|
Here and There…Now and Then |
Geese Taking Flight
As I came down and crossed Lake Needwood this morning I saw that there was a large flock of geese on the near end. I pulled over and got my camera out to take a few pictures. Of course, the geese moved away from me as I walked down to the water’s edge. I ran the last fifteen yards or so to startle them and managed to get them to take off all at once. It’s not as good a picture as I’d like but I do like it, anyway.
Tail Lights
It was another of those days when I realized that I live in a place that doesn’t particularly scream for pictures to be taken. I’m in an office for most of the daylight hours. The sunrise this morning wasn’t anything like yesterday’s and it rained most of the afternoon and into the evening. It was dark as I drove home but waiting at a traffic light, I decided to take this picture of the tail lights of cars, reflecting off of the wet pavement. That’s all I’ve got.
Sunrise
It’s been a rainy month. Not particularly cold overall, although there have been some cold spells. Today was balmy and beautiful. The clouds were moving off to the east this morning as I drove the carpool to school. A little earlier than this, the clouds were lit up from below, but I had a car full of students and not a lot of time to stop for pictures. This one is pretty nice, anyway. It was quite beautiful.
WCA At Night
We were at the school for a Society meeting this evening. As we were leaving I put the camera on the top of the van and took a few pictures. I like this one the best, partly because a car drove through the picture, producing the red light lines part of the way around the circle.
The three green lights in the middle are artifacts from the bright lights on the front of the building around the door. The gray area in the bottom left is the roof of the car.
Tracks In The Snow
There is still snow on the ground from Friday evening. It’s not enough to let me take wonderful snowy landscape photographs, though. There is a fair amount of grass showing through, particularly in the sunnier places. There were some people sledding yesterday but there was more grass on the hill than snow. Still, we take what we can get.
There is a cat in our neighborhood who comes to our kitchen door and sits looking in. Not often enough to be a real nuisance but often enough that it’s a little creepy. We haven’t seen her in a while but I’m putting my money on these being her tracks on our back patio. We also had tracks from a deer that ran across our back yard and from rabbits and squirrels. It’s a busy place, our back yard.
Kendra
Dorothy’s friend, Kendra, came over today and they basically hung out. In the afternoon we made them go for a walk with us in the neighborhood. Naturally I brought my camera and, also naturally, Kendra brought hers. She often mugs for the camera but for this picture she actually gave me a very natural smile, which I really appreciate.
I took some other pictures on our walk that I like well enough. I decided not to post them, though, because I decided I’m much more likely to take similar photos in the future. I’ve done this before. I take two or three pictures that I like and I want to pick one of them for the day’s picture. I usually choose the one that I’m least likely to reproduce again and post that. Of course, if I like a different one significantly more, then I’ll post that one. This only applies when a few are at about the same level of likedness.
Snow
We had snow today, starting at about 2:00 PM and lasting until rush hour. Schools let out early, which the kids were happy about, at any rate. This is the view out of my office window at about ten minutes after four. Fairly dark already and visibility was definitely reduced. My relatively short commute was not a problem, however.
Poinsettia Leaf
I love the deep red of poinsettia leaves. I also love the little flowers, but you have to admit, it’s the leaves that you really notice. This picture is basically a picture of the color red.
Lectern Eagle’s Talons
Did you ever notice in the opening scene in Chariots of Fire, in the church, there is a lectern in the shape of an eagle? Eagle lecterns are quite common in English churches and I quite like them. What is a little less common is for there to be one in someone’s dining room. My father-in-law bought this one in the early 1980s and it’s been a fixture in the dining room ever since, so much so that we pretty much take it for granted now. Still, as I said, I quite like it and was taking pictures of little details of it today. This picture is of the eagle’s feet, obviously, which I think are marvelously carved.
Dorothy and Riley
Dorothy loves to visit her friend Julia and I can’t say I blame her. The whole family is just fun to be with. On this occasion, they had an extra dog staying with them and today’s picture is of Dorothy and Riley.
Ducks In Flight
I love watching birds fly. It doesn’t matter to me if it’s an eagle, hawk, or vulture soaring high in the sky, a sparrow, finch, or wren flitting between bushes, or a duck, goose, or heron taking off from a pond. Their flights are different but they share a beauty found no where else.
Seeing birds in flight, particularly ducks and geese, for some reason, makes me think of Psalm 139:9–10, “If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.”
Sycamore Tree
I think if I had to pick one tree that I love to see against a deep blue sky, the sycamore tree would have to be a contender. The white and grey bark are set off so well against the blue of a winter sky.
Sycamore is a name that has been applied to three types of tree. First, there is the sycamore of the Bible, the sycamore fig, Ficus sycomorus. Then, Acer pseudoplatanus, the sycamore maple of Britain and Ireland. Finally, three species of the Platanus, the sycamores of North America, known as plane trees in Europe. The American sycamore is Platanus occidentalis, and that is what I have pictured here.
Anna-Gabrielle
Our lovely friend, Erin stopped by today with three of her four equally lovely children. We were fortunate enough to be allowed to watch the three kids while Erin visited her brother and sister-in-law in the hospital along with their new-born baby, Fritz.
This is Anna-Gabrielle, the youngest of Erin’s children, and a lovely little girl she is, too (it helps to win the genetic lottery and have parents as good looking as Erin and David).
Muddy Pond
It was such a beautiful day today that I went outside for a little break from work. It was cool but the sky was clear and it was lovely. I haven’t been going out much lately, partly because of the weather but also I think I’m a little bored with the empty lot next to my office. So, I crossed the little stream and walked up to the higher ground on the other side.
There are a few small ponds up there that were filled with muddy water, which is what this picture shows. Not a great picture but it was a very nice diversion for me. I like the color of the grass and the color of the water, both in the foreground where it is a sort of milky, blue color and in the top of the picture where it’s a rich, earthy tone, reflecting the pale grass on the far bank.
Rat’s Nest
I told Dorothy this evening that I was thinking of skipping taking a picture today. It’s been over two years that I’ve been taking a picture every day and I figured I could miss one day without ruining anyone’s life. She said I should take one, that I could take a picture of her, if I wanted. I picked up my camera and took this, along with a few others, of her hair. It’s not as tangled as it might appear, actually.
So, the photo-streak continues.
Colored Pens and Pencils
Two days ago I posted a picture of colored pencils. We have a lot of colored pencils, pens and markers around the house. Dorothy does a fair amount of drawing and so they are never really put away. As I was looking for something to photograph today I saw this basket full of markers and pencils and took a few pictures of it.
Subway Lights
I was going to pick up Dorothy this evening and it was raining fairly hard. The lights of cars were reflecting in the water on the pavement but of course I couldn’t exactly get my camera out while I was driving and get it set up for pictures. So, before I got where I was going I pulled into a shopping center and took a few pictures of the shop lights reflecting off of the wet pavement. This happens to be a Subway sub shop.
Colored Pencils
I was looking around for something to photograph this evening and I saw the box of colored pencils. I didn’t want them to be just lying there in their box, so I made a little split-rail fence with them. I like the colors, even if the photo is a little blah.
Phalaenopsis Orchid
We stopped by Johnson’s this afternoon. It’s nice to go into a greenhouse and see so much green and to smell the earthy aroma. There isn’t a lot, even in their greenhouse, this time of year, but it was still worth the time.
I need to repot a few of our orchids but wasn’t in the mood to buy pots today. We were just looking (actually, we did buy something). In addition to the orchids, there were cacti and lots of different house plants. Relatively quiet, though.
Reflected Sky
Reflected Sky
Dorothy and I went for a nice walk in the neighborhood this afternoon. I carried my camera, as I usually do on walks, but didn’t take all that many photographs. It’s not like there are beautiful vistas in our corner of suburbia. The houses are nice but nothing you’re going to want to see pictures of. There are not very many flowers this time of year. Most of the plants are dormant and leafless. So, what’s left?
We’ve had a bit of rain lately and the ground is quite wet. There were puddles along our walk, sometimes in the drainage ditch (or jewie, as we call it) along the road, sometimes on the road itself. The first of these shows the blue sky through tree branches in water in the jewie, with grass on either side. The other is on the street and has the added interest of a little cloud colored by the setting sun.