Buteo jamaicensis (Red-tailed Hawk)

Photograph taken on Tuesday, November 06, 2012 by Henry
Buteo jamaicensis (Red-tailed Hawk)

Buteo jamaicensis (Red-tailed Hawk)

Well, I initially identified this as a sharp-shinned hawk. I’m not terribly good with the hawks (as anyone who is will tell you). I do know the general shapes and because of that I incorrectly correlated the narrow tail here with the Accipiters and went with the most common of those around here. As I was quickly told by my birder brother, this is a red-tailed hawk, which usually flares its tail. Looking at pictures (which I probably should have done first) I can see he is right. All the patterns on the wings say red-tail, to those who know. So, now I know. At least until I forget, which probably won’t be long.

Anyway, I’ve completely rewritten the text for this post. Purists would say I should have left the old and just added my correction to it. You can do that on your blog. I admitted my mistake. That’s enough.

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Rogue Turtle

Photograph taken on Monday, November 05, 2012 by Henry
Dorothy

Dorothy

I don’t really have much to say about this picture. It is of Dorothy, obviously. She has her back pack on with a blanket over it and she was saying she was a turtle, for some reason, which I don’t fully understand.

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That’s Not a Cello

Photograph taken on Sunday, November 04, 2012 by Henry
Dorothy On A Violin

Dorothy On A Violin

Dorothy picked up a violin today and started playing it tentatively. Of course, she’s never played the violin and after a short while she said something to the effect of, “I just can’t play holding it like this, it’s just wrong.” Then she turned it down and played it like a very small cello. She did reasonably well, actually, all things considered.

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Musical Clouds

Photograph taken on Sunday, November 04, 2012 by Henry
Clouds

Clouds

I don’t know what it is but sometimes when I look at clouds, their shapes make music to me. Unfortunately, I cannot translate that into something anyone else can share, but at least I get to enjoy it myself. I guess it’s the rhythm of the repeating pattern that triggers it in my brain. These are musical clouds. Do you hear it?

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Fajita Steak

Photograph taken on Saturday, November 03, 2012 by Henry
Fajita Steak

Fajita Steak

We had a wonderful time with our great friends, Krystal and Mike, this evening. They hate it when I take there picture so I’m going with this one of my meal. Very tasty.

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Afghan Carpet

Photograph taken on Friday, November 02, 2012 by Henry
Afghan Carpet Detail

Afghan Carpet Detail

This is the corner of a small Afghan carpet that we have in our living room. The carpet is only about the size of a door mat, so it’s more decorative than actual floor covering but it adds color to an otherwise monochrome, carpeted floor.

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Starlings

Photograph taken on Thursday, November 01, 2012 by Henry
Starlings

Starlings

Are you a fan of starlings? Or do you see them as a curse, a thorn in the farmers’ side? Randy Stonehill, one of my favorite singers, used them as a metaphor for those we prefer not to see. “She was sitting on a curb by the Seven Eleven.” There are songs that make me laugh. There are songs that make me sing. This is a song that can make me cry. Not a comfortable song, but very beautiful, somewhat like the starlings.

Say a prayer for the starlings
A hot, dry wind beats their ragged wings
Have a thought for the starlings
No one ever listens to the songs they sing
Say a prayer for the starlings
There’s no welcome for them anywhere
Leave some crumbs for the starlings
They say that Winter will be cold this year

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Tree Reflection

Photograph taken on Thursday, November 01, 2012 by Henry
Tree Reflection

Tree Reflection

I love reflections. I think it’s partly because I love the colors and the textures of the surface of moving water. Water that is animated, whether by wind or by gravity creates a surface that turns otherwise mundane objects into beautiful patters. Beautiful to me, anyway. Sometimes it is the motion itself that I love and capturing that in a still photograph is tricky. In this case I think it works. I especially like that you can see ripples from drops of rain among the other ripples.

This is a flood control pond north of Gude Drive between Key West and Research Blvd. It is near where I have walked many times but for some reason I’ve never been this side of Gude. It’s pretty overgrown with brambles, which means it isn’t as accessible as some places but there are things to be seen that might make it worth the effort from time to time.

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Walnuts and Leaves

Photograph taken on Thursday, November 01, 2012 by Henry
Walnuts and Leaves

Walnuts and Leaves

I know I’ve recently posted a picture of black walnuts but I was out taking pictures and came across another tree that had just dropped most of its nuts. Not too surprisingly I took pictures of them on the ground.

I find it interesting that there are certain memories that are indelibly recorded in our minds and they are released by particular sights, sounds, and above all smells. The smell of the flesh of black walnuts is one that brings me back to my childhood. Blessed is he whose indelible memories are good ones.

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Blue Sky

Photograph taken on Wednesday, October 31, 2012 by Henry
Blue Sky

Blue Sky

Yesterday I asked for blue sky, today we got some. It wasn’t a clear blue sky but there was enough to make a pair of kitten britches, as we used to say. Odd saying, that. I wonder what the world of Google might have to tell us. Hmm. Here’s what I found in The Sailor’s Word-Book: An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, Including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, But Useful to Seamen; As Well As Archaisms of Early Voyagers, Etc. by the late Admiral William Henry Smyth, K.S.F., D.C.L., &c., published in 1867.

DUTCHMAN’S BREECHES. The patch of blue sky often seen when a gale is breaking, is said to be, however small, “enough to make a pair of breeches for a Dutchman.” Others assign the habiliment to a Welshman, but give no authority for the assumption.

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Pond Overflow

Photograph taken on Tuesday, October 30, 2012 by Henry
Pond Overflow

Pond Overflow

We had about 6.5 inches of rain between Sunday evening and this morning. It rained pretty heavily yesterday afternoon and into the night. It was still coming down this morning but not nearly so hard. It will be nice to see a blue sky again.

When I got to work, the little pond between my building and the next was filled up. Normally it is about two feet deep in its deepest parts. When it rains hard, it can get as much as about 15 feet deep before it overtops the spillway built at the lower end. You cannot quite see it in this picture, but there is a notch in the middle of the wall and the water is coming through that. Last year, on September 8, it had overtopped the entire wall and was coming in all around this enclosure. So, this isn’t the highest I’ve seen the water, but it’s close.

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Sandy Prep

Photograph taken on Monday, October 29, 2012 by Henry
Cathy and Tarp

Cathy and Tarp

Hurricane Sandy has reached us although in the morning, when this was taken it was only raining. The rain started last night and was going to be with us for a while. It hadn’t gotten windy yet, but that was coming. We have a little problem with water in our basement and we knew it was going to be an issue today. It only comes in at one spot and part of the problem is rain that falls in this spot, between our patio and the bilco doors and steps down to our basement. So, we put a tarp out to direct the rain out from the house in that area. This is Cathy, pretending to be the intrepid weather man, standing out in the pouring rain to get the forecast out.

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Steak

Photograph taken on Sunday, October 28, 2012 by Henry
Steak

Steak

I didn’t cook and neither did I eat this steak. But I did take a picture of it. I’ll leave it at that.

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Melanerpes carolinus (Red-bellied Woodpecker)

Photograph taken on Saturday, October 27, 2012 by Henry
<em>Melanerpes carolinus</em> (Red-bellied Woodpecker)

Melanerpes carolinus (Red-bellied Woodpecker)

We went over to my mother-in-law’s today to clean out her gutter and do a few other things. I heard and then saw a hawk overhead but by the time I had my camera it was gone. I sat for a while under the carport watching a chickadee bouncing around but couldn’t get any pictures of it. As I waited,though, this big red-bellied woodpecker came and landed very close to me, too close, in fact, to fit in the camera frame. Unfortunately it was a bit dark under the trees and the picture is blurry, but it was cool, anyway. He only stayed long enough for three quick shots and was gone.

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Eating Underwater

Photograph taken on Friday, October 26, 2012 by Henry
Tara Thai

Tara Thai

Of course we were not really underwater but we had dinner at Tara Thai this evening with Mike and Krystal. As tara is the Thai word for water, their decor is water related. This is a semi-abstract photograph take upwards from our table towards the wall.

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Walnuts and Leaves

Photograph taken on Friday, October 26, 2012 by Henry
Black Walnuts

Black Walnuts

Willow Oak Leaves

Willow Oak Leaves

Of all the tree nuts, I’m the most conflicted by walnuts. Cashews are my absolute favorite, and I love filberts and pistachios. Pecans and walnuts, however are a bit more complicated. I like them well plain, just as they are. It’s also hard to resist such things as pralines or pecan pie. Walnut and maple syrup is a pretty amazing match-up, as well. When it comes to crushed walnuts on brownies, though, I’m a little less enthusiastic. I’m not really sure why. I obviously like the taste alright, and I don’t object to filberts or cashews combined with chocolate.

Anyway, most of the walnuts you buy in the store are from Juglans regia, the common walnut, also called Persian, English, or Carpathian walnut. What you see here are J. nigra, the eastern black walnut. They are a harder to get out of their shells, which are significantly thicker and harder than their more genteel counterparts from the old country. They also have a more intense flavor, however, making it worth the effort. Since there are so many of them on the ground in the empty lot next to my office, I went out and collected a big bag of them this afternoon. I’ll let the husks dry a bit, clean them off and then crack them in a vise.

The second picture here is not really related to the first except it was taken on the same outing. These are leaves of the willow oak, (Quercus phellos).

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Orion

Photograph taken on Friday, October 26, 2012 by Henry
Orion

Orion

I’ve got three posts for today with pretty varied subjects. The first is Orion, the son of a coworker. He wouldn’t smile for me, which is understandable. I know I’m a little scary looking to kids who don’t know that I’m mostly a Teddy bear. Even his “I’m not sure about this man” look it adorable, though. Thanks (and thanks to your mom) for the visit, you really brightened up my day.

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Appalachian Melody

Photograph taken on Thursday, October 25, 2012 by Henry
Red and Gold and Brown

Red and Gold and Brown

With apologies to the late Mark Heard, I’ve given this post the title of one of my favorite songs, Appalachian Melody. It’s so sad when anyone dies young but we particularly miss those with exceptional talent. Mark was only 40 years old when he died in 1992 of a heart attack. I hum and sing this song to myself often, particularly at this time of year, of course. “How peculiar liking old dead leaves against the sky.” I do, because there is something more than meats the eye.

Actually, I think this photograph would make a really good jigsaw puzzle.

Appalachian melody drifting softly down
Instruments of gold and red and brown

You can read the rest of the lyrics to this song and to Mark Heard’s other songs on www.markheard.net.

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Sunrise

Photograph taken on Wednesday, October 24, 2012 by Henry
Sunrise

Sunrise

It’s our week to drive the carpool and as we left this morning it looked like I had missed a wonderful sunrise. There was a little pink left in the sky but not enough to make me run for my camera. Getting a good sunrise in our neighborhood is a bit hard, anyway, because there are so many trees. When we had picked up everyone and arrived at the school, I found that with the lower horizon there, because of the open area behind the school (i.e. the soccer field), the sunrise had not entirely finished giving us a nice display. This is actually five vertical images, stitched together to make one horizontal image.

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Lake Needwood

Photograph taken on Tuesday, October 23, 2012 by Henry
Lake Needwood

Lake Needwood

It’s my week to drive the carpool to school which means I go by Lake Needwood on the way to work. It was a beautiful morning today with a pale blue sky and the autumn colors just about at peak. It was a bonus to see lots of geese on Lake Needwood, as well. How could I not stop and enjoy it for a few minutes?

I decided that I’ve had that mountain picture up as my banner image for long enough so I took a slice out of today’s picture as a replacement. Gives the site an autumnal feel.

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