Snow on the Mountains

After what has been called the worst storm in the past 100 years we finally started to see the sun on Saturday and temperatures have slowly been warming up.  Sunday Lori and I took a drive down the  Apache Trail out to Tortilla Flats to get some shots of the snow up on the mountains.  After a few days of miserable weather we were not the only ones with a bad case of "shack wacky".  The roads were packed with people out for a drive.  
We managed to find a few views that weren't cluttered with tourists and their cars.   These pictures  were made by shooting a series of 5 bracketed shots and then running it through my HDR program, Aurora.  It was also my first opportunity to use my new lens and it will be a learning experience shooting as wide as 16mm.  Its easy to get the toes of my boots in the picture if not careful.  

Our initial plan was to drive to the mountains in the distance.
They are much further away than we at first thought. 

In both of these shots I had to take numerous pictures in
order to get one without a car on the road or on the bridge. 

This bridge, like many on the Apache Trail, is only wide enough for one vehicle.
Takes a lot of cooperation so everybody gets across.

Monday was another hiking day for me and Tuesday we joined Larry and Penny to see a Spring Training baseball game.   Larry and Penny are from Calgary and we met them last year when they were our neighbours in the park.    

We went to Sloan Park in Mesa which is the home field of the Chicago Cubs and they were playing the Arizona Diamondbacks.  It was a great afternoon but I firmly believe that there are two sports that need to examine the length of their games.  Golf and Baseball.  Golf really only needs to be 12 holes and Baseball should shut it down after 6 or 7 innings.  After 2 innings 9 runs had been scored and we had seen 5 different pitchers.  After that it was scoreless and in order to beat the traffic we left after singing "Take me out to the Ballgame".   The 7th Inning Stretch for those not familiar with baseball traditions.   Between very expensive Cubs t-shirts, $9.00 beer and $12.00 hamburgers the $25. tickets were the bargain of the day.  I think we dropped about $400 and I don't even want to think about what that is in Cdn$.  

Wednesday we headed out on a hike/photo shoot with JC who runs the photography club in the park.   Thursday I am heading off for another Photo Shoot to a Greek Orthodox Monastery followed in the evening by a Canada Party in the ballroom.  Hopefully on Friday or on the weekend I'll have a chance to edit some of the 200 pictures I took today plus the hundred or more I will be taking tomorrow.  Thank goodness for digital as I could never have done this with film.  

Till then. 

Winter Storm

I am writing to you from what is supposed to be the sunny and warm Arizona desert.  Unfortunately in the last few weeks the southwest has joined the rest of the continent and has been hit by a series of winter storms.  As I write this, Friday at 5:00, the rain, which has been falling since Wednesday night, has now turned to sleet.  We had over 1.5 inches of rain by yesterday afternoon so I'm sure we are now approaching 3 inches.  On Tuesday the RV Parks baseball team had to cancel a game with a team from Payson cause they were snowed in.  Yesterday north Scottsdale was getting snow and Flagstaff had a record of over 40" of snow in one day.  Good news is the sun is supposed to make an appearance on Saturday, although temps will still only be in the 40's.  By mid-week we should be back to the 70s so we can get back to our normal activities.  

In the meantime we have taken in a movie, some shopping, yoga, the gym, lots of reading and photo editing.  Earlier this week we visited the Queen Creek Olive Mill for lunch.  They process and sell all sorts of Olive Oils.  While we didn't take the tour we did have lunch and their Bruschetta was fantastic.  

Earlier today with a break in the rain I got out to take some pics of the Superstitions.
Rain at our elevation but the snow is making its way down the mountain. 

The break in the weather didn't last long and soon it turned to sleet. 

No storm sewers here.  The streets take away the rain and
we have seen lots of flood warnings as the streets and
dry washs' are inundated with runoff. 

The tonneau cover should be black. 

Careful going down the steps. 

Lest I start feeling sorry for myself Don sent me a picture taken from our sunroom showing the snowbanks in our back yard at home. 

We have about 5 weeks before we start our trek back.  The plan is to make pit stop in Camp Verde and do a little hiking in the Sedona area and then push north to Moab, Ut.  There are some beautiful National Parks in the area which promises some good hikes and great pictures.  From there it will all depend on the weather.  Given the snow in the mountains this year we are hopeful that the mountain passes up through Utah, Idaho and Montana will allow us to head to Lethbridge to visit Jeff, Carrie and the boys.  That was the plan last year but mother nature had other ideas.  

Till then we have a list of things we want to do and see before we leave and Monday I will start to get back into my twice weekly hiking club.  I also got my new Sony GMaster 16-35 f2.8 lens a few days ago and its just begging to be taken out for some landscape shots.  Just need the weather to cooperate.

Thats it for now.  Stay warm.  Spring is just around the corner.  Or is that another winter storm.  Hmmmm.   

Renaissance Festival

The Renaissance Festival is held each year from mid February to the end of March and is just down the highway a few miles from our resort.  It includes lots of medieval games, food and fun.  It is held on the weekends and drives the locals a bit crazy cause of all the traffic on the only highway running through town.  We hadn't been to the festival before and were surprised by how big it was and all the activities.  It definitely warrants a return visit next year.

Lots of crazy characters.
The employees were dressed in costume but so were a lot of the patrons.

These guys were really into their pipes and drums. 

The music had the lasses just a twirling.
Check out the mascara on the beauty below. 

This shot was taken just after we arrived in the morning.
It got busier as the day wore on. 

Camel and elephant rides.
We noticed some protestors on the highway concerned about the care of the elephants.  

Lots of colours with the trees in full bloom.  

This glass blower put on quite the show.
Never seen this before and was very impressed. 

Started off with a small blob of glass on the end of his
rod and ended up with a beautiful  glass pitcher

Here they were adding the handle.  

Whats a Medieval Festival without knights

And a little Jousting

Notice the lance of the knight on the left.
Snapped in two. 

That catches you up to our major outings.  We did head out to the Queen Creek Olive Mill for lunch yesterday which was interesting.  They farm olives and process all sorts of different flavoured Olive Oils.  There is a Peach farm across the street and we may head back there to see all the peach trees in blossom although given the cold winter so far I'm thinking they are a little behind in the bloomin' dept.

I went to Boyce Thompson this morning for my monthly Photography Editing workshop.  I am very new at the editing game and it is very interesting seeing what can be done to both enhance a picture or create artistic variations on the original picture.  

Nothing planned for Sunday then back to hiking, yoga and a few other activities.  We do have another photo shoot planned for Thursday.  We are heading to St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery which is supposed to have a beautiful cathedral and grounds.  Apparently you can take pictures inside the monastery which surprised me however you can't take pictures of the Monks or Nuns unless you ask them and they give permission.  They do have a dress code though.  Only long pants and long sleeved shirts for men and women must wear long skirts, long sleeved tops with scarves covering their heads.  They will provide proper attire to put over top of your exiting clothes if you are unable to comply however at this point Lori hasn't warmed up to the idea.

There is also a little rodeo in Apache Junction so we might head out there on the weekend.  

I am also anxiously anticipating the arrival of the Fed Ex truck this week.  I have both an Amazon order as well as a little something I ordered from B&H Photography out of New York.  I'll keep you in suspense for the time being but I should have a few additions to report on my photo equipment.

Riparian Preserve Revisited

The Riparian Preserve is a series of ponds or lagoons which is part of the water reclamation project in the city of Gilbert.  Its a great place to get pictures of birds and a few other animals as well.  This year many of the ponds were dry and the birds were down in numbers and seemed to be much further from the trails.  Most of the serious birders had 5-600mm lenses so getting up close and personal with my 105mm was a bit difficult.  Getting good shots of birds takes a big lens, lots of patience, some luck and a great deal of skill.  I didn't have much of any of these on this day but with some cropping I managed to get a few keepers.

Mother Goose

Lori found a painted rock.
The idea is, when found, you log into the website written on the back.
Record the location, then hide it somewhere else. 

I was hoping to get the sun glinting in his eye but couldn't quite get the right angle. 

Muscovy Duck.  Saw one of these at Lake Pleasant last year.
A face only a mother would love. 

Originally I didn't like the twigs crossing in front of this beauty.
Starting to like them now.
Would have been perfect if they could have framed the head.  

Just sitting on a log checking out the birds. 

A closeup of the duck.
What the heck is that growing on his beak. 

The other animals that were everywhere were the bunnies.
This guy had a rough day so dug himself a hole and settled in for a nap. 

Couldn't get on the sunny side but the silhouette with the reflection worked out ok

Next year I hope to be back with a bigger lens.

Electric Desert

We have once again been hit with what seems like an endless series of weather systems giving us cool and wet weather conditions.  Highs in the low 50's with cloudy skies and rain in the forecast every few days.  We even have a few days with overnight snow flurries in the forecast.  Not the hot and dry desert weather that we have come to expect on our Snowbird trips.  On the positive side there should be lots of wild flowers in the desert come March. 

The inclement weather has provided me with downtime which I have used to slowly make my way around, washing and waxing the rig.  The popular movie phrase "Wax on, Wax off" is frequently  shouted by people driving or walking by.  Another favourite is "you missed a spot".   Such great people.  So encouraging.  I only have the front remaining and should have that done this weekend and then I can get back to my regular hikes and other activities.  I have purchased a liquid spray-on detailer, called "The Solution", for the next time I choose to undertake this task.  Mark has used it on his motorhome and it does a great job and is much less work than the wash, wax and buff process I am currently using.  The weather also provides an opportunity to catch up on my picture editing and blog posting.  

Jan, Lori and I went to the Desert Botanical Garden in Scottsdale a few weeks ago while  Mark was up in Utah doing his work thing.  The Garden is similar to Boyce Thompson Arboretum which we have visited frequently.  For much of the winter they are running the "Electric Desert" which is a sound and light show set up amongst the desert plants.  I had heard that it was quite the show and we were not disappointed.  I brought my tripod and took a few hundred pictures.  Jan and Lori were very patient.

This large hill was lit up in a series of lighting effects.

Pretty cool but more still to come

The way the lights were moving it looked like an underwater scene. 

This looked like a collection of drums covered with coloured translucent
paper backlit with a series of spot lights. 

You might be able to just make out some ghosts walking in the shadows
on the right side of the picture.  Lots of people walking around
but with a long enough exposure they just about disappear. 

The long exposures allowed me to zoom the lens mid exposure.

A few days later we stopped in at Organ Stop Pizza for lunch.  We were here last year but this time I did not have to negotiate the narrow aisles with crutches.  

The organ and the sound is pretty amazing so a little history on the organ.  It's a Wurlitzer theatre organ and was built for the Denver Theatre and was installed in 1927. The organ was unused for a number of years but came back into service in 1975 when Organ Stop Pizza opened. 

The Organ has 4 manual consoles or keyboards with 6000 pipes including a set of 32' wood diaphones. The organ sits on a rotating platform which rises from below floor level.  There are additional xylophones, glockenspiels and drums installed in the dining room, all coordinated with the play of the organ for greater audience appeal.  It is not only the largest Wurlitzer theatre organ in the world, it’s the largest Theatre Pipe Organ of any type to ever be assembled.  I know squat about organs but it sure did a good job banging out Bohemian Rhapsody. 

Lori snapped this picture with her iPhone. 

Thanks for tuning in.  
High of 50 tomorrow so may finally get caught up on my blogs.