Brilliant Alaska blues beam from lake

 This lake we saw on Alaska journey last year takes your breath away. The blues assault your eyes with their brilliance.

Mt. Ranier... Seattle, Washington

This is Mount Rainier, near Seattle, taken from a plane.

Spider lunch time

This spider, hanging in my back yard, was munching down on his lunch, when I came upon him.  He had a couple future meals  hanging elsewhere on his web.  He probably lost those, though, because later in the day, the wind blew away his spindly fortress.

Alaska wows with cold sites

The mountains slide past our cruise ship as w3 sail the passages near Skagway, Alaska, on our recent vacation,  My wife, Linda, is holding on to her hood because of the brisk, cold wind.  Two things to note about this photo 1) the glacier in the middle of the picture sliding down the mountains ( you can slightly see the blue color of the ice). 2. the guy walking in shorts toward us -- he must have been doing the ice bucket challenge or something.  Oh, by the way, this is from the first week of August.

Ducklings get lessons on grooming

"Okay kids, you had your dinner and your play time,  now it is time to clean up."  A mother duck, sheppards  her ducklings, teaching them good hygiene habits.  The scene is from Lake Washington.

Whale wakes whale watchers with tale show

This shot is from our recent Alaskan cruise on the Norwegian Jewel. We took a whale watching tour out of Juneau, and saw quite a few whales from afar.  After about 45 minutes of this, we ended up in a place where whales were mulling around, but not close to our boat. The captain turned off  the motor and decided to wait and see. Just as he was walking to the front to start the boat to leave, this whale and a companion surfaced about 40 feet from us to gasps and "wow" from all of us. This is the Humpback whale's signature move as he starts a deep dive for food.

Seattle slides away

This was the view from the Norwegian Jewel as Seattle slid away from us and we set sail for an Alaskan Cruise.

Eagle brags about his Salmon catch

After an hour of watching this Alaskan  eagle from afar, as we were walking back to the bus, he zoomed to a tree by the road which we were walking past.   I was so excited to shoot the shot, that I did not notice the salmon hanging down.   You can barely see it, but he has already eaten the head off of his catch.  This shot was from our recent Alaskan cruise on the Norwegian Jewel.

In the dust

Found in the wreckage in Oklahoma this past summer.

Eastern Blue Bird

Eastern Bluebirds aren't a common site, chez moi, so I was glad to see this visitor.

Shade Bathed

After the rain is gone, sundrops hang on for as long as they can in the shade.

Bluebonnets and friends

I pulled over on the side of the road and took this shot a few weeks ago.  It was a patch of Texas Bluebonnets and their friends.

Red-Headed Woodpecker

This Red-Headed Woodpecker was flying around City Park in Baton Rouge, unbeknownst to the kids having fun with more terrestrial pursuits. AllAboutBirds.com notes "These birds don’t act quite like most other woodpeckers: they’re adept at catching insects in the air, and they eat lots of acorns and beech nuts, often hiding away extra food in tree crevices for later."

Roadrunner

This Roadrunner I met in Austin this weekend didn't feel comfortable enough to let me get close.  He did however let me get close enough for a zoomed in shot.

Butterfies fill the air

Butterflies were all over the backyard Monday.  This is the only one that would sit still for a portrait, though.

Beautifully ugly

My iguana friend kept a sharp eye on me, but still let me get more than a dozen pictures of him without flinching.  This was as close as I felt like getting for fear of chasing him away -- I just wanted a good clear picture of his beastly bling bling.

Egret unruffled by my camera

You know that this egret had to feel pretty safe with me shooting pictures of him, if he took the time to scratch.  There was a good bit of swamp between the two of us.  Still, he was playing it pretty cool.

Flowers passionate about time

The Passion Flowers are still hanging around in the backyard, opening by day, closing by night -- floral clock style

Greetings from the big-billed bunch

This was the committee that flew in to greet us at the Bolivar-Galveston ferry a couple weeks ago. This flock of ferry followers were waiting for us to get off so the boat so it could resume churning the waters for their favorite foods.

Tree top egrets post watch

In Lacassine, LA, these two were posting watch at the top of the tree as their feathery fellows came circling in.  On the left is a Ibis, and on the right, a Cattle Egret.

Hitchhiking hummingbird

On our recent Caribean cruise, this cute fellow was a hitchhiker that joined us just offshore.  I think he disembarked in Jamaica.