Monthly Archives: December 2016

Happy New Year!

Photograph taken on Saturday, December 31, 2016 by Henry
Hannah, Rachel, and Lyla

Hannah, Rachel, and Lyla

Well, it’s the end of another year. For what started out as Project 365, with one picture a day for a year, posted on Facebook, I’ve now finished six years, 2,192 consecutive days of at least one photo a day. I just looked back at the posts from December 31, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015. Of those five posts, three of them were taken in the family room of our good friend, Stuart and Donna. They were also all taken right before the stroke of midnight. This year’s photo was taken in their kitchen about 40 minutes before the end of the year. It features Hannah, Rachel, and Lyla.

In all I took only 18,270 photographs this year, the first year under 20,000 with this camera, but that brings the total for the camera to 134,953. I had one day this year when I only took one photograph but I’ve managed to take at least one every day. The most I took in a day was only 792, which is a pretty low maximum. We didn’t take any extended sightseeing vacations this year and I had no weddings to photograph, which played a part if the lower numbers. But I’m still at it. Anyway, see you next year.

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Sushi

Photograph taken on Friday, December 30, 2016 by Henry
Sushi

Sushi

Dorothy’s tastes have expanded quite a lot since she was a little girl. When she was seven we were in Italy and all she would eat was pasta with butter. If we had gone to Japan, she’s have stuck to rice. Now, she likes sushi and asked if we could go for sushi one evening while she’s home. So, we went to Niwano Hana in Rockville and had a good assortment. Cathy ordered sweet potato rolls (nearest to the camera) and Almendras rolls (shrimp tempura with almond and avocado, the four in the middle). Dorothy got Alaskan rolls (smoked salmon, cream cheese and cucumber) and Volcano roll (shrimp & crab stick tempura, avocado, cucumber, smelt-egg, ao-nori flake, spicy mayo, the mountain on the left). I had Salmango rolls (avocado, tobiko, salmon and mango) and Rainbow rolls (and assortment including tuna, white fish, salmon, yellowtail, shrimp, crab stick, cucumber), which are the two rows farthest from the camera.

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Maya, Steve, and Kaien

Photograph taken on Thursday, December 29, 2016 by Henry
Maya, Steve, and Kaien

Maya, Steve, and Kaien

Happy birthday, Maya. I know you’re exhausted but look at this little boy. What a dear little thing he is. To everyone else reading this, let me introduce to you Kaien (pronounced basically like Ryan with a K) or Kai, if you prefer (like Sky without the S). He was born on Saturday, December 24, and we visited this evening and I know you’re going to be shocked but I took a few pictures. This is one of my favorites. I probably say this every time I see a newborn but it always surprises me again how small they are. Anyway, welcome to the family, Kai. We’re a bit of an odd bunch, but you don’t get to pick your family. Sorry about that.

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Green Tiger Barb (Puntius tetrazona)

Photograph taken on Wednesday, December 28, 2016 by Henry
Green Tiger Barb (Puntius tetrazona)

Green Tiger Barb (Puntius tetrazona)

For quite a few weeks I’ve been meaning to go to the fish store and get a few more fish for my smaller aquarium. The 30 gallon tank has a fairly large angel fish (Pterophyllum scalare) and a kuhli loach (Pangio kuhlii) who spends much of the time hiding under a rock. I bought some Chinese algae eaters (Gyrinocheilos aymonieri) and a bunch of these green tiger barbs (Puntius tetrazona). I really like their color and it’s nice to have the tank with more than just a couple fish in it.

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American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis)

Photograph taken on Tuesday, December 27, 2016 by Henry
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis)

American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis)

I love days when I get sunrise pictures. Sunset pictures are nice but I can’t rely on their being a good sunset. Once I have pictures of the sunrise, though, I don’t have to worry about getting a picture later in the day. If there turns out to be no sunset, they I’ve missed the daylight. But if there’s no sunrise to photograph, I still have the whole day ahead of me.

So, after getting a nice sunrise pictures this morning, I was happy to take some pictures of birds in the back yard. This is an American goldfinch (Spinus tristis) on black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta) along the edge of the back patio. Goldfinches lose their bright yellow color in the winter, but they’re still pretty little birds. I really enjoyed watching them sit on the thin stems.

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Sunrise

Photograph taken on Tuesday, December 27, 2016 by Henry
Sunrise

Sunrise

I’m on vacation this week. Staycation, actually. Not going anywhere, just taking off work. It’s become something of a tradition for me. With Dorothy home from school, it’s extra special. So, I don’t have to get up early to go to work. But I woke up early anyway. I managed to get back to sleep at 5:30 and again at 6:15 but the third time I woke up I decided to get up. I’m glad I did because just before 7:30 the sky lit up with a beautiful orange glow. It was raining very lightly but the clouds were thin enough that the sun was having a wonderful effect on them. This is what it looked like outside my front door this morning.

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Geese on Lake Frank

Photograph taken on Monday, December 26, 2016 by Henry
Geese on Lake Frank

Geese on Lake Frank

We had a quiet day after the busy day yesterday. Busy is good but it’s especially good when followed by not-busy. Cathy and I have Stephen and Maya’s dog, Dargo, and we took him for a longish walk today (about 3 miles). We walked along the near side of Lake Frank and I took a few pictures. I got two of a kingfisher, although I couldn’t get anywhere near close enough to make that picture worth sharing. I was able to get closer to these geese, although still only close enough for a group shot. Any closer and they would have moved away.

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Christmas, 2016

Photograph taken on Sunday, December 25, 2016 by Henry
Christmas Lights

Christmas Lights

Every year is different. That’s good, in the sense that we want a little variety in our lives. If every day were just like the last, we’d get bored (some of us sooner than others). That’s why so many people love the changing seasons. Autumn and spring, times of transition, are especially beautiful. But even with the change, there is a sameness the overlays it all. Every year has the same four seasons and that repetition is quite comforting. We know what to expect next, at least in broad terms, even if the details are different.

Every year, the details are different. We all know that but we’re still surprised by it, from time to time. Last year was different to all the others (at least all my others) because Albert wasn’t there. This year was different for a totally different reason. Ralph’s son and daughter-in-law (Stephen and Maya) had a son yesterday. What a wonderful combined Christmas and Hanukkah present. They named him Kaien (pretty much rhymes with Ryan) but gave him the middle name Albert. That was a very sweet thing for them to do and a very nice present for all of us.

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Christmas Eve

Photograph taken on Saturday, December 24, 2016 by Henry
Olivia, Alyssa, Ellie, and Hope with Sugar

Olivia, Alyssa, Ellie, and Hope with Sugar

For a number of reasons, not least of which was a scheduling conflict at our normal location for church tomorrow and the fact that most people want to be with their families on Christmas day, we had a Christmas Eve service today instead. It was a fairly small, informal affair, with only about 20 people in all including more children than adults. After the service, I took this picture and if I have their names right, they are Olivia, Alyssa, and Ellie behind Hope and Sugar (the dog).

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Dorothy and D’Argo

Photograph taken on Friday, December 23, 2016 by Henry
Dorothy and D'Argo

Dorothy and D’Argo

Cathy and Dorothy went over this afternoon to pick up D’Argo from Steve and Maya’s. They were going to the hospital to have their first child and we will have the dog for a little while, certainly until they are home again and settled down a bit. As I write this, late on Saturday morning, there is still no word on the baby’s arrival, but we should hear any time now.

As you can see, Dorothy is enjoying having a dog.

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Sunset

Photograph taken on Thursday, December 22, 2016 by Henry
Sunset

Sunset

Yesterday I got a sunrise photo at about 7:15 AM. Today, we see a sunset at 4:45 PM. These are about the extremes for our latitude, yesterday and today being about the shortest days of the year. As of now, the sunrise will get earlier and the sunset later. I was coming home the round about way today, having had an errand in Olney, so I stopped at the commuter parking lot at the ICC and went to the top of the hill to get this picture of the sun setting behind the trees in the distance.

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Sunrise With Moon

Photograph taken on Wednesday, December 21, 2016 by Henry
Sunrise With Moon

Sunrise With Moon

At a little after 7:00 this morning I noticed that the color of the morning light was on the orange/pink side and I grabbed my camera and went out front to take a few pictures. This is the best time of year for sunrise photographs, not least because the sunrise is about as late as it gets so I’m more liable to be up and about. On the other hand, I generally have very little time to get the color so I grab my camera and run out without bothering with shoes, which I rarely wear when I’m inside. It’s not as cold as it was last week, fortunately, or that might have been painful.

I got a few pictures of the lower, eastern sky, where the most color was (and it was fading fast). I turned and took this one to the southeast, where the crescent moon was floating among the colored clouds. In some ways it isn’t as good a picture as the others but I thought the moon makes it unusual enough to warrant it’s appearance here.

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Trees

Photograph taken on Tuesday, December 20, 2016 by Henry
Trees

Trees

I had meant to get out of the office today. It’s not as cold as it was and it was mostly clear today but I was quite busy and didn’t get a chance. As the sun was going down late in the afternoon it lit up the trees outside my office and I watched the bird moving about. There were quite a few starlings in the tree tops and every now and then a large group of them would fly off or another large group would join them from somewhere else. This picture is just of trees with a few large, older trees that are growing just beyond the parking lot and then the smaller trees beyond in what was a field when I started working here.

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Tree and Crèche

Photograph taken on Monday, December 19, 2016 by Henry
Tree and Crèche

Tree and Crèche

After work today I did some shopping while Cathy went to her weekly Pilates class. Then I came back and picked her up and we went to her mom’s house to help get some Christmas decorations up. We had put up the tree earlier but didn’t have time to decorate it. I also got out the large crèche which was stored on the top shelf in the basement. Getting a picture with the lights on the tree showing and the rest of the image lit properly is a challenge but I’m pretty please with this one.

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White-tailed Deer

Photograph taken on Sunday, December 18, 2016 by Henry
White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

I fixed some coffee and was making breakfast when Cathy came down and saw this white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in our back yard. It appears to be a young one, not fully grown but I don’t really know enough about deer to say for sure. It was just lying there and would look at me, then turn to the side. I went outside and took a few more pictures before it got up and trotted to the back corner of the yard, where it stayed for a while. When I checked back 20 minutes later it was gone.

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Ice Storm

Photograph taken on Saturday, December 17, 2016 by Henry
Ice on Colorado Spruce

Ice on Colorado Spruce

Dorothy drove from school to Lancaster, Pennsylvania yesterday, getting most of the way home without having to deal with the winter weather that we had today. This morning it started sleeting about the time I got up and came down for a good three or four hours before petering out. There was a nice coating of ice on everything but it didn’t last, having warmed up into the 40s by the afternoon. Dorothy left Lancaster around 2:00 and with the exception of a little back road driving getting to interstate 83, she didn’t have any problem getting here. But for the little time it lasted, the ice was very pretty.

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Ice Crystals

Photograph taken on Friday, December 16, 2016 by Henry
Ice Crystals

Ice Crystals

As I mentioned yesterday, it’s gotten cold. Today I wore a sweater and if you know me at all, you know that means it was below 20°F (about -7°C), which is when I usually will put a jacket on even if I won’t be outside long. Anyway, I also had a glove for my camera hand. That made my foray into the woods much more comfortable than yesterday’s. I walked through the woods and across the creek in the empty lot next to my building. Up on the higher ground across the creek there was a large, flat, open area with small puddles, all frozen. In what was formerly mud, there were these fingers of ice crystal that I thought were pretty awesome.

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Raccoon Footprints

Photograph taken on Thursday, December 15, 2016 by Henry
Raccoon Footprints

Raccoon Footprints

It’s gotten cold suddenly and today was quite cold. I went out for a little while to take pictures and by the time I came back in, my right hand was quite numb from the cold (I can put my left hand into my pocket but I hold the camera with my right hand). I took pictures of a sycamore leaf in the woods and then walked down to the pond next to my building. It’s only just gotten cold so there was still open water but there was ice along the edge. In what had recently been mud by the stream were raccoon footprints.

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Christmas Presents

Photograph taken on Wednesday, December 14, 2016 by Henry
Christmas Presents

Christmas Presents

Cathy spent much of the evening today wrapping Christmas presents so we could get them in the mail in time for them to arrive before Christmas. Many years she’d be doing this next week, so it’s pretty great that she got them done. I’m not judging, mind you. I barely helped do it, although I did wrap one or two of the presents. I’m a terrible procrastinator. Anyway, she got four (I think) separate boxes packed and ready to mail. Happy Christmas, everyone!

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Five Guys

Photograph taken on Tuesday, December 13, 2016 by Henry
Five Guys

Five Guys

Cathy and I went to work together today because our second car is on loan temporarily. That did complicate the evening a little because I have my men’s group on Tuesday evenings and Cathy has indoor soccer. When we have two cars, I come home, fix myself dinner, and then head back into town for the meeting. This evening Cathy dropped me off and I walked to the Plaza to pick up something to eat. I took a few pictures, mostly of the Christmas lights and then went into Five Guys to buy a burger. While I was waiting for that to be made, I took this with the camera sitting on a table. It’s a 1/2 second exposure at f/9.9.

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