External SSD? Why? Usually, the speed limit is imposed by the interface (USB), and HDDs are faster than the interface. You'll not get any speed advantages by going to SSD. Maybe I'm missing something?

Thanks, Dixiegirl. I figure that I'd have the rash whether or not I took a picture, so it's a net gain. If that's the worst that ever befalls me in the pursuit of a photo, then I've led a charmed life.

In truth, I didn't realize how much poison oak was under there until I was in it. Then I saw the thistle and thought in for a penny, in for a pound. Calamine lotion is my friend.

Thanks for looking!

I haven't been getting out much, but I drove my wife to an appointment last week and I wandered around with a camera while she was there. It was sunny in the middle of the day - hardly ideal light - but hey, I was out with a camera. The grass has all turned to summer straw, and under the oaks where the light isn't harsh is full of poison oak. At great risk of poison oak on my ankles :-) I did find this thistle catching a spot of light.

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Thanks, Dave

Thanks, Dixiegirl.

Thanks. Very punny.

Yes, the green are tiny mosses. So are the reddish stuff on the upper left, though those are a different species and are drier. The green mosses only stand about 1/8" proud of the stone face.

This is not the best time of year in my part of the world for mosses, but I found these ones doing well on a stone retaining wall in the park near my home. In another few weeks, they'll be all dried up.

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I've been so busy at work the past few months I haven't had time for photography. Last weekend, though, I got out for a hike in the hills. This being the San Francisco Bay Area, it was a foggy and cold summer day. In most places I have lived, fog means a cloud right down on the ground, enveloping you in cold wet cotton. In the Bay Area, the fog is almost always above you, but close enough the hilltops and sometimes tall buildings are in it, but you rarely are. It's frequently accompanied by a cold wind.

The light on such a day is soft and even, making for good photos, depending on the subject. The last time I was out in it the hills were still in their spring green, but by now the grasses have all dried and the hills are wearing their summer brown. I didn't get any really good pictures, but this one captures the feel of the day. Or so I like to think.

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Amen to that. My brother had a pair of Dobermans that cornered a raccoon once. One had to be put down after and the other was never the same.

We visited in the summer of 1983. There's a lot more green now, but it still looks bleak and barren. When we were there, everything was gray. We found one (1) green plant, which only made it spookier. I kept thinking of Nagasaki.

Some places you would sink in the ash to your knees. We tried to climb the ridge by the parking lot at the Spirit Lake overlook, but it was impossible.

Amen, brother.

My grandfather used to say, "Any day you can get out of bed is a good day."

It's only in the last ten years or so I've really come to appreciate that.

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