Miscellaneous

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Caption Contest…

Bass Guitar

Sometimes you have to stop and get back to basics. That is, to the basis of this whole blogging experiment. So, what’s more basic than a bass? I guess I could have gone fishing.

Glass Bricks

These are glass bricks that form a divider in the local Cheeburger Cheeburger. I like the patterns in them, which are given depth by the light coming from outside as well as the colored interior lighting.

Briggs and Stratton

When we moved into out current house in 2006 I decided it was time to retire the lawn mower we had been using at our old house. It was 12 years old and had served faithfully with very little trouble. For the new mower, I thought I’d try a Toro. I can’t say I’m particularly impressed. The engine itself hasn’t had any trouble and I hate to say it’s time for a new one but the rest of the mower could be more robust. The drive transaxle gave up a few years ago. I bought a new one and replaced it and I thought that was going to be the worst of things. Well, a few short years later and it looks like it’s gone again. I don’t really want to keep replacing that. Also, now the bolt the holds the handle to the chassis has come out and disappeared somewhere in the yard. So, I decided to cut my losses and start over. I’m sure there are other people with stories exactly opposite to mine but I’ve gone back to Craftsman. Sorry Toro.

Air Ducts As Art

OK, maybe art is too strong a word here. Perhaps air ducts as design elements. Anyway, I went out to lunch with a couple friends from work today and noticed the nicely painted air ducts overhead. Anyone know where this is?

Maple Leaf

It’s like fall color in the spring. This little maple leaf was on the ground in our back yard and I liked the color when the sun shone through it. Needless to say, I had my camera with me so I took a picture. What a beautiful day.

Ghost Car

It isn’t a great picture but I never promised great pictures. I was waiting at a light on the way home and decided to see if I could get a good blur from the cars going across in front of me. If I had taken this picture about a half a second later I’d have gotten a police car with its lights flashing. Oh well.

I also took some pictures of Dorothy and some of her friends but I’ll post a couple of those on Facebook for those of you who see my pictures there.

Diner

We had dinner with Cathy’s mom at a Thai restaurant this evening, beating the Mother’s Day rush. I really like the lighting, the colors, and the chrome of this diner a couple doors up, though. It isn’t an old or historic diner and in fact it just changed ownership. Still, it looks pretty cool.

Kendra's Trumpet

Dorothy’s friend Kendra came over this evening and played music together, Dorothy on the piano and Kendra on her trumpet. They weren’t tuned together very well but other than that it was nice. Dorothy’s writing a song and they worked out a trumpet part.

Corvettes

Last month I posted a rather pedestrian photo of a line of Camrys. Question: Can a photo of cars be pedestrian? What if the photo was taken from the window of a car? Anyway…

Today, after a short visit to the orthodontist and then another brief visit at Einstein’s we stopped and I took a few pictures of a line of Corvettes. Yes, that’s better.

Dorothy's New Shoes

I don’t know that she actually needed them but she bought them, anyway. Nice.

Rain On The Window

I’m not complaining, mind you, but it rained again today. I happened to be out taking pictures when the rain rolled back in, which was a bit of a surprise. The pictures I got were not all that good and I decided to go with this one of rain on the window of my office. I’ll try to get better versions of the picture I tried to take another day.

Rain!

We’ve been hoping for rain for a while now and it finally came, starting last night and continuing pretty much all day today. I don’t know how much rain we got but it was very welcome. We went to Stadler Nurseries this afternoon and walked around in the drizzle. I bought a camellia (C. japonica ‘Dad’s Pink’) and Cathy bought a columbine. It was too wet to plant them today, though. This picture was taken on our back patio.

Camrys

I gave a friend a lift to pick up his car at one shop and then take it to the dealer for some warranty-covered work. While I was waiting I took this picture of a line of Toyota Camrys.

Redbud Leaves

The new leaves on the redbud trees are cute, delicate, little hearts. What a beautiful, cool, spring day we had today. Breezy and fair. We need rain, of course, but I was glad to be out in the sunshine today.

Dentistry Tools

Some people hate going to the dentist. I guess I get that but for me, it’s just something you do. I go fairly often because I don’t take as good care of my teeth as I ought and this is my way of making up for it. I’ve actually had a pretty good history, dentistry-wise. Also, I have a great dentist, which certainly helps. Anyway, I went today for my period cleaning and check-up. All is well.

Reflections, Again

Just over two months ago I posted a photo that I titled Reflections. It was the back entrance to the office building where I work and it was mostly a study in gray and brown. Well, this morning I was struck by how different it looks now, with blue and enough green to be quite cheerful. I reflected on the reflections and decided I’d take and post another picture.

Lucky Cat

We moved the new aquarium into the kitchen today and got it situated. As you can see, it doesn’t have any water in it yet, that will come. For now, it’s home to a lucky cat and some Clementines.

Hydrangea quercifolia (Oakleaf Hydrangea)

Last year I planted an Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) in a shady part of the front yard. It’s doing well and leafing out and I like the lines of the emerging leaves.

Duck On A Bike

He used to have propellors on his head that spun around when he moved but they have fallen off. I know where one is but without all three he isn’t balanced properly and he falls over, which is sort of useless. Still, a duck on a bike is a happy thing. Thanks, David.

5 US Cents,
5 Danish Kroner, and
2 Canadian Dollars

I emptied my pocket onto the table this evening and found, among other things, these three coins. Why were there 5 Danish Kroner and 2 Canadian Dollar pieces in my pocket? You may well ask. I assume I had taken them out of one of the pockets of my camera bag recently and they’ve been in my pocket ever since, moving around with the rest of my change as I changed clothes. I’ve always felt that U.S.A. money is not as nice as the rest of the world. I guess I like the idea of different presidents on different denominations well enough, but maybe we could be more creative with the reverse. Also, I like the two-tone Canadian coin. I’m also a fan of the £1 and £2 coins (and the £2 is also two colors). Unlike our $1 coins, the £1 coins can be differentiated from other coins while still in your pocket, which I think it vital. Make $1 coins smaller but thicker and they might catch on. I think $2 and $5 coins might be nice, as well.

Sycamore Seeds

It was another beautiful, clear day today, at least in the morning. I went out to see what I could find to photograph and didn’t come back with much. There are a some weeds with tiny white flowers but the pictures aren’t all that good. I also got some more pictures of daffodils but we’ll be seeing a lot of those shortly. Finally, there are these sycamore seeds. I can’t say I’ve looked at them all that closely before although I’ve pulled apart the seed balls from time to time. I’m glad I went out when I did because in the afternoon the temperature dropped and it started raining, sometimes quite hard.

Traffic In The Rain

We had a very rainy day today, with it coming down quite hard for a good while. We haven’t actually had a lot of rain lately and nothing as strong as this so it was kind of nice, in a dreary, cold, gray sort of way. I love days like today, actually, but I’m pretty busy at work and didn’t get a chance to go out in it. On the way home, stopped at a traffic light, I did take a few pictures of the colored lights reflecting off the wet pavement.

I went to the grocery store while Dorothy was at her art lesson this afternoon and when I came out I noticed the two signs and how different they are.

I was taking pictures of the piano keyboard this evening, with the camera on a tripod and with a two second delay. Dorothy had a good time trying to photo bomb my efforts. As you can see from the second of these pictures, she succeeded.

Light Snow and Cool

There was a light snow overnight and it was quite cool this morning. Our thermometer said 19°F (-7°C) when I got up although it wasn’t as breezy as it was last night, which made if feel colder when it wasn’t.