One of the detours we took last February as we drove along historic Route 66 in Arizona and New Mexico was to drive through the Petrified Forest National Park and through the Painted Desert. February was a good time to visit with no heat and few tourists. And the colorful layers of exposed sediment was spectacular.  I'm still awestruck as I look at the photos months later.

We were fortunate on our passenger ferry rides to and from False Bay, British Columbia, that the sea was relatively calm. The ferry is small enough that large waves can make for an uncomfortable excursion. Inside the passenger cabin were bench seats but some people preferred the open area at the back of the ferry. Passengers with dogs would ride back there and try to converse by shouting over the roar of the engine. I went out there on the return trip and noticed that there were fascinating patterns of light reflecting on the surface of the sea. Each image was different as I checked the back screen of the camera. So I would try something different on the next photo. And experiment some more on another photo. I think people wondered what in the world I was seeing that I would want to take pictures of it. But that wasn't the first time that I received curious looks as I aimed my camera in a direction most observers thought was odd.

The contour of the Coca Cola bottle was patented in 1915 by The Root Company in Terre Haute, Indiana. (I remember that there was a Root's Department Store in downtown Terre Haute. Wonder if it was part of the same company?) Originally the bottles were 6 1/2 ounces in size. I'm old enough to remember that you could get them in the vending machine for 5 cents. (Seriously?) In 1955, the King Size 12 ounce bottles were introduced, as well as 10 ounce sized bottles as well. The King Size bottles were nearly double the size of the originals. And we have moved beyond that to the 32 and 64 ounce cups that you can get in a variety of convenience stores. The bigger cups ensure that one makes more bathroom stops as we travel down the road. Twelve ounce cans became available 5 years later.

I suspect that this is recreated sign rather than an original in Fort Collins, Colorado. But it did make me wonder about "King Size."

The gardens on Lasqueti Island were amazing. My assumptions about what might be growing on this island, located north of Vancouver, British Columbia, were so wrong. Everywhere I looked, something was blooming. Even this iris had an admirer.

We didn't find a fortune, but we did find a few dollars, when we went exploring at low tide on our recent trip to Lasqueti Island. The sand dollars were alive (the dead ones are the ones that are rigid and white) and wedged in the sand in shallow water to be able to feed on whatever might come its way.

A close up view reveals the tiny cilia attached to spines that provide the sea urchin the ability to move across the bottom of the sea. You can also see the spines in this cropped magnification of another image that I shot through the surface of the water. A polarizer helped to eliminate reflections on the surface of the water.

The peak of the daylily blooms is past for our garden, although we still have about 20 varieties that have blooms. Skyhooks was done last month, but I still enjoy looking at the photos. Oh, and I have thousands of daylily photos.

Our friends were trying to find a road that they had been on before that they thought was exceptionally scenic for this part of Washington State. After several miles of driving, they began to say to one another that they thought this was the wrong road. So we turned around. I had noticed this barn and field of yellow flowers when we drove past it the first time, so when we approached from the other direction I encourage them to stop so that I could take pictures. It's always challenging for me to take photos when other people are patiently waiting (or I hope they are patiently waiting). But I try to be quick, identifying the best composition and taking a bunch of photos. This times there was a barbed fence in the way, so I leaned down and stuck the camera through the strands of wire, trying to emphasize the flowers with a low angle.  Now if the cows had been walking toward the barn...

Since 2010, the Bohemian Foundation in Fort Collins, Colorado has solicited the community for the donation of pianos. 65 have been received and painted by local artists and placed in various locations around town (6 during the winter and 20 during the summer) and musicians are welcome to play them I suspect they don't fare too well in a Colorado winter and I wonder about how long they stay in tune, if ever. But they are eye- and ear-catching.