I went looking for dragonflies - saw a few but too far off. A few busy bees didn’t seem to mind my intrusion. I got down low to capture these.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52809912267_3da451c8bc_h.jpg20230411_Bee_The Willows5847pr by Elliott Cobin, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52809912247_0ea75d276e_h.jpg20230411_Bee_The Willows5862pr by Elliott Cobin, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52809912207_b46d4c7d07_b.jpg20230411_Bee_The Willows5878pr by Elliott Cobin, on Flickr

It was another beautiful Arizona day so I asked Pat (my Wife) if she wanted to go out and see a small part of the extensive Arizona Super Bloom. She accepted my offer and we drove out past Saguaro Lake on the Bush Hwy headed towards the Beeline.

The Brittlebush and Lupine were everywhere along the roads and in the hillsides, but today I wanted to shoot the Mexican Gold Poppy's. The traffic was in slow motion as everyone was looking and the roadsides were little more than parking lots.

I found a spot and parked the car. Pat can't walk very well following her hip replacement, so she sat in the car and observed the wildflower show unfolding in front of her. I found a small group of Salt River Wild Horses standing in the midst of a patch of Poppy's, so I got closer to catch the first one of the group. NOTE! Thanks to my telephoto lens, I'm not really as close to the horse as it appears and a fence separated us.

Then I moved on to another location and, once again, I placed my camera with a 12mm lens, face pointing up, in the midst of a tall growth of Poppy's, set the shutter delay for ten seconds, pressed the button and got out of the way. I love the way the bright orange Poppy's strut their stuff against the Arizona Blue sky. The weather's about to make a wild swing as we're expecting temps in the upper 90's next week which should bring about an end to this incredible Super Bloom season.

Jack Olson's Images in the Wilderness

About 25 years ago my wife bought me a woodworking lathe and a set of chisels. I had taken woodwork in high school in the 1950's and was a millwright / machinist until I retired in 2009. According to my wife, I had been telling her for most of our married life, (58yrs tomorrow), just how much fun lathe work was. She decided to put the matter to rest and buy me a lathe of my own.
For a number of reasons, the lathe remained in its un-opened box for many years. Eventually I did get it set up in a spare room and got to work. Results were a bit disappointing at first but I gradually improved, until about 2 years ago when I had a slight mishap. In a split second of less than total concentration, the beast snatched a chisel out of my hands, and threw it back at me. Somehow it wove its way between my fingers, point first, then slapped the back of my hand down onto the lathe bed.
Nothing broken and no stitches needed, but what a mess! It's all healed up with hardly any scars, but I am a bit nervous now and not quite as bold as I used to be. Everything is on hold right now anyway, as I await a replacement part for my obsolescent speed selector.
Looking back, the mishap with the chisel may have been partly because of an earlier mishap 11 years ago. My left forearm was disarticulated when our late stallion bit it off. It was successfully re-attached, but it has left me with a dexterity issue. That's a story for another time.
Hopefully I will have the lathe up and running again some time soon, but meanwhile I have attached a few examples of my bowls.

Maybe one day I'll go mirrorless if I get bad GAS, live long enough, or some unforeseeable event causes me to. I know it's the future but I have really gotten some good deals on some great gear in the last few months and for that I've got to say thanks to some of you who have gone mirrorless. I made the move to full frame with a used D850, bought used Nikkor lenses: 14-24mm, 24-70mm, 70-200mm, all f2.8s, and a Nikkor 200-500mm. Camera and lenses all in excellent to like new condition and US models as well. The lens at about 1/2 price of new or even less.
Maybe I'll switch to mirrorless when the next big development takes place but for now I'm happy and believe I will be for the foreseeable future. I hope it doesn't get to the point Tums doesn't work anymore.