Work After Dark
This is my office building as I left work this evening. As you can see, I’m not the last one to leave. I only recognize one of the offices. Two lights in the conference room stay on all the time.
Tree Against Clouds
Tree Against Clouds
Today was Dorothy’s last day of school for the semester. I took her and four friends to Olney. On the way home after that I stopped to take pictures of the ominous clouds. I like the pattern of branches on this old oak tree against them.
Categories: Flowers and Plants, Sunrise/Sunset/Sky
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X-Factor Christmas Party
X-Factor Christmas Party
The final X-Factor of the year is the annual Christmas party with its gift exchange.
Categories: People
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Microwave Tower at Sunset
Microwave Tower at Sunset
I stopped for gas on the way home and thought the sunset was nice. The only view I had, though, was over an industrial park with this microwave relay tower in front of the best part of the sky. That’s alright, it gives the picture something.
Categories: Sunrise/Sunset/Sky
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Christmas Lights
Christmas Lights
As I went to pick up Dorothy from her piano lesson this evening I stopped to take a few pictures of Christmas lights in the neighborhood. This was my favorite.
Categories: Miscellaneous
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Maureen and Dorothy
Maureen and Dorothy
Here’s Dorothy with her alternate mom.
Categories: People
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Christmas Tree
Christmas Tree
We had our annual outing to cut Christmas trees today. Kendra and Dorothy did the actual cutting, which was nice. It was a beautiful day, if a little chilly.
Categories: People
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Singing Christmas Songs
Singing Christmas Songs
After the live nativity in the barn, we moved into the house for dessert. Diana played the piano and we all sang Christmas carols and had a grand old time.
Categories: People
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Dr. Gregg Taira
Dr. Gregg Taira
If you’re in need of a good dentist, I can recommend our friend, Dr. Gregg Taira. He and Cathy went to junior high and high school together and he’s been caring for our teeth for over 20 years.
Categories: People
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David and Margaret
David and Margaret
Cathy’s brother, David, is visiting from New Mexico and we had dinner with him and his (and Cathy’s) mom this evening.
Categories: People
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Collyn, Krystal, and Cathy
Collyn, Krystal, and Cathy
Three of my favorite people.
Categories: People
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Clouds
Clouds
I didn’t get a chance to go out to take pictures today. I was just too busy. I did enjoy the clouds out my window and took a minute to grab a couple photos in the early afternoon.
Categories: Sunrise/Sunset/Sky
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Emily’s Birthday
Emily’s Birthday
Dorothy’s classmate, Emily, had the class out for lunch for her birthday at Baronessa, a nice, little Italian restaurant near here. Not everyone came but this is about ⅔ of the class.
Frosty Kale
Frosty Kale
It was a cold morning today. Our thermometer said 27°F. There was frost everywhere. These ice crystals were on the Tuscan kale in my vegetable garden.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
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Camping Trip…
Camping Trip…
to the living room. Dorothy and three friends pitched the tent in our living room and slept in it tonight. Dorothy read a bedtime story (Dogger, by Shirley Hughes) after they were all settled in.
Categories: People
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Persepolis Head
Persepolis Head
In the ruins of Persepolis there are bas-relief carvings showing delegates of the 23 subject nations of the Persian Empire paying tribute to Darius I. When Cathy’s family lived in Iran, a man stayed with them who (with permission) took casts of the heads of many of the carvings. This is a reproduction made from a set that he made for Cathy’s parents. Along with seven others, it was made for us by Cathy’s brother, David.
Categories: Miscellaneous
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Sarah and Chloe
Sarah and Chloe
I took a few pictures at X-Factor this evening and we all liked this one best. And that’s eleven months down, one to go.
Categories: People
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A Boy Named Hsu
A Boy Named Hsu
Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Anyway, our friend Jonathan Hsu was dancing at the Montgomery College Dance Showcase this evening and I sneaked a few photos. Here he is as an entomologist, upside down with a butterfly net caught on his foot.
Camera Graveyard
Camera Graveyard
This is where old cameras go to die (or whatever). The Canon A-1 (top left) was the first camera I bought, back in 1979. That was followed a few years later by the F-1 (top right), which is a really nice piece of engineering. It will keep taking pictures without any battery, although of course there isn’t a light meter without power. That camera has been around the world.
When I married into a family of Nikon users, I bought the FM (bottom left) so I could share lenses. The F-301 (a.k.a. N2000, bottom right) was my father-in-law’s. Not shown is a Nikon FM-2. Also not shown is a Canon (film) Rebel, which was my first auto-focus camera.
These aren’t all out of commission for good, though. Our niece, Laura, has the FM-2 and some lenses in Peru and Dorothy wants me to buy some black and white film so she can play around with them.
Maria and Alex
Maria and Alex
We were happy to be able to have lunch today with Maria, Alex, and Jean Ulmer. That happens far too infrequently as far as I’m concerned.
Dorothy and Lyla
Dorothy and Lyla
Lyla had a bunch of the youth group over this evening and they were good enough to let me stay and take pictures. This is just a silly picture of Dorothy and Lyla.
Hartley Thanksgiving
Hartley Thanksgiving
We gathered on Friday for our family Thanksgiving and of course we took our traditional family photo.
Hawk in Steel Tree
Hawk in Steel Tree
This tree is a steel and concrete sculpture called Graft by Roxy Paine. It’s between the Natural History Museum and the National Gallery of Art. We especially enjoyed the hawk that was perched in it. What would be really funny would be a woodpecker.
Categories: Creatures
Tags: Art, DC., Hawk, Modern Art, Washington
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Youth Reunion
Youth Reunion
Four of Dorothy’s friends went off to college this fall. She’s seen three of them a few times since then but Hannah Marie Roop went too far to come home for a weekend. We’ll she’s here for Thanksgiving and her parents let here have some of her friends over to see her this evening. A couple had left by the time I took this and two more came after I did, but this is as complete a group picture as I got. There was considerable laughter and much joy.
Ship’s Compass
Ship’s Compass
I got this compass from my grandfather. It was his father’s. My great grandfather owned a saw mill in Belvidere, North Carolina on the Perquimans River.
Categories: Miscellaneous
Tags: Boats, Compass, Family, Family History, Navigation
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Corona
Corona
An oldish Corona word processor (a.k.a. typewriter). Note that the apostrophe, quotation mark, and underscore are in the place we now expect to find the asterisk, at sign, and caret.
WCA Bazaar
WCA Bazaar
I sold cards and prints at the WCA Christmas Bazaar today. It was nice to be next to Jessica Buchtel’s table, although a LOT of people got to her table and didn’t feel they needed to go any further. :).
Ducks
Ducks
Across Key West is a pond that was put in about ten years ago. It’s a great spot to find ducks, geese and other birds. These three took off as I approached.
Youth Band Practice
Youth Band Practice
The (mostly) youth band practices to an empty room. With the loss of last year’s seniors, the youth band had had to rely on a few adults to fill some gaps.