Wordless Wednesday :: Pot of Geraniums

Pot of Geraniums. Columbia City, Indiana. September 11, ...Copyright © .. by Rebeckah R. Wiseman.

Frontenac Galaxy

I found another cool tree to photograph against the night sky. The only problem is that it's over 300 miles away from where I live! Located in Frontenac State Park just south of Red Wing, MN, this tree makes a phenomenal foreground for a shot of the night sky. Jessica noticed the tree and pointed it out as we were heading to dinner in Red Wing after setting up our campsite in the park. I made a mental note to stop on the way back and see what it looked like with a star-filled sky above it. As we made our way back to the park after dinner, I found myself getting anxious in anticipation of what the scene would look like. As soon as I saw the stars above and behind the tree I knew I had to photograph it.



It was a bit of a scramble to get beneath the tree as it is situated on top of a rather steep hill on the side of the road as you drive into the state park. Once I made it up the hill and had my camera set up I started making exposures and right away got frustrated by the number of airplanes moving across the sky! Airplanes streaking through your night shots are rarely a problem in northern Minnesota. I had to wait about 5 minutes before there wasn't a single airplane in my shot, then wait anxiously while the 30 second exposure recorded, hoping all the while that another plane would not fly into the shot. After about 10 tries, I finally got one without an airplane :-)

Cascade on Big Pine Creek

Cascade on Big Pine Creek, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

This cascade is on the North Fork of Big Pine Creek in the Eastern Sierras of California.

The creek, fed by glaciers high in the mountains, flows down through the camp of Glacier Lodge and continues into the town of Big Pine. It really is an amazing creek, rushing and cascading over waterfalls and boulders.

Scotland and the "kids".......

The line topo of "To Those That Wait"







Big numbers being bounced around @ IX/9



And "It turned out to be much easier than "To Those Who Wait", but none the less "The Secret"was an awesome line ".



The Secret was X/10 last I checked.







http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/thesecretbennevis/







Will Sim:

"Greg gave the pitch the somewhat conservative grade of IX 9.....Its almost certainly the hardest onsight on the Ben to date. Its called "To Those Who Wait""





Will on pitch one...waiting for the money to come.











Saw this on Will's blog a bit ago when he got home from Patagonia. But missed the gist of ifuntil today.



Will Sim,Greg Boswell and Steve Lynch. Three we'll hear more from I suspect.



Obviously some very good climbing being done by all three.



Fun read as we sit out the local monsoon and 55F temps in mid Jan. and



More here:

http://steve-lynch.blogspot.com//01/stob-coire-nan-lochan-8th-jan.html



here:

http://gregboswell.blogspot.com//01/compare-and-contrast.html



and here:



http://willsim.blogspot.com//01/scottish-fix.html

Who's Got the Pony Watch?

Ziva and Tuffee watching the ponies.

Clouds and Ice

It is kind of a blustery (but mild!) day today, with some falling (but mostly blowing) snow. The blustery nature of the day has me thinking back to a few days ago when the day was absolutely calm and quiet. The photo you see here was made on this quiet day, with barely a sound to be heard along the shoreline. When this cloud drifted over the ridge of ice plates I knew I had to photograph it. The complementing blues of the ice and sky were beautiful. I sure hope we get a day like this on wednesday of next week, if we do it will be a perfect day for our wedding ceremony!

Dark Secret

Last night I posted a picture of a gimlet-sippingbikeyface at dinner, and a reader emailed to ask what bikes we ride when we go out. It would be great, she suggested, to write a post about being out on the town on bikes.



Hmm that does sound nice. But it would be pretty tough. Because the truth is, we didn't ride bikes. Last night our destination was only 15 minutes away and walking just seemed easier. The other week we did the same when going to see a movie. Come to think of it, most of the time we see each other there are no bikes involved. We live in the same neighbourhood and are usually so tired that we stick to local places and walk to them. Does that make us bad bicycle bloggers? Maybe I should have kept this a secret!





When I first began cycling for transportation 3 years ago, I was so excited about it that I would ride everywhere no matter the distance just for the heck of it. I would ride down the block, or to the store around the corner and back. Now that cycling has lost its novelty, it seems too much of a hassle to get my bike out just to ride a short distance. I would rather walk.



In a sense there is some sadness in having lost that beginner's excitement. But I think it also means that I've transitioned to a stage where transportation cycling has become truly normalised. With cycling established as an inherent part of life, I don't feel the need to ride down the block when I can walk. If you've been riding for a while, have you had the same experience?