Miscellaneous

The Cabin and Pond

Dorothy Cutting A Tree

Dot Looking at Jewelry

We drove up to Pennsylvania with mom to get Christmas trees today and as usual we stopped by the farm. As we got out of the car we startled two squirrels, who ran up the side of the cabin and into holes up at the ridge line. It seems they have been doing a little chewing inside, destroying one chair, but not as much damage as they could have done. There’s not a huge amount we can do about it. If we had time and a long ladder we could put hardware cloth over their openings but that might not do more than slow them down a bit. Still, probably worth doing in the spring.

It wasn’t as cold as some years and there was only the smallest amount of ice on the pond, just at the edges. It was actually a beautiful day with enough clouds to make the sky interesting while still being basically clear. We walked around the pond and I took a bunch of pictures. We haven’t planted Christmas trees in way too long so there are none there worth considering for our houses. We didn’t even go look this year because even the smallest trees will be way too big.

From the farm we drove to Seven Springs Tree Farm to get three trees, one for mom, one for Ralph and Tsai-Hong, and one for us. We got smallish trees this year. Because of that and because there were only four of us in the van we were able to fold the back seat down and put them in the back of the van. That’s even easier than tying them on the roof. In this picture the tree Dorothy is cutting down is in the process of falling. Got to get those action shots.

We went into the shop for hot chocolate and to listen to the little band that was playing folk music inside. The third picture here is of mom looking at jewelry in the shop. She knew I was taking it but didn’t realize that more than her arm was in the picture. Sneaky, eh?

We went to lunch after getting our trees. This is the third year in a row we’ve gone to the Ott House Pub in Emmitsburg. It’s a friendly place with pretty good food. The onion rings were excellent.

Going to get our trees is one of those traditions that I don’t really want to give up. It’s definitely not the cheapest or easiest way to get a tree but it’s worth the extra time and expense. It’s a shame that Dorothy’s friend Kendra wasn’t able to come with us this year, but it was still fun.

Frosty Morning

The temperature has been up and down quite a bit the last few weeks. We’ve had wonderfully warm days in the 60s and a few cold days that made if feel like winter was here to stay. This morning it was cold again and there was a touch of frost everywhere. The grass was a whitish-green and was crunchy under foot. The azalea leaves had tiny ice crystals all over them. This picture is of oak leaves in the pachysandra. I love the way the leaves are outlined in white.

Heinz Potato & Leek Soup

Dorothy has been working for a while on this screen print in her art class at school. It’s printed on the back of a faded blue shirt and I think it turned out very well.

The assignment was to take an every day object and make it ironic in some way and to do it in the style of Andy Warhol. Clearly this makes you think of his Campbell’s Soup cans but with the twist that they are Heinz and the soup is thick potato and leek instead of tomato.

It was actually a pretty ambitious design because of all the colors used, taking 20 screenings in all.

Now I’m a bit hungry. I think I’ll go have a bowl of soup.

Lake Needwood

I’ve stopped a Lake Needwood a few times this fall to take pictures. Once the trees were all in their festive fall clothes. Once it was foggy and mysterious. Today, it was bright and sunny and the blue of the water was enhanced by the reflection of the blue sky. It was a chilly morning but very pretty out so I stopped for a few pictures.

I took some with the longer lens and got some nice pictures with geese on the water. Then I switched to the wide angle and took a few more. This is one of the wide angle shots and it emphasizes the blue of the water, contrasted with the dull brown of the trees on the shore.

I would be pretty awesome to take a picture looking in this direction at the same time every day for a year and turn that into an animation. Not that I’m going to do that, mind you. Just that it would be pretty awesome.

Christmas Lights

I stopped in front of a house with lots of Christmas lights on the way home this evening and took a bunch of pictures. Some of them were taken with fairly long exposures and I moved the camera around a bit to see what patterns I’d get. In this one, there are two lights that stand out from the rest and you can see the pattern that was made by my movement. What do you see? I showed it to Dorothy and asked her what she saw and she said the same thing that I saw.

Note: This post was originally titled What Do You See? It was quickly pointed out by my brother that, given the season and the reason for the lights maybe the title should be, Do You See What I See? He is right, of course, and I changed the title. I only wish I had been so clever from the start.

Stop Light

I was waiting at this traffic light on the way home from work and realized that I really liked the rich colors of both the light and the sky. In the picture the light has washed out just a bit and turned slightly orange, but it still works well with the deep blue evening sky.

Then the light changed to green and I moved on.

Foggy Morning

It was a foggy drive to church this morning but I headed into the mist without fear. Alright, perhaps that is a bit dramatic. Still, visibility was significantly reduced, particularly in low lying areas, like here as I headed down toward the creek. I like fog, actually, and wish we had it more often, although it does not do wonders to traffic around here. I remember leaving for school in the fog in Cambridge years ago. I honestly don’t remember if that was a happy memory or not, but it is now. So there.

Window Reflections

Negative Space

Marsh Reflections

Three pictures today, all featuring reflections. The first is a picture of the sun and clouds reflected in an office building. I had to walk over here to pick something up today and, as I sometimes do, I brought my camera with me. The sun was reflecting brightly in the windows and along with the clouds, I thought it looked nice. I had to be careful to have the sun not quite in one of the windows or it was way to bright. Actually, it’s a bit blown out in parts as it is. Still, and interesting photo.

After that I walked down into the woods between my building and the one with the reflections. The stream that runs between the two buildings has a fairly strong flow here and I was looking for patterns on the surface. This one is a little interesting because where the tree is reflected on the water the reflections are absent and you can see down to the rocky bottom, where I focused. It’s almost hard to tell that the shiny surface is water, because it is ever so slightly out of focus.

The last picture is from a little pool of water that lies just above the stream and yet somehow separated from it. In the summer it is a place of dragonflies and skimmers but it has a very different feel now that the cool weather has come and the insect life is not apparent. I’ve come down to this pool a few times when it is very busy at work and I need a few minutes of quiet solitude. It’s a good place to sit and think.

St. Mary’s Church

The old St. Mary’s Church, shown here on the left, was built in 1817. It is the first brick Catholic church in the county and the oldest church still in use in Rockville. The new church building, on the right was built in the 1960, but fortunately the old church was saved from demolition. Cathy and I were in Rockville for some business this morning and this is the view from the office we were in.

Turkeys

Thanksgiving is over and the decorations are being put away. These are three turkeys that Cathy gets out every year. I’m sorry to say that I’m not as supportive as I should be when it comes to seasonal decoration. I’m not really a scrooge but I’m not necessarily affected by the decorations. Still, there’s no real harm in them and decorating makes some people happy. When “some people” includes your spouse, you really should make an effort. Sorry, Cathy. I’ll try harder for Christmas.

And yes, that’s Edgar Allen Poe in the background.

Bell Peppers

There are not many foods I don’t like and as I get older, the list gets shorter. Bell peppers are probably at the head of that list, though, along with licorice, perhaps. Unlike licorice, however, I think bell peppers are beautiful, in all their amazing colors. As long as I don’t have to eat them.

Ripples

It was a beautiful day today, cool but not cold. I went out and took some picture, mostly of ripples in the stream that flows through the empty lot next to my office building. I could sit and watch flowing water for a long time. Of course, during a work day I don’t have any long stretches to spare, so I make do with short stretches, instead.

Ceramic Dogs

Once upon a time, Cathy collected ceramic (and glass and whatever) dogs. She still has the collection, although she doesn’t actively collect them any more. A few of them are out in various places in the house. These are on top of a small set of bookshelves in our bedroom. I sort of like the terrier-like dog on the left but decided to focus on this pitiful looking hound in the foreground instead. Sorry the picture is so “grainy.” I still had the ISO set to 3,200 from yesterday and didn’t notice until later.

Hair and Leaves

By trimming my beard outdoors, I eliminate much of the clean-up process. I do need to move the bulk of the hair somewhere that Cathy won’t come across it by accident. Otherwise she might see it and think a small animal has been mauled. At our old house there was a catbird that built a nest in an eglantine rose every year and my hair played a prominent part in its makeup. It’s nice to find that your hair is going to a good purpose.

Setting Sun

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was out late in the afternoon. The sun was getting low in the sky and I enjoyed the way it was shining through the trees. It’s hard to get a picture of the sun, as you might imagine, but I took a few, anyway, trying to balance the brightness of the sun without loosing all the yellow in the trees that it was illuminating. This was the best I got and while it doesn’t really look exactly like what I saw, it is enough like it to remind me. Of course, it won’t really remind you, since you weren’t there. Next time you should come with me.

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.

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.

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.

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.