About Me--Kreativ blogger award

LV at "Thoughts from Meme's Corner" has given me this award. To accept I am asked to tell 7 things about myself that fellow bloggers may not know. This requires considerable thought as I have already hinted at most things I am prepared to share.

1. I was born and raised in the Los Angeles area. When I was 32 my husband transferred to Bishop, California, a small town in the Eastern Sierra where we lived for 15 years. When he retired we moved back to our house in the San Fernando Valley where we stayed for another 12 years and finally moved to Lincoln 5 years ago.

2. I attended a community college for 2 years and UCLA for one year then dropped out. I had planned to return to college but never did.

3. I married my dad's best friend (He was a lot younger than my dad and 10 years older than me.) It worked out, were still married, 44 years and two sons later.

4. I never really had a career, I worked as a bank teller, an office manager in a real estate office,

and had a daycare business. My longest employment was 8 years of seasonal work at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area. I worked in the kitchen where it was always nice and warm. Hubby liked it, he could ski free and so could our sons. This led to my most interesting job, a relief cook high in the White Mountains at a research facility two summers.

5. I've always battled my weight. The only time I was thin was when I was running 3-6 miles a day and biking 12-25 miles, often on the same days. That was in my 30's.

6. That cabin I blog about, we built it. Contractors did the foundation, the roof and rough plumbing but we did the framing, drywall and finish with the help of friends and family.

7. The most rewarding thing I have ever done was helping with Michael his first three years. I would watch his therapists and then continue working with him at home. Repetition and patterning is how he learned to sit, crawl and walk. It takes a whole family, not just the therapists to teach a severely challenged child. I didn't know I could do it, I never dreamed it would be so satisfying. If I'd know forty years ago what I know now I would have been a therapist.

8. And one more, I can't spell and I am careless about posting a comment without checking it for errors, but you already knew that.

Now comes the hard part, passing it on. I have been reluctant to do that since I don't want anyone to feel obligated to do something that makes them uncomfortable. I realize, though, that we all have free will. If you don't want to share facts about yourself, don't. If you're not comfortable passing it on, don't. These awards are a way of expressing our appreciation of each others work and should never become a burden.

So here are Blogs I enjoy and whose writers I would like to know better.

1. Geogypsy who shows us the Southwest in depth. http://geogypsy.blogspot.com/

2. Perbs who gives us an in depth look at her little corner of the Northwest. http://postcardsfromthenorthwest.blogspot.com/

3. Linda who takes us to beautiful gardens. http://lindaletters.blogspot.com/

4. Ebie who shows me the area where I was raised through her eyes. http://www.themain-ingredient.info/

5. Carolyn who goes many of the same places I do and shows them to me through her eyes.

http://carolyn1209.blogspot.com/

6.Ralph who shows me the world from a different point of view. http://airhead55-ralph.blogspot.com/


7.Squirrel who I have just discovered and I already know has a lot to teach me. http://squirrelsview.blogspot.com/


The guidelines for accepting this award are:

1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4. List 7 things about yourself that people may not know.
5. If you wish, pass this award to other Kreative Bloggers.
6. Post links to those you select.
7. Leave them a comment to let them know of the award.

Dancing Fountain--Watery Wednesday

I've showed you several views of this mall at The Fountains, but the reason I brought my camera was to capture this fountain.

The water flows in time to music.

Sometimes it is a steady stream.

Sometime in quick bursts.

To see more watery sites, click here.

Bishop Pass Trail--My World

This is the last of my summer Sierra hikes to share with you. We hiked the Bishop Pass trail in September while camping on Bishop Creek
It was our favorite trail when we lived in the area and the trail head is a popular site for this group of local plein air painters.

The trail begins at South Lake and soon enters the John Muir Wilderness.

One of the great things about hiking in the eastern Sierra is the wilderness.

A string of wilderness areas stretches up the Sierra crest for 150 miles, crossed only by the Tioga Road in Yosemite. You can hike for over two hundred miles on the John Muir Trail and not cross a road.

From 9800' the trail climbs steadily up to Bishop pass at 12,000'. We would often, in our younger days, hike up to the pass but today we only planned to go as far as Long Lake.

Just before Long Lake the trail forks. You can make a loop to Bull Lake and Chocolate lake, rejoining the main trail at the far end of Long.

I asked a hiker who was on his way down what he thought of Long Lake. "Like walking through a calendar" he said. I wondered what he would have thought had he seen it in July with thunder clouds building and wildflowers everywhere

It was pretty, though.

Hubby stopped at Long Lake but I went a little further, up to Spearhead Lake. The flowers were gone but the willows were turning yellow and gave some color to the scene.

The rocks and Chocolate peak had plenty of color as well.

A good day hike, over six miles round trip and 1,000' gain. Maybe next year I'll go all the way to the pass and step into Sequoia.

To see more parts of this wonderful world, click here.

A Shadow on the Environment

We had a service come to wash the solar cells, Hubby didn't want me climbing on the roof to do it myself. The workers took pictures to show they didn't harm the roof. The hose cast an interesting early morning shadow across the shingles.
I know that many do not believe that human activity is responsible for climate change, the proof is not 100% and until it is they believe it is better to do nothing.

I take a different approach. If there is credible evidence that human activity may be contributing to the devastating floods and droughts that seem to be more common every year, I feel I have a responsibility to make at least a few changes that will reduce my impact on the environment. The solar cells are one way we try to make a difference.

Our solar cells produced as much power as we used in their first year, reducing our carbon footprint by 9200lbs since September of last year.
Now that the weather is cooler, I try to do some of my errands on my bike. If I just need a few things at the market there is no reason I can't ride the six mile round trip. If I can't bike, I bundle errands whenever possible. I schedule no drive days every week.

Jug handle on the right allows golf carts to cross to shopping center across the street,

asphalt drive on right allows safe entry and egress to another shopping center

Not everyone can bike, though. Our town is involved in an NEV pilot project. An NEV looks like an electric golf cart but is a little bigger and can go a bit faster. It can travel on any street where the speed limit is 35 mph or less. Lincoln has added joint bike/NEV lanes on most streets that have a faster speed limit. This enables one to get almost anywhere in town.

Sun City is a golf cart community. Golf carts are not normally allowed on city streets but Lincoln has several approved routes where they are allowed. From Sun City you can get to two markets, several restaurants, a home improvement store, the library and many doctors and dentists. People here use their golf carts and NEVs and ours is not the only house with solar cells.

I realize that not everyone is in a position to make these changes, but everyone can find some way to reduce their use of energy and other resources. Everyone can contact their elected representative about their concern.

Maybe our use of carbon is not the cause of climate change but why take the chance? Humans as a species are very adaptable it's true, but adaptation takes time and at the cost of many lives and much suffering.

What are you doing to remove this shadow from the earth's future?

To see more shadows, go to Hey Harriet.

Windy Sky

Wind, carry me home
(best enlarged)

See skies from arount the word here.

Convict Lake--Watery Wednesday

On Saturday of our Mammoth weekend we hike, on Sunday we like to go to Convict lake. This time I was the only one who wanted to kayak. The rest wanted to hike around the lake. Since our hosts had already loaded their kayak onto the car I was able to cajole one of the guys to go with me in the two person craft.
It was a beautiful day to be on the water. The air was calm and clear.

The bright yellow kayak was waiting for me.

Or was it? It seemed to want to head out on its own.

After Richard waded in and retrieved it, we headed out across the lake to have lunch under the aspens on the far side. It was a great day and I enjoyed my trip across this beautiful lake.

For more watery sites, click here.

Shadow Lake--My World

Each September we join friends at Mammoth Lakes. These are the people we hiked with when we lived in LA and we gathered this weekend for good hiking, good food, good wine and good conversation.
Mammoth Lakes has a great winter ski resort as well as hiking, biking and fishing for the summer visitors.
The Shadow Lake trail begins at Agnew Meadows. Although we access it from the east side of the Sierra, the trail is on the west side of the divide near the headwaters of the San Joaquin River.

Shadow Lake was my first backpack, over 45 years ago. It was also the second backpack for our sons when they were 9 and 11. It also makes a great day hike.

These basalt cliffs hint at the volcanic past of this area.

looking back the way we came, you can see Mammoth Mountain.

I love these tortured junipers you find in the Sierra.

The cascades indicate that our goal is near.

There it is, just beyond the trees

Shadow Lake.

If you enlarge you can see the top of the gondola and chair 23. I had better put my camera away and get moving or Audry will beat me back, one of our hosts for the weekend she is 20 years my senior and still going strong.

One could easily combine this hike with a visit to Devil's Postpile. In the summer the same shuttle from Mammoth Lodge serves both.

Find more worlds here.