Miscellaneous

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.

Drowning Trumpet

Or maybe it’s just being washed, I’m not sure which. I thought about calling it “The Death of the Trumpet Marat” but that might be a bit too obscure.

Snow Storm?

You know how beautiful snow is on the branches of spruce trees? I look forward to that and though it’s better with a whole forest of trees, there is a Colorado spruce in our front yard and a Norway spruce outside my office window so I have something specific to look forward to. So when the forecast is for snow I get my hopes up. Not, perhaps, as much as a kid hoping to get out of school the next day but still up. Eventually we did get a little frozen precipitation but mostly this is what the “snow” looked like. Kind of a let down compared to snow, but liquid water is pretty nice, too.

Flag Through The Trees

I pass this flag going to and from work every day. Some days it’s hanging straight down while other days it’s stretched out in the wind. Today was a windy day and I took this picture through the trees waiting at the traffic light (I was waiting at the traffic light, not the trees, they were just standing there).

Cheeburger Cheeburger

Dinner at Cheeburger Cheeburger this evening. Green olives are not a hit with the girls so I get them. This is my three-eyed cheeburger monster. Yummy.

Obgarch, Pakistan

This isn’t a new picture. In fact, it’s from 1988, taken on Cathy and my great around-the-world adventure. I’m posting it because I’ve switched my banner for the site to use an edited version and thought you might enjoy the full frame. The banner has also been flipped horizontally so that the little note with my name on it doesn’t cover the mountain but this is the way the original looked. It was taken from a little village called Obgarch in far northern Pakistan. When I say little, I mean there were two or three people there. You can find it on Google Maps here:36° 38′ 15″ N, 74° 55′ 30″ E. We’re at about 9,000 feet in the Karakoram mountains which are really spectacular.

BUGSGON

Do you enjoy vanity license plates? I do and often think about having a collection of photographs of them but of course I usually see them while driving, which isn’t really the best time to be taking pictures. Here I was stopped at a traffic light.

Reflections

This is the back entrance to my building and the way I usually enter and exit. I like the changing reflections through the year. In the spring it’s a very green reflection. Some days blue is the predominant color. Today gray and brown were in force.

Traffic Lights

Traffic was a bit heavy coming home today and I took this picture in my rain spattered rear view mirror.

We each had a set of “Buckyballs” in our stocking this past Christmas and we’ve really enjoyed playing with them. One set was plain steel, another was darker (listed as black but as you can see, they aren’t, really), and the third was multicolored. Dorothy managed to get her colored set back into its cube configuration, which is how it came. Mostly we make a tube or sheet with them, though.

Skeletons

For Christmas I got a book of essays by G. K. Chesterton. I’ve only read a few of them, because I have a long shelf of books I’m trying to get through and I add to it faster than I can read them. I think this one is next on my list, though. The second essay in the book, and one which I have read (I sneak one now and then), is called A Defence of Skeletons, written in 1901. In it, he talks about the skeletons of trees, as well as our own skeletons. You can read the whole thing here. Anyway, I was thinking about that as I looked out the window of my office at the skeletons of trees outside. I think they are quite beautiful.

Piano and Hands

I’m working with a friend on the front and back cover for his upcoming CD. It’s piano music and we decided to go with the obvious “hands at the piano keys” for the back cover. This is the image we picked, with lots of room for white text.

These are just photos of four random items at Cathy’s mom’s. The two wood blocks were used to print their curtains, which I think is pretty cool.