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Here and There…Now and Then |
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
12:59:59 12/31/2012
The clock in my camera was about a minute and a quarter off from the clock on the television (which was also off when compared to my phone, so it may have been wrong). In any case, as measured by whatever network we were watching, this it the last photo of 2012, taken at 11:59:59. It is, not too surprisingly, very similar to the final photograph I took last year, standing virtually in the same spot and with many of the same people. Thanks to all for making it a memorable year and for putting up with my camera in your face so many times. I’m looking forward to the year ahead.
I also passed a milestone this week, passing the 50,000 mark on my two year old camera. This picture is number 50,132 on my camera. That means I took 22,633 in 2012, down a bit from the 27,263 that I took in 2011.
Coke Machines
I only took a few pictures today so didn’t have a lot to choose from for my post. I did take a bunch of the octopus that I bought on Friday at the Main Street fish market but I posted octopus pictures recently enough that I didn’t want to repeat them quite so soon.
Instead you get this picture of the soda machines in Five Guys. It’s not exactly fine art, is it?
Winter Lights
I had a friend complain about the octopus picture that I used as a banner. She said she didn’t stalk me quite so much with that there. Since she’s a good friend and since I had this picture to replace it with, I made the switch.
As you can see from this original version, I’ve flipped it horizontally so that the brightest of the red lights are not covered up, either here or in Facebook, which I try to keep in sync.
Dinosaur and Dragon
We all know that the map makers of old used to write “Here Be Dragons” in the uncharted areas of their maps. Except of course we’re all wrong. The Lenox Globe (ca. 1510) is only one known instance of a map which actually has that phrase (in Latin — hic sunt dracones). Map makers did, sometimes, fill empty areas with drawings of beasts including dragons and sea serpents, but that’s
Anyway, here we have a picture of not just a dragon but a dinosaur and a dragon! They seem amazingly healthy for extinct or mythical creatures. I found them dancing in my living room and was able to photograph them a few times before they went back into hiding. It pays to carry a camera all the time, even when walking through your own house. You never know what you will come upon.
