Monthly Archives: January 2013

Dorothy, Julia, and Maureen

Dorothy, Julia, and Maureen

Dorothy, Julia, and Maureen

Yesterday I completed my second year of taking a photo a day. This web site contains that second year. My first year was on Facebook and I’ve been meaning to add them here as well. As I start my third year of living photographically (not that I didn’t take pictures before that) I want to take a moment to thank all the friends (and a few strangers) who let me take their photograph. In particular, Dorothy has been very patient with her old dad and her friends have likewise been very good to me. Here we have two of our favorite friends, Julia and her mom, Maureen, with whom Dorothy spent the day.

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X-Men

X-Men

X-Men

I think perhaps I was following one of the X-Men home from work this evening. Either that or I need to wash my windshield. Not sure which.

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Sprinkler System Pipes

Sprinkler System Pipes

Sprinkler System Pipes

I’ve often thought that the pipes for a building’s sprinkler system would be a good subject for a photograph but usually they disappoint when the time comes. I tried again today, as I was on my way back to my building after a meeting.

I think I like this picture as well as any I’ve taken of the bright red pipes, although that may not be saying much. At least there is a little variation in the color.

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Drink Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola Cooler

Coca-Cola Cooler

I drove out to or friends’ farm today because I left my camera batter charger and extra battery in their barn the last time I was there. I took the opportunity to take a few photographs of ducks, geese, goats, and various other things before heading back to work for the rest of the day.

This is an old Coca-Cola cooler that they found in the woods and rescued.

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ICC Tunnel

ICC Tunnel

ICC Tunnel

I took some pictures with my dashboard mounted camera this evening, including this one in the tunnel where the ICC goes under Olde Mill Run. Turned out pretty nicely, I think.

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The Black Menace

The Black Menace

The Black Menace

It wasn’t too many years ago that the crow population around here was seriously diminished by West Nile virus. They seem to have made a pretty decent recovery since then and I see great flocks of them now. Recently there has been a flock moving around in our neighborhood, sometimes in our yard. When they come they are impossible to ignore completely, making such a racket.

On the way home today I saw them at the local elementary school. I pulled into the parking lot and took a few pictures, including this one of “The Black Menace.” If you’ve seen the 1948 movie, Bill and Coo you should get the reference.

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Teasel (Dipsacus sp.)

Teasel (Dipsacus sp.)

Teasel (Dipsacus sp.)

It was a chilly but very pretty day outside today and I took the opportunity to get out of my office for fifteen minutes and wander a little while in the woods next to my building. Toward the other end of the empty lot is a clearing that is filled with teasels. So, today you get a picture of one against the blue sky.

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Orion

Orion

Orion

I don’t have much to say about this picture. It is the constellation Orion but the sky was not as clear as it was a little while earlier or again about a half hour later. I do wish we could see the stars more clearly here. Or perhaps I wish we were somewhere we could see the stars more clearly. Not really the same thing at all.

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“Inside Painted” Sniff Bottle

"Inside Painted" Snuff Bottles

“Inside Painted” Sniff Bottle

Snuff was in widespread use in China during the Qing Dynasty in the 17th century. Rather than putting snuff in a small box, bottles were used and the old bottles are quite collectable, I understand. In the 19th century bottles painted on the inside were made and continued to be made up to the present. I was given this bottle by my in-laws quite a few years ago. I don’t really know much about it but have always liked it quite well.

On the front it has a painting of an old man resting under a tree. On the back are mountains and more trees. The brush work is quite remarkable, especially when you realize that the opening through which the brush was inserted is less than a quarter of an inch in diameter. If someone can read the characters on the bottle and tell me what they say, that would be terrific.

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Beacon Of Hope

Beacon of Hope

Beacon of Hope

I went to pick up Dorothy from band practice this evening and there was a little fog, which made the light from the church steeple very pretty. I took a series of pictures with the camera sitting on the roof of the car, braced in various ways against the roof rack. This is the one that turned out the best, I think. I also like the sky in this picture.

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Grey

Grey

Grey

Simple title for a simple picture for a grey day. It was pretty dreary out all day, with a grey sky and not a lot of color. That’s not to say that there isn’t a lot of beauty in a grey day. This is the view out my office window late in the afternoon when it started getting darker. Black and grey.

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Reflections

Reflected Sky

Reflected Sky

Reflected Sky

Reflected Sky

Dorothy and I went for a nice walk in the neighborhood this afternoon. I carried my camera, as I usually do on walks, but didn’t take all that many photographs. It’s not like there are beautiful vistas in our corner of suburbia. The houses are nice but nothing you’re going to want to see pictures of. There are not very many flowers this time of year. Most of the plants are dormant and leafless. So, what’s left?

We’ve had a bit of rain lately and the ground is quite wet. There were puddles along our walk, sometimes in the drainage ditch (or jewie, as we call it) along the road, sometimes on the road itself. The first of these shows the blue sky through tree branches in water in the jewie, with grass on either side. The other is on the street and has the added interest of a little cloud colored by the setting sun.

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Phalaenopsis Orchid

Phalaenopsis Orchid

Phalaenopsis Orchid

We stopped by Johnson’s this afternoon. It’s nice to go into a greenhouse and see so much green and to smell the earthy aroma. There isn’t a lot, even in their greenhouse, this time of year, but it was still worth the time.

I need to repot a few of our orchids but wasn’t in the mood to buy pots today. We were just looking (actually, we did buy something). In addition to the orchids, there were cacti and lots of different house plants. Relatively quiet, though.

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Colored Pencils

Colored Pencils

Colored Pencils

I was looking around for something to photograph this evening and I saw the box of colored pencils. I didn’t want them to be just lying there in their box, so I made a little split-rail fence with them. I like the colors, even if the photo is a little blah.

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Subway Lights

Subway Lights

Subway Lights

I was going to pick up Dorothy this evening and it was raining fairly hard. The lights of cars were reflecting in the water on the pavement but of course I couldn’t exactly get my camera out while I was driving and get it set up for pictures. So, before I got where I was going I pulled into a shopping center and took a few pictures of the shop lights reflecting off of the wet pavement. This happens to be a Subway sub shop.

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More Colors

Colored Pens and Pencils

Colored Pens and Pencils

Two days ago I posted a picture of colored pencils. We have a lot of colored pencils, pens and markers around the house. Dorothy does a fair amount of drawing and so they are never really put away. As I was looking for something to photograph today I saw this basket full of markers and pencils and took a few pictures of it.

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Rat’s Nest

Rat's Nest

Rat’s Nest

I told Dorothy this evening that I was thinking of skipping taking a picture today. It’s been over two years that I’ve been taking a picture every day and I figured I could miss one day without ruining anyone’s life. She said I should take one, that I could take a picture of her, if I wanted. I picked up my camera and took this, along with a few others, of her hair. It’s not as tangled as it might appear, actually.

So, the photo-streak continues.

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Muddy Pond

Muddy Pond

Muddy Pond

It was such a beautiful day today that I went outside for a little break from work. It was cool but the sky was clear and it was lovely. I haven’t been going out much lately, partly because of the weather but also I think I’m a little bored with the empty lot next to my office. So, I crossed the little stream and walked up to the higher ground on the other side.

There are a few small ponds up there that were filled with muddy water, which is what this picture shows. Not a great picture but it was a very nice diversion for me. I like the color of the grass and the color of the water, both in the foreground where it is a sort of milky, blue color and in the top of the picture where it’s a rich, earthy tone, reflecting the pale grass on the far bank.

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Anna-Gabrielle

Anna-Gabrielle

Anna-Gabrielle

Our lovely friend, Erin stopped by today with three of her four equally lovely children. We were fortunate enough to be allowed to watch the three kids while Erin visited her brother and sister-in-law in the hospital along with their new-born baby, Fritz.

This is Anna-Gabrielle, the youngest of Erin’s children, and a lovely little girl she is, too (it helps to win the genetic lottery and have parents as good looking as Erin and David).

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Sycamores

Sycamore Tree

Sycamore Tree

I think if I had to pick one tree that I love to see against a deep blue sky, the sycamore tree would have to be a contender. The white and grey bark are set off so well against the blue of a winter sky.

Sycamore is a name that has been applied to three types of tree. First, there is the sycamore of the Bible, the sycamore fig, Ficus sycomorus. Then, Acer pseudoplatanus, the sycamore maple of Britain and Ireland. Finally, three species of the Platanus, the sycamores of North America, known as plane trees in Europe. The American sycamore is Platanus occidentalis, and that is what I have pictured here.

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Ducks In Flight

Ducks In Flight

Ducks In Flight

I love watching birds fly. It doesn’t matter to me if it’s an eagle, hawk, or vulture soaring high in the sky, a sparrow, finch, or wren flitting between bushes, or a duck, goose, or heron taking off from a pond. Their flights are different but they share a beauty found no where else.

Seeing birds in flight, particularly ducks and geese, for some reason, makes me think of Psalm 139:9–10, “If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.”

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Dorothy and Riley

Dorothy and Riley

Dorothy and Riley

Dorothy loves to visit her friend Julia and I can’t say I blame her. The whole family is just fun to be with. On this occasion, they had an extra dog staying with them and today’s picture is of Dorothy and Riley.

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Lectern Eagle’s Talons

Lectern Eagle's Talons

Lectern Eagle’s Talons

Did you ever notice in the opening scene in Chariots of Fire, in the church, there is a lectern in the shape of an eagle? Eagle lecterns are quite common in English churches and I quite like them. What is a little less common is for there to be one in someone’s dining room. My father-in-law bought this one in the early 1980s and it’s been a fixture in the dining room ever since, so much so that we pretty much take it for granted now. Still, as I said, I quite like it and was taking pictures of little details of it today. This picture is of the eagle’s feet, obviously, which I think are marvelously carved.

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Poinsettia Leaf

Poinsettia Leaf

Poinsettia Leaf

I love the deep red of poinsettia leaves. I also love the little flowers, but you have to admit, it’s the leaves that you really notice. This picture is basically a picture of the color red.

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Another Grey Day

Snow

Snow

We had snow today, starting at about 2:00 PM and lasting until rush hour. Schools let out early, which the kids were happy about, at any rate. This is the view out of my office window at about ten minutes after four. Fairly dark already and visibility was definitely reduced. My relatively short commute was not a problem, however.

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Kendra

Kendra

Kendra

Dorothy’s friend, Kendra, came over today and they basically hung out. In the afternoon we made them go for a walk with us in the neighborhood. Naturally I brought my camera and, also naturally, Kendra brought hers. She often mugs for the camera but for this picture she actually gave me a very natural smile, which I really appreciate.

I took some other pictures on our walk that I like well enough. I decided not to post them, though, because I decided I’m much more likely to take similar photos in the future. I’ve done this before. I take two or three pictures that I like and I want to pick one of them for the day’s picture. I usually choose the one that I’m least likely to reproduce again and post that. Of course, if I like a different one significantly more, then I’ll post that one. This only applies when a few are at about the same level of likedness.

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Making Tracks

Tracks In The Snow

Tracks In The Snow

There is still snow on the ground from Friday evening. It’s not enough to let me take wonderful snowy landscape photographs, though. There is a fair amount of grass showing through, particularly in the sunnier places. There were some people sledding yesterday but there was more grass on the hill than snow. Still, we take what we can get.

There is a cat in our neighborhood who comes to our kitchen door and sits looking in. Not often enough to be a real nuisance but often enough that it’s a little creepy. We haven’t seen her in a while but I’m putting my money on these being her tracks on our back patio. We also had tracks from a deer that ran across our back yard and from rabbits and squirrels. It’s a busy place, our back yard.

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WCA At Night

WCA At Night

WCA At Night

We were at the school for a Society meeting this evening. As we were leaving I put the camera on the top of the van and took a few pictures. I like this one the best, partly because a car drove through the picture, producing the red light lines part of the way around the circle.

The three green lights in the middle are artifacts from the bright lights on the front of the building around the door. The gray area in the bottom left is the roof of the car.

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Sunrise

Sunrise

Sunrise

It’s been a rainy month. Not particularly cold overall, although there have been some cold spells. Today was balmy and beautiful. The clouds were moving off to the east this morning as I drove the carpool to school. A little earlier than this, the clouds were lit up from below, but I had a car full of students and not a lot of time to stop for pictures. This one is pretty nice, anyway. It was quite beautiful.

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Tail Lights

Tail Lights

Tail Lights

It was another of those days when I realized that I live in a place that doesn’t particularly scream for pictures to be taken. I’m in an office for most of the daylight hours. The sunrise this morning wasn’t anything like yesterday’s and it rained most of the afternoon and into the evening. It was dark as I drove home but waiting at a traffic light, I decided to take this picture of the tail lights of cars, reflecting off of the wet pavement. That’s all I’ve got.

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Geese Taking Flight

Geese Taking Flight

Geese Taking Flight

As I came down and crossed Lake Needwood this morning I saw that there was a large flock of geese on the near end. I pulled over and got my camera out to take a few pictures. Of course, the geese moved away from me as I walked down to the water’s edge. I ran the last fifteen yards or so to startle them and managed to get them to take off all at once. It’s not as good a picture as I’d like but I do like it, anyway.

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