Miscellaneous

Redbud and Forsythia

We went for a walk along Lake Frank again today, shortly after noon. I got a few pictures of a female eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis) but is wasn’t all that great of a picture, so I’m not posting that here. I also took a picture of the first mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) we’ve seen and some marsh-marigold (Caltha palustris). As we left the park and headed back into the neighborhood I took this picture of redbud flowers with a background of forsythia (Cercis canadensis and Forsythia × intermedia).

Cassandra (right) With Her Parents

Our friend (well, Dorothy’s friend but I think she can be our friend, too) Cassandra had a show in Gallery Edit in Richmond this evening. We’ve known it was coming up and this morning as I was driving to work I thought, maybe we should drive down and see it. It would be nice to get out and even though I made the not-so-fun drive to down interstate 95 to Richmond last week, I was up for it again. Also, we wanted to show Cassandra our support. So Cathy picked me up at work at about 2:15 and we headed down, taking about 3 hours 15 minutes to make what could be a 2 hour trip. But we also got to have dinner from Alamo BBQ with dessert from Proper Pie Co. That’s a treat even without the art. This photo is from shortly after we arrived, as the gallery was just opening, and Cassandra was visiting with her parents, who had also come to see her work (and her). Definitely worth the drive (and coming home took the correct 2 hours).

In case you are wondering, the title of this post, ‘Fight’, is the title of her exhibit. It really has very little to do with this photo (i.e., no one is fighting in the picture).

Ethan And A Chicken

We were at Laurie and Dave’s this evening for our bi-weekly Bible study and prayer meeting. Ben and Erin came with three of their kids, Grace, Ethan, and Hope. They enjoyed chasing the chickens in the back yard and Ethan was able to catch one. He had it long enough for me to get a few pictures, including this one, which I think is pretty good.

Ethan seems to be settling in quite well and getting along with his siblings. Of course any change like this is going to be an adjustment and will continue to present them all with challenges but we’re so happy it’s been reasonably smooth so far.

Keeping chickens in a suburban setting seems to be something of a thing these days. I don’t know how long Laurie and Dave have been keeping them but I suspect it’s been longer than it’s been a thing. They certainly are not your average, hipster couple. No, definitely above average.

Japanese Garden — Maymont

It was a longish day today. I went to work in the morning and got a few things done. A friend brought her two children to work (because it’s spring break) and I was able to get a few nice pictures of them. Shortly after that Dorothy came and the two of us drove down to Richmond, Virginia. Traffic was pretty horrible but we finally got there. I dropped Dorothy off with a couple friends and went off to spend some time seeing things by myself.

I started at Maymont, a 100-acre, municipal park that was the estate of James and Sallie Dooley, which they began building in 1893. It is on a very hilly site and quite varied. There is an Italian garden near the top of the hill and a steep walk down from there to the Japanese garden, which features a number of connected pools, large evergreen and flowering trees, and the waterfall pictured here. There are also some wildlife exhibits and a fairly broad collection of farm animal.

Rusty Chain

After work and before I drove home I walked around outside my office a little, looking for things to photograph. It’s spring and leaves are starting to appear all over. The maple trees are in full bloom and that gives the trees a beautiful red glow, particularly when the sun is shining on them. There hasn’t been much of a change to the oaks yet, but they tend to come a little later.

One thing that caught my eye this afternoon, however, was the dumpster in our parking lot. I posted a picture of a rust spot on it the other day (see Rust Feather, Thursday, March 10, 2016) but today I noticed this chain is attached to a door on the end of the dumpster. I like the lines in this photo, particularly the arcs made by the chain as it swings, presumably when the dumpster is in transit (it doesn’t move much on its own and it would take a pretty significant wind to blow this chain around). Anyway, I like it.

Ceramic Face

Many (very many) years ago, I don’t really know how many, this face came into being. It’s a ceramic face, specifically stoneware, colored with iron oxide to give it a more (but not necessarily a lot more) realistic coloration. The eyes are particularly poorly done, but they certainly give the idea of eyes. The hair is pretty special, having been made by pushing clay through a garlic press. It’s very thick hair, I admit, but immediately recognizable. The nose is reasonable but the mouth, which is just out of the frame here, is not good at all. Could I do better now? I like to think so. Should I try? Maybe I should stick to my day job.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Repair

A little while ago Cathy started having problems with her phone. We think it started when she tripped over the cord that it was plugged into. Anyway, it would not charge when the phone was turned on and charged slowly when it was turned off. Furthermore, when it was connected to a computer, it never showed up, so we couldn’t copy pictures and videos off of it to clear up storage.

After doing a little searching and trying a few things that were suggested on various web sites, I ended up ordering a new part, a replacement charging port. It came this week and this morning I installed it in the phone. I took a few pictures of the process, more for my own edification than anything else. It’s not that hard to do although getting the new part in takes a little minor fiddling. Anyway, the old part is on the upper right and the replacement on the upper left in this picture. The replacement is upside down, showing the white plastic strips that are protecting the adhesive on the back of the circuit board.

The phone charges now, whether or not it is turned on. Also it can be seen by our computer, so I was able to clear things off of the phone. But the microphone isn’t working properly. I need to open it up again and take a look at that. The speaker phone microphone works, but not the regular microphone. Small but significant issue.

Rust Feather

It was such a beautiful day today and I had gotten to work a little early. So, I decided to leave a little early as well and spend a few minutes taking pictures around my building. I walked in the woods and took pictures of tree leaves sprouting on a few trees as well as some other assorted pictures. Back in the parking lot I noticed the rust stains on the outside of a large dumpster that’s been parked in our lot for a long while now (to support construction that seems to be going on forever inside). Most of them are surrounding places where the metal has been struck and bent, particularly from the inside. This one reminded me of a feather.

Afghan Gun Barrel Inlay

I’ve been meaning to take pictures of this for a while now and today was the day I finally got around to it. Cathy’s parents have a few old muskets from Afghanistan. One of them had detailed inlay on the barrel as well as mother of pearl inlay on the stock. The metal work on the barrel is my favorite part of the gun, however. I couldn’t get a picture of all of it without the actual details being way too small to make out, so I decided to post this close up shot. There is some Persian writing on the barrel, as well, also inlaid in brass (I assume it’s brass, anyway). I asked a friend what it said and he translated it as “Made by Fateh Khan, son of Sher Muhammad Khan Babakarkhel.”

Paperweight

We’ve been at Cathy’s mom’s a bunch lately and this morning the sun was shining through her living room window onto a table covered with a wide variety of paperweights. Many of them are glass while others are metal or stone. This is a glass paperweight, but I guess that’s obvious. In addition to the colored glass stripes on it, there are embedded bubbles, which are really pretty in the direct sunlight. It’s hard to see in this picture, but I particularly liked the way the bubbles acted as lenses, showing the other paperweights on the table.

Light Snowfall

It’s early March so it’s certainly too early in the year to be thinking that we are done with snow for the winter. Today we got a light fall of snow. It wasn’t enough to affect traffic particularly and in fact it didn’t stick to the pavement at all. By early afternoon it was pretty much gone entirely. But it was quite pretty this morning, sticking to all the branches of trees and bushes. I guess I’m looking forward to the flowers of spring and to the bees and insects of summer but I’m not particularly looking forward to the heat that accompanies them. But you cannot have one without the other.

Boy and Water Buffalo

We spent much of the day at Suburban Hospital today but were finally able to get someone to sign release papers and we came home to Cathy’s mom’s house at about 2:30. I fixed dinner and we decided we should spend the night here. That meant that I needed to find something to photograph here for this little blog of mine. In the dining room, on a sideboard, is this little figurine of a water buffalo with a boy sitting on its back, playing on a flute. I’ve always liked this little pair of creatures, with the buffalo half submerged in the wood-like water of the sideboard.

Mouse Trap

I’ve just put down two mouse traps. Cathy and I were watching the TV this evening and all of a sudden Cathy started screaming. Well, not quite screaming but close. To the right of the TV, climbing on the bricks around the fire place, was a fairly large and quite healthy looking mouse. There he was, bold as you please. I’ve been aware that we have mice for a while and I bought some traps a few weeks ago but hadn’t put them out. I have now. I’m using peanut butter as bait and we’ll see how it goes. I’ve had mice that could take peanut butter off traps without tripping them, but generally the trap wins.

US Flag Through The Trees

On my way home most days, when I take the shortest route home rather, I pass a Chevrolet dealer that flies this large American Flag. Some days, when there is no wind, it’ hangs down along the pole. Other days it is more active. Today, there was a fairly stiff breeze and it stood out proudly from the pole. As I sat at the traffic light, I enjoyed watching it move in the wind and I decided I’d take a few pictures. It’s a fairly long light, so I had plenty of time.

Fire Truck, Rockville

After work today I was in Rockville Town Center to meet up with some guys at Gordon Biersch. After I parked, I was walking around a bit, taking a few pictures before heading to the restaurant. When I saw this fire truck turn the corner onto Maryland Avenue I decided to snap a couple pictures. I didn’t have a lot of time to adjust my camera so I snapped at whatever settings were already dialed in, meaning this was taken at 1/20th of a second at f/5.6. Not ideal and it shows in the camera motion. But it did serve the purpose of blurring the moving fire truck nicely. Note that it didn’t actually have lights flashing or siren wailing, so it may have simply been heading back to its station, the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department, at 380 Hungerford Drive.

Californian incense-cedar (Calocedrus decurrens) in Snow

We had a minor snow storm today (Monday). It’s Washington’s Birthday, which is a federal and local holiday for many people so it didn’t affect school today. Tomorrow is another matter and since I’m writing this on Wednesday, I happen to know they cancelled school, probably unnecessarily. It wasn’t really a bad storm and by the end of the day we had 2¾″ on the ground.

It has been quite cold for more than a couple days, with highs below freezing so the ground was cold enough that the snow began accumulating immediately. There was less than an inch when I got up this morning. I noticed that the water level in our bird bath was fairly low, lower than it had been yesterday (an not frozen because of a heater). There were tracks in the newly fallen snow that might have been from a fox. We saw the fox over the weekend, so we know he (or she) is in the area. I cleared a path to the bird bath with a broom instead of a shovel, and filled it. This was about the time the snow stopped falling and I measured it at that point. I also took a few pictures, including this one of the snow in one of three Californian incense-cedar trees (Calocedrus decurrens) that I planted along the back fence.

Magnetic Balls

A few years back these were a real hit at Christmas time. I bought three sets of 216 balls each (they came in a cube with 6³ balls). One set was colored but the coloring has mostly come off them all and they are plain steel colored balls now. They are not steel, however, being made of neodymium. You will find neodymium on the periodic table of elements with the symbol Nd and atomic number 60. It is one of the lanthanide elements, often referred to as rare earth metals, although neodymium isn’t actually particularly rare. The magnets are actually an alloy of neodymium, iron, and boron (Nd₂Fe₁₄B). Shortly after I bought them for Christmas, they were taken off the market because they are dangerous if swallowed, particularly if two are swallowed separately. If two stick together with a fold of intestine between them, it can be very serious (seriously bad).

Watching Super Bowl 50

We had a longish day today, leaving Greensboro at about 7:45 and driving home, pulling in at 1:30 after going almost exactly 300 miles. Traffic was quite light, for which I was extremely grateful, and we had no problems on the way. I didn’t have long to rest after getting home, because I had a church leadership meeting at 2:00 and then church at 4:00. By the time we were home again, the Super Bowl had already started.

Because we don’t have cable and our meager antenna only really picks up NBC and Fox, we couldn’t watch the game on our television. Fortunately, in this internet age, the game was being streamed on the CBS Sports web site and we were able to watch in on that. Our computer monitor is small compared to many new television sets but at 21 inches, it isn’t all that much smaller than our old, 1986 television. The picture is quite a bit better.

This picture was taken towards the end of the game (3:13 on the clock) and pretty much sums up the action. Referee Clete Blakeman is announcing yet another penalty against the Carolina Panthers.