Road to Meteor Crater, just outside of Flagstaff, Az

Photos by D. Bowden 1998

There are lots of lonely roads like this out west. This one leads to Meteor Crater: the best preserved meteorite impact site on Earth.
50,000 years old
4100 feet across
Over 3 miles in circumference
570 feet deep

Look closely and you will see the little camp at the bottom of the crater.

Abandoned mine at Death Valley

photo by D. Bowden, 2001

14 Miles to Death Valley

photo by D. Bowden - 2001

Pickle eyes

My 26-year-old son Jeff still likes to play with his food.

Daffodils

watercolor by D. Bowden

Sunset Fishing

Local men fish from a jetty at sunset from the Black Sea's coast on the Russian southern resort city of Sochi.
(AFP/Denis Sinyakov)

Jeans Art

An art installation, made of thousands of pairs of jeans, is displayed in Shanghai May 24, 2006. The installation has a diameter of about 5 m (16 feet).
Picture taken May 24, 2006. CHINA OUT REUTERS/China Daily

Harold Washington Library - Chicago

In 1993, seven ornaments were added to the roof. They are placed on each of the four corners, as well as in the centers of the State, Congress, and Van Buren sides. The State Street ornament is a sculpture of an owl, and the Congress and Van Buren ornaments incorporate seed pods, which are symbolic of the natural bounty of the Midwest. The ornamentation at each of the four corners includes a small owl perched in the foliage.

Joys of my life

This photo was taken in 2000. Though they live in different places in the US now, they are still very close. I must have done something right to have them love each other so much and that makes me happy to know they are good to each other and very close in heart. It's all the Mother's Day gift I need.

My favorite place in Chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago at night. I could go here every day and never tire of it. I am in awe of the works contained here, the works of the masters.

Bottlenose dolphins

Two dolphins swim in Europe's L'Oceanografic aquarium in Valencia Spain in 2003. Bottlenose dolphins are the only animals besides humans that use sounds to recognize members of their group. (AFP/EFE/File/JJ Cardenas)

The Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower shows blue lighting to mark Europe's Day early Tuesday, May 9, 2006, in Paris. May 9 marks the anniversary of the speech made by French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman in 1950 which led to post World War II Europe creating a pan-european organisation which has grown into the present day E.U. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)

German Willi Chevalier, world champion freestyle chin beard 2005

German Willi Chevalier, world champion freestyle chin beard 2005, poses during the International German Beard and Moustache Championships in Hesel, northern Germany, on Saturday, April 29, 2006. Some 100 participants from eight nations compete to become world champion in one of 16 beard and moustache categories. (AP Photo/Kai-Uwe Knoth)

A Canada goose sits with her new babies

AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Travis Heying

Starved Rock and the Great Illinois River

I used to come here a lot with my family when I was a child. Much has changed about Starved Rock State Park. When we were kids there was no wooden decking with railings. My mother would warn us not to go too close to the edge or we would suffer the same fate that many boy scouts and other people had when falling to their deaths into the shallow banks of the Illinois River.

Starved Rock State Park is located 1 mile south of Utica on the Illinois River. This 2,630 acre park receives more than two million visitors each year and it's no wonder why when you see the bounty of beautiful sites the park has to offer. Starved Rock itself is a sandstone butte that towers 125 feet above the river. There are six spectacular overlooks within the park for viewing the fascinating rock formations and wildlife. The park is home to 18 stream-fed canyons that sprout waterfalls in spring months. There are 16 miles of marked hiking trails that cover the park and offer scenic views of bluffs, canyons, and the river. Other activities available at Starved Rock include fishing, boating, camping, and picnicking.

The Starved Rock Lock and Dam is located at the Illinois Waterway Visitor Center, approximately two miles east of Route 178 in Ottawa, Illinois.The Starved Rock lock and dam is one of eight between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River. The Illinois Waterway, as it is called, was finished in 1933 to make the shallow Illinois River usable for commercial traffic

Established in 1911, Starved Rock State Park is Illinois' second oldest state park, but the majority of Starved Rock's history occurred centuries before the park's existence. There is evidence of archaic Indians having lived in the park area as far back as 8000 B.C. From the 16th century through the 17th century, five to ten thousand Illiniwek Indians were thought to have inhabited the area.

The first Europeans to enter this area were Louis Joliet, Father Jacques Marquette and five companions while exploring the Illinois River in August 1673. In the 1680's, after Robert LaSalle claimed the Mississippi River Valley for France, a chain of forts was established to protect France's new territory. Fort St. Louis was built in 1682 on Starved Rock. It was abandoned in 1702 and completely destroyed by a fire in 1720.

So where does the name Starved Rock come from? A Native American legend tells of a band of Illiniwek Indians who sought refuge on the butte. They were surrounded by a group of Ottawa and Potawatomi Indians, their enemies. Unable to come down alive, they eventually starved to death on the butte.

HAPPY 26TH BIRTHDAY, JEFF!

Eveningtide - Daytona Beach, Florida

Watercolor by D. Bowden, 2006
EBB TIDE
First the tide rushes in
Plants a kiss on the shore
Then rolls out to sea
And the sea is very still once more
So I'll rush to your side
Like the oncoming tide
With one burning thought
Will your arms open wide
At last we're face to face
And as we kiss through an embrace
I can tell, I can feel
You are love
You are rea....ly mine in the rain
In the dark, in the sun

Like the tide at its ebb
I'm at peace in the web of your arms
Ebb tide

Words & Music by Carl Sigman, Robert Maxwell, 1953

Quiet inlet at Fish Creek in Door County, Wisconsin

Photo by: D. Bowden 2004

Nicolet Beach - Peninsula State Park, Door County, Wisconsin

Photos By D. Bowden - 2004

My sister and I went on a long-weekend trip to Door County, Wisconsin the year before last and had a great time. One ot the things we did was to go to Nicolet Beach in Peninsula State Park in Fish Creek. It's a small beach and there are a number of things to do there like paddleboating, swimming, water volleyball, and there is a snack bar and gift shop. We set up our beach umbrella and people-watched. Next to us was a family with little children. The little boy in the photo was especially entertaining to watch. He was so cute. He sat, as pictured above, with his feet up in the air almost the whole time we were there. He didn't like the feel of the sand on his feet.

Country diary

I found this while digging through the unusual news items on Yahoo. What Mr. Cocker says is true...How often do we plod the earth oblivious of the drama lost overhead in that vast pale eye of secrecy.


by: Mark Cocker
Monday March 27, 2006
The Guardian

As I trained my telescope on a great crested grebe, the recently acquired corolla of chestnut feathers around the bird's crown suddenly slicked down and the whole body was pressed to the water as if it were smothering its own shadow. What had its brilliant red eyes spotted that I couldn't?

It was an hour before I got my answer. Marsh harriers are often easy to pick out even at range, because it's about the only local bird that flies without a flap for long periods. A lingering airborne stillness suddenly drew my eye high overhead to the speck centred in a vast dark cavern of rain cloud. There were two marsh harriers circling at huge range - perhaps a kilometre high - but the third bird with them was a peregrine. Its distinctive anchor silhouette twisted in tight spirals close to one of the harriers and it was obvious that there was some electric pulse of emotion between them. Suddenly the game of aerial tag spilled into something far more dramatic. Briefly the two birds locked talons and fell earthwards before swooping away and resuming their parallel manoeuvres. They then cruised across the heavens, dust motes tracking west, until they were momentarily fixed against the flaring whiteness of sunlit cloud.

As the three remarkable birds patrolled those deep canyons of cold air I began to wonder above which unlikely places are such scenes played out that go undetected by their terrestrial neighbours? How often do we plod the earth oblivious of the drama lost overhead in that vast pale eye of secrecy.

Christmas 1955

This is me on Christmas 1955. I was about 15 months old. I was still the only child and no siblings to share the attention yet. I had center stage. This photo was taken at my Grandma and Grandpa's apartment on Avenue M on Chicago's "East Side". Notice the tinsel on the tree. This is back in the days where most people had a real Christmas tree and decorated them with the big, fat colored lights and the stringy tinsel. The whole place would be filled with the scent of evergreen.

My Grandma worked at the National (grocery store) and my Grandfather worked at Wisconsin Steel. My Grandma spoiled me (and later my siblings) with wonderful presents and lots of love. My mom always dressed me up fancy like this...like a little princess.

Body Paint

Going Qi Pao : Models display body paint at a live exhibition of the Qi Pao, the classic Chinese Dress, to officially launch Australian Fashion Week in Sydney. (AFP/Greg Wood)

Star Clouds over Arizona
Credit & Copyright: Ulrich Beinert
Click on image to enlarge

The clouds in the foreground are much different than the clouds in the background. In the foreground are a photogenic deck of Earth-based water clouds. The long exposure used to create the above photograph makes the light from the left, reflected from Phoenix, Arizona, USA, appear like a sunset. Far in the distance, however, are star clouds from the disk of our Milky Way Galaxy. Billions of stars like our Sun live there, circling our Galactic center every 200 million years. Contrast between the water clouds and the star clouds has been digitally enhanced. Between the two, visible on the upper right, is the planet Jupiter.

London Eye at night

A view of the London Eye at night on the banks of River Thames, London April 19, 2006. Designed by David Marks and Julia Barfield it is the largest observation wheel ever built. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor

Happy Spring!

Moon Rising

A full moon rises over the bowstring bridge at Amnicon Falls State Park, near Superior, Wis., in this image made using a long exposure Thursday night, April 13, 2006. (AP Photo/Jack Rendulich)

Big Bunny!

German rabbit breeder Karl Szmolinsky presents his giant male breeding rabbit 'Robert' in Eberswalde, eastern Germany, February 2006. In a tale reminiscent of the last Wallace and Gromit movie, furious villagers in northeast England have hired armed guards to protect their beloved communal vegetable gardens from a suspected monster rabbit.(AFP/File/Michael Urban)

A person stands on a hilltop during sunset in Tbilisi

Green and Black Aurora Over Norway

Credit & Copyright: Frank Andreassen (nettfoto.no)

Surface of Mars?

Photo by D. Bowden 2001

This is actually Death Valley, California! Jon and I were here in August 2001.
It was a balmy 126 degrees this day. But it was a "dry" heat. (sarcasm)

A three-month-old baby pygmy hippopotamus swims by his grazing mother at Henry Doorly Zoo Friday, March 24, 2006, in Omaha, Neb.

View of Chicago from Adler Planetarium

This is where I want to be right now

My son Jeff's fashion drawing - white conte crayon on black paper

Neuschwanstein Castle in Winter

Neuschwanstein, the (relatively)
modern fairy-tale castle of Bavaria,
inspired the modern fairy-tale castle
at Disneyland, Sleeping Beauty Castle.

For My Dear Sister

Diane and Debbie 1975

I carry your heart
(I carry it in my heart)
by E.E.Cummings

I carry your heart with me, I carry it in my heart
I am never without it, anywhere I go you go, my dear;
and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my
darling
I fear no fate, for you are my fate, my sweet
I want no world, for beautiful you are my world, my
true
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
here is the root of the root
and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;
which grows higher than soul can hope or mind can hide
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
I carry your heart, I carry it in my heart

Chicago River dyed green for St. Paddy's Day

Every year on St. Patrick's Day, the river is dyed green. The Pipefitters Union uses fluorescein dye which can also be used to study moving water. While in 1962, 100 pounds (45 kg) of dye were used, more recently the amount has been decreased to about 40 pounds (18 kg). The tradition of dying the river green for St. Patrick's Day dates back more than 40 years.

My Favorite Wizard of Oz Character

Billie Burke as "Glinda the good witch of the north"
Who is your favorite Wizard of Oz character?

Zion National Park

I took these photos along with many others during our trip out west in 1998. I have never seen such magnificent colors. Oranges, reds, and the green of the foliage...the turquoise skies.
Mother Nature is Awesome.

Mule train down into Grand Canyon

My family and I were here in 1998 and my husband and I want to go back. No photograph can do justice to the magnificence and beauty of this natural wonder.

Albino Peacock

The white color of this albino peacock is due to the missing black melanine pigment. The usual rich colors of the peacock are seen because black pigment which absorbs most of the incident light, allowing us to see only the interference colors. In this peacock, the interference is still happening, but the effect is entirely washed out by the abundance of white light. In this albino, you can see that the "eyes" of the tail feathers are clear, not colored.