Sunday Wallpaper: View from an Old Town Bench

OLD TOWN--We sat on the bench in the early evening just enjoying the cool air from a nearby thunderstorm. Everything was so alive. Everything.

Sunday Wallpaper: Bike Camp

NOB HILL--The Bike Coop sponsored a youth bike camp last week. The kids would gather each morning in front of the store before they all rode away.

Sunday Wallpaper: Elk in Velvet

This elk we saw near Lake Louise on the Icefields Parkway looks like he has had a hard winter. There's not much to eat up there when the snow covers everything.

Sunday Wallpaper: The Icefields Parkway

What is more beautiful than the Parkway going between Banff and Jasper? Nothing.
Not only that, look at the lack of heavy traffic. Look at those wide shoulders. This is bike country!

Sunday Wallpaper: Old Albuquerque High School

EDO--Taken from in front of The Daily Grind, this view of downtown and "EDO" gives a sense of both the old and the new.
Remember, to use as a desktop background, click on picture to enlarge, then right-click and select "use as desktop background."

Johnny_Mango's Sunday Wallpaper: Downtown View from Barelas

BARELAS--Route 66 ran right through Barelas prior to 1937. This view from south 4th Street still has a few remnants from earlier times, but nothing that goes back that far. The appliance store has been around for over 40 years. But probably the most interesting feature is the ghost of the "Royal Fork Buffet" sign that is visible on the right hand side of the street.

For years I had seen the points at the top and the word 'royal' always came to mind...sort of a crown in the sky. It wasn't until a few years ago that I also clicked to the 'fork' aspect of those points.To use as wallpaper, click on the image to enlarge, then right-click and select "desktop background."

Johnny_Mango's Sunday Wallpaper: Prickly Pear in Full Bloom!

BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK, TEXAS--Just beautiful...just breath-taking.
To set as wallpaper, click on image to enlarge then right-click and select .

Johnny_Mango's Sunday Wallpaper: Yucca in Bloom

BRANTLEY LAKE, NM--On a trail that winds through the hills around the Brantley Lake campground, we came across this yucca. We saw many on our trip through southern New Mexico and the Big Bend country of Texas, but this was the first we saw about to bloom. No wonder it is the New Mexico State Flower...and has been since 1927.
Remember...to use as wallpaper, click on image to enlarge, then right-click and select 'set as desktop background.'

Johnny_Mango's Sunday Wallpaper: Western Lights

MENAUL & CARLISLE NE--We head towards the valley and into a western sky.

Bob Martin's Sunday Wallpaper: A Tale of Two Cities

From fellow boulevardier Bob Martin...
Downtown Albuquerque at 6:38 p.m. on February 8, 2007: ISO 200, 2 seconds, f/5.6, 21mm, Pentax K10D
Lesson: look around the scene carefully for possibilities beyond the initial intent.

I went to the Tricore parking lot (just west of the Embassy Suites Hotel at I-25 and Lomas) to try for a good shot of downtown lighted at night. Originally, I had thought a completely black sky would be best - not so.

How much should I include in the picture? Because I was using a 12-24mm lens, I figured a narrow panorama might be good. Looking over the scene, I decided to aim low and maybe crop out the nearby street scene. Fortunately, that inclusion paid off later.

Only after I had the range of exposures on my screen in PSE did it occur to me that I had more than a scene, I had a story: a tale of two cities.

That was a valuable practical lesson for me to learn: keep my eyes and mind open to possibilities beyond the initial reason for going to an area.

The blue car at the left edge was intentionally not cropped out because it is part of the foreground story primarily told to the lower right.

I may return to try this again for perhaps:
- a slightly more vivid sky, but not so much more as to be distracting - I like the hint of it,
- ISO 100 instead of 200, and
- f/11 to maximize sharpness.

All in all, it was a rewarding experience.

Bob

Johnny_Mango's Sunday Wallpaper: Inaugural Belen Stop of the New Mexico Rail Runner

BELEN--I was there: the first day of service. And while the Lieutenant Governor and the Mayors of both Belen and Los Lunas gave speeches during the stopover, I wandered down the track for one more look at this beautful engine.

Johnny_Mango's Sunday Wallpaper: Monument Valley

Bob Martin sent me this beautiful shot of Monument Valley. If you haven't spent some time exploring the Four Corners area, you should do it this spring. There is nothing on earth like it. And like everything else in this wonderful part of the country, half of the story is in the sky.

Johnny_Mango's Sunday Wallpaper: Bald Eagle Perched in a Cottonwood

NORTH BOSQUE BIKE TRAIL--Bob Evans and I saw this eagle just off the trail on a cold and cloudy morning.

Johnny_Mango's Sunday Wallpaper: 1916 JN-3...A Life-Size Replica Hanging in Columbus, NM

COLUMBUS, NM--I would say that hardly anybody who is reading this has ever visited the new Pancho Villa State Park Museum. The displays are dominated by a life-size replica of a "Jenny" of the kind used in the punitive expedition that pursued Villa into Mexico. It was also used in WWI. If you have a chance visit the area and the Museum. Eat lunch at The Pink Store in Palomas, Mexico. There are several motels in nearby Deming. For the hardy, campsites are available right at the Pancho Villa State Park.

Johnny_Mango's Sunday Wallpaper: Pelicans on the Salton Sea

Last week MaryAnn and I camped out by the Salton Sea in our quest for warmth. The afternoon temperature was in the mid-70's. The campground was nearly empty. Twilight settled on us slowly. And the pelicans, in a peaceful patrol of the shoreline, glided silently by.Click on picture to enlarge, then right-click, select "desktop background."

Johnny_Mango's Sunday Wallpaper: View Inside the Limousine

Last Thursday MaryAnn and I went to the "Best of the City" party thrown by Albuquerque the Magazine. It was out at Sandia Casino. The parking lot was quite a ways from the building so they had limousines take us from the lot to the door of the casino! This is what it looked like inside the limo.Btw, Chantal Foster, owner and publisher of the Duke City Fix, won "Best Local Blogger" that night. I ran into her at the party.

"Congratulations Chantal!"
"Same to you, Johnny_Mango!"
"What are you talking about?"
"You came in second. You beat out Joe Monahan."
"What are you talking about?"

Well, it seems I am indeed number 2...according to ABQ the MAG. Who knew? I gave Chantal a big congratumango hug...and a silent "thanks" for me being a part of the DCF.