Life: Through the Lens

We have been in a creative funk, and I decided it was time to do something about that!  We went into slow-mo prior to the pandemic, but once that hit it seemed we stopped moving forward.  No travel.  Little, if any photography, but we did turn to reading A LOT!  Political, mystery, self-help (well, not much of that)...not all bad, really.  There was gardening, movie watching and jig-saw puzzles (which really is NOT our cup-of-tea). Coming out of this slow period of life,  we have finally picked up speed.  Maybe a bit too much!  I have SO many projects on my plate, and I have decided to tackle one more.  A new shift in the blog - I hope this will provide the motivation I need to get moving! Stay tuned! Roamin' is back!

Very hard to photograph at night, with a poor little cell phone.  But you get the idea. (Look for the family photo hidden within this picture). Las Vegas - Old School A week ago I joined the "kids" for a walk down memory lane.  I helped them clean out their father's house in Las Vegas, following his recent death, and we found so much history and memorabilia from the life and times of their father, grandfather and great-grandfather, as well as other grandparents and relatives.  One of the bonuses to cleaning out houses of people who don't throw anything away, is finding treasures and riches beyond measure.  A true inheritance. Discovering their history - while wearing Grandma's pearls. Snapshot Grandpa took, we assume, during a WWII USO tour. Ah...Bing. It turned out to be a souvenir edition, but still fascinating. We don't know which family member this is...but what a great photo! In a prior life I did live, and teach, in L...

The Nina, left, and Pinta, moored in the marina. Remember the day of the eclipse?   It happened to be the day we finally had a chance to get out of town and spend some time adventuring.  We packed up Kaycee, a cooler, and headed to Traverse City to see the hand-built replicas of the Nina and Pinta. The Nina was built using only adzes, axes, hand saws and chisels, in addition to naturally-shaped  timbers from the local forest. She stands 65' long, 18' across the beam, with a draft of 7'. The sail area is 1, 919 sq. feet.  She took 32 months to build. Both ships are exact replicas of those sailed in 1492, and they are called the Columbus Ships.  They were built in Valenca, Brazil by eighth generation Portuguese shipwrights.  There is no home port for these ships, as they are moving 11 months of the year, providing educational opportunities to everyone.  There is no Santa Maria because she never made it back to Europe, she is too big to mak...

When we planned our family get-together I just couldn't believe we all agreed to travel to the desert in July.  It was the only time which worked for all our schedules, and the location seems central for the younger families to get to.  Since we had a lot of time to work with we really didn't think about the distance for us to travel.   There were pros and cons to that decision! As we crossed the Rockies, which never cease to amaze us, and entered the desert terrain, the geography became quite desolate, and bleak.  Miles and miles of nothing - we imagined the journey of the settlers of this early country and how they must have felt as they worked daily to survive.  Then the terrain began to change, rising up into hills and tall rock structures, the color changing from neutral to a warm red hue. Nearing the town of Moab, we were in awe of the size and drama of the rock faces, and began to really look forward to seeing Arches National Park, and...