View of the Tram Wheels and Cables–SkyWatch Friday

Last week when Chic and her “big sister” were here, we did lots of fun stuff. (Hopefully lots of it coming to a blog near you soon.) One day we went to the top of the mountain on the tram. There was about 6 feet of snow at the top, so the girls had a great time playing in it. We walked around to get better places to play, and I saw this picture. I really liked it, so here you go!

To see LOTS more terrific sky pictures or to find out how to participate in this meme, head to the SkyWatch blog.

Note to my regular readers: I know, I know, I have been worse than usual about posting/visiting. Chic was here for 10 days. I was completely occupied with the visit then. Now I am trying to dig out from under the pile that accumulated while she was here. I will be back!

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Track & Field — My World Tuesday

Yesterday our family went to the National Indoor Track and Field Championships that were being held in Albuquerque.

I went to a very. small. parochial school, so we never did competitive sports, but once a year we had a track and field day. I LOVED it, and although I am pretty much not a sports fan, I love track and field. The athletes amaze me.

I fully admit my pictures are lousy unless you are into impressionism (which I am); I have absolutely NO experience with indoor, action photography. After uploading these I realized a couple of things I could have done differently to make them better, but it was difficult to see the pictures well on the tiny screen, so I did not realize all the blur until I uploaded. But I wanted to share a few pictures with you anyway since we had such a fun day with our kids.

Men's hurdles, 60M. (I love the short races. The athletes were like lightning in the 60M hurdles and dashes.)

A pole vaulter talking to her coach.

Pole vault is something I always wanted to do but never had the least opportunity. It looks so fun to fly upside down, so high, up over the bar.

This is my favorite picture. I loved the blurred color. I believe it is the women's 60M hurdles. (The effect is better if you click to enlarge.)

My World is a weekly meme in which participants are virtual tour guides. Go check it out and see the worlds of others. Or better yet, take a look at the guidelines, and do your own My World Post!

 

My Mountain Again–My World Tuesday

I have shown “my” mountain before, but this weekend I was in Corrales, a quaint country village outside of Albuquerque, walking along an arroyo and got some new pictures from a different angle. It was a springlike day, giving me some hope for warmth, but it is over now. We had more rain and snow today.  (Sorry for the graininess in some of the pictures. I did not realize until I uploaded that I had one of my camera settings not exactly where it should have been.) All pictures will enlarge when clicked unless otherwise noted.

This is the arroyo along which we walked. Chicklet is in the bottom. During other seasons there are varying amounts of water in this. It stretches for several miles along the "back road" of Corrales. One rarely can take even a short walk beside it without seeing people with dogs and horses.

this photo will not enlarge when clicked

My World is a weekly meme in which participants are virtual tour guides. Go check it out and see the worlds of others. Or better yet, take a look at the guidelines, and do your own My World Post!

 

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta–My World Tuesday

As promised here are a few pictures from the Albuquerque International  Balloon Fiesta we attended last weekend. (For the first post and the best sky shot, go here.)

Lots of pictures, so I will just put captions with them to keep this as brief as possible.

To go to a "Mass Ascension" one usually arrives early--well before sunrise. There is a looooong strip of things similar to the midway at a state or county fair. Plenty to eat and buy.

After the weather experts determine if it is a good day for ballooning, balloon crews put their balloons out on tarps. Sun is still not up, but it is light. Notice all the people. The field is open to spectators to be anywhere they want as long as they do not get in the way of the balloon crews.

We were next to the "Moo Crew" who often put up a cow-shaped balloon. Wind conditions that day were not conducive to "special shapes," so they put up their regular, round balloon. This is just at the beginning of inflating the "envelope."

The Moo Crew's balloon is almost inflated. I love the fire, and this is the closet shot I got. (Because I was too lazy to walk closer to the balloon.)

The Moo Crew's Balloon is up! Notice the referee on the ground. It amazes me that in a place where usually a minimum of 500 balloons are going up and crowd control is limited or none, that they pull of the ascension in such an organized manner.

One of my favorite things to see is just "piles" of balloons as they are inflating. (Note the sun still hasn't come up. We have a mountain that obscures sunrise, and there was a large cloudbank emanating from that as well that day, so we got an extra late sunrise.

This is a replica of the first hot air balloon to go on a flight. That was 1903 in France.

This is one of the few "specials shapes" balloons that actually went up, and it doesn't have lots of appendages. I included this for my German friends.

It was not yet light enough to get a good picture of this (and I was too lazy to run to get closer), but I cannot leave out an alien balloon since I am in New Mexico!

These bees are always together. The weather conditions did not let them go up together that day, but the nice crew inflated them anyway so everyone could look at them.

The sun is up! I loved this balloon. I think the writing on there says "Lithuania," except that it's in their language, not mine. One thing I love about Balloon Fiesta is that it is truly international.

I just thought this was a pretty grouping, and the sky was nice.

This balloon took off not far from me but went directly overhead. I love to look inside.

Another "must have picture." This one did not go up, either, but I am really glad it inflated so I could see it. It is the 70th Anniversary of "The Wizard of Oz."

I thought this one looked like a quilt. I liked it because it had similar colors to many of the balloons, but the pattern was so unique.

This is "Wally," not "Nemo." Wally is from Wisconsin and did not get to go up that day. (Weather. The weather was very borderline.) But again grateful for his being inflated so my kids could see him.

There is no way to show the enormity of that many balloons ascending within a 1-2-hour timeframe. On this day the wind was pretty strong, so they moved out quickly. This just gives you a small taste of a sky filled with balloons.

My World is a weekly meme in which participants are virtual tour guides. Go check it out and see the worlds of others. Or better yet, take a look at the guidelines, and do your own My World Post!

 

Balloon Fiesta–SkyWatch Friday

Last weekend began the annual Albuquerque International  Balloon Fiesta, the world’s largest balloon festival. I have lived here seven  years and have never been to a “mass ascension” that was not canceled or severely limited. (Out of three previous tries.) This year, attempt #4, most of the balloons went up. This picture does not show the masses, but come back for My World Tuesday next week and I will show you more.

This photo is not long after sunrise. (And the sunrise was later than it should have been due to a big cloud bank.) The sky is not our deep blue of midday, but I still think it could steal the show from the balloon. However, the combination of both is magical to me.

To see LOTS more terrific sky pictures or to find out how to participate in this meme, head to the SkyWatch blog.

 

Lines in the Sky–SkyWatch

Monday we had a field trip to the Natural History museum Due to unforeseen circumstances, I had to walk all around the building, and I saw this on one side. I really do not even know what it is. Maybe just an artistic part of the structure. But regardless, I liked it, and the color of the sky would make nearly anything nice.

click photo to enlarge

To see LOTS more terrific sky pictures or to find out how to participate in this meme, head to the SkyWatch blog.

 

Winter. Spring. Winter. Spring.–My World

Sandia Mountains as viewed from Albuquerque's west side 18-Apr-09. (click photo to enlarge)

Like most places, Albuquerque seems to not be able to decide whether it is winter or spring. However, in my 6-1/2 years of living here, this is the latest I have seen snow. (And if you are on Facebook and know anyone from  Albuquerque, you know the whole city flipped out.)  Easter weekend was cold and rainy (snowy on the mountain), and last Friday it snowed for half of the day at my house (the least likely place in the metropolitan area to get snow). The mountain was gorgeous the next day.

I am sure I will still see snow on the mountain today, but down at my house we are having spring again. Last night while I was working on a stamping class for tonight, we left the door open. The warm air wafted in bringing the scents of spring and the sounds of crickets. The evening sunset was warm and springlike. It made me truly content.

But if it snows again next weekend…

My World is a weekly meme in which participants are virtual tour guides. Go check it out and see the worlds of others. Or better yet, take a look at the guidelines, and do your own My World Post!

 

Snow Squalls–SkyWatch

It is cold here. Extremely cold. It was 12 (F) when I got up yesterday. OK, it is not as cold as some of you have it, but my house is cold inside. COLD. (Note: That was the outdoor temperature. Inside it slightly warmer!)

click photo to enlarge

Because our elevation is around 5000 feet, our heat depends on sun. Thank goodness we have a lot of it–310 days a year. However, this week has been short on sun. Tuesday was a day with mixed snow and sun. There were large snow squalls all day. Toward the end of the day I thought it was actually going to get busy and snow, but three minutes later the sun was shining.  (I am not sure what made me so delusional. Probably wishful thinking about the possibility of no school on Wednesday–“art day.”)

The first photo is one I took on the way to an appointment. I loved seeing part of the city obscured in a snow storm while it was perfectly clear where I was. When I left, however, I drove about 500 feet and got in a mini blizzard myself.

The next photo shows how hard the pellets (yes, usually they were pellets, not flakes) were coming down at times. If these episodes had lasted more than a few minutes, we would have been buried!

click photo to enlarge and see snow detail better

To see LOTS more terrific sky pictures or to find out how to participate in this meme, head to the SkyWatch blog.

 

Snowy Volcanoes–My World

In this post I showed you our extinct volcanoes. Today we were returning from a weekend trip to Mesa, AZ, and drove in snow most of the way. When we got close to home, the volcanoes were nearly obscured by the snow. It has been snowing since, and the snow  has gotten heavier, so if it were light outside, the volcanoes would look much whiter now.

My World today is VERY snowy! My wish is that there will be no school tomorrow!

My World is a weekly meme in which participants are virtual tour guides. Go check it out and see the worlds of others. Or better yet, take a look at the guidelines, and do your own My World Post!

 

Extinct Volcanoes — My World

click photo to enlarge

My house is probably five miles from a row of extinct volcanoes. The three above are called “The Three Sisters.” I never understood this because five volcanoes are easily visible in the same area. I did not really even believe it, so I looked it up online, and yes, they are called that. (But there were lots more references to volcanoes in Oregon by the same name.) Go to the link. The picture is better than these–better sky.

hiking trail washed out after lots of rain--click to enlarge

This row of volcanoes resides in the Petroglyph National Monument. We like to hike there, but I have never made it to the largest volcano (the one on the left in the top photo which is farthest from the start of the trail) because I have never been there without my youngest daughter, who was probably three the last time we went. (She refused the backpack and could not walk that far.) One day I will go to it.

click photo to enlarge

The scenery from here is spectacular. One gets a grew view of the valley with contains the city of Albuquerque.

click photo to enlarge

In the winter, the elevation is just enough higher that the volcanoes sometimes have snow when the flatlands around them do not.

Do come back for  SkyWatch Friday to see these silhouetted against a brilliant sky! (This Thursday at 7:30 p.m. GMT.)

My World is a meme put on by the same people who do SkyWatch Friday. Go check it out and see the worlds of other people! Or better yet, take a look at the guidelines, and do your own My World Post!