P is for Lake POWELL

Here are the last of my Lake Powell shots. Actually I have many more, but these are the best, I think.  So hard to choose.

That's us over there on the shoreline on the left hand side of the photo.

A closer view.  The house boat is beached with anchors.  No tides to worry about here.  Anchors always are a source of concern when we have sailed off the California coast.  Haven't done that for a long time.  But the tides and wind -- and other boaters, make anchoring a tricky thing.  We would usually set turns at anchor watch if we were anchoring overnight.

The scenery at Lake Powell is spectacular for miles and miles. 

Red sandstone sculpted into all kinds of weird and wonderful shapes.

The best time to take photos is when the sun is creating shadows and that wasn't always the case  when I took these photographs...

...so I had to adjust them a little. But just look at the reflections!

This was one cave that is a favorite  -- very deep.  Owen decided to dive in and investigate.

Just look at these striations -- just like molten rock frozen in time!

This one is interesting  because if you look closely you can make out what looks like an angel carved into the rock, just to the left of the shadow.  Of course it is known as Angel Rock.

And this is one of my favorite shots of the whole trip -- both my sons deep in conversation about the course home at sunset and the performance of the boat.

Both of them are very experienced sailors and pretty handy with mechanics too.  Level-headed and not likely to take chances, they have been keen sailors since they were young teens and have carried this love until now in their mid-life.  They have owned boats since they were old enough to buy their own and every summer vacation is spent on the water somewhere.

This is my contribution for ABC WEDNESDAY letter P.  To see more entries for this project headed up first by Mrs. Nesbitt and now by Roger Owen Green, please click on this LINK

Every Inchie Monday and a couple more Doodles

The prompt this week for Every Inchie Monday is LIGHT.  Not an easy subject to portray on one inch square.  I have already seen a couple which have been posted and they're pretty nifty.  Here's mine:

I'm almost doodled out, but I can't seem to stop.  They are so easy to start and then you  get caught up in adding patterns to it.  Pretty soon you're hooked and you can't wait to add the colors and extra embellishments.

Ah well, here are two more I have done this weekend:

I call this one Caterpillar.

This one is "Flower Rainbows."

To visit Every Inchie Monday and see other interpretations of LIGHT please click HERE

OH! OH! OH!

Here's another post for 'O' for ABC Wednesday in addition to the one below.  Please visit the post before this one which is my official ABC Wednesday entry, but I couldn't let this  pass:

Take a look at this mountain lion in my son's backyard on Tuesday night.  Definitely an Oh! Oh! Oh! Only a young one but Momma and Poppa are out there somewhere.  My son lives on the edge of town but definitely not rural.

See this caught on his video cam. HERE

O IS FOR....

O  IS FOR OPERA AND OVERTURE

I know a lot of people do not like opera, but bear with me for a moment please.  This video clip is of what I consider to be one of the saddest pieces of music I have ever heard.  Even now when I hear it I get prickles down my back.  You don't even have to know the story to hear the sadness.

  

It is the overture to Verdi's La Traviata.  Even if you don't like opera, just give this piece a try it's only three minutes and see if you can't hear the poignant sadness that is in the story about to be performed. Of course it is a story about true love that is doomed from the start and ends in the heroine's death and the hero's devastation.

I learned to love opera in high school where our school choir performed several.  I also learned to love it from my father who had a variety of pieces recorded on His Masters Voice and would play them over and over again.  I'm sure he didn't realize that I, as a ten year old child, was absorbing them without knowing and cultivating a love for such music. I certainly didn't realize it.

I actually like a lot of different kinds of music, including the Beatles, the Mamas and Pappas and the Beach Boys among many others.

This is my entry for ABC Wednesday, for the letter O.  Why not click HERE and see what other topics our participants have chosen for their  'O' entry.  You won't be disappointed.
Thanks Mrs. Nesbitt and Roger Owen Green

EVERY INCHIE MONDAY...

EVERY INCHIE MONDAY'S THEME this week was SILVER.

Oooh!  That was a tough one.  Couldn't come up with anything very interesting or unusual.  The biggest problem being the fact that I use Prisma Color pencils and their metallic silver doesn't scan very well.  But I did my best and came up with quarters and dimes as silver in change.

Just to remind you, INCHIES are small pieces of art done in any variety of media  but displayed on one square inch.

If you would like to see what others have done on their inchie for this theme please click on this LINK. I actually think my sister, Kaybee's effort is brilliant.  Am I biased?  Go take a look.

Yet ANOTHER Doodle

This one turned out quite different from what I intended.  I had wanted to do one with mostly straight lines, not too much curving or circles.  Then I was going to call it Angles, anticipating it might have a lot of geometrical angles.

But it had a mind of its own.

Once I put in the central triangle and drew the lines in it, I was off in a whole different direction.  The straight line design below the triangle was something I wanted but didn't know what to do with.  Then the border on the right hand side crossing the line below the triangle gave me a look I liked and wanted as well as a right angle. Then I found a curving triangle above the original triangle, one side with V shapes and its opposite with dots. Finally, I definitely wanted the rope, even though it had curves. I just liked it. It's quite amazing where creativity will take you.

Eventually it all came together with the triangle emerging in my mind as a Gemstone, although my husband says it's more like a stained glass window. But too late, I had already decided on Gemstone as the title.

LEAVES FOR LEONTIEN

Just came across this project through Scriptor and Black Jack.  I have just finished a doodle which I call LEAVES, so I thought this might be a good thing for me to do -- to send love and prayers to Leontien, who who is having a hard battle with cancer and whose friends are showering her with leaves.  Can't think of a better place to leave this doodle.

This is for you Leontien with love and prayers. To see all the other leaves or send some yourself, please click HERE.