Picture-A-Week 2019 - Week 39

[pierces]

Pictures taken between Monday, September 23 and Sunday, September 29.

 

Rules: See above

That's it. This isn't a contest.

All photos taken this week are welcome (not just cruising).

Prizes will not be awarded. Discovering the joy of photography is the prize.

The idea is to get folks out using their cameras for more than vacations and toddler birthdays.

Post one. Post many. Up to you.

Have fun with your camera and share your fun with others!

[benjoon]

Flying into Sydney this morning. Our first leg of our trip to Hawaii. Boarding the Ovation of the seas on Monday to sail back to Sydney.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Good shot from the plane.

[Krazy Kruizers]

2 houses up the street from ours, new people moved in this past spring -- they are elderly (but not as old as we are).  A few days ago this character appeared in their back yard:

 

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

They don't have a pool so we have no idea what they are going to do with it.  Also we have very high winds up where we live and we have wondered how the rubber ducky has not blown away.  Upon closer inspection we discovered that the bottom is flat and appears to have weights in it.

 

[Re-tired]

 

I'll see your Rubber Ducky and raise you a Bob.  He goes camping with us on a regular basis...

 

Edited September 28, 2019 by Re-tired

[pierces]

Sunday found us heading home from breakfast along the Mother Road and I decided that since we weren't (for once) under any time constraint), we could stop and take in the commemorated Pacific Electric train overpass where Route 66 passes through Bear Gulch between Rancho Cucamonga and Upland. Both Upland and Rancho Cucamonga have significant  sites noting the history of Route66. There is a small patch of the original paved road from the ‘20s near the overpass and just beyond it is the Sycamore Inn which dates from when Route 66 was the Old Spanish Trail and has existed in it’s current incarnation since the 1930s. History is all around if you take time to look for it.

 

More Mother Road

 

 

 

Dave

[zackiedawg]

It was a lovely Saturday day in the wetlands - hot as ever, but with a nice stiff wind most of the day to take the edge off.  Abundant sunshine, which brought out some of the colorful birds to play in the waters.

 

A green heron standing up on the rail of the boardwalk I was on, sticking his neck out a bit:

 

A roseate spoonbill, who seemed to be doing a bit of a dance and display for another spoonbill nearby, sticking his head and neck up, waving his bill back and forth, then lowering again:

 

He also decided to clean himself up a bit by dipping into the water and shaking off:

 

Must have worked, as the other spoonbill saddled up next to him and they hung out together the rest of the time they were within my sight:

 

Wood ducks are among the prettiest in the U.S., if not the world...the male is the one with the most color and pattern, while the females are a little duller.  This one is a male, but he's just a juvenile and hasn't gotten his full colorful coat yet - but you can start to see some of the pattern and color coming in:

 

This red-bellied woodpecker high up in the tree canopy and in the shade was torquing his neck around and twisting his head upside down to get the right angle on a hole in the branch for his tongue to go hunting in there for larvae:

 

After a hot day in the wetlands, I went home and jumped in my pool - I always bring my camera to keep at poolside in case any interesting back yard birds show up.  This blue jay came to my bird bath for a drink, and the light was lovely, so I had to take a snap:

[boeckli]

Last week's Majestic Princess cruise to Queensland included a "service call' to Willis Island (the ship approached the island, dropped the anchor, hauled it straight up again, then turned and departed enroute back to Sydney).

Willis Island is the only permanently inhabited island in the Coral Sea Islands Territory, an external territory of Australia, located beyond the Great Barrier Reef in the Coral Sea. The island is located some 450 kilometres east of Cairns, Queensland (from Wikipedia)

The reef pilot we had onboard placed a radio call to one of the scientists on the island and she shared some interesting information. We also watched their daily release of a weather balloon. Lots of bird-life all around us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Docker123]

On 9/28/2019 at 1:59 PM, Re-tired said:

 

I'll see your Rubber Ducky and raise you a Bob.  He goes camping with us on a regular basis...

 

 

A stop at Willis Island means that passengers can benefit from duty free shopping on the ship. Do not have to go to another country.

 

Odd.

 

Even odder, that is not the post I was trying to quote.  

 

 

Edited October 1, 2019 by Docker123

[boeckli]

Very early morning at the Opera

 

Blowing the clouds ...

 

Pacific Explorer arrives a little later

[boeckli]

2 minutes ago, Docker123 said:

 

A stop at Willis Island means that passengers can benefit from duty free shopping on the ship. Do not have to go to another country.

 

Odd.

 

I agree about it being odd. The commercial benefits for the cruise line must outweigh the cost of actually doing it (e.g. fuel consumption for the extra distance). Clearly welcomed by passengers (the duty free shopping).

[Krazy Kruizers]

I love all the new and different pictures.

[puppycanducruise]

I love all the pictures - especially the bird ones.

Thanks everyone.

[kochleffel]

Nasturtium salad

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

That looks yummy!!

 

We used to have a restaurant that put a couple of nasturtiums on their salads.