SkyWatch Friday: Cabo San Lucas

Photos by Kay Davies, 2012

Posted for
SkyWatch Friday
Click HERE for more skies from around the world.

Our World Tuesday: flowers after prairie rain

Posted for
Our World Tuesday
To see other worlds on this planet, please click HERE!

Photos by Kay Davies, Spring, 2012, in our yard.

For Real Toads: our Mad limericks again

Having a screeching headache, which brought everything in my day to a halt, I decided to go with the old limerick thing for Open Link Monday for the writers' group Imaginary Garden With Real Toads again. At least they were already written, for Mad Kane's Limerick-Off, so I didn't have to think hard, which would surely have hurt my headache.

  

  

Not a very good one, but after I tried rhyming “breeze” with “niece” I decided to go with this one. I don’t know how many knee-bones a person has, but I’m hoping more than one.

A woman was shooting the breeze

On the phone while sitting at ease

So no one was there

When she fell off her chair

And broke bones in both of her knees.

By Kay Davies

And this one was by my better half (limerickingly as well as mathematically speaking) Richard Schear:

  

A fellow was shooting the breeze

With talk of the birds and the bees

His wife overheard

But said not a word

For she knew he had no expertise.

By Richard Schear

Shadow Shot Sunday 2: San Jose del Cabo

Photos © Kay Davies, April, 2012

Posted for Shadow Shot Sunday 2

Book Blurb Friday: graffiti and plush toy

Lisa Ricard Claro, on her blog Writing in the Buff, hosts Book Blurb Friday, one of my favorite memes. Each week, she posts a photo and asks us to imagine it is the cover of a book. Then, she says, we are to:

Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book.

Above is this week's "book cover" photographed by the very talented

Sioux Roslawski.

We've been traveling again, and one of the things I really missed was Book Blurb Friday. Here is my submission for this week...133 words.

Riley Come Home

When the police got the call about the missing child, they started the search in his parents’ neighborhood, gradually moving outward from the family home until, at last, they reached the beach.

There, they found the little boy’s toy propped against the beach’s retaining wall, and above it the stark message: Riley was Here. An arrow pointed down between “was” and “Here” as if to illustrate the starkness of the word “was”.

Commander Roslawski of the Lake Area Police Department called in reinforcements from all neighboring jurisdictions. He had seen that grinning, spike-haired graffiti face before.

Author Carmelina Vasquez takes the reader through the gamut of human emotions in her telling of the story of little Riley’s disappearance. No one in Lake Area goes unquestioned, and few go unsuspected.

K is for Kay and koi, at Pono Kai Resort, Kapaa, Kauai



Pono Kai Koi Pond                   Photos by Kay Davies, December, 2010



"What do you mean, you don't have any fish food? They sell it in the office, you know."

"I'll swim over here, maybe there's someone with fish food."

"You again? Still with the camera? And no food? Feesh, some people!"

As she swims away, the pretty white koi meets the grandpappy of the pond. "Kay doesn't have any food," she warns him, "just a camera. Some tourists are so rude. She's probably a blogger!"
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Posted for the letter K in Mrs. Nesbitt's alphabetical meme,
ABC Wednesday

To see how others around the world have used the letter K, please click

HERE!

Wishing you all the best, from Kay

Weekend Reflections: Saint-Malo, France

This is one of my favorite reflection shots, probably because we took it in one of my favorite places, Saint-Malo on the west coast of France.
There's just something about this photo, taken from a corner window table inside a small café, that makes me smile.
Thanks to our friends Debbie and Stijn for telling us about Saint-Malo. We're so glad you did!

© Kay Davies and Richard Schear, 2011

Posted for
Weekend Reflectons,
hosted by James in California. Thanks, James!
For other reflections captured by other photo-bloggers, please click HERE.

SkyWatch Friday: across the street

There was a great deal of twittering and tweetering going on in this tree across the street from our house, but by the time I managed to zoom in on the tree, there were only half a dozen little birds left, and I couldn't identify them. It was a few weeks ago, and the tree was showing early signs of budding. I hope nothing happened to the neighborhood trees in our recent cold snap and snow storm.

© Photos Kay Davies, February, 2012

Posted for
SkyWatch Friday
click here

SkyWatch Friday: all-around sunrise

East

Northeast

East-southeast

South-southwest

Southwest

© Photos by Kay Davies

Taken within five minutes of one another, these photos represent an almost complete circle of the sunrise at our house earlier this week. I wasn't dressed, so I didn't want to stand in the middle of the intersection to shoot due north, due south or due west.

Posted for

SkyWatch Friday

To see more skies from around the world, please click

HERE!

Weekend Reflections: colder than here

One place that's probably colder than Alberta right now, in February, is Alaska. These photos were taken during our Alaska cruise with Holland America in the summer of 2007.
Posted for
Weekend Reflections,
hosted by James in California. Thanks, James!

© Photos by Kay Davies and Richard Schear, 2007

SkyWatch Friday + Saturday Photo Hunting

Well, I'm fresh out of groundhog photos, so I thought I'd see what I had...and I found one of Lindy last year on Groundhog Day. She can see her shadow, and a bit of sky above the greenhouses near our house. (Our little town in southeastern Alberta is known as The Greenhouse Capital of the Prairies.)

This winter has been the opposite of last year. As seen above and below, we had a lot of snow last winter. Now we've had so many above-freezing days in January, and the beginning of February, we're afraid some of our trees and shrubs will start leafing out, only to be hit later with the area's normal -20 to -30 Celsius temperatures (4 below and 22 below zero Fahrenheit). Of course, if that happens, we could be losing some of our greenery, which is a serious matter in the desert part of the prairie.

Below, there is still plenty of fruit on our ornamental crabapple tree because we've had so little snow the deer haven't had to come to our yard to eat very often. The larger deer can reach the fruit quite high up the tree when they stand on their hind legs. It's amazing to watch.

© Photos by Kay Davies and Richard Schear    

Posted for
SkyWatch Friday
To see other skies from around the world, please click  HERE!
Oh, and Groundhog Day? According to what I've read so far, opinions seem to be split amongst Canada's and the USA's most popular underground predictors. So, it will either be an early spring, or another six weeks of winter. Time will tell.
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Last photo also posted for the theme "twigs" at Gattina's meme
Saturday Photo Hunting

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Smile!
'Tis the
season
to be
jolly!

from
Lindy
and all her reindeer relatives!

Produced by Kay Davies
with Lindy's portrait by Richard Schear


and thanks to someone who sent the reindeer
to someone who sent it to someone else who sent it to us.

Pet Pride: versatile dog blogger

© Photo by Richard Schear

Lindy is a favorite of a blogger known as CC Champagne and, because CC likes Lindy so much, she has nominated us for the Versatile Blogger Award. Lindy's mom already has one, so Lindy says this one is hers.

In that case, we have to include five previously-unpublished facts about Lindy.

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1. Lindy has a black spot on her tongue. It doesn't show in this photo, but if you go back through her mom's blog, you're sure to find a picture to prove it. It might mean she has an ancestor who was a Chow.

*

2. Lindy got to ride in the back seat of her dad's good car this week, instead of her mom's older car, because there was snow, and his car had snow tires on. She went to the airport to help her dad get her mom back from a mysterious place called the west coast. (Lindy hasn't been there to visit the rest of her family yet, so this is an extra fact about her.)

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3. Twice today (Saturday, December 10, just for the record) Lindy refused to eat her bok choy. She eventually did eat the first serving, but the second serving is still in her dish. It isn't her favorite vegetable, but it's very low-calorie. Right now her favorite vegetable is bean-sprouts, also very low-cal for a plump puppy. (Much better for her than yams, which she loves more than her expensive dog food.)

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4. Every night, before Lindy lies down to go to sleep, her daddy straightens the sheet on her dog-bed. (This might be a fact about Lindy's daddy rather than about her, but we had an extra fact about Lindy in #2, and maybe in #3.)

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5. Lindy wants her award posted right here for Pet Pride. Her mom's award is at the bottom of the blog, where nobody can see it. Lindy thinks that's silly.

*

Posted for

Pet Pride

hosted by Lindy's friend Bozo and his family in Mumbai, India.
"Hi, Bozo," says Lindy. "My mom just told me you are at the dog hospital. I have been there, or at least at the one here, and I was treated very well. I hope you are treated well and get home soon. We will be thinking good dog thoughts for you."
To see other pets around the world, please click  HERE!

Camera Critters discussed a summer boat ride

Come on, you guys, are we going to haul this boat down to the river or not? Am I the only one who can make a decision around here? I'm tired of everybody always sitting on the fence.

© Photo by Richard Schear

Posted for Misty Dawn's Camera Critters. Thanks, Misty!
This post is like yours, Misty, a reminder of summer, now but a memory.

To see other critters captured on other cameras, perhaps in other seasons
please click HERE!

SkyWatch Friday: sky over Oregon

It was my birthday last week. The day I officially became a Senior Citizen found me waking up in Albany, Oregon, after arriving on an Amtrak train the previous evening, then traveling from Albany to the wild and wonderful Oregon coast with my good friend Maryann. We took the scenic route: through the rainforest with a stop at quaint little Alsea and then to her beautiful view home in Waldport, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It was a lovely day, and a great visit! Thanks, Maryann!

Above and below, right, morning clouds over Albany, Oregon.

Above, a deserted store in Alsea, with a
still-popular store, below, left, across from it.

While Maryann popped into the Waldport Library,
I took out my camera, above and below.

The view from Maryann's deck, above, and
sunset, below, seen between Waldport and Newport.

Posted for
SkyWatch
Friday,
the meme for folks with
their heads in the clouds.
To see other skies from other parts of the world, please click  HERE!
Photos by Kay Davies

Book Blurb Friday: elevation, 9000 feet

One of the most beautiful cities in the world, Quito, Ecuador, sits on the equator, but the weather is never too hot. The reason is its altitude: 9000 feet (2743 meters) above sea level.

Much of Quito's architecture is Spanish Colonial, but much of it is modern as well. It is a vibrant, thriving city, without being too big for comfort.

The symbol of Quito is the iconic statue of the Virgin Mary on top of a hill overlooking the city.

Author Kay Davies and her photographer husband Richard Schear visited Quito with an eye to retiring in the city or its environs.

In this beautifully written and superbly illustrated volume, Quito: ¿Si o No? learn what the author and her husband decided, and why.

Posted for

Book Blurb Friday

hosted by Lisa Ricard Claro at Writing in the Buff

Each week, Lisa posts a photo (see top photo, by Lynn Obermoeller) to inspire other writer-bloggers to imagine a book, of which the prompt photo is the front cover, and to write a "blurb" (maximum 150 words) for the back cover to entice people to buy this book.

This week's submission is 129 words.

(Additional photos by Kay Davies and Richard Schear.)

To see how the prompt photo inspired other writer-bloggers, please click

HERE!