STEAMING into the NEW YEAR

A pot of soup maybe? Tea kettle? a dunk in the hot tub? How can I do Steaming into the New Year? When Mac gave us this theme and then escaped to Cornwall for the New Year's Holiday it didn't occur to me to contemplate taking any pictures while cooking Christmas dinner, nor did I have time to do a thorough search of my photo files for steamy images.

I thought back, though, to our recent drive to Arizona. On that route as we pass by Cement Plant Road south of Baker City, Oregon, we generally are in the dark as we approach the road's namesake. My usual attempts to catch a photographic glimpse of the plant come out like this: 

 or this:


 
 
 

 

We don't stop for the cement plant no matter how much I want to get a shot.

 

This time, my new camera provided the possibility for a faster shutter, and with hubby driving and carefully keeping the camera as still as possible while traveling 60 mph, I got a much truer view of the brightly lit plant--including the STEAM.

 

So that bit of steam is all I have to offer. (I really love the abstract jiggledy light trails of the other images though.)

My esteemed headbanger colleagues will have done much better with the steam I am sure. Check them out from the links on my sidebar.

Headbangers: FOOD

Well, I did think of something to do other than my main plan for the day, which is tossed by the wayside because it involved getting out of the house and someone--ahem-ahem--took my whole car when I told him there was a phone charger in it, instead of taking the phone charger and putting it in HIS car. Of course, he also took the keys to his car AND to the decrepit pickup we call the "dump truck" because mostly all we ever use it for is occasional trips to the dump.

Someone stopped and asked him if we wanted to sell it the other day. It would not bring in much cash and then what would we use to go to the dump?

So I have remembered that I need to post my thoughts on food--the theme presented us for this week by Craver Vii.

Last night I gathered a few shots from archives and from dinner. Still deciding which to use as the header, but I am nearly there.

 Cioppino--a seafood stew that we had at a dockside restaurant in Olympia on a trip there a few years ago. I had to remember when that was to look up the pictures.

Sticky Toffee Pudding--a yummy UK treat which was a bit different every time we had it. This one was in the village of Kinlochewe in Scotland.

Snowman cookies for the season. I haven't made any cookies this ambitious this year, and got candy canes for the pageant kids instead of making them cookies for the final rehearsal. Maybe it was the sight of the dreadful faces that moved me. ( I do have four kinds of cookies on hand.)

Last night's tacos. I thought about taking a picture after one was half eaten.

If any of the other headbangers had time for true food photography this week, they will surely have outshone me. No matter. All of these were well worth eating, and that's the point, isn't it? You will find their offerings through the links on my sidebar.

Right Place--Right Time

Why is this the right place at the right time? Until this year we had never been to the Arizona desert in the Spring. Our usual trip is in November, and beautiful as it can be, the desert is not in bloom then. So our trip for our grandson's graduation was the right place and the right time to not only celebrate, but to see the blooms on the saguaro.

On the same trip we were in the right place and right time to see--WHAT? A COYOTE IN THE CITY PARK? That's right. Maybe a more conventional interpretation of right time right place.

Sporting events provide some exciting opportunities to get right time shots. We caught the "WAVE" when we went to a Mariners game this summer.

and the action at the goal at the Priests vs. Seminarians soccer game. Block it Fr. Jaime!!!!

And you had to get up in the middle of the night to be at the right place and right time for the eclipse--one of a few this year.

It's Cold Out There

Except it isn't.

When I posed the theme "It's cold out there" for our header challenge, I did not anticipate that when the assigned week arrived that our October winter weather would have turned to a December fall rise in temperatures. It's not like it's time to go around in sandals and shorts, but finding a cold out there image this week is not going to happen.

So I returned to yesteryear. Some pictures from some snowshoe trips to Mt. Rainier and to Satus Pass. A bit of urban hardware. A bit of country hardware. Most of these images are about five years old.

Here goes. I think I have decided which to use for the header, but I may change my mind by the end of the post.

Frozen barbed wire

Meadow above Satus Pass

Urban Security--well, sort of urban if you call a city of 10,000 or so urban.

Nisqually River Ice and Snow



Paradise River Ice and Snow

Reflection Lakes not reflecting

Looking for a Camp to Rob

Well, I ended up changing my mind. I was ready to post the camp robber for my header, but gave hubby a vote and he nixed it. What do you think? And what do you think of my headbanger friends? You will find their blogs linked in my sidebar.

Christmas is Coming

Part of getting ready for Christmas for us has been traveling for Thanksgiving. Our children and grandchildren are spread all over the west, so we start by traveling through Idaho to visit DD#2. Then on to Arizona where DDs #1 and #3 live. On to California for a couple of days with my brother. When the timing works out we stop by to see DS#2, but their schedule didn't mesh this year. We will see DS#1 at Christmas or New Year. Then there is DS#3--who emerges every couple years if the timing is right.

On our way home, we always have a meal at the Black Bear Diner somewhere in Northern California or Oregon. Tonight it was in Redmond, Oregon, where Santa Bear was having a honey treat at the counter.

 If you are ever traveling in the West and see a Black Bear Diner when you are nearing mealtime, STOP. You won't be disappointed.