this is PHOTODUMP!

I was doing some digital housecleaning, and decided to upload some of my favorite pictures that were on my camera.  They range from me trying to be artsy fartsy, to nature, to Max and Lulu, and even a trip to the aquarium and zoo.

I wish there was some sort of chronological order to these picture, but my camera thought some of these pictures were taken before I was born.  You can click on the individual pictures to see a larger image.

Anyway, enjoy.

I do remember this. It was taken last year on my birthday, in the middle of April.

Utah Lake, as seen from the east stairwell of my condo.

Cedar Waxwings. The full image that I used for my header. I’m really happy with how this turned out, mostly because I had to use digital zoom, and couldn’t really see what I was taking a picture of until afterwards.

St. George at night.

Proof that I’m not totally out of line when I expect Max and Lulu to sleep in the crate when we travel.

since both of my nephews were adopted, we’re big fans. This is the shadow cast by the sticker on a back window advertising LDSFA, my sister’s adoption agency.

Toehawks!

Don’t tell my dad, but I’m woefully ignorat of not only local flora, but local geography. I’m sure a mountain with such a distinctive stripe has a name, but I don’t know what it is.

Hardpan near the striped mountain

Ibex

Ibex is technically a ghost town. A local settler discovered a spring out there, but it doesn’t produce water year round. The wall was part of a system of dams to try and collect the water.

Do I have something in my teeth?

Utah’s Hogle Zoo had a baby elephant born last year. This is Zuri, and her mama Christie.

Wildcat. I so wanted to take her home. You know, if she’d stay as sweet and cuddily as she looks in that picture.

The jaguar had just finished coughing up a hairball. I love the look on his face.

Giraffe’s rock. I love their eyelashes, their tounge, their neck, their coat, and their knees.

“But WHY can’t I get on the bed?”

“Ho, freakin’ ho, ho.”

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m a bird lover.

Frozen grass. Yes, that’s ice.

“Takin’ on the jellies.” The circle in the right corner is a reflection from another exibit.

Octopod!

Me trying to be all artsy fartsy. Still, I like how this turned out. Plus, it made my house smell good.

Moss, snow, rock. Which, incidently, would be a good name for a folk-rock trio.

It was really nice for the builders to provide each of these starlings their own private, heated perch.

Mum’s the word! So, what is my obession with dead plants? You’d think I couldn’t garden, or something.

More dead plants from my patio garden. This time, it’s a geranium!

Springville Canyon. This shot was a bugger in trying to find the right angle to show the fog, but not the powerlines and buildings.

Utah lake again. Same location, different time of year.

it made me smile when this swing appeared on the route where I walk the dogs.

so not ALL of the plants I take pictures of are dead.

“One of these things, is not like the others, one of these things just doesn’t belong…”

Responsibility vs. Limitation

I remember, as a young child, hearing a grown up say that they wish they could be a kid again.  I couldn’t figure out why.  You can’t DO anything as a kid.  You (or at least, I) can’t choose what TV shows to watch, what or when to eat, when you go to bed, when to get up… adults, it seemed, could do anything they wanted, but kids had to do what adults tell them to.

Fast forward 20 years, and I understand what that grown up was talking about.  Yes, adults can stay up as late as they want, and eat ice cream three meals a day, but it comes as a price my childhood self didn’t understand.  Being an adult means responsibility, paying bills, cleaning house, and having to take care of yourself.

Looking back on my life, it seems that responsibility and limitation are at the opposite ends of a sliding scale.  At one end, you have everybody doing everything for you, like an infant or an invalid, but with no freedom even of motion or possibly cognizant thought.  At the other end, you have a fully functioning individual, who is looking out for themselves and quite often other people.  As the scale moves from one end to the other, and possibly back, there is payment from one end to the other.

Despite what advertising executives and credit card companies want you to believe, there is no freedom without responsibility.  There is no such thing as a care-free life.  And, as much as I would like someone else to take care of me at times, I wouldn’t have it any other way.