Where are you?

It occurred to me this weekend that we have now been in Utah for three years.
I blogged from Texas for two years and those memories were tied to a full ten years of my life so these three Utah years seem very brief in comparison.
As we sat out on the deck after our meal of crawfish, we watched a quail up in the ash tree.
Usually quail make a call that sounds like the question"Where are you?" repeatedly.
This one was simply making a soft "puck puck" , perhaps he, like we, finally realizes that we are here for real.

The things that enchanted us when we first moved here still make us quite happy.  Quail regularly being found on our property is one of the "happy making" elements: if you have ever seen quail scurrying across a lawn, with a tiny heads and a pudgy body attached to short legs you would understand what makes them so cute.

Add the comical motions of their black feathered top notch that bobs as they survey their world and you have an automatic "pick me up" view.

The male usually arrives on the property first. He usually lands on the roof top and after surveying the area calls out "Where are you? to which other nearby quail respond "Chicago! Chicago! Chicago!"

Eventually the females arrive, and a few kids, younger looking birds, and they get down to the business of scratching about the lawn looking for a snack or two.

This guy didn't call out and no other quail came by to visit.
After a bit he flew off.
Maybe he is headed to Chicago.
Who knows.

Saturday morning the male human called out his usual summer call:
 "Go Fish-ing! Go Fish-ing".
He scurried about loading up the cooler as his female changed into her hiking clothes and grabbed her camera.
About an hour later he had landed a nice cut throat trout on a dry fly.

The first catch was released...

The second catch swallowed the fly!
We wound up having that fish with steak as an inland form of "Surf and Turf" on Sunday. 

For some reason the river didn't offer much to me in the way of picture catching, but a road side sign announcing "Blue Lake" caught my eye.
Aren't all lakes blue?

This one was Tidy Bowl blue, an unusual shade of aqua blue instead of the typical sky blue or mossy green or even muddy brown like most lakes.

Add in a field of flowers and it was just natural that we pull over to investigate what "Blue Lake" had to offer.

It really was blue and quite curious.  Bernie could see tiny fish suspended motionless in the water. He stuck the tip of his fishing rod into the water and the fish didn't even move.
He said it was like they were in a syrup thick fluid.
Quite strange.

I thought I had stumbled upon a pumpkin in the surrounding meadow....

It proved to be a very large mushroom.
I let it be, not having any way to identify its culinary nature.

 

The sky had been cloudy and rain had fallen off and on all afternoon . I found myself wishing it would clear up a bit... 

And making mental notes about returning to the lake when the aspen changed to autumn splendor gold.

 

A momentary break in the cloud cover lit up the surrounding forest tops with golden light.  That's the kind of moment that makes me really happy when I am out and about with my camera.

The red moss forming on the dead pine beetle stricken trees added a bit of color to an otherwise forlorn situation.

I later read up on why the lake was such an interesting shade of blue: apparently it is a lake set in limestone.
The limestone dissolved in the water creates the unique color.
I'll click "Like" on God's facebook page for that creative bit of lake color selection any day!

Now try to picture this same shot with all the tree leaves in a brilliant golden yellow....
Wow.

Photographing reflections in water is an easy way to get a great shot and also a brain teaser.

Without including the skyline in the shot the picture become a puzzling scene: Is the picture upside down?
Answer: No!

 

Winding our way home; the sun beginning to cast low lights on  the roadside wild flower fields.  I realized that it is far easier to get a great photo of autumn colors than it is to capture the marvelous colors of a summer wild flower display.

Clouds and sunsets just take a bit of patience.  The first tinges of sunset colors are a signal to wait....

Take another shot of the wild flowers...

Take an inadvertent self portrait...

Keep an eye on the ever changing light...

 

Then just about the time the sun begins to touch the mountains...

Pull over...

And enjoy another one of God's beautiful closings of a day.