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In addition to going to see the cliff dwellings at Walnut Canyon National Monument, I went to Wupatki National Monument to look at the pueblo ruins there. Again, I am amazed at how these people lived. At this site, there is no ready water source at any time of year. They gathered water as it poured off their roofs into a central hole that served as rain spout, entrance, and chimney. They used rocks and mortar similar to the cliff dwellers to create walls. Their roofs where made by layering small branches over larger logs and layering mud on that.

Part of what I am trying to do by taking part in Emma's 52 week challenge is to learn more about photography. It is a subject I know very little about, but which I enjoy greatly. In addition to that, however, I am trying to use it to grow personally. I am trying to use it to prompt me to do stuff I've never done before. See things I've never seen before. Consider things (you guessed it) that I have never considered before. This week's challenge as Architecture. It's a pretty open subject. You can got a lot of ways and produce very impressive pictures.

This week's challenge in the "52 Week Challenge" is a subject challenge. The subject is toys. Some of the toys I played with as a boy, I still have. The erector set, a southwestern cowboys and indians building (the rest of the set, sadly got destroyed in a fire), and a tractor that I got from my parents when I was a very young boy. My grandmother still has some of my old toys as does my father. My children have played with them, as has my brother's children. It still brings a smile to my face when I see young children bring them out and play. It brings back memories of my childhood.

My friend Emma has a "52 week photo challenge" going on in Facebook. She's been quietly encouraging me to upload pictures to the challenge for quite a while now, but I've not done so. This week's challenge is macro photography. I still feel very amateur, especially in company such as Emma who is, I think, a very accomplished and knowledgeable photographer. I think most serious macro photographers use really nice cameras with special lenses. I don't have that, but my camera is capable of macro photography within limits. I thought I'd go out and try my hand at it.

I finally got a new camera to take with me when I hike. I wanted something that was both smaller and more advanced than my FinePix. I settled on a Canon Powershot G12. It was an absolutely gorgeous day yesterday and I was very hopeful that today would be too. Luck was with me. I went to one of my favorite places, Red Rock Canyon. I decided to walk the Ice Box Canyon trail. It is a very fun trail since it requires a lot of moderate scrambling.

Wall climbing as a team building experience with the Zappos Catagorium software dev group was a ton of fun. And what better way to display your trust in team members than to say "I trust that should I fall, you will ensure I don't free-fall for 20 feet." As a first-time wall climber, I must say that I had a lot of fun and really would like to go back... a lot.

Guillermo and I where walking out of the Zappos office to go home when I noticed how the sunset light was falling on one of the mountains in the distance. I didn't have a really nice camera with me to try for the optimum shot, but I did take a few with my phone's camera. They turned out OK. Enjoy these.