One of the more photogenic places I have been in Europe is a national park in Croatia called Plitvice Lakes. This park consists of 16 lakes of various sizes connected by cascading waterfalls. Because of the high calcium content of the water in the lakes, the lake bottoms are milky white and the water is a milky blue-green.
In this photo one of the many winding paths leads through a tunnel of trees along the shoreline of one of the lakes . My friend and I started our park tour very early and we almost had the park to ourselves. Two hours later, the paths were crawling with tourists and, as I've thought before, I felt that Europe would be a lot more pleasant if it weren't for the tourists. But wait! I'm a tourist, too, aren't I?
Canon 5D 1/50s f/4.0 ISO500 105mm
It has been a wet winter in the Black Hills, which has left the reservoirs full and the creeks running high. I normally take a few photos at Iron Creek near our cabin when I am staying in the Hills. But when I drove to 
The other day, I posted a somewhat rhetorical question on facebook which asked for ideas for photos that I might post. I actually got several suggestions. The most intriguing suggestion came from a former student of mine who said that she missed seeing the South Dakota sky.
This photo was taken in the Little Bend area of the Missouri River. I wasn't looking for a photograph on the morning I took this. I was actually making an ice run to the Little Bend Bait Shop, which was a few miles away from where I had docked my sailboat.
These are California hens and chicks. They live just north of LA at the J. Paul Getty Center. Do they look more relaxed and sun kissed than the hens and chicks in your garden?
In my home state, we have difficulty growing things in dirt sometimes. But in the Waipio Valley on the Big Island even the rocks are fertile nesting places. My son Jon guided us down into this valley. The road down is one of those that made my wife close her eyes. We had a similar experience 
Sometimes I don't have much to say. Today is an example. I hope the soft yellow tones sooth you (should you need soothing :-) )
Finally, flowers have appeared in my wife's garden! And, as is normal, the crocus arrive first. Delicate, softly hued and more emphemeral than other flowers that grow, the crocus rquires a macro lens and a tripod because they are also the smallest. My back hurts from bending over for so long. I guess it's time to get in shape.
I'd like to tell you that this flower was plucked from my wife's beautiful garden. But it wasn't. Instead, it was plucked from an assortment of flowers at our local Super Walmart. We are still waiting for Spring in South Dakota, though my wife tells me that she sees evidence of the possibility of spring sprouting up from the cold ground in her garden. I can't wait.
The Hana Highway on the east coast of Maui covers 50 miles of some of the beautiful scenery I have seen. There is an amazing variety of vegetation but the eucalyptus trees that grow here caught my attention. They are so different from anything South Dakotans like me are used to seeing - especially their colorful, camouflage "bark."
