It is the erosional remnant of the throat of a volcano and it quite striking. It is located just to the east of the 4 corners area in far western New Mexico.
My Magic "Son" had a movie shoot in the area and showed us some photos of the area.
I was quite impressed and asked him if I could have one.
He sent me three photos and I feel very rich. This photo shows off the detail of Shiprock
If you are into reading more, click HERE.
It is just another beautiful sunset evening.
I don't know if it is the fires, that are still doing it, but the orange ball was more than just an orange ball.
The entire sky was a bright shade of orange and it looked stunning.
Tomorrow will bring more smoke, according to the weather forecast.
Cough, cough.
Soooo, what did I think of the 2 Live Steely Dan CD's?
Northeast Corridor: I was not impressed with most of the music, though they had to go with the hits (you can see the track listing HERE).
I felt the audio over-dubbing of singing was a bit obvious.
I did appreciate how clean the top and bottom were and of course, no audience talking during the performance. So, good and bad.
The Nightfly Live: Well, this one I really like...surprisingly.
I tend to not like a Nightfly song in a Steely Dan/Donald Fagen show, but playing it top to bottom was outstanding.
Also, the audio was better, I think. Maybe the songs were written more in Fagen's key.
All in all, I was glad I put out the money for them and will listen again and again.
My Water Post For Today.
This is Fort Madison area and the Newness Of Life Christian Community Church.
It sits right on the Mississippi River.
What a View!
They probably have to watch out when the river is at flood stage, though.
I hope you enjoy.
During the Pandemic Donald Fagen did something he normally never does. He decided to put together some of the sound board recordings of tours in the past few years.
The last time live shows were released was Alive In America back in 1995.
It was time.
The Northeast Corridor is 12 tunes on one CD. The tunes on the CD are:
Black Cow, Kid Charlemange, Rikki, Hey 19, Any Major Dude, Glamour Profession, Things I Miss The Most, Aja, Peg, Bodhisattva, Reelin', and A Man Ain't Supposed To Cry.
Vocals were re-recorded, when needed, but otherwise it is a chance to hear the band live.
The other CD he released is Nightfly Live. The 8 tunes on this CD are:
I.G.Y., Green Flower Street, Ruby Baby, Maxine, New Frontier, The Nightfly, The Goodbye Look, and Walk Between Raindrops
If you are into live recordings that are not bootlegs, it's a good thing to add to your collection.
Two months after we spent a week with my Son, here he is, coming into town for his only visit of the year.
They will be flying in and will spend about 10 days in Santa Clarita, to attend a wedding. The person is one of the California people who works in the Detroit area.
We have no firm plans, but we set up the spare room for him to live in and it is looking pretty good.
I hope they have a good time, while being Covid safe.
Welcome home, Son.
It came down this morning...smoke from the fires up north.
It was pretty dramatic and people were posting photos all morning.
I could feel the color change in my house, late in the afternoon.
So I ran outside and got a few photos of the orange ball.
Twice in one week, though this time the sun and not the moon.
How weird.
Here we are, at Hamilton.
The little yellow dot signifies that we have shown proof of vaccination.
Still waiting to get past 10 days, but hopefully, we did not catch anything during our afternoon out.
Don't tell anyone that we dropped our masks for 5 seconds. :-)
What a way to live.
The Harvest Moon has arrived and with it, Fall.
This photo was taken on Monday morning at 5AM. We had smoke from fires up in northern areas that blew down to us and thus, an orange moon.
It was striking and a hint as to what we would have today.
Time to change your watering schedule. lol
We bought tickets to see Hamilton back in February 2020, before the Pandemic.
It was one of the first events canceled and they refunded us our money. A year and a half later, we decided to try going to the show.
As you can see, live theater has opened back up, but with ongoing Covid restrictions. You must wear a mask at all times, you must show proof of vaccination before even being allowed onto the line and no eating or drinking inside the theater, except where there was signage. Of course the people next to me took off their masks and ate in their chair. Sigh...
With all this in place, how was Hamilton this second time around. It was good and I understood it better than last time. I knew the songs better, though not the words. I had to look up the lyrics the next day to get some of the nuance of it.
The cast was good (no Lin-Manuel this time) but as he says, The kids are alright.
Worth the money, once again.
My Water Post For Today.
Since it was my first time visiting Lake Superior, I tend to find photos of that Great Lake.
We were in the narrow end of the lake, turning around and yet it was still pretty big, but calm.
As we know, it can sink a ship, if the conditions are right.
I hope you enjoy.
Back in November of 2017, we went to see the play Hamilton.
We parked at North Hollywood Station and took the Metro Red Line to Vine Street. The trains were crowded in those days, but we didn't mind.
Well, now we do, in this almost post-Covid world we live in.
So I splurged and got a parking space about a block or so from the theater. I have never parked in Hollywood...well, except at Hollywood and Highland maybe once.
I am taking my older car and the lot is protected, so we will hope we have a catalytic converter, when we return. :-)
More on the play the second time around, on Tuesday.
The photo is taken as the actors were walking off the stage at the end of the evening. Lin-Manuel Miranda (in a black jacket that looks blue in the photo) made an impassioned plea for us to support Puerto Rico, in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
I mentioned Lamar Colorado has a wind turbine showcased outside their train station. You can see it HERE.
This wind farm is not too far from that station, I think it might be over the border into Kansas, but the photo has no location on it, so I can't be sure.
Very different from where we in California place our wind farms. Altamont Pass outside San Francisco, Tehachapi Pass north of the Grapevine, Palm Springs in the pass. You getting a feeling on our locations? :-)
I guess in the great plains, this is how they do business. flat is flat and wind is hoped for.
Pretty, none the less.
I had seen the little box in front of the Methodist Church a week or so ago. I thought it was one of those Little Free Libraries that sometimes turn up in neighborhoods.
Our local paper, the Signal, gave me the background on the structure. It is a Little Free Pantry.
Girl Scout Troop 7102 (with the help of one of the fathers, built it themselves.
It is adorable and so I grabbed some of my collection of food and put it into the back of my car.
I stopped by and made a deposit of 3 boxes of cereal and 2 boxes of mac and cheese.
It is right down the block from where I shop, so in the future, I will stop in after I buy food for the poor. For as long as it lasts.
It's a great idea and I hope it works out for them.
We have seen Trails and Rails on board trains, but have never used the service.
Trains pass through National Parks and the guides can tell you more about what you are seeing.
Typically, they sit in the Lounge Car, since it has the best windows on the train.
I can find a 20th Anniversary post celebrating the service, as of October of 2020. So I guess there are still some going on today.
I would assume masking is required and all that.
My Alaska Cruise had NPS guides on it, too. The photo is a map of Glacier Bay. Also a good thing that I hope comes back, toward the end of the Pandemic.
