Australian Red Rocks

My blog has had a break in Arizona - so I thought it was time to bring it back home with some shots from the archives.

These are a few of the many shots I took last year in Central Australia.  There were a number of things about the desert in Arizona that reminded by of Central Australia - the red stone being one of them.

Maybe it's was the weather, or maybe it's dewy eyed patriotism - but I think Central Australia shades it here.  Although given the chance, I'd like to let Arizona have another chance to charm me!

All three of these shots were taken at Uluru - its a remarkable place.  I recommend that you visit!

You can find more shots from around the world at Our World Tuesday.

The sock drawer

I think we can get a bit carried away some times, thinking that we have to travel to far flung and exotic places to find things to photograph.

Well, this is the front of my sock drawer - hardly a major tourist attraction!

I like the way that there are layers of history cut into the wood - scrapes and dints that speak of hard times, the circular insert that may have been an old lock, or a central single handle of open the drawer.  I also like the dark shadow under the existing handle that could either by the wear of fingers using this current handle or the damage caused by an older larger handle.

Not a bad set of stories for the front of a sock drawer!

You can find more close up images at Macro Monday 2 and I Heart Macro.  SM

Through the snow brightly

This will probably be the last image from Arizona (although you never know!)

By the middle of the afternoon of my trip to the Grand Canyon it was snowing in a rather spectacular fashion - well, spectacular enough for somebody who lives in Melbourne, which is not at all snowy.

This view was taken from our last stop on the Southern Rim, and as you can see there was a small break in the distant clouds which allowed some distance rock faces to peep through.

Some of the blurs and specks in the image are large snow-flakes!

This picture really does look better when it is bigger - so click on it to see its full glory!!

More pictures can be found at Sky Watch Friday.

Wild Bird Wednesday 89 - All kinds of everything

I think it should be clear by now that I managed to pack rather a lot of sight seeing and birding into the three free days I recently had in Arizona.

There is not much of a theme to this weeks WBW, except that the pictures were all taken in Arizona.

Hope you enjoy this mixed bag of birds!

American Wigeon - Sedona

American Wigeon - Sedona 

White-Crowned Sparrow - Gilbert Water Ranch

Curved-billed Thrasher - Gilbert Water Ranch

Great Blue Heron - Gilbert Water Ranch 

Great Egret - Gilbert Water Ranch

Neotropic Cormorant - Gilbert Water Ranch 

Green Heron - Gilbert Water Ranch

Wood Duck - Sedona 

Norther Cardinal - Boyce Thompson Arboretum

Hermit Thrush - Boyce Thompson Arboretum

I hope you enjoyed the mixed bag - I do have a few left up my sleeve for weeks of birdy shortage - but next week I will be back to Australian birds!

Now its your turn - and thanks for all the supportive comments from last week.

An InLinkz Link-up

The most famous hole in the world.

Eventually I was bound to end up at the Grand Canyon.  Once I had found out that I could do a day trip from Scottsdale to the Grand Canyon the die was cast; I was going.

The first thing that struck me at the time was just how close you needed to be to the canyon before you saw any of it all - for something that huge it is very well hidden!  And then it was just there.  Boom.

All of these pictures are taken from the south rim, mostly from the rim walk near Grand Canyon Village.

I'm still wrestling with the words to use in my other blog about seeing the Grand Canyon - I'll get there eventually I suppose!

So, here they are.  The light was really hard, changing second by second, rather than minute by minute.  There was pouring rain, snow, wind and rushing clouds.  It was remarkable.

I could have stood and watched all day - but I had a tour bus to catch - maybe next time I'll just be able to stand and look.

You can find more pictures from around the world at Our World Tuesday.

SM

A surprise find.

I had hoped to see some good wildlife during my trip to Arizona - but I had not expected to see an lizards.

While I know that Arizona is south, it's still in the north - so I was expecting winter (and in that regard I was correct!) and winters and lizards don't normally mix.

So, when I saw this little chap (or maybe chapess) I was rather surprised.  Even in the chilly weather it was fast moving as lizards tend to be.

What was interesting was that about 36 hours after I took these pictures this little animals habitat would have been underwater.  The pictures were taken in Oak Creek Canyon, and the the creek was gin clear and peaceful - 36 hours later it was a mass of brown water and foam as the water from a significant storm system rushed out of the hills.

You can find more macro shots at Macro Monday 2 and I Heart Macro.  SM