I was in a DC-3 or 4 at age 2 or 3 flying from Fresno, CA to Los Angeles to see grandparents (with my mother and father, of course.) I am told that since this was in 1943 or 1944, all of the window shades were drawn. My mother told me I tried to open one and the stewardess (yes, they were called that at the time) said it was illegal to raise the shade. My mother asked just what it was that a two or three year old would see that would be dangerous - or course not recognizing that the real issue was revealing the aircraft to possible visual detection. I have never been sure just why that regulation was in force as it seems very unlikely that seeing a light in a window of an aircraft at 30,000 whatever feet was going to be the give away to where they were

Vicky, I love your creativity! You always seem to get the most out of an opportunity and you continue to be an inspiration to my photographic efforts. Thank you for continuing to post such great photography.

Scotty

A very nice set of pictures! Having been to Bodie, I have to ask, where were all the people? When I was there I could never get a shot without tourists.

Scotty

Great pictures and a nice catch. Must have been exciting.

Cinquo de Mayo

Sippy, Now that is what I call a great picture. I would have had a difficult time leaving that spot and might want to return often. That is they type of picture that I search for. Thank you.

Scotty

My all time favorite BC cartoon had two of the men standing by a river (small stream) and pulling out a lobster (unlikely, I admit, but it's a cartoon). One turns to the other and comments, "You know, the first person ever to eat a lobster must have been REALLY hungry!"

I would like to use an avatar but it requires that I disable my ad blocker and I'm not doing that.

I currently have a Nikon D850 and previously had a D800 and D300 (plus many others over 60 years) and have never taken video. Once had a video camera to take our son playing soccer. Too hard to watch and too hard to find just the time period I wanted. I know with digital it is probably easier but I have no need for video that I know of. My kids and grandkids, on the other hand, use a lot of video.

Last time I counted, it was 32! Not surprisingly, I collect clocks. My wife allows us to have six that bong. Two, every 15 minutes and six that sound every half hour. Not everyone's cup o' tea, I know, but we like it. Most of the clocks are 100-125 year old Japanese school clocks that we manage to keep accurate to about three minutes a week. The others, including the grandfather clock and Navy mantel clock are almost as good as the atomic clocks. We have 11 different ways to tell time just in our office. It is more difficult in the fall when we set the clocks back and I have to move the clocks ahead 11 hours and accommodate the quarter hour bells. I'm sure you are sorry you asked.

Whoever brought it in must have brought at least two - male and female - or else this bird is destined to be the last. I have no idea what interbreeding goes on in the bird kingdom but my guess is that it is infrequent.

What a great shot! One of the best photos I've seen recently.

Almost too hard to choose. The best I can do -
1. Venice - been there often. Hard to take a bad picture there
2. The Cinque Terre region of Italian Riviera - been there probably four times. Always happy to return.
3. Yosemite National Park - been there often. Can't go too often.
4. Mykonos as well as many of the other Greek Islands.

My wife and I have both had both shots (Pfizer) and have had no negative reactions at all. We knew that some people experienced chills and a fever after the second shot but we suffered no noticeable reaction. My limited experience based upon word of mouth is that more people with the Moderna vaccine are have reactions to the second shot - but that is a very limited sample size. I believe we should expect that there will be some "booster" shots developed to account for the mutations of the virus. Additionally, I expect that we may very well have a Covid-19 shot annually at some point.

I've been using Shutterfly for probably 20 years printing calendars for friends every Christmas season. I make something like 25 calendars, many with different photos depending on the recipient. As has been mentioned before, if you wait for the right special, you can often get the price down 50% and get free shipping if you have a large enough order. I love Shutterfly as a company as they are responsive, helpful and always fair in my experience.

Scotty