philip B. Tollefsrud Memorial Sculpture Garden is in the foreground).

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Jacob's Ladder

jacobs ladder, blue wildflowers
I hiked part of the way up Pino Trail yesterday and saw hundreds upon hundreds of beautiful wildflowers (many that I'd never seen before). These little blue flowers are called Jacob's Ladder (or Polemonium foliosissimum).

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Roadrunner

roadrunner
Roadrunners are usually every bit as skittish as they are cute... but this one posed just long enough for me to pop off a couple of shots.

Friday, July 21, 2006

Desert Four O'Clocks

a desert four-o-clock nestles against cholla
A desert four o'clock blossom nestles among cholla branches. The wildflowers are really starting to pop, thanks to all the rain we've had recently.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Sculpture Garden

Philip B. Tollefsrud Memorial sculpture garden with a storm in the background
The Philip B. Tollefsrud Memorial Sculpture Garden, at Elena Gallegos Picnic Area, as a summer storm passes over.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Brooding Storm

a late afternoon storm moving in over the Sandias
A summer storm moves in to Elena Gallegos Picnic Area from the Sandia Mountains.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Hoary Comma II

hoary comma butterfly
A hoary comma butterfly whose portrait I took in the Sandias' Cienega Canyon the other day. The lower part of the canyon seemed to be the butterfly equivalent of I-25 at rush hour.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Collared Lizard

collared lizard
A collared lizard (Crotaphytus collaris) basking in the sun at Elena Gallegos Picnic Area.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Smoky Sunset

smoke obscures a sunset
A fire in Albuquerque the other evening made for a particularly pretty sunset.

Friday, July 14, 2006

Another Butterfly

taxiles skipper butterfly
A taxiles skipper butterfly (Poanes taxiles) on a wildflower whose name I don't know. The Sandia Ranger District (of the Cibola National Forest) was finally opened last weekend; it had been closed for eight weeks due to extreme fire danger.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Mobile Home Haven

Ponderosa Mobile Home Haven sign
I've admired this sign for years -- both it and the office look as if they're straight out of the 50s or 60s (they're on old Route 66 in Albuquerque). I believe the place is still very much a going concern.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Lone Mountain

sign for the lone mountain ranch
The Lone Mountain Ranch sign, with the rolling hills of the Ortiz Mountains in the background.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

More Rain

ranch gate silhouetted by a distant rainstorm in the Sandia Mountains
A ranch gate silhouetted by one of the many thunderstorms we've had recently.

Monday, July 10, 2006

Sandia Rainbow

late afternoon rainbow at elena gallegos picnic area
A late afternoon rainbow at Elena Gallegos Picnic Area in Albuquerque.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Saturday, July 08, 2006

The "River"

pino arroyo at Elena Gallegos Picnic Area
So much for all that running water -- here's the same spot, a mere 24 hours later.

Friday, July 07, 2006

Running Water!

water running in Pino Arroyo
The most incredible thing: I went to Elena Gallegos Picnic Area yesterday and could hear rushing water from the parking lot. I walked down to Pino Arroyo and it was a veritable river! (The coyotes must really be liking all the moisture too; they were yipping last night for all they were worth.)

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Wooden Indians

a pair of wooden indians on the porch of a store in Madrid
Porch of a store in Madrid. Is the store real? or part of the movie set? or both? In any case, I'm partial to wooden Indians (I think it's all Marty Robbins' fault).

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Monday, July 03, 2006

Madrid Blankets

blanket display in Madrid
Mexican blanket display in Madrid. I think this may actually be part of the set of Wild Hogs... but it's kinda hard to tell, since the entire town appears to be a movie set, and vice versa, right now.

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Sunday in Madrid

sunday morning in Madrid
Sunday morning coffee in Madrid. All of Madrid is a giant movie set these days (Wild Hogs, with John Travolta), but I think this particular scene was real.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Rain (Blessed Rain)

a summer storm east of the sandia mountains
We've finally gotten some rain over the last week -- and it's very welcome. This photo was taken from Highway 14, south of Golden.