Stay warm

While I was burning brush this afternoon, I was thinking about the cold winter storm approaching the eastern US and how I would want to be curled up in front of a good fire if I lived in its path. May you be toasty warm and safe as the arctic winds blow. ... Continue reading

Mexican paper wasp

Here and there as you wander around Oaxaca, you'll run across these sorts of nests hanging from tree branches or under the eves of houses. They are quite impressive structures, and always busy with activity. Unlike the sorts of bees' or wasps' nests you find in North America, I've rarely seen these ... Continue reading

Look up!

The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display His craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make Him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the ... Continue reading

Rainbows

We are in the midst of our summer monsoons here in Arizona, a time where the heat of the day creates violent afternoon thunderstorms that come rushing through in a fury, dropping rain willy-nilly across the desert floor. Last week, one such storm cleared quickly to the west just before sundown and ... Continue reading

Lunar eclipse

I got some decent photos of tonight's lunar eclipse, until clouds from a storm coming in from the west finally obscured the view. The first shows the moon in about 1/3 shadow, (f5.6 for 1/80th of a second). The second shows the red coloration starting as the moon is in about three-quarters shadow ... Continue reading

Bobcat pays a visit

A bobcat stopped to rest in my back yard the other morning, giving me a rare opportunity to take some photos. Bobcats hunt at dusk and dawn, spending the night and day hiding and resting. They are solitary animals. Whenever I've seen one, it has been on the move, walking or trotting stealthily, eyes ... Continue reading

Goldfinches chow down

The Lesser Goldfinch is a year-round resident here in southern Arizona, and on these warm summer days my palo verde tree is alive with flashes of gold as the finches compete for a place at my thistle feeders. These are very small birds with a very particular appetite for Niger thistle seed, which I ... Continue reading

French connections

I went to France in search of my father's roots.I've written once before about my quest to uncover my grandfather's story. My brother and I have been sleuthing through online genealogical records and have finally assembled a pretty solid family history of the French branch of the tree, going ... Continue reading