Corner of Sunrise & Sunset!

If you celebrate Thanksgiving, hope you had a great one!!

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No Fishing!

We had some very pretty skies during a recent visit to our local park. As you may have guessed, we're home (not visiting the desert) for these shots. I happened to notice the skies before heading over to the park so I grabbed my DSLR with wide angle lens on the way out the door, and glad I did!

Here's my granddaughter riding her bike over the "no fishing" bridge, with my wife in the background. This man made cement "lake" is only a couple feet deep. The park stocks it with fish (catch and release only), and they don't want people fishing off the bridge.

A perfect spot to sit and watch the moon rise!

 Reflected sunset.

 My personal favorite from the evening.

I took this pretty shot of the moon nestled in the clouds after we got home from the park and I could grab my telephoto lens. Hope your week was a good one!

Linking with Skywatch Friday.
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Desert Storm

Well, not the Desert Storm. I was looking through my photo files and thinking about what to post this week when I came across some shots I took a little over a month ago. They are some of my all-time favorite sky shots, and they darn near slipped through the cracks because I thought I already posted them! Anyway, we were out in the desert during one of those very rare rainstorms. The sky around our house was a dull gray and totally uninspiring. I decided to drive into Joshua Tree National Park, thinking the skies would likely be the same dull gray, and with the rain, I probably wouldn't even get out of the car. Boy, was I wrong!

As I headed into the Park through the 29 Palms entrance, the sky did look dull and gray to the west. To the south, things looked more interesting, and I could see some patches of blue. So I headed south on Pinto Basin Rd., exited at Stirrup Tank Rd., parked, and could hardly believe my luck!

Big, swooping clouds; beautiful late afternoon light; pink mist where rain was falling on the horizon; and even some patches of blue. It doesn't get much better than this!

Does it make for superior sky shots if you hike to the top of a big rock formation and get closer to the clouds?? I'm not sure, but we could go ask that guy. Do you see him? I was hearing thunder booms and remember thinking that standing on top of that rock formation might not be such a great idea!

 Easier to see him in this photo and the next.

Linking with Skywatch Friday.
Click on the link to check out great skies from around the world.
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Halloween Moon!

A perfect night for trick-or-treating! Mild temperatures, a nearly full-moon, and lots of ghosts and goblins out searching for candy. I had fun taking my 5 year old granddaughter (and for a while, my daughter and grandson in a stroller) around the neighborhood. My granddaughter is at such a fun age... really excited, but at the same time, just a little scared to walk up to some of the houses with scary decorations.

My granddaughter (left), daughter, and grandson (stroller) off to find our first house for a trick-or-treat visit.

Very first house of the evening. My granddaughter looks a little concerned... "what am I supposed to say again, Grandpa??" Oh yes, trick-or-treat!!

A pretty Halloween moon was visible most of the night. I shot all these photos with a fisheye lens. No tripod, no flash. Set the ISO high (3200) and clicked away! DSLR cameras are so amazing!!

 Hmmm... do I dare go up those stairs???

Yikes!! If I can just get by this zombie while I hold tight to grandpa's hand!!!

Halloween moon!

Joshua Tree moon.

Are you a fan of old 1950's sci fi? My granddaughter likes to watch this one with me, especially when we are out at the desert. The movie is called Them!, and it's about radioactive fallout from testing atomic bombs in the desert causing some kind of genetic mutation resulting in giant ants. The movie kicks off with a little girl (close in age to my granddaughter) found wandering among the joshua trees in a state of shock after her family is attacked by giant ants. It looks like it was filmed locally, perhaps in the Joshua Tree area. We watched it earlier this week to get in the mood for Halloween, and I couldn't resist taking this photo of the TV screen using my iPhone. Fun stuff! If you celebrate Halloween, I hope you had a good one!!

Linking with Skywatch Friday.
Click on the link to check out great sky photos from around the world.
Thanks for stopping by!!