Sans Souci Palace in Potsdam, Germany

I wanted to start by sharing a few pictures of Frederick the Great's Summer Palace of Sans Souci. The grounds are very extensive, with this palace only being one on the grounds. It isn't a big palace, but it's one he loved. He entertained there extensively, welcoming such greats as Voltaire and others to his table.
These images are of the palace looking up to it. The front of the gardens is in terraces. Each terrace has grapevines growing on the walls, with fig trees in the little cubby holes in between. They have windows in front that can be closed in cold Berlin winters to keep them from freezing to death.

Sans Souci only has 10 rooms in it. But even though it's smallish, the details and different themes in the rooms
were amazing.
Had there been more rooms, it would've been overwhelming.

At each end of the terrace in front of the palace is one of these wonderful gazebos. The Sun Burst is a detail on each side of the gazebos.

Dragonfly visiting

It's been quite a while since I posted something new. Still have lots of pictures of my recent trip to Europe I want to share. 
But now, as a follow up for the previous Waterlily post, here's a picture of a handsome Dragonfly visiting the pond. He sat still for the longest time, allowing me to "capture" him while resting. 

Lily Pond

Years ago my husband created a fish pond out of a bath tub which was damaged on a job he was on. This year the waterlily it houses has gone wild. More blossoms then ever. Along with amazing lily blossoms the pond has visitors, such as the little tree frog.  To keep mosquitoes from breeding, it's also home to Mosquito Fish. We keep them only in this and one other pond, as sadly they are also voracious gobblers of tadpoles. Thankfully we have other water features that our little frogs frequent, most of them full of tadpoles at the moment. So life goes on. The warm nights are filled with the croaking and singing of  tree frogs, looking for potential mates. Life is good!!

Amazing clouds

I was just looking through some old pics and came across these photos I took nearly 10 years ago. We were having some really weird weather coming through and these huge clouds would build like mad. Boiling, alive. It was amazing.

Thought I would share them.

In one image the moon can still be seen. This was taken sometime midday.

My Chauffeur

Though he can't be seen all that well, had to include my" chauffeur" as well. This is my cheerful husband Richard who's patiently waiting while I am snapping some pics.

While we don't get a chance to go on road trips very often, always so much fun when we get out there. I know I can count on him to come to a screeching halt (if traffic allows) or even turn back if it wasn't safe to pull over at the "right" spot. Thank you, my dear!!!

Couldn't do it without you. We make a great team and have for nearly 30 years. Time flies when you're having fun. :)

Road Trip

Yesterday we took a road trip. Dual purpose. One to return our granddaughter Ashlee to her Mom, the other to look in on our old neighbors, Jack and Dorothy.

We were sad to see our girl head home, but happy that she still loves coming up, year after year. Our old neighbors are getting on in years, so had to make a side trip to see how they're faring.

It was a long day. But we were happy we made it. On our home back home I managed to take a couple of pics. They came out fairly nice, so decided to share them.

My "chauffeur" Richard, who cheerfully does most of the driving was happy to stop now and then to allow me to take some shots to finish out our day.

Most of the pics were taking in the foothills around Double Springs, along Hwy 12. Some wonderful scenery out there and the weather was perfect. Along one area the hills and oak groves are full of amazing rock formations.

Spring Tulip

This tulip amazes us every year. And this year it's bigger then ever. We forget about it, and then all of the sudden I spy a glimmer of yellow. So this morning I pruned back all of the dead flowerstems around it and captured it as it is slowly unfurling its pedals.

A Bumble Bee came along to complete the scene, evidently happy to find that early splendor of a freshly opened tulip to wiggle around in.

Spring Skies

The other day as we headed to town, caught a few nice pics of some of the interesting skies we've head before the latest storm blew in.

The picture of Mt. Shasta looked so amazing with that heavy dark blanket of sky appearing like a curtain, ready to fall on a scene.

By the time we headed back home, the skies were mostly a wonderful blue, with huge cumulus clouds sailing along.

I love this time of year. Rather then endless blue, sunny skies, as is the norm all summer long, now it's always

great to take that trip to town where the horizons seem endless and we never know what we'll find when we get out of our foothills into the open valley.

I took the picture with the wonderful oaks and the huge clouds just before we headed into the ranch itself.

Richard pulled over and I got out for a better chance at capturing the slight greening of the pastures and the oak against that great sky.

When I turned around to get back into the truck, I found some spectators wondering what I was up to.

So had to include them as well. :)

Spring Storm

After several weeks of warm, sunny weather, we've been reminded that while it feels like spring, with many flowers blooming, there are still some cold storms out there, waiting to make their way through.

We had a pretty heavy storm come through last night, with wicked gusts of wind. Still windy today, but spots of sun are grazing the country side around us.

This morning while on our doggy walk, captured these pictures of the nearby, snow-covered Western hills.

The snow made it nearly down to the valley floor.

It was a beautiful sight, but a brisk, chilly walk. Enjoyed it a lot though.

Spring Messengers

After coming home from our dog walk this morning, wandered the garden, camera in hand. Found a few little messengers letting us know that spring will return.

Morning Hawk

This morning when I first came out, I saw this little hawk sitting on our powerline which runs through the orchard.

At that time I didn't have my camera with me. But I got lucky just a short while ago as we were leaving on our morning doggy walk.

There he was, once again sitting vigil, waiting on a careless bird to come out from under cover. As I had walked out the door I nearly left my camera behind and then decided against it.

So happy I brought it after all.

RUSH HOUR.................NOT!!

Here are a few more images, captured during a trip to town and back again. Though it was a huge adjustment to move from the Bay Area nearly 20 years ago, when we get to see this kind of scenery, day in and day out, we hit the jackpot didn't we???!!!

The first picture is from our return trip, as daylight was nearly gone and then sun had just slipped behind the Coastal range.

The other two on the way to town. As you can tell, on the way to town it was rush hour..........................NOT!! :)

Country Roads

One of the most wonderful things about our move to the North State, into the "wilderness" so to speak, are the drives to and from town. As we live quite a way from the nearest town, we do have a longish drive to and fro. Some of the images and feeling of wide, open spaces though, make it all worthwhile.

The peak you see on the first image is Mt. Lassen, bathed in the last rays of the setting sun. The very last peak, Mt. Shasta is one that greets us, as we make our way to town, weather allowing. Somedays Mt. Shasts seems close enough to touch.

Enjoy!! We do!!

The Moon is waning

The other morning I caught this shot of Luna as she was sinking behind the Western Hills. As you can see, she had lost a little weight already, after being fat and full a short while ago.

I loved the colors of the sky so had to capture it.

January Full Moon

The first Full Moon of the New Year has risen. Playing with my new camera I managed to capture a few fairly decent shots. Very happy with that, as I was never able to capture the moon at all with my previous camera. All I would get was a white squiggle. But the Lumix is doing a fine job for a simple Digi Cam.

The second picture is the moon rising above the cattery at twilight. The cat you see is the weather vane which is on top of the cattery. The first image is Luna, once she cleared the treetops.

She's up there right now, peeking in the window.

Morning Walkies

This morning we had a nice walk. The second pic shows Richard and the dogs headed down the deer trail into the woodlands above our place. We wandered through the woods, enjoying the winter sun after a day of rain, which was much needed. Everything looked nice and fresh and there's a hint of the new grasses making their way through last years dried plant materials. As we made our way into a clearing, I was able to capture Mt. Lassen through the treetops. Thanks to the new larger zoom was able to bring it pretty close. This morning Lassen Peak had a new cap of snow, courtesy of yesterdays storm. Had we continued on the upper road, rather then walking through the woods I'd have been able to capture Mt. Shasta to the North. Next time!!

Cheeky's friend

Our little in residence squirrel appears to have made some new friends. We're not sure if he/she is happy about sharing the bounty, though most of the time they seem to eat peaceably without too much fuss. One in the bird feeder as you see here, the other in the squirrel feeder right next to it. One day there were 4 squirrels jumping around in the trees all around the feeders. But Cheeky quickly send most of them packing. This smaller one is a squirrel he/she seems to be ok with. A girl/boyfriend?

We're not sure. But we do enjoy their antics at the feeders. Of course while the squirrel is in the feeder, the birds sit in the tree above it, disgruntled.

Winter Sky

Wow, it's been a while since I posted, hasn't it? Amazing how time flies. This year is nearly over already.

Did get a new camera, so I thought I'd post a few pics. Still learning to use it of course, but so far, so good. It's taking some nice pics. The little bird sitting in the rose branches over our gate was taking from about 50' away. So the bigger zoom is really working well for me. I really like my older camera, but going from x4 Zoom to x16 Zoom is making a big difference. Plus this camera has Macro Mode, Panorama Mode and a bunch of other features, some of which I'll probably never figure out. LOL.

Anyhow, took these pics at sunset last night. We've been having some stunning sunsets and sunrises the last week or so. As the new Lumix has a Sunset mode, the colors are really being captured nicely.

Autumn Colors

I think what I love most about this time of year are the wonderful colors. Not only the stunning sunrises, but the every changing color of our many trees. Each and every one of them a wonder to behold as they slowly change before losing their leaves for the winter. Early in the day is the best time it seems. The colors just glow. Here's a wonderful sunrise and some of the great colors it revealed throughout the garden.

Petey & George

Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? Time seems to have gotten away from me and I've not posted anything in some time.

Today I thought I'd share a couple of fun pics of our boy Petey the Pup aka Our dog Spot and his favorite friend George the monkey. :)

Like a small child, Petey hauls George around with him. Though he's a powerful dog, after having George for well over a month, not a mark on that monkey. Well other then some slobber. LOL.

I hope you enjoy these images as much as I enjoyed capturing them.