A different kind of hot air in the desert!

Well I thought I was done blogging for the year! I was at the computer this morning and I began hearing the sound of something loud and oddly familiar! It got louder and I could tell it was coming closer whatever it was! Then a large shadow fell on the house and the shape was round! A Balloon! I jumped into action grabbed the camera and headed to the back yard! There were two balloons, one just overhead and another some 2 hundred yards away! I waved,and everyone on board waved back! And so I got some pictures and got to watch them land in the distance! A great way to get the day going out here in Tortosa! The dirt field is behind my house! Happy New Year! Blessings to all of you!

Tortosa

Tomorrow is New Years Eve! I thought I should show just what my subdivision looks like when you get to it! Tortosa is the name of the sub where I live, some call it Egypt because its so far from civilization (Mesa). And the sunset was quite nice this evening too! The bike in the picture is one of my three and the one I like to ride on the bike lane next to traffic. It has lights, etc..

Happy New Year! I will blog more next year! Thanks for the interest!!! You Rock!!

More Maricopa sunrise pics!

Some days the sky does an amazing job of getting me up in a hurry! My complex watch gets me up every morning at 6:15 if it is within earshot! I was messing with the functions soon after Gretchen had given it to me and I must have set it to go off and didn't realize it! So I am up before the sun this time of year and if I stay up I sometimes get treated to a fantastic sunrise, and here are a couple of the pics! I have to stand on top of my built in BBQ grill to get the shots over the block wall! Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and I will be going to Doug and Barb's place and to Church and dinner with them! I Wish You All a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

When I count my blessings I think of all the people I know and give thanks for having you as part of my life! Thanks!!! Love , Jon

The long and short of it.

Well, you have seen the long and now you see the short! In fact I think my hair was this short last in Jr.High! The job market is tough at this time, so desperate times require desperate measures! And with most job listings requiring an online application, and a High School diploma or G.E.D. then I guess its time for the later! I would be the oldest kid in high school if I chose the high school diploma!!!! I am prepared in my mind for the hunt and bagging of the goal, a job that will do the economic trip in support of my extravagant and meager lifestyle! By the way Happy Winter Solstice!!! Can you believe its only days until Christmas? Thank you for the cards! Its nice to get mail here in Maricopa! I still have not met very many people here! And people here are like everywhere else that I know, Busy!! May you all have a wonderful Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year! Who knows I might post one more before next year!! Peace Jon

More Total Coolness from Lower Antelope Canyon!

I took so many pictures of lower Antelope Canyon that I really wanted to share more of them! During our three hour photographer's pass we had at least three tours of other folks come through the canyon and each time the young Navajo guide lead them while playing guitar and singing several popular songs! The acoustics in the canyon were very good and his playing and singing wasn't bad either! It made an unforgettable experience even more so! I took several shots with a flash and all the multitude of colors turned into the color of sandstone in those pictures! All the purples and oranges and shades of many other colors vanished! So I shut off the flash and did without and the results were much more pleasing! The last photo has a girl in it that stopped so her boyfriend could get her picture and I was already set up so I took one with her in it just to show the size of the place in comparison! The place reminded me of an arrowhead with its napped divots in all the walls and faces of the canyon! Amazing what water and gravity and time can do! What God has set in motion, what man can stop?

Back Home in Maricopa.

Marshall flew home and is running an artist store in the mall in E. Wenatchee for the holiday season! I am at home starting to get my life together, looking for employment and trying to figure out how to get a glass studio put together! Having gone through a Thanksgiving without my family and having the Christmas season coming ever closer I have been more than a little bit lonely and in a deep funk that I wondered what would get me out of it! All this is new and foreign especially the being alone all the time! I so miss my family all the way down to the dogs I left behind that I have never cried so much in my life! I wonder for my future but am more concerned with my present! The past is gone the future has yet to be written and today is a gift, thus the word present for the time of now! If you are reading this then please pray for me! And if you wish prayer then let me know and I will be honored to pray for you too! In light, Jon

Las Vegas

Las Vegas is one of the few unnatural wonders of the modern world! The first picture is the lobby ceiling at the Bellagio, A Chihuly 7 million dollar work of art. Peace!

Bryce Canyon.. need I say more!

I had heard of Bryce many times before and had never been driven to go see the place! But let me tell you when you see it in person it is incredible! And the changing light makes it dramatically change in its look as the sun comes up and moves to its place high in the sky! I was not feeling well the day we were there and it still was awesome! Later that day I had a kidney stone attack and wound up in the ER in Ceder City,Utah. Not an experience I will treasure but, with the help of some strong pain killers and the help of my friend Marshall I got through it! Then after the stone incident and a nights sleep , on to Vegas! As in lost wages! You know what they say! What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, they are talking about the money that you bring to Vegas! I am not a big gambler and I have not been a big winner either! But thats another story!

"The Toadstools" yep thats what its called!

Ah! The Toadstools! What a magical place it is! I think they filmed some of the movie Galaxy Quest near here! Something about Beryllium spheres? Anyway this place is another not very well marked or promoted place of wonder! The top picture is what the entrance to the valley looks like and it just gets different in many cool ways as you get back there! We went in just before sunset and hiked out after it got dark! It was worth staying for all the light! Marshall is in the second picture, just very small! Enjoy!

Horseshoe Bend near Page, AZ.

Horseshoe Bend is just outside of Page heading south and the little sign takes you off the road to a little dusty parking lot and a trail leading up a desert hill with lots of sand and dirt for you to walk in! It takes about a mile of walking and you walk up to the edge of an awesome cliff or event horizon to an incredible bend in the Colorado river!My camera's lens could not capture the size of it! Pretty magnificent but not for those with a fear of heights. Marshall insisted on standing right on the edge of a thousand foot drop to get the perfect shot! Cool! The top picture has a rubber boat with a dozen people in it down on the river to give you the depth of the geological formation! Ciao..

Marble Canyon and Lee's Ferry .

Marble canyon and Lee's Ferry are down stream on the Colorado from Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell. Before any bridge was built on this stretch of the Colorado river Lee's ferry was the only crossing for almost a hundred miles of river,but I will leave the history lesson for the books or teachers! Its a beautiful spot to get up close to the river and many use it to put in or take out their boats for floating the river! We were here on Halloween and there were some colorful river rats on the river that day! The drive into Lee's Ferry was rockin! In fact they put their rocks on pedestals in that part of the country! (It won't be the last of these type of spots either!). This part of the country is so vast and wonderful that even with a book full of pictures you could not capture all there is to see! Marshall and I had fun with the rocks as you can see! Peace,Jon

Antelope Canyon at Page, Arizona.

Page, AZ. is a place you can drive through and not even know that there is a number of natural wonders lurking just outside town, both free and pay sites(Our native american brothers need to get a little something for their livelihood!). Antelope Canyon is one of the fee sites! The one we saw this time was lower Antelope Canyon. You pull in a dusty, sandy parking lot and go over to the makeshift booth and pay your(photographer's) fee and get to explore the canyon in either direction for three hours! Non photographers pay less and get escorted once through the canyon top to bottom! The top pic is Marshall at the entrance to the canyon.The next two are down in the canyon. The forth is what the top looks like at the exit to the canyon and the last picture is at the exit looking back towards the power plant where the twin stacks can't be seen only the steam! It looked to me like a sleeping dragon 's breath rising up out of the canyon!? What do you think?

The BIG ditch aka The Grand Canyon...

The Grand Canyon lived up to its name yet once again! I never have gotten tired of the beauty and shear magnitude of this awesome place! Marshall and I went north through Sedona, AZ. and up Oak Creek Canyon to Flagstaff, AZ. Then onward through a dusting of blowing snow to the Grand Canyon's rim. We spent the next couple days researching spots to photograph and going back to them to (hopefully) get the perfect shot of each perfect spot! It was all good! And did I mention COLD? It was very cold and at times very windy and cold! We stayed in the tent and car in one of the campgrounds on the rim and saw as much as we took time to see while visiting! I could tell you much more but there are many more places to show and tell! Jon

Back up and posting!

Hello and welcome back to my unpredictable (at times) Blog! Isn't it a beautiful rock? I have crawled out from under it and I hope to post updates on a much more regular basis! We shall see if it happens, but it is my intention! After the last posting much has taken place! I went to Wenatchee and loaded a truck with my (many) things and my friend Marshall helped me with the move south with all the loading and unloading, driving moving in etc. And after that was done we set about to photograph the southwest, or at least part of it and we started with the Saguaro National Park by Tucson. We spent an evening and the next sunrise up through midday in and around Tucson, then back up to Maricopa to prepare for the next leg of the shoot! The Grand Canyon.

End of the first week almost living in Maricopa!

The house that I bought this week is really turning into a nice feeling home! The power and water are both on and I am only waiting on the gas to be turned on so that I have hot water to shower with! Today I pulled the weeds in the front yard so as to be in compliance with the H.O.A. rules and I set up the 2 new queen beds and my Arizona drum set! The acoustics in the house are amazing! I had my stereo blaring as I rocked out on the drums for a little break from filling the trash can with errant weeds! Tomorrow I will take the last load from my temporary living quarters out to my new place and come back in time to watch the game between the Seahawks and the Cardinals on TV with the Clausen's! Its a routine at there place!

35677 W. Velazquez Drive. has closed! I'm not homeless!

Today was the day! I signed all the papers and gave them the money and I own the house! I feel like I was in limbo for a very long time, but in reality it was only a short time in escrow terms! So tomorrow I get the key and start the preparation for moving in all my shtuff! The house needs some cleaning and possibly some paint, but vacuuming and scrubbing is on my do now list for sure! So after signing I spent some money so the house will have the necessities, thats right the bear necessities of life! And with any luck I will be ready for my first company at the time when my friend Marshall helps me move my stuff into my most humble abode! Peace!

Jon