iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 30/03/2025

Two weeks ago we drove through a snowstorm to meet Gerald, who became our new family member that day. Caught as a stray with wounds consistent with jumping or being thrown from a moving car, he has brought that beautiful lab energy back to our home. He is very loved. Dets in alt text. #adopt #dogs

Gerald's first time out in our yard.

Two dogs, one black lab and one white husky mix, roll on the grass on their backs. There is a fence and a bush in the background and the wall to a house in the left.

We were told Gerald is not interested in sleeping on beds. :)

Three dogs snuggle on a colorful bedspread. One black lab, one white husky mix, one brown shepherd mix.

We were also told Gerald wasn't interested in sleeping on couches.

A small white husky mix and black lab mix sleep on a couch while a brown shepherd mix sleeps on a dog bed in the background in a living room.

Gerald's first day smiling. About a week after joining our family, he finally started smiling.

A black lab smiles up at the camera. There is a wooden stand to the left and tan rugs on a wooden floor.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 10/03/2025

Yesterday we saw a lot of #SomethingBeautiful during a gorgeous day paddle on Mono Lake, outside Yosemite National Park. After exploring the south tufa, we spent time on geothermal Paoha Island. What a great day to be in the caldera of a volcano. #PhotographersUnited #Kayaking #Tufa #Geothermal

The bow of a wooden kayak, on blue-green water, faces a wall of tufa spires sticking out of, and reflected in, the water. On top of one of them is an osprey nest.

Geothermal activity along the shore of Paoha Island. There are rocks and bushes, with steam rising up among them. In the background is a walkable mud surface and more scrub/sagebrush.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 03/03/2025

I'm lucky in that much of my job relies on me finding #SomethingBeautiful in our state. This was taken on one of those days, where our staff went kayaking on Lake Tahoe, in clear-bottomed boats. I took this photo of a beautiful day 'hard at work.' #PhotographersUnited #ILoveMyJob #DronePhotography

An aerial (drone) photo looking down into the clear aquamarine waters of Lake Tahoe. There are large boulders, and a group of people in clear-bottomed kayaks visible.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 02/03/2025

#SomethingBeautiful in a quick cell phone snap, while on a bike ride today. This blue heron patiently allowed me to take a photo. Loved the reflections. #Wildlifephotography #CellPhonePhotography #PhotographersUnited #Photography #Booksky #Herons

A blue heron is reflected, along with a bit of the snow-capped mountains, in a calm pond, surrounded by dormant grasses. There are wispy clouds in the blue sky.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 26/02/2025

If you've traveled through the Reno-Tahoe Int'l Airport, you may have encountered #SomethingBeautiful of the canine persuasion - the volunteers of Paws 4 Passengers. Leaving smiles in their wake, they are 4-legged angels. Their people aren't too bad, either. ;) #PhotographersUnited #Dogs #Flying

A group of people in red shirts, with their respective dogs (of all sizes and breeds), pose in front of an Air Force plane at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport. The blue sky has big puffy clouds in it.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 22/02/2025

Made our way up to #SomethingBeautiful today. Almost 600 feet of elevation gain, I'm definitely feeling this snowshoe, but it was so worth it. This is Lake Tahoe as seen from near Captain Pomin Rock. #Photography #PhotographersUnited #LakeTahoe #Snowshoeing #SierraNevada #Nevada

Snowy and rocky ground, with pine trees all around. There are mountains and a beautiful calm Lake Tahoe in the distance. There is a somewhat broken log/wooden seat visible.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 21/02/2025

A couple summers ago we put in a pollinator wall, and a big part of it is this Candy Swirl Honeysuckle. #SomethingBeautiful and also something good for the environment. I loved this shot of the bee, flinging pollen as it hovered. #Photography #PhotographersUnited #Pollinators #Bees

Orange and pink honeysuckle blossoms on a large leafy Candy Swirl Honeysuckle plant. There is a bee hovering over one of the blossoms and flinging little bits of pollen. Its wings are blurred, and there is a wooden fence in the background.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 20/02/2025

A meteor shower over the Black Rock Desert (where Burning Man is held) in northern Nevada provided a whole night of #SomethingBeautiful last July. #Photography, #Astrophotography, #BlackRockDesert, #PhotographersUnited, #MilkyWay, #MeteorShower

A dark desert playa at the bottom and a sky packed with stars, Milky Way, and also shooting stars (meteor shower).

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 18/02/2025

A few years back, there was #SomethingBeautiful outside the french doors in our dining room. This gorgeous (and patient) Coopers Hawk is no dummy - lots of songbirds visit our waterfall. Not bad for shooting through glass. #Photography, #BirdPhotography, #NaturePhotography, #PhotographersUnited

A beautiful coopers hawk, with feathers ruffling in the breeze, perches on a wooden fence.

A photo of a coopers hawk, sitting on a fence above a homemade waterfall. The photo is taken through a door so you can see the glass panels and framing, and also the wall of our neighbor's house in the background. The waterfall has some grasses growing in one corner.

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Reposted by Kippy Spilker

Karen's Nature Art @karensnatureart.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

Working on this page brought back great memories of attending the bumble bee workshop at Nachusa Grasslands back in 2021. We were able to get close looks at many different species, but the conclusion was that our native bees are precious and need care. #SciArt #insects #naturejournal #prairie

Watercolor and ink paintings of 5 different species of bumble bees plus a miner bee and a leafcutter bee. Handwritten ink notes are interspersed among the illustrations.
August 7, 2021, Nachusa Grasslands, 88 degrees- felt like 95+, hot and humid with some clouds. Five species of bumble bees are depicted. Bombus pensylvanicus- American Bumble Bee- found on early goldenrod, Bombus auricomus male- Black and Gold Bumble Bee- big eyes! Territorial. Below that is the female feeding on beebalm. Then Bombus vagans-Half-black Bumble Bee- hairy looking! In the middle is Bombus affinis-Rusty-patched Bumble Bee feeding on Joe Pye Weed. Below that is a Bombus citrinus female- Lemon Cuckoo Bumble Bee and the male feeding on Joe Pye Weed. The queen invades host colony, kills other queen, eggs and larvae and forces workers to care for its own eggs. Hosts-B. impatiens and B. vagans. At the top right are 2 smaller native bees- Andrena aliciae- yellow-faced miner bee and Male leafcutter bee- brushy front legs.
Note at bottom- Rusty-patched Bumble Bee workshop (federally endangered)
- looked for B. affinis, B. pensylvanica, B. vagans, B. citrinus male and female and others.
Between all the groups, 15 Rusty-patches were seen! Preferred habitat- border between woods and prairie

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 17/02/2025

Feeling a little overwhelmed of late, had to take a bit of a mental break to quiet thoughts. I endeavored for my brain to look like this photo, #SomethingBeautiful photographed while drifting by on a kayak on the Cosumnes River. #PhotographersUnited #BirdPhotography #Kayaking #Silence #Solitude

A great white egret stands on a curved branch of a downed tree. The background is a soft, dark tangle of branches and grasses, and there are grasses in the foreground as well.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 10/02/2025

#SomethingBeautiful from another angle, following up yesterday's post. This day out on the water, it looked like we were paddling through liquid silver. Gorgeous, every step of the way. #PhotographersUnited #LiquidSilver #Kayaking #Photography #WinterPaddling #LakeTahoe

The tip of a wooden kayak bow at the bottom, and water that looks like liquid silver, due to the gray sky conditions. There is an island directly ahead (Fannette Island) covered in snow, and then a shoreline covered in snowy pine trees with a mountain rising behind. There is a road in the distance, but at this time it was closed, due to the snow.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 09/02/2025

#SomethingBeautiful from a few years back, when we kayaked about 12 miles round trip, to Emerald Bay in south Lake Tahoe. Too much ice for us to get out on shore, and the water was like liquid silver. #WinterKayaking #LakeTahoe #PhotographersUnited #IceIceBaby #GoodDays

The bow of a wooden kayak, up against ice along a snowy shoreline. It's a gray day, and the trees and distant mountain are snow-covered.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 07/02/2025

Last night at a work event, I saw #SomethingBeautiful. I'm not sure Olaf the Owl thought the same. haha. He stared at me for nearly a full minute like this. Perhaps he sensed my adoration ... #PhotographersUnited #Owls #Falconers #Raptors #UnrequitedLove

A man holds a beautiful great horned (I think) owl, which is focused very strongly on the photographer. This is at an event, so indoor lighting, and a slide show playing in the background.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 06/02/2025

I was sitting still in my kayak, shooting something else, when some coots drifted by me. I had the audacity to LOOK at them, and they took off. I didn't mean to startle them, but it did make for a beautiful photo. #SomethingBeautiful #WildlifePhotography #PhotographersUnited #Birds #Coots

Three coots take off running across the water in preparation for flying away. There is fairly calm water in the foreground, and a snowy shoreline with snowy mountains behind them. There is a lot of water splashing, as the coots flap and look as though they're walking on water.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 05/02/2025

Christmas Eve morning, 2016, we found ourselves paddling into #SomethingBeautiful (and also Something Intimidating) on Lake Tahoe. We didn't go far and we didn't stay out long, but Tahoe almost never disappoints, especially in the winter. #kayaking #storms #PhotographersUnited #LakeTahoe

A lone kayaker in a wooden boat faces a storm in the distance on Lake Tahoe. There are snow-covered rocks to the left and pine trees on the shoreline in the distance. The sky is full of very dramatic storm clouds.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 04/02/2025

We said goodbye to our beloved english lab, Larry, a week ago today. This morning, as I pulled into a road near work, this was what I saw. Just physics, but I'm still going to take it as a sign of happier times to come. #SomethingBeautiful #Rainbows #PhotographersUnited #CellPhonePhotography

A double rainbow in a stormy sky, as the mountains glow gold from alpenglow at sunrise in the high desert. There are homes, businesses, and sagebrush in the foreground, all aglow.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 02/02/2025

One of my favorite drone photos, also a Nat Geo editor's choice, back in the day. A photographer friend of mine walking up Crescent Dune, outside Tonopah, NV, one freezing cold early morning. #SomethingBeautiful #PhotographersUnited #DronePhotography #Photography #Nevada

A glowing sand dune in early morning light, with more dunes and mountains in the background. A lone photographer walks up the crest of the dune with a tripod and camera. Photo taken with a drone, so a nice, unique aerial view.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 01/02/2025

"Is that a sparrow?" I inquired, as we were snowshoeing in Ebbett's Pass. As we approached I could tell this was no sparrow, but it wasn't 'til I had my camera up that I realized it was a tiny little owl! Pygmy owl, to be precise. #SomethingBeautiful #PhotographersUnited #wildlifephotography #owls

A tiny (but fierce, as I've come to understand) pygmy owl, puffed up against the cold, sits on a winter branch, with white sky behind it and a few fall leaves still clinging to another branch on the tree.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 31/01/2025

May 10, 2024, the first of recent northern lights events we could see in Nevada. We eventually found ourselves at Fort Churchill State Historic Park. This shot is bracketed, to showcase the structures and the skies. #SomethingBeautiful #PhotographersUnited #Astrophotography #AuroraBorealis

Bright pink striated skies, with green at the horizon and purple at the top, showing a starry night above the aurora borealis. There are ruins of the Officers Quarters and another building at Fort Churchill State Historical Park visible, with a dirt trail running through the desert scrub. The entire photo is naturally tinted pink, and there are mountains in the background.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 30/01/2025

There was #SomethingBeautiful in the sky in 2020. Neowise Comet photographed at Mono Lake, CA, at Blue Hour - 4:29 a.m. #comet #MonoLake #Astrophotography #photography

Dark blue sky with stars and comet, fading to orange and white at the horizon. All is reflected in a very calm Mono Lake, with tufa spires jutting up out of the water, resulting in an otherworldly feel.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 28/01/2025

This is the Larry. Technically it's "Everybody Loves Larry," & that is the truth. Tired of fighting cancer at nearly 13 years old, tonight he crosses the rainbow bridge. So today is one more trip to the river, lots of bacon, broccoli, & snuggles. #SomethingBeautiful #BestBoy #RainbowBridge #dogs

A black english lab in an orange harness sits in the snow, while looking at the river. There is dormant vegetation on the sides of the shorelines.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 27/01/2025

Up at 5:30 a.m. to get to the trail for this hike. We go early because our dogs don't have great recall (our fault) and we like to allow them off-leash. What a gorgeous autumn 2023 hike to Scott Lake, near Hope Valley, CA. #SomethingBeautiful #Dogs #Hiking #Autumn #SierraNevada

Two dogs drink from the shoreline of an alpine lake. A wispy-clouded day is reflected in the still water, there is a large rock in the foreground and many other smaller ones strewn about. The lake is surrounded with pines and deciduous trees with vibrant fall colors.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 26/01/2025

A drone pano of this beautiful bridge in Alpine County, CA, where everywhere you look is #SomethingBeautiful. Taken in 2021, after Markleeville was severely endangered and impacted by the Tamarack Fire. #dronephotography #autumn #AlpineCounty #Sierranevada

A wooden bridge crosses over a slow-moving river. There are rock walls along the sides of the river, and pine trees with deciduous trees in fall foliage mixed throughout, filling the rest of the scene. The deep blue sky has wispy white clouds. A perfect fall day.

From the original posting:

"I fell in love with Alpine County, CA the moment I first experienced it, and Jeremy agreed so much that we decided to get married there. In fact, we got our wedding license about 300 yards to the left of where this photo was taken, in Markleeville. Every time I pass this bridge I think, 'I have to shoot that someday.'

I got up at 5:30 this morning and drove up to the mountains, listened to music, enjoyed the sunrise. On my way back through, the light was just starting to hit this area and I thought ... today's the day. This town was seriously threatened this year, by the Tamarack Fire. In fact, on my way back out of Markleeville, I was stopped because they are now clearing out all the burned and dead trees. I'm so glad the firefighters stopped the fire before it wiped out this beautiful town.

In 1989, this East Fork of the Carson River was designated a 'Wild and Scenic River' by the State of California.

I concur."

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Reposted by Kippy Spilker

Jaime @jadedtales.bsky.social · 25/01/2025

Yaaaaall! Look at @snoislelibraries.bsky.social library card! How cute is that?! Signing up for a library card is a great way to show some community support 👀

Image is a screenshot from an email that has colorful mushroom drawings and a Sno-Isle Libraries card with similar mushroom illustrations. Text reads: Sprout Your Imagination + Forage for Fun.
Get a Library Card Today!
Embark on a fungi-filled adventure with your library card as your trusty compass! Unearth a treasure trove of books, from foraging and trail guides to novels by local authors.

Take the library with you on your next hike or adventure with eBooks and digital audiobooks that let you travel light. Use your foraged mushrooms in a new recipe. Or, enjoy a cozy movie night in on a rainy day!

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 26/01/2025

This is really beautiful work, and I so very much appreciate artists who cite their source photography. Too many don't. Thank you, @susanabbeyandfinn.bsky.social ❤

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 25/01/2025

One time, while on a work trip to the middle of Nevada, I woke up early and climbed a hill, totally alone – except for some chickens, wild horses, and other desert critters – to experience #SomethingBeautiful. #totem #Nevada #sunrise #spiritual #photography #moments #peace #serenity

A large totem pole stands in the middle of the desert scrub and dirt. There are mountains in the distance and the sun is just coming up over them. Sunrise-pink clouds in the blue sky.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 24/01/2025

I ❤️ Snakeflies. My second favorite insect, I definitely see #SomethingBeautiful in them. They are ferocious but also curious, and I love that combo. #macrophotography #photography #insects #snakeflies #nature

A macro photo of a snakefly, with red on the back of its head, brought out by the plump red berries it is surrounded by. There are a lot of green leaves also in the picture, and a dark background. The snakefly is partially covered by one leaf, as it made its way up one of the leaves in the back to check out what I was doing.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 23/01/2025

We are in such desperate need of snow this year, I find myself wistfully visiting my snowy photo archives. During a snowshoeing trip, we were surrounded by #SomethingBeautiful. In this photo, hoarfrost crystals gently blew down from the branches. Magical. #Photography #PleaseSendSnow #SierraNevada

Snow-laden pine trees, with blue sky behind. The sun is just peeking over and through one of the branches, as tiny hoarfrost crystals blow down from above. Everything is rim-lit with the rising sun.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 22/01/2025

Normally I wouldn't post a self-portrait as #SomethingBeautiful, but c'mon, just look at this scene! A morning on Silver Lake, CA. We are so lucky to live in an incredible area, and I've loved this photo since I took it in 2018. #kayaking #dronephotography #sunrise #sierranevada #peace #ranquility

A lone kayaker sits on a quiet alpine lake, with a tree-covered island to the right, and the early morning sun streaming toward, and lighting up, the wooden boat. There are mountains in the distance.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 21/01/2025

There are many gorgeous photos of Burney Falls, CA, and mine is nowhere near the best. It comes with very good memories of a dear friend who has passed, so I'll always love this image. #SomethingBeautiful #waterfalls #photography #california #IMissYou

A large wall of waterfalls, falling into deep blue water. Fall foliage surrounds and grows along the large rock wall.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 20/01/2025

A waterfall in three different seasons, to remind us (especially today) that everything has a season. Whatever terrible thing you may find yourself experiencing - hopefully it, too, shall pass. #SomethingBeautiful #Waterfalls #Photography #Seasons #NaturePhotography #Comfort #Peace

A waterfall in the Lake Tahoe area, photographed in 3 different seasons. Left is spring/summer, all green plants and a very full flow. Middle is fall with less water and a lot of orange and yellow plants and leaves surrounding. Right is winter, which we snowshoed into. You can barely tell there's a waterfall under huge heaps of fresh white snow (there may not have been water actually flowing).

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 19/01/2025

Sunrise a block away from where we were staying in Kapa'a, Kaua'i. Those rocks were crazy slick, but it was so worth being there for those moments. #SomethingBeautiful #Hawaii #sunrise #photography #paradise #blessings

A Hawai'i sunrise, reflected in still water resting among the rocks. Palm yes silhouetted along the shoreline and deep yellow and orange clouds decorate a blue sky.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 18/01/2025

A close-up of The Patriarch, a roughly 1,500-year-old tree in The Ancient Bristlecone Forest. I found the patterns in the bark of these trees particularly gorgeous. #SomethingBeautiful #Photography #Bristlecones #Trees

Close-up image of an immense old Bristlecone pine tree trunk, there are swirls of all earthy shades of browns and creams.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 17/01/2025

In 2008 we visited Yellowstone to photograph wolves. One -11ºF day, a small group of us were focused up on the ridge. I stopped to change my battery and was shocked by #SomethingBeautiful - this coyote, plodding past us, just across the road, unnoticed by all. #photography #wildlife #yellowstone

A coyote in winter coat, plods through the sparkling snow. There are some plants and grasses showing in the foreground, and snow being kicked up by one of its paws.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 16/01/2025

While camping a few years back, I woke up early and decided to quietly go for a walk. I was rewarded by #SomethingBeautiful in a nearby field. This photo takes me right back to the serenity of that moment - how I felt, how it smelled. #Photography is awesome. #Camping #Flowers #Sunrise #Serenity

A wild iris in a dew-laden field. The iris is lightly purple and everything is backlit, and all the blades of grass have dewdrops on the tips, lit up and in bokeh, as the narrow focal field is just on the flower.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 15/01/2025

There's #SomethingBeautiful and not-well-known in the central western area of Nevada, The {unfortunately-named} Sump. What it lacks in naming, it makes up for in unique beauty! With slot canyons and otherworldly terrain, it is a treat to explore. #TheSump #Nevada #Photography #Otherworldly

Humps of dry earth heave up into the air, in the canyons located in western Nevada. There is golden tumbleweed and other plants to the right, and in the distance are California's snow-capped White Mountains. This photo was taken in late May of 2024.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 14/01/2025

A different #SomethingBeautiful - it won't be popular with art-lovers, but it always makes me smile. We had so many challenges on our flight to Africa & these hand-written boarding passes (only ones I've ever kept) were among the most beautiful things I've ever seen. #travel #africa #flexibility

Hand-written boarding passes, for our flight from Johannesburg to Maun. We had so many challenges with our flights over to Africa, that when we got to the counter at Johannesburg, with limited time to get to our gate, when they told us the printer broke down, it was just par for the course. Clearly this wasn't such a unique issue, though, as the agent turned around, grabbed a stack of blank boarding pass cards and started writing. When we went to check in for the Maun flight, they discovered she'd forgotten to write one part on one of the tickets, so we got a custom escort (soooo much quicker) back to the Johannesburg ticketing area, and then back to our departure gate, where I snapped this quick photo. These are the only boarding pass stubs I've ever saved.

Gotta be flexible, with international travel.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 14/01/2025

These are the kind of drone photos I endeavor to take. Someday I'll get there.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 13/01/2025

Nearly 11 years ago, we drove to Colorado to pick up our newest family member - our beloved English Lab, Larry. While there, we stayed with some friends who had beehives, and they let me take photos. I always thought this would make a cool puzzle. #SomethingBeautiful #Bees #Farmers #Photography

A photo taken looking into a beehive. Tons of bees working hard on their honeycombs.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 13/01/2025

Man, there are clever and talented people out there!

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 12/01/2025

5:54 a.m., a few years back. I prefer sunrise to sunset. Witnessing the sunrise requires more effort, and you are rewarded with more quiet, stillness - a connection with nature, made more special by being on the water. #SomethingBeautiful #LakeTahoe #sunrise #kayaking #spiritual

The bow of a wooden kayak in the foreground, there is a golden sunrise on the horizon. Dramatically-lit scattered clouds decorate a blue sky, with golden crepuscular rays shooting into the sky. The mountains and trees are silhouetted along the shoreline.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 11/01/2025

Earlier this year, I found #SomethingBeautiful on Guru Road (aka Doobie Road), that runs alongside the Black Rock Desert which, once a year, becomes the third largest city in Nevada, for #Burningman. Unique sculptures and memorials wait to be discovered. #nevada #Art #GetALittleOutThere #Aphrodite

Aphrodite, one of the unique sculptures on Guru Road. She is a tower of stacked rocks and clay pieces, alongside a dirt path that cuts through dry desert grasses. There are mountains in the distance and off to the right is the Black Rock Desert. There are wispy clouds in a blue sky.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 10/01/2025

A different kind of subject, to round up this week's post of ' #SomethingBeautiful purchased.' The story of this 1884 1st edition copy of The Raven, illustrated by Gustave Doré is in alt text – it came to us via paulsbookstore.com in Madison, WI. #bookstore #oldbooks #books #libraries #doré #poe

1884 1st edition of The Raven. It's a very large, heavy book.

Visiting family in Wisconsin one holiday, we spent some time in Madison, perusing bookstores and eating great food. We spent a ton of time in a very magical Paul's Book Store, where we found this book. It was up on a shelf, out of reach, and I asked if we could look at it. They brought it down for us and we drooled and swooned, but didn't have the money for it (plus I didn't want to try to wrangle something that large home on the plane). A few months later, that book was still on my mind. When we got our tax return, I proposed we slate a portion of it to this book. My husband agreed, and I contacted the bookstore. They said they don't normally ship books, but they remembered us and appreciated our excitement and passion, so they made an exception. And so, our library was rearranged, to allow for this gorgeous book to live behind glass. We have since then added a similarly-sized-and-aged copy of Rime of the Ancient Mariner and a smaller sized La Fontaine's Fables (both illustrated by Doré).

This photo shows the fabric cover of The Raven, of a kneeling angel, accented in gold, some of which has been rubbed off over the years.

Inside the book, this is one of the illustrated pages, where someone, at some point in history, pressed a leaf. I find this so dang cool. In the copy of the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, we have a bunch of handwritten school lessons in swirly antique writing. The pages were stuffed in the back of the book. I love these little surprises.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 09/01/2025

Today's #SomethingBeautiful is a linoleum-cut print I bought during the holidays, for my office. I saw it at a local art gallery and fell in love with it immediately. It reminds me of Watership Down. Dets in alt-txt, see artist Katherine Case at www.etsy.com/shop/MeridianPress #lino #sierranevada

Every Meridian Press print is a unique work of art, individually letterpress printed in multiple colors from several hand-cut linoleum blocks. Katherine Case carves the linoleum blocks using a traditional Japanese key-block technique and prints them onto all-cotton archival papers on an antique SP15 Vandercook letterpress at her studio in Reno.

This particular piece is #10 of 50, "Cross Section of The Sierra Nevada" - mountains on the top, with stylized animals of the Sierra below. Please forgive my horrible photo of the piece - very hard to photograph glass with a cell phone. :)

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 08/01/2025

At an art fair in Tahoe one year I saw #SomethingBeautiful, and purchased this amazing piece. I haven't talked with the artist in a while, but last I knew Mark could be reached at www.facebook.com/sculpturesbymarkross - details in alt txt. #sculpture #supportartists #art #woodwork #doyouseeahorse

Titled "A place for prayer," this is made from the root of a tree (I forget what kind). Mark explained that when a tree is growing, and its roots get damaged from things like huge winds, sap flows and causes the twists and "knotted" looking areas. He also said the gaps in the wood are where the roots grew around rocks - this particular root is likely well over 100 years old. There's an amethyst crystal (up near what I think looks like a horse head) and a turquoise 'waterfall' and an Asian-style home atop some gorgeous greenish rocks. Mark grew up, and then trained, with Japanese artists, and it shows in his work, and in his huge respect for nature.

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Kippy Spilker @kippy.geminai.com · 07/01/2025

Today's #SomethingBeautiful is more art we've purchased. This gorgeous representation of the state of Nevada was created out of iridescent paint, wood, and resin. We fell in love! You can see more art from Megan Smith at www.tahoefluidart.com #laketahoe #supportartists #art #painting #nevada

A large iridescent painting on wood, covered in resin. Mostly blues and golds at the top, and then browns, greens, reds and golds toward the bottom. The Lake Tahoe region is very dark blue.

Sorry for the toes in the photo. Gives an idea of scale, though.

Detail of a large iridescent painting on wood, covered in resin. Mostly blues and golds at the top, and then browns, greens, reds and golds toward the bottom.

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