August Morning

August morning

August Morning: Sunrise and Hummingbirds

August morning: the smoke from the fires west of us was bad for two days, and it still remains. But, the skies are a little clearer and the temperatures cooler. Autumn is not quite palpable, but is just around the corner. The smoke adds color to the clouds. Most of the male hummingbirds have already left for winter homes. The females and juveniles will be here for a week or two, filling up in preparation for the long trip. This is a beautiful time in New Mexico.

August morning
Note just a hint of crepuscular rays. The smoke has cleared significantly from the prior two days, but is still producing especially colorful skies.
August morning
Female rufous hummingbird eyeing breakfast of cosmos

Garden Delights

garden cosmos

Garden Delights

Garden delights are plentiful and varied at this time of year. These are a few images from this past week.

First, Spunk Price surveying his garden and activity in it from the deck:

garden delights cat
Spunk

Next, a few flowers from my garden:

Cosmos, loved by butterflies, bees, hummingbirds, and goldfinches, among others:

garden delights cosmos
Cosmos

Mermaid, an Old Garden Rose and favorite of many pollinators:

garden delights rose mermaid
Old Garden Rose, Mermaid

Floribunda rose, Fabulous!

garden delights rose floribunda
Fabulous!

Finally, Spunk Price, “OK enough for this Sunday. Time for a nap…”

garden delights cat
Spunk

Crepuscular Rays: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

crepuscular rays

Crepuscular Rays

Crepuscular rays, as many readers of this blog know, are common in Albuquerque. The jagged edges of the Sandia Mountains combined with frequent clouds over the mountains provide an ideal setting for their development. However, I rarely show images of anything taken from my front yard. That view will always contain driveways and vehicles. But, every now and then, I find something especially interesting or beautiful from that view point. Sometimes something can override the driveways and cars. For that reason, every now and then I will show an image taken in the front yard. On a recent weekend, the color of early sunrise was already gone. But I found this a remarkable display of these rays. I hope you enjoy the image, looking up the street, driveways and all.

crepuscular rays
Crepuscular Rays as the Sun Rises in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A beautiful day in the neighborhood…

Monsoon Sunrise in Five Minutes

Monsoon Sunrise

Monsoon Sunrise: Five Minutes of Fire in the Sky

Monsoon sunrise was spectacular this morning. Here in New Mexico we look forward to the monsoon season for the rain but also the skies. Color like this is common at sunrise and sunset. But the color does not last long. This series was photographed over five minutes. There are some advantages to being an early riser. 🙂

Monsoon Sunrise

Monsoon Sunrise

Monsoon Sunrise

Monsoon Sunrise

Monsoon Sunrise

Monsoon Sunrise

Monsoon Sunrise

Monsoon Sunrise

Monsoon Sunrise

Mammatus Clouds in 2018 Monsoon Season

mammatus monsoon clouds

Monsoon Mammatus Clouds

Monsoon mammatus clouds do not happen all that frequently here. This week had two storms with mammatus clouds. I could not resist a few photos before the storms hit. Each storm produced hail and, at my house, 0.75 inches of rain. In the past week I have received 5.5 inches of rain. The plants are happy, and I’m even going to have a lawn to mow. 🙂

What are mammatus clouds? “A cellular pattern of pouches hanging underneath the base of a cloud…” Those of you who read Tim’s Off Center and Not Even have seen his view from Corrales. These are from my yard. The first three are from July 31 and the fourth from August 1.

monsoon mammatus clouds
Mammatus Clouds. This storm produced hail, as well as 0.75 inches of rain in a short time.
monsoon clouds
Monsoon Storm Rolling in Over Sandias. This storm produced hail and rain. The light you see in the cloud is lightning; there were relatively few ground strikes that night.
mammatus monsoon clouds
More Mammatus Clouds
mammatus monsoon clouds
Leading Edge of Storm August 1. The following night we again saw mammatus clouds at the edge of the storm. This storm also produced hail, but not as much as the previous night.

Sunrise: Look in All Directions

sunrise crepuscular rays

Sunrise, the Same Sunrise, from Different View Points

Sunrise, here in the high Southwestern desert, is usually worth getting out of bed to see. This morning was no exception. Looking out my back door, I saw a “gentle” sky. I was a bit surprised. It could have been a painting.

sunrise
Sunrise Sky, Albuquerque, New Mexico

What would I see from the front yard, where I have a better view of the Sandia Mountains? Initially, the sky was very gray. The mountains were capped with clouds. But, I have learned to just wait and see what develops if conditions are right. I had a feeling this might develop into something worth seeing.

Many of you know I love crepuscular rays. They are not uncommon here. I generally know the conditions necessary for them to develop, but that does not mean they will always appear as expected. Today, however, the skies rewarded my patience.

sunrise crepuscular rays
Sunrise over the Sandia Mountains, Albuquerque, New Mexico: Crepuscular Rays

Now, a few hours later, the sky is clear except for a few high, thin clouds and a trace of smoke from regional fires. I guess this was a case of “you snooze, you lose…”

Wishing you a pleasant rest of the weekend.

Lady Banks, Laurie, and Critters

lady banks rose

Lady Banks, Laurie, and Critters

Lady Banks, Laurie, and critters: what more could a day in May need to be perfect? This old species rose was breathtakingly beautiful in the late afternoon light. Many different roses are doing well this year. But this one was spectacular!

lady banks rose
Soft yellow beauty!
lady banks rose
This rose grows to be quite large!

Laurie adding to the spirit of the day:

lady banks rose
Laurie with Lady Banks Rose

In addition, this little damsel fly seemed to want to be photographed:

damsel fly
Damsel Fly Too Beautiful Not to Try to Photograph

Finally, would a visit to Corrales be complete without The Man, Spunk?

Spunk
“You know it’s time-and-a-half on weekends, or I’m just going to lie here and study you.” Spunk is always adorable!

Spring Color

Spring Color

Spring color is everywhere in Albuquerque. Everything looks so fresh. The roses are a couple of weeks ahead of schedule. Because the weather is not hot yet, the roses haven’t become crispy critters, as they sometimes do. Everything around town seems colorful and clean. Of course, nothing beats a sunrise here! A riot of floral color makes things that much better!

spring color
Miniature Rose ‘Cinnamon Delight’
spring color
Riot of Color with Spring Flowers
spring color
Brilliant Southwestern Sunrise

Days of Wind and Roses

roses "Ruby Baby

Days of Wind and Roses

Days of wind and roses certainly characterize Albuquerque in Spring. That seems to have been especially true for the wind this year. The wind has blown ferociously! Yesterday morning I was surprised to see not that a few roses were blooming, but that the blooms appeared fresh.

This little beauty is the miniature rose, “Ruby Baby,” a sport of the classic miniature, “Hot Tamale.” My “Hot Tamale” died some years ago, but “Ruby Baby” has hung on surprisingly well.

roses "Ruby Baby
Miniature Rose “Ruby Baby”

Wishing everyone a “grounded” weekend.

Spring Has Sprung

spring pansies

Spring Has Sprung: Easter and April Fool’s Day in Albuquerque, 2018

Spring has sprung in Albuquerque! Although the sky was overcast most of the day, the temperature was pleasant and no wind was blowing.

The dwarf peach ‘Bonanza’ had begun to bloom when we got a hard freeze. I was afraid no peaches would form this year. And, for a variety of reasons, I had not photographed the tree at the height of its bloom. But, one bloom was left today. An extra bonus was that I could see one or two peaches were just beginning to develop!

spring peach bloom
Bloom of Dwarf Peach ‘Bonanza’
spring developing peach
Tiny Developing Peach

Although the flowering Bradford pear trees around town have bloomed out, the pear trees in my yard have just begun to bloom. Some of you may remember that I have a pollinator pear that produces fruit the birds love. The smaller tree produces pears that people love.

spring pear blooms
Pear Blossoms

Pansies and crocus (the crocus from a couple of weeks ago) round out today’s spring offerings.

spring crocus
Crocus
spring pansies
Pansies
spring pansies
Pansies

Finally, I hope you have had a wonderful day wherever you are!

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