ABC Revisiting K

I looked back thirteen years to revisit my K for this round of ABC Wednesday. That was when we traveled halfway around the world to visit Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, Russia, home of our soon to be daughter-in-law and city where our son had been studying for the previous year and a half. It is a city of around a million people,  only a few years earlier closed to any foreign visitors.

Summer gardens yielded a source of income for many residents as they set up shop along the city streets. We think of Siberia as a distant vast cold place, but summer is just the opposite. Well, it is still distant, but the short growing season in terms of days is extended because there is 23 hours of daylight during those days. The local tomatoes, onions, potatoes, and cucumbers were lush and luscious, and despite living in huge apartment blocks, many Krasnoyarsk residents have a little garden plot down along the bluff over the River Yenesei.



This little chapel sits atop the hill from which the panorama of the city was taken. 



Address them as "Ma'am" or "Sir" and be sure to say please and thank you.

Note the final sentence on the sign, which is what struck my "funny bone" this last week.

Give them respect indeed!

Sunday's Psalm--26th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Remember your mercies, O Lord.

Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,

guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior.

Remember your mercies, O Lord.

Remember that your compassion, O LORD,
and your love are from of old.

The sins of my youth and my frailties remember not;
in your kindness remember me,
because of your goodness, O LORD.

 Remember your mercies, O Lord.

Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
and teaches the humble his way.

Remember your mercies, O Lord.

from Psalm 25

(1) Castle Crags State Park, CA

(2, 3) Crater Lake, OR

 

Wetlands Reflections

Do you know this bird?

Weekend Reflections is brought to you by James.

Skywatching from the Ferry Window

from Alameda to San Francisco

Other Skywatchers are found here.

Send forth your light and your fidelity;
they shall lead me on
And bring me to your holy mountain,
to your dwelling place.

Alaska 2009

Let them sing praise to him with timbrel and harp.

The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.

Day pours out the word to day,
and night to night imparts knowledge.

ABC Revisiting J

We visited Joseph, Oregon in February last year.

(The title of this sculpture is "He who thinks he is invisible.")

Joseph is a very popular locale for artists. Every corner has a bronze sculpture which was struck in one of the local foundries. These pieces highlight the natural and historical background of Eastern Oregon.

The area has a very rich history to depict--home of Chief Joseph and his Nez Perce, settlers, bank robbers.

Joseph is down the road from Imnaha. I posted these stories when we visited.

ABC Wednesday is here.



A Chicken and a Chihuahua Were Walking down the Freeway...

...no it's not a joke. It's what I saw on the way home from the gym.

Odd Shots--the ones that got away

No, I haven't been fishing. Just thought I would post these shots that were supposed to be...well, guess...

The jackrabbit that was sitting there just a second before had the most magnificent ears.




The bee bumbled away.

My grandson on a long slide at Golden Gate Park.

 Of course, having got such a good picture of the feet, I missed the whole boy...

What a magnificent butterfly! So colorful! Errrrr, he was there a moment ago.

The Great Blue Heron had to have been six feet tall, and he was right there not twenty feet away. Just a sec while I turn on the camera...

 Hmmmm.

Missed seeing the squirrel make quick work of this cone.

Oh, there he goes now...









So, did you see any odd shots this week? Better yet, did you get the picture?

Sunday's Psalm--25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Lord is near to all who call upon him.
Every day will I bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever.

Great is the LORD and highly to be praised;
his greatness is unsearchable.

The Lord is near to all who call upon him.

The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.

The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.

The Lord is near to all who call upon him.

The LORD is just in all his ways
and holy in all his works.

The LORD is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.
The Lord is near to all who call upon him.

Do you see the reflection?

Do you see any reflections here in Crater Lake?

Those white areas in the water are reflections of the clouds in the sky.

I posted some cool reflections yesterday, too. Be sure to click Previous Post or scroll down.

Weekend Reflections is hosted by James.

Goo-goo-googling along

What a busy week!

My hubby and I are on our way home, stopping off along the way to see some of the sights just off the highway that we always seem to pass by. He has had five days of visiting with our son and his family. I had three days with them, and let him have them to himself while I spent two days in Silicon Valley.

Here I am with one of the Google bikes employees use to get around the Google campus.



The map shows where all the TCs hailed from.

As a "TC" in the Blogger Help Forums, I had been invited to the "Google Top Contributor Summit." To tell the truth, I had thought the title of the gathering was a little pompous, and expected to be surrounded by nerds and totally have my eyes glazed over with all the tech talk. That wasn't how it was at all. The over 250 TCs that Google had flown in (bused, trained, and let drive) from around the world looked just like a cross section of all the rest of us, and the talk was --oops--can't tell you that--but let's just say we saw the human side of Google and we got to get and give feedback about Google products and meet Googlers and other users we've only known from their usernames.

Thank you Google for showing us your human side and what is coming for us. Hey Nightcruzr, Mishka, Yoboy, Martin, Richard, and Erik/Aires of War--It was so cool to meet and share with you in person--as also Lisa, Brett, and all the other Blogger crew. EdSF you are permanently adopted as a Blogger Dude. (Sorry Erik and Yoboy that I didn't get a good chance to say good-by. I had to get on the highway. We'll do better another time.)

I've been thinking about blogging, Blogger, and what they do mean for me. It is a question I was asked. It is a good question for a future post.

ABC Revisiting "I"

Continuing to revisit places we've been during our travels in this round of ABC Wednesday. A couple of years ago on a trip to Eastern Oregon we traveled to Imnaha. Imnaha is a town of about 12 in population. The boots on the fenceposts are a memory of Imnaha.

Odd Shot from California

I'm in California--a good place for collecting Odd Shots, it seems. There were bunches as we drove through that I couldn't get because I was driving--or more often because husband was driving and although he will point out odd shots, he won't stop for them. I've forgotten most of them.

One was a sign we saw which stated: "You can't fix stupid, but you CAN vote it out."




Yesterday afternoon in San Francisco,  there were a number of street musicians and other performers along the Embarcadero near the Farmers' Market and along the sidewalks leading away from the market. One enterprising young musician had a sign in his request for tips that said "Thank you for helping me pay for trumpet lessons."




This is one of the  odd shots we encountered there. The young man was having to move his business a few yards down the sidewalk for some reason.

Can't quite make out his sign? Here it is enlarged.

Never saw a poen store before...

Sunday's Psalm--24th Sunday of Ordinary Time

The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.

Bless the LORD, O my soul;

and all my being,

bless his holy name.

Bless the LORD, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits.

The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.

He pardons all your iniquities,

heals all your ills.

redeems your life from destruction,

he crowns you with kindness and compassion.

The Lord is kind and merciful,

 slow to anger,

and rich in compassion.

He will not always chide,
nor does he keep his wrath forever.

Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.

The Lord is kind and merciful,

slow to anger, and rich in compassion.

from Psalm 103

Revisiting ABC--H

 

  There--in the distance--

Mt. St. Helens

This H dropped in on us on May 18, 1980--a Sunday morning.

We dropped in on her while camping with the kids in 2009.

ABC Wednesday--H

Odd

Well, no he is not particularly odd, unless you are unsettled by such a close eye to eye visit with a squirrel. But this morning's odd encounter with a squirrel was missed by the camera, so you will have to imagine this guy's cousin with a nut or fruit (may have been a green apple) as large as his own head held firmly in his mouth. He was waiting by the side of the road for traffic to clear so he could cross (that's kind of odd, too.) He probably didn't think he could get it across the alternate route across the phone lines.

Sunday's Psalm--23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the rock of our salvation.

Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.

 If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.

 If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
"Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,

Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works."

 If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

from Psalm 95