Hot Air Balloon Overhead

Several Saturdays ago, I was awakened by the propane 'whoosh' of a hot air balloon going overhead.  The first camera I grabbed was my 35mm so I had to wait until I got the film developed before I could show the photos.

Here's the sequence of photos from directly overhead to setting down in the municipal park behind the neighborhood.

I hope you liked them.

Papillon

Hazy Yet Again

After several days with no smoke haze hanging over us, it's B-A-A-A-C-K!

Normally the Sandia Mountains east of town are easy to see.  After all, they're close and, of course, HUGE.  Here is a photo I took a couple of years ago right around sunset.  This photo shows why there are so many references to Watermelon Mountains in and around Albuquerque.

However, thanks to all the smoke haze this is what the Sandias looked like today at around 1:00 PM.

It's a little disorienting to have them so obscured.  We can only hope they get all the wildfires under control and the smoke goes away.

Papillon

Classes

This week has been an informative one.

On Tuesday I started an eight week Tai Chi Chih class.  I'm practicing the moves we learned in the first class.  One requires a bit more balance.  I'm still having a slightly problem with the rocking back movement.  Otherwise, so far so good.

This morning I started a class on herbs.  It's not a cooking-with-herbs class, but more of a how to use herbs for a healthy life.  So far it's been interesting and fun.

I'm really looking forward to the upcoming classes.

Papillon

Smoky Times

Last Wednesday (6/1/11) I headed out of the house and noticed a distinct haze.  I didn't think much about it until I exited my subdivision and headed east.  Normally at that point I have a lovely view of the Sandia mountains.  However, the haze was so heavy that it totally obscured said Sandias.

It was better the next day, but right about sundown there was a distinct smell of smoke.  According to the local news media, a whole lotta people were worried there was some sort of large fire in the metro area and 9-1-1 was rather inundated with calls.  Local fire departments checked and could find no local cause for the smoky smell.

The cause of the haze and smell turned out to be the Wallow wildfire in eastern Arizona.  The winds were just right/wrong and brought it all our way.  Things got a bit better over the weekend but people with respiratory problems were told to stay indoors.

Today started out better, but as the afternoon wore on it got hazier and hazier and around 6:30 PM there was once again a distinct smell of smoke.  I looked out and noticed it was a whole lot darker than it normally is as the sun is going down.  It looks as though someone inverted a large smoke-color bowl over the entire area. 

I took this picture of the sun through a neighbor's tree.  My camera was not up to capturing the totally unusual hot pink color of the sun.  But it's still kinda cool nevertheless.

Papillon