this summer's scenic runs: Georgia, France, Spain...and back to Arizona

With the new school-year starting less than a week after our return from Europe, there hasn't been time yet to go back and finish organizing/editing the hundreds of photos on my iPhone...Each day, two or three get done in the afternoon...

As a starting point, then, for posting some of those scenes here: some of this summer's scenic runs...A while back I got one of those hand-strappy-water-bottles for running, and conveniently enough, the ID zipper pocket on the side just fits my iPhone:

(from yesterday morning in Saguaro Nat'l Park)

So, when I'm not doing my routine neighborhood-morning-run, 

my iPhone often comes with me...

...as it did along the trail between the Savannah River and the Augusta Canal, when I was in Georgia back in June:

...Spanish-moss...19th-c. architecture...and lots of water...

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In Paris, on my first morning back in 11 years,

along the Canal St.-Martin:

(some thought-provoking street-art...)

the Cité des Sciences, Europe's biggest science museum, in the Parc de la Villette

Staying with some friends on Paris' southwestern edge,

trails in the hilly forest above St.-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse:

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Down to the South of France--

running along the Canal du Midi, near Toulouse:

a Carpe-Diem-emblazoned-barge-with-a-bike--gotta love it...

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And then down to Barcelona:

--along the waterfront of the Olympic Village, Frank Gehry's "Peix" (fish) sculpture: 

ahh, the Mediterranean...

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And then, Madrid:

--starting point, in the Plaza Santa Ana, 

in front of our hotel and Hemingway's old haunt:

A statue of Federico García Lorca, in front of the Teatro Español

jogging past Goya, presiding over the entrance to The Prado

....the Parque del Buen Retiro

...the Palacio de Cristal, originally built in the 19th-c. to house

flora and fauna from the Philippines...

black swans!

across from the entrance to the Park, part of the Prado,
housed in what was once the Ballroom of the Buen Retiro Palace

storefront: Velázquez' Infanta, with a 'free the Canary Islands' slogan...

a freaky mural, while jogging back up the hill to the Plaza

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Back to Tucson and the Sonoran Desert...

This evening, I went for a quick run in the hills around Sabino Canyon...

...enjoying some of the water that the monsoon has brought...

...and hoping to time it right for sunset:

Back home.

Now--back to work, too.

San Diego...and Autumn on top of the Santa Catalina Mountains

Aquarium, beach, mountaintop;

a few snapseeded scenes from the past couple of weeks...

Some of the underwater faces at the Birch Aquarium in San Diego:

Placing your iPhone right up against aquarium glass and then fixing a focus-zone with your finger,

then waiting for something to swim into view--some fun shots...

In this PicFrame, clockwise from top left:

weedy seadragon, moray eel, a shrimp, and then--can't resist, must say--"found Nemo"

Using AutoStitch, a panorama--watching surfers from Crystal Pier:

...dozens and dozens, calmly waiting...meditative...

Closer to home--up in the Santa Catalina Mountains, just north of Tucson. Drive up high enough this time of year and the scene is more like something you'd imagine in New England--a deciduous forest with autumn foliage at the top of this 'sky island' in the desert...Above 8000 feet there are a few little valleys that come alive with fall color, an unexpected change from the cactus-studded lower slopes:

Driving back down at sunset, about halfway down,

looking out over Thimble Peak and the Tucson mountains beyond...

The other day, after work, decided to go for a trail-run into Bear Canyon,
at the base of the mountains--such a contrast from the evergreen-and-deciduous forest at the top:

About a half-mile in, there's a natural arch up the eastern wall:

Overlooking the entrance of the canyon:

Below, some fun with black-and-white, then warming up the temperature, 

and then playing with the grunge filter:

 And, from just a few hours ago, tonight--moonrise over the Santa Catalinas: