Photo of the Day: Snowy Silhouettes

Zion National Park, December 22, 2012

Photo of the Day: Winter Gray

Virgil Phillips Park, Moscow, Idaho area, Dec. 31, 2012

Per the "snow" setting on my camera, filtering out the weak winter sunlight - creating shades of winter gray.

Photo of the Day: Fresh Air Fund

Mountains of Northern Idaho

New Year's Eve, 2012

Pretty as a postcard and Mountain Fresh

Good to clear the head from 2012 

and get a fresh breath before 2013.

Happy Birthday Daddy Grumpa Max!

See this handsome young lad here?

Well, it's his birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

(I know he's reading this and giving me exactly this face right now! Or this goofy look.)

You know what? I don't care. We came too close to honoring this birthday in a completely different manner so I'm going to put up all the photos I like. That I'm conveniently an entire country away so you can't swat at me is of no matter.

I love that we stay in touch through all the new technology, that you try so hard and send me articles, and book links/suggestions, and have me order stuff from Amazon.com for you even though you obviously are tech-savvy enough to do it yourself, and we get the train-of-thought-middle-of-the night odd e-mails, and we have our weekly chats on the phone (when Mom shares the phone lines). I know that even if we don't talk every day that you are thinking about me. It goes both ways.

But I'm really glad that we get all the in-person quality time when I come out to visit for the long winter holidays. Thanks for leading the way up "hills" (easy hikes, my foot!), through calm still waters,

through the rocky valleys of trials and tribulations, for being there when we need to shoot off our mouths and let off some steam, for teaching us how to stand up and protect ourselves,

but mostly for being a great dad, grandpa, help-meet and healer.

I know that you're up the creek without your paddle right now, and that you are "rudderly" sick of momentary restrictions on your normal natural way of relaxing, but patience. Please. You have to stick around down here with us for a long long long long time - so in the eternal scheme of things, this isn't even a tick of a second. You need to be better for our next date on Sand Hollow. Maybe we can paddle further out than the shallows this time?

You are my rock and my heart.

Happy Birthday!

Here's to many more.

Photos from Dec. 2011-Jan. 2012 trip out West to Utah: kayaking on Sand Hollow, hiking in Snow Canyon, Johnson Canyon, and Temple Quarry, and shooting in an undisclosed location

Photo of the Day: Sacred Snow

Southern Utah Snowfall, Near Diamond Valley (?), Utah, December 2010

presented with these comments:

Who says it doesn't snow in southern Utah during the winter? It snowed TWICE while I was there. I'm glad I missed the major Christmas Nor'easter on the East Coast, but I escape to the southern climes of Utah/Arizona/Nevada so I can walk around with maybe a light jacket in the 40-60 degree weather and to AVOID SNOW.

It was pretty though, and helped to set off some of the gealogical features of the area. On the afternoon of the first storm, as it cleared out of the higher elevations, I went back to the folks' house and rustled Grumpa Max off the couch to drive around to catch the views and chase the light. Our "shooting" trip for the year, as it were.

This is heading out toward Snow Canyon on one turn off or another. While it was too bright one way, and snowing in others, sometimes you get one or two good perspective shots.

Sometimes, as you'll see later, it's the stops that you aren't expecting to make, when you actually get the best photos of the entire trip.

And yes, it's Utah. So there are actually churches EVERYWHERE.

Photo of the Day - Cache Valley

Cache Valley, Logan, Utah, August 2010

presented with these comments:

do you know how hard it is to photograph stuff from the backseat of a car when it's whipping by at 65 miles an hour?

did you realize how much water there was in Cache Valley? also, those mountains are further away than you realize.