more from hanging valley...and birds!

 loved this leaf picture.  i'm easy to please though.

 was just reading the playboy interview with ansel adams done quite a few years ago...it was on the internet, i didn't purchase a playboy magazine.  he was a great photographer...did seem to like to hear himself talk if that interview is any indication. i know sacriledge. don't mean to say anything bad.  the interview was interesting but he sure didn't seem to have any love or respect for many other photographers.

 oh well, as i said it was an interesting article...what i read of it  just skimmed some of his answers towards the end as they seemed to go on forever.

 also was listening to npr and they had an astrophysicist on.  he went to high school here in anchorage.  i understood many of the words, but the lecture...it was way over my head.  clearly he had some visual aids which were useless on a talk that was broadcast on the radio.  not sure it would have helped me understand much of the lecture.  i listened as it was fascinating even if i didn't understand much.

 i like the sciences but that doesn't mean i am good at them.  details are always lost on me.  i do see the details around me as i walk though and those are often what i try to take pictures of to share.

 did a slow loop with both dogs today in kincaid park.  we did the big loop around little campbell lake (beercan lake).

 no moose sightings.

 lots of pretty fall colours on hanging valley this day.  things are still changing out in kincaid. the devils club is really starting to go.  haven't even looked at the pictures i took today...not that i took tons.

 blossom and below is some caribou moss mixed in with other flora.

 again my sweet blossom.  we had rio with us today so we cruised.  it was a sniff-o-thon.  so much to catch up on apparently.

 boddhi above and indy below.  once we got in the valley we could see quite a distance so the dogs could romp and play off leash.

 mostly blossom feels obligated to chase her tennis ball when she's off leash so often i just put her back on her leash if she gets tired or pesters me for the tennis ball.

 met a friend for dinner tonight...always cool.

 stopped at pier one today and as i was checking out i heard one of the cashiers telling someone to wait behind the person in the pink fleece...and then the guy they were talking to said, "i'll go wait behind betsy".  i looked up to see an old dog park friend i haven't seen for some time.  from the old days at the dog park.  his sweet great dane has passed on so i don't see him out there.  we chatted for a few minutes and caught up.

 bob and tanya in the fall colours.

 been going back and forth between two novels i'm starting to get into.  i never read two novels at the same time so i suspect one will win out.  they both seem good.  one is on the ipad the other is a real  book.  i do prefer the ipad for reading over the kindle.  like the page turning and that there are actually pages numbered.  things may have changed in the newer kindles..mine is pretty old.  i also don't like that you need an external light source to read the old kindle.  bother.

 reflections and colours.

 was less than ambitious today.  got reading and i do love to get lost in a book some days. winters come and i tend to be in the books or watching more movies.  summers is go time.  so it's time to start slowing down a bit.

 my picture count and entries will no doubt slow a bit as well.

 slowly making my way through my shutterfly loads.  figure i just do a month or two or a trip each day and hopefully i get her done.

 we all got lost in berry picking for a bit.

 we discovered many patches that seemed untouched.  i guess the flavor is best after a frost.  these were totally tasty. i was mostly eating as i went.

 at some point blossom discovered the tasty blueberries too.  she was collecting a few of her own.  mostly she just wanted me to find them for her.

 these are her berry picking.

 watched a silly movie, "the campaign".  slapstick. you gotta be in the right mood..i found it funny and silly.

 planning on next monday, the 30th for the start of monday walks.  haven't decided about posting signs up.  may just be word of mouth.  not sure the signs have ever really drummed up any new walkers.  seems to be just from invites.  these walks have been going on for so many years now that they are almost an institution...haha.  i think this may be 5 years of walks?  not sure.  it seems to work out well in the winters to keep people active and add a bit of a social component to my life

 sometimes the coffee and socializing after the walk at kaladi's is more popular than the walk .

 these are just some ducks in the bog...liked the colour reflection off the water.

 and the fall migration of swans heading south.  have noticed the canadian geese gathering and prepping for their run south as well.

 the swans tend to congregate out at potters marsh.  they were fairly far off.  it's hit and miss.  there were about 7 of them out in this one area.

 everyone pulls over, well quite a few people..so it can be a bit nuts with people slamming on their brakes to pull over too quickly.

chatted with a friend from ketchikan and went out to dinner with another friend...still consciously trying to text people and increase my social skills.  they had a thing on katie courics show on past lives.  has always seemed a rational possibility to me i guess.  hell, anything seems possible.  perhaps my inability to commit comes from a previous life  experience.  hmm...shall ponder that before my head hits the pillow tonight.