Grand Teton in Winter

A few years ago we spent a week in the Jackson Hole area. While there I was fortunate to spend a day with Mike Jackson, a professional photographer and local guide. We had a lovely sunny winter day, with fresh snow everywhere. So we were fortunate to see some wildlife – bison, moose, otter and others – and to enjoy the many barns in the area. So here is a compilation of images from that day.

Yellowstone

We have been to quite a few national parks. One of our favorite areas (will visit this summer) is Jackson Hole, with its’ pair of parks in Grand Teton and of course Yellowstone. Our last visit was in 2018 to fish with friends, and I thought I would post a few images of Yellowstone NP.

Impressions of Havana – Cars

Last but not least – old cars. All over. many used as taxis. Interesting sidebar is the creation of literally dozens of cottage businesses that make parts for this fleet of 50-70 year old automobiles.

Impression of Cuba – Heroes

So who did we here about most while in Cuba? The Castro’s?? Absolutely not. The talk, visions, advertising and so on all focused on Che Guevera and Ernest Hemingway! Interesting.

Che

Papa

Impressions of Cuba

And here are some images that are more “impressionistic”.

Impressions of Cuba – Scenes

The streets and buildings were interesting, some in good repair, some not. Here are a few images from our journey.

Impressions of Cuba – People

Eleven years ago, Karen and I visited Cuba for a week with about 15 people on a “charitable mission”. This was the only way to get there at that time. So we packed school supplies and medicines, and visited both a school and a hospital while in Havana. The rest of the time we were just tourists.

The visit was quite fascinating. Cuba is a lovely country scenically. We visited Havana, Cienfuegos, Trinidad and Santa Clara by mini-bus with a wonderful guide Osmos and an equally wonderful and hilarious driver Fernando (who was a smaller Bruce Willis and knew it!).

Our initial lasting impressions were of the Cuban people, who were friendly, warm, and seemingly reasonably happy. At the same time there were elements of sadness – unable to travel, relatively poor, limited futures, economic struggles and so on. Many were working, some relaxing, others in costume. Music is very popular as well. Here are a series of images from the trip.

Birds at Elephant Havens

While I am normally taking pics of our dear little elephants, sometimes on hot afternoons I sit on the deck and watch for birds. Here are a few taken on the last visit.

First, a Golden-tailed Woodpecker.

And an African Golden Weaver:

Then a Kurrichane Thrush:

Next an African Hoopoe:

An African red-eyed Bulbul:

A Burchell’s Starling

And lastly, a Forktail Drongo

Some Elephant Havens Babies

We visited in August when the headcount was nine, all under about five years old. Here are a few images.

LaLomita Photography Ranch

Three of us spent a day photographing birds at the LaLomita Photography Ranch, located just west of Uvalde, TX. The ranch is 20 acres in size, fairly heavily treed, with four shooting blinds. Each blind is surrounded with vegetation and has a small pond, several stump-like wood structures, some with a drip line. The bird population is generally quite good, and the birds fairly close to the blind. Thus sharp images with suitable backgrounds are normally achieved. Here are some recent images.