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Warm light and color

are framed through Arch’s North Window

Early sunrise gift

I stop in the aisle

In line at the pharmacy

a sleeping puppy

Old Oracle Owl

is the neighborhood guru

stoic and saintly

This is my friend Old Oracle Owl aka Squeak Owl.  He has lived, in a small tree, on the side of the road in my neighborhood for at least five years.  He has steadfastly survived every storm, every drought and every indignity brought upon him by curious and playful passing dogs.

When walking with a friend in my neighborhood for the first time, I would often tease the person by telling them….as we were approaching the owl…..that there was a rare owl that lived in the area. I’d ask them if they’d ever heard of a Screech Owl and after they’d tell me “Yes”, then I would say… “Well this is a Squeak Owl. It’s very rare“.  

Once my friends finally got to see the owl, and they always did, they’d often give me a sideways glance as if to say “Who is this weird guy, anyway? And can I really trust him with anything that he tells me?”   Several people, I must admit, have decided that they actually would rather not want to hang out with this strange quizzical old fart, anymore anyway.

Truth be told, I’ve stopped taking Squeak Owl for granted.  No longer do I tell my silly lame joke or ask him to be my accomplice.  I’ve actually come to love the old guy and regard him as an old friend.  I have the utmost respect for him. Like some ancient ascetic Buddha, he has been through it all and remained the silent stoic guardian of the neighborhood through all these many years – day in and day out…..through all kinds of weather…… Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring. 

A few weeks ago I started stopping by and telling him my thoughts and asking him questions…. More recently though, all I do is stop by, pay my deep respects, close my eyes and listen.

Waiting for the light

First evening after a hard day

Could be a long week

This image was taken at Fisher Towers on the same day as yesterday’s photo (July 1st) at Arches was taken….. This is in the evening and yesterday’s image was taken that morning.



These all day photo shoots from before sunrise to after sunset can get pretty exhausting…and this was only the first day…..admittedly, not all of my photo tour participants are as excited all of the time… as some are.  This photo could be captioned…”What did I get myself into now”  or “I think that I am going to be sick, if I hear another one of Winslow’s jokes”

Fairy Falls ski tour

Maybe didn’t wait long enough

to see some fairies

Hiked in the mountains

At twelve thousand plus feet high

A different world

Hmm.  I just realized that it would have been a good idea to do a haiku with a 4th of July theme.
Anyway, Here’s today’s image and haiku from my hike yesterday..  This is a 7 image pano.
You might be interested to know that on the very left-hand side of the image is a rock glacier!!!

Wind, clouds, snow and sun

A mountain’s stormy beauty

Three eagles soaring

One of the eagles might not be that easy to see. It is flying toward the camera. If you create an imaginary tic-tac-toe grid on your screen, you will find the third eagle just below and to the right of where the lines intersect in the upper right-hand corner

No time for haiku

Here’s a photo anyway

Nature’s rich palette

Mountain stream flowing

New snow brings life to the land

Mushrooms in winter

Cute little chipmunk

Takes a break from scurrying

Delicate small hands

I know that chipmunks have paws and hands, but I prefer “hands” for this haiku