St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery

On February 13 the Photo Club took a little drive out past Florence to visit St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery. We had visited last year however the architecture and gardens are both unique and well maintained and proved such good photographic subjects.

A dress code is required if you plan to visit so check their website for appropriate attire. They do have clothing inside the front gate incase you dress a little too immodestly as did the ladies in our group. You can see a picture of their appropriate dress below. Looks like a shot of my grandmother. Very 2 centuries ago.

I thought I had got every possible shot last year however by taking my 70-200 lens in addition to my 16-35 I found lots of different compositions that I wouldn't have considered with only the wide angle.

Before entering the gates to the Monastery grounds you come upon a white chapel on a hill. It is a very beautiful setting and the vivid colours make for beautiful shots. This time I walked around the perimeter of the hill and got some shots from a few angles.

 

The cactus is getting ready to blossom

The gates to enter the main grounds

The trees are painted to prevent insects from destroying the trees

The grounds are immaculate as are the buildings.  

Crosses everywhere. 

Very fashionable.  At least in the 19th century. 

We had a great afternoon and topped it off with lunch and some cold beer at the River Bottom Grill. We figured a Thursday afternoon well past the lunch hour rush there would be very few people in the restaurant. The outside patio was packed with live music to entertain. All in all it was a great day and I think the River Bottom Grill deserves another visit.

We are heading to Roosevelt Dam on Thursday, a Rodeo on Saturday and Lori tells me there is an arts festival she needs to see on Friday.

Later.

Tempe Arts Festival

Can you tell its a cool and rainy day down here.  Way back in early December Lori and I headed over to Tempe to take in the Tempe Arts Festival.  There were hundreds of tents set up with many talented artisans, some good eats and entertainment.  A great way to spend the afternoon.

A little music to rock your day. 

Some not so undercover cops.  

The tents went on and on and on.  

I took this picture thinking it would be great in B&W.  It wasn't.
Switched back to colour and boosted the detail to make it gritty.
The Didgeridoo sounds neat.  

Took the gritty picture and applied some Topaz filters to give it a painterly effect.
I think I like the grit better but its a close call. 

Thats it for Tempe.

Moving on down my picture catalogue.

Renaissance Festival

A couple weeks ago Lori and I headed over to the Renaissance Festival which is just a couple miles down the highway.  It runs for about 8 consecutive weekends, is very popular and creates quite the traffic nightmare on Hwy 60.  The first weekend they offer a 2 for 1 discount and we took advantage of it last year and again this year.  

There are all sorts of people dressed in every costume imaginable and some that I haven't imagined.  Lots of interesting entertainment and shops willing to take your money.   This type of event is not my cup of tea.  Its hot, dusty, crowded with too many people milling about and food booths offering questionable fare.  Beer was cold though.  Kind of reminds me of going to the mall with Lori before Christmas and eating in the food court.  However it does provide an opportunity to take some unique pictures. 

The glass blowing demonstration was a hit.
Here he is early in the process of making a beer mug.
They had all sorts of examples of their workmanship for
sale and Lori thought it might be neat to buy a
couple of mugs.  $85. for a mug.  We didn't buy any.
This is his second attempt.
The first one nicked the side of the furnace and shattered. 

All sorts of people in period clothing.
Sometimes it was a cross between medieval and star wars.
This lady was so proud she was almost busting out of her's.
Her fox was a hit.  Looked so real.

The Fire Whip guy put on a good show.  See the coke can. 

See the coke can now.  Split in two.
Shooting in bust mode can result in some pretty interesting action shots. 

His pretty assistant with a 1000 watt smile. 

See the rose on the left.

Now see the rose petals.
The stem is spinning in the air just above the left side of the Fire Whip chest.
He did the one in the other hand as well before moving to a riskier position.

I didn't manage to catch the whip snapping the rose.
When it cracks its the sound of the whip moving at the speed of sound. 

Next up was a bird of prey exhibition.
Owls, falcons, hawks and vultures
This vulture has a 6' wing span

Can't remember the name but he's from South America.
Looks like he is wearing a mask.

Love how the individual feathers show up on the wing.
The red on the top of his head and neck is actually bare skin.
Must be an old bird as he is going bald.
I can empathize.

Here he is with his handler.  

A shot down one of the streets.
Lots of colour.
Didn't bring a period outfit.  No problem.
Lots of shops selling them. 

Got in a food line and Robin Hood or one of his merry men was in front of me. 

Down the hatch. 

They put on quite a show for the jousting competition.
This lady had the loudest raspiest voice.
She was very funny.  Here encouraging the crowd to either boo or cheer.
Notice the sign to the bottom left.
They assign special seating for the ugly patrons. 

I took a bunch of shots trying to get the moment of impact when
the lance bends and shatters.  Didn't quite get the perfect moment.
A split second later here would have been perfect.
Afterwards I noticed the 6' staff one of the costumed patrons was carrying.
It was front and centre in most of my shots.  

One of the outriders for the knights. 

One of the merry minstrels.  

 I think that will be our last visit to the Renaissance, at least for a few years.

Things have been very busy here.  Spent the early part of the week putting in the patio door, then took Mark and Jan to see the horses on Thursday (one day I will get to editing and posting those pictures) and hosted happy hour for about 10 people on Friday.  I did ribs on the Traeger.  Put them on at 10:00 and they were falling off the bone juicy by 4:00.  Weather was nice and warm for sitting outside in the screen porch.  Today it rained all day so we went to see Call of the Wild.  Good movie with great animation.  A far cry from those early Disney animation movies.  
Tomorrow we are resting, I think.  Monday is a hike to the Apache Tears mine (Its an old mine for non-precious gems that has been closed for years).  Tuesday Lori has planned a shopping day and I may pick up some lumber to finish off the siding and trim around the new door.  Wednesday we may be heading to Tortilla Flats for lunch and Thursday is a Photo Club outing to Roosevelt Dam and Tonto National Monument.  Either Friday or Saturday the Photo Club is going to the Apache Junction Rodeo days.  This is why we are in bed by 9:30.

I may get another post done tomorrow if in fact it will be an off day.

Later.

Fountain Hills Balloon Glow

Way back in the early part of January Mark, Jan, Lori Arthur, my Lori and I headed over to Fountain Hills for their 1st Annual Balloon Glow Festival.  Balloon Glows seem to be the thing to do down here for there are many held throughout the valley.

Basically a Balloon Glow is a small festival consisting of food trucks, arts and crafts booths and perhaps some form of entertainment.  At Fountain Hills they had about 7 hot air balloons which remained tethered to the ground but randomly light their fire as it were and the balloons, you guessed it, GLOW.  

Fountain Hills is north of Scottsdale and about a 45 minute drive from our RV Park. It is a pretty little community that is popular for its expensive arts and crafts stores and the Casino next door which is located on the Indian reserve.  We had stayed in the RV park located on reserve land a few years ago and it was a nice, but rather expensive park close to the casino, which we didn't visit.  Its just across the highway from Fountain Hills, which we did visit, largely to window shop and see the large geyser like fountain which can be seen for miles around.  

We found a place to park, walked around town a bit and then found a restaurant for dinner.  Afterwards we watched the balloons being filled and searched out a spot across the water to watch the balloons being randomly fired.  

There's lots of politicians that could fill up one
of those balloons with hot air. 

Was hoping for perfectly still water to get that clear reflection.
Ducks kept swimming by in the pond causing the ripples. 

Afterward we located a Starbucks for a capucchino before we headed back.  The search for the Starbucks did take a little longer than it should have due to conflicting directions from the back seat.  You know who you are. 

Thats if from our Fountain Hills adventure.