I guess I wasn’t the only one entranced by the scenery a week or two ago near Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle. The sunset over Puget Sound was pretty darn nice, don’t you think?

For more skies and sunsets, visit Skywatch Friday. And you might like to visit the folks at Scenic Sunday, too, even though we are early for that one.

This huge nest of a bald eagle is in Kent, Washington, near the Green River. The occupants were elsewhere at the moment, but it’s still an amazing sight, to me.

For more skies around the world, visit Skywatch Friday. For more blissful Pinkness, try Pink Saturday.

And have a happy, healthy and lucky New Year!

Santa came a bit early and I got a Canon Powershot S90! Here’s a very appropriate photo of the dawn, taken yesterday morning in my backyard, as my first post with the new camera. The only benefit of the days starting so late is I get to see the actual dawn sometimes. Have you guessed I am not naturally an early riser?

It’s going to take me awhile to get comfortable with the manual control features (which were part of the reason I got it) of the new toy. And it’s very small, no bigger than the 3-yr. old Canon point-and-shoot it replaced. Another plus is it does REALLY great in low light indoor situations without a flash, which I prefer in most cases. But so much to learn! I prefer things simple but I am pledged to master this.

Can’t wait to see what it does in the garden with flowers. For that I must wait.

For more skies of happiness and inspiration around the world, visit Skywatch Friday. And have a great holiday.

There’s a Winco grocery store in Renton, not too far away, that not only has great prices but has a parking lot with very sculptural trees and a big sky, too. This was taken last week. We are now entering the darkest week of the year (in the Northern hemisphere, of course), and soon the days will be on the upswing. Let’s hear it for the Solstice!

For more skies seen round the world, visit Skywatch Friday.

And thank you so much for those who clicked through to the Photoblog Awards and left a comment or a vote. I appreciate it so very much. And thank you to everyone for putting up with all that repeated blurb about it! We are done now.

This is from the archives, taken on a fine April day from the famous and beautiful Astoria bridge over the Columbia River.

So many photos, in just three years of digital. I think I’ll never run out of things to post. Visit Skywatch Friday for more skies around the world. Weekend Reflections always features a highly creative set of photos, and visit Scenic Sunday for more scenegasms.

I’ve tagged this Best Post of the Week. It’s a keeper.

PLEASE IGNORE IF READ BEFORE about the 2009 Photoblog Awards. If you like my photos, please vote for this photoblog before Dec. 15 and leave a comment in the link  below. You have to register (name and password only) and then click on the word Vote in the upper left. Thanks very much! Photoblog Awards 2009

I did crop this a tiny bit to remove some distracting cars from the lower edge, but otherwise it’s SOOC, or straight out of the camera. It’s from a couple of weeks ago when we went to Portland, Oregon, and I bet those red leaves are history already.

For more interesting skies around the world, visit Skywatch Friday. And visit Scenic Sunday as well, if you can. Well worth it.

PLEASE IGNORE IF READ BEFORE about the 2009 Photoblog Awards. If you like my photos, please vote for this photoblog before Dec. 15 and leave a comment in the link  below. You have to register (name and password only) and then click on the word Vote in the upper left. Thanks very much! Photoblog Awards 2009

Taking photos out of an airplane window is very challenging, and my trusty little point-and-shoot Canon camera does its best. I really want the quality of a big camera, but I don’t want the shlep (means haul around), to use a New York expression. Sometimes even borderline image quality still has some appeal, at least to me. I love this moody effect, and I hope you enjoy it, flaws and all.

For more skies seen round the world, visit Skywatch Friday.

Flying to Las Vegas recently, we flew over an amazing lake that I recognized from above. What’s surprising is that there is so much beautiful blue water surrounded by such an empty desert landscape. The airplane window didn’t help the sharpness any, but it’s still a great peek at the world from above.

For more skies seen around the world, visit Skywatch Friday.

The forecast earlier today was for gusty wind and rain this evening. Just before the wind picked up, I went outside and took this of the storm clouds approaching. It was almost dark outside but I liked the look of the threatening sky.

For more skies around the world, visit Skywatch Friday.

On my way to meet a client I got to see a rainbow this week. Oh, the joy of rainbows! For more skies around the planet, visit Skywatch Friday.

PLEASE IGNORE IF READ BEFORE: Readers arrive on different days, so I’m repeating about the 2009 Photoblog Awards. If you like my photos, please vote for me and/or leave a comment in the link  below. You have to register (name and password only) and then click on the word Vote in the upper left. Thanks very much!

Photoblog Awards 2009