Alisande, williamsburgjane...thank you for the compliments on my yard. Really it is looking a little wild right now. I tend to leave the spent flower heads on most of the flowering plants too long. When I see how much the birds enjoy the resulting seeds I hate to take them away from them. That large Nepeta in the foreground is very long blooming and it's seeds are much loved by the Goldfinches.

Nicole, your hummer is outstanding. I love how the color of the zinnia is reflected on the bird. Party, your dinner is so colorful. It looks delicious. Mine is a picture of the clouds from a day in July. The first sunny day after weeks of rain.

Here's something similar for you, Casey: the Great Torii (gate) in Miyajima, Japan. At low tide, people can walk to the base, like we did. There were many coins on the ground; maybe people leave them on purpose, I'm not sure. Anyone else been there? There are friendly, loose deer walking around the area.

This Forest Service worker gave a lengthy, colorful recounting of the events of that day, and really brought it to life. One of the things he noted is that a different volcanologist was scheduled to be observing the volcano, but he needed to attend a meeting at the university where was a grad student, so he arranged for a different volcanologist to man his post, for just one day -- May 18th. That other scientist wanted to see off a grad student of his that was returning to Germany on the morning of the 18th, so he arranged for yet another volcanologist, named David Johnston to cover the post that morning just until 10:00 A.M. Mr. Johnston reluctantly agreed, and the volcano blew at about 8:30. We lucked into beautiful weather when we visited: and hiked far enough that we could see Spirit Lake where Harry Truman (famed local curmudgeon who refused to evacuate) lived in a lakeside cabin Mount Adams is visible in the distance