Ready To Dance
Dorothy and her friends, dressed and ready to leave for the dance at school. From left: Issy, Erin, Hannah, Toksie, Dorothy, Cat, Anna, and Grace.
Friendship
Dorothy and Hannah
Blue Sunset
Blue Sunset
I was taking Dorothy to church this evening. As we were leaving she asked why I was bringing my camera. I said, “you never know, there might be something to take a picture of.” As soon as we got out of the neighborhood and could see the sky we were glad I had brought it.
We stopped at the County Agricultural Farm Park for pictures. I’ve seen lots of sunsets with lots of different colors but I don’t remember one where the predominant color was blue (except on a clear night, obviously). The clouds were beautiful and it really felt like an autumn evening, breezy and cool.
Blank Wall
Blank Wall
I came into the office a bit more than an hour early today so the light was different to what it normally is. There is a half circle window near my office with a pothos plant (Epipremnum aureum) hanging in front of it. Together they cast this shadow on the plain, blank wall.
Categories: Flowers and Plants, Miscellaneous
Tags: Blank Wall, Houseplant, Nothing, Potted Plant
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Blue Berries
Blue Berries
Blue is a fairly rare color in nature (“Oh, yeah? Look up, numbskull.” — the Camera) but what blue there is tends to be very pretty. While these are blue berries, they are not blueberries. This is mile-a-minute weed (Persicaria perfoliata) or as our friend Lyla called it back in February, “Triangle-Headed Pokey Weed.”
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Berries, Blue Berries, Mile-A-Minute Weed, Persicaria, Persicaria perfoliata
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Shades of Hotness
Shades of Hotness
Peppers — ranging from the merely hot to the scorching.
Lyla
Dorothy and Lyla
We found an excuse to visit Lyla at school this afternoon.
Bridge Washed Out
Bridge Washed Out
The farm where we get our weekly CSA share and where our good friends the Glenns live is on the north side of this one-lane bridge. In fact, their driveway is not far behind me where I took this picture of the washed out road. It went out Thursday afternoon when the level of the water was over the top of the bridge iron-work! Actually, the bridge itself seems to be fine.
Categories: Miscellaneous
Tags: Bridge, Dry Seneca Creek, Montevideo Road, Rocklands Farm, Wash Out
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Toni’s Birthday
Toni’s Birthday
The results of an interesting party game.
Andres and Kasia
Andres and Kasia
Some of the ladies at work organized a baby shower for Kasia. These are the happily expectant parents.
Rain
Rain
We’ve had a bit of rain lately. Dampness prevails. Pretty, though.
Don’t Take Our Picture
Don’t Take Our Picture
I get this a lot. We were out to dinner with some wonderful friends. I wanted to take a picture to post here. The reaction was as fast as it was unanimous.
The Teens Return
The Teens Return
Dorothy went on a retreat with “That Other Church” this weekend. This is the scene shortly after the buses arrived and the tired but happy teens dispersed to the various waiting cars and vans.
Bundled Sticks
Bundled Sticks
While I’ve been manning the chain saw and cutting up the big pieces, Cathy has had the tedious and actually quite tiring job of bundling up the smaller sticks. Of course, you need to realize that they first have to be cut up into this smaller size, then stacked, then tied. These are piles waiting to be tied — we ran out of twine so we’ll need to go buy some more. Three trees make a lot of bundles.
Duck Pond
Duck Pond
To me this photograph has something of a painterly quality — it sort of looks like a watercolor. Something about the reflections, maybe. What do you think?
Rockville Town Center
Rockville Town Center
I didn’t feel like cooking this evening so we decided to go to Rockville Town Center. It was a happenin’ place this evening, with a band playing and people dancing. Well, it was mostly little kids dancing, sometimes with their mom’s but they all seemed to be enjoying themselves.
Glass and Steel
Glass and Steel
I had a little extra time this morning because of an appointment with my retina specialist so I drove around a bit. This glass building called out to me and I spent a few minutes photographing it from various angles. I enjoyed it so much I think I’ll post a small album of photos but here’s my favorite (I guess — it’s hard to pick one). I love the way the left edge just sort of fades into the sky.
Lounging Wood
Lounging Wood
I saw this piece of wood lounging on the patio table this afternoon. Doesn’t it look relaxed? I also have a nice picture of a digger wasp (Scolia dubia) but Dorothy thinks I’ve posted enough stinging things on mountain mint.
Self-Portrait
Self-Portrait
I guess this is what I look like to a lot of people. I thought I’d post something a little different today. I did go out in the early afternoon, since it was such a beautiful day and there is a picture from my wandering in Extras. This is a self-portrait I did as I came back to the building. It’s a reflection in the mirrored glass door to my building (and then flipped so as not to be a mirror image).
Logs
Logs
As I approach the ⅔ mark in my year-long project, I find that I’m not particularly motivated. It isn’t that I’m not enjoying taking pictures and I’ve managed to take pictures every day, I’m just not motivated to go looking for pictures lately. I’m not sure what to do about it. Life is like that sometimes — you just do what you are supposed to do even though you don’t really fell like it.
I did take a few pictures of the trees I’ve been cutting up in the back yard. These range in size up to about 10 inches in diameter. The larger pieces are yet to be cut, though. Still, it’s a start.
Jenny and Nayo
Jenny and Nayo
I asked Dorothy for help picking a picture for today and this was her favorite. It’s hard to argue with her — these are two adorable girls. That’s the secret to taking good pictures, by the way. Only take pictures of attractive people. Hard to go wrong with this pair.
Tire Swing
Tire Swing
It was so wonderful to spend a little more time with Erin and her lovely family today. Thanks for putting up with us. I especially enjoyed pushing Marit and Zeke on the tire swing. What a delight your children are. God speed and and a good voyage to you all.
Pale Beauty
Pale Beauty
I saw a few of these little moths today. I believe it is a pale beauty (Campaea perlata).
Categories: Creatures
Tags: Campaea, Campaea perlata, Insect, Insects, Lepidoptera, Moth, Pale Beauty
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Parking Lot Accident
Parking Lot Accident
A friend and coworker asked me to take some pictures today of what happened to her car in the parking lot. Someone driving a Chevy Impala hit her car in the rear left corner hard enough to push it (violently) into another friend and coworker’s van. In this picture, you can see how far the car has been moved.
We know it was an Impala and we know the license number. One weird thing about all this is that the driver of the car parked it and walked away. He was watched from a window. He left the car right there. He didn’t leave a note or anything, just walked away. As I was leaving work he had returned and was changing his tire (which had blown in the accident). Yes, I took another picture then. Thanks for asking.
Polyphemus Moth Caterpillar
Polyphemus Moth Caterpillar
This thing is huge. It’s as big around as my thumb and as long as my middle finger. Actually, I think it’s pretty amazing that this big, squishy, green blob turns into a beautiful (and quite large) moth. In this case, a Polyphemus moth (Antheraea polyphemus). It’s named after the Cyclops Polyphemus in Homer’s Odyssey because of the large “eye spot” on its hindwings.
Categories: Creatures
Tags: Antheraea, Antheraea polyphemus, Caterpillar, Insect, Insects, Lepidoptera, Moth, Polyphemus Moth
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Green Hair Man
Green Hair Man
A funny thing happened on the way to an earthquake. Actually, I was driving to the Verizon store to get new phones for all of us when I looked in my rear view mirror. This is what I saw. This picture was taken from the driver’s seat, stopped at a light, with the lens pointed into the interior rear view mirror. Not a bad picture, considering that. Anyway, that’s about the greenest hair I’ve ever seen.
Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk
Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk
A juvenile red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), flying over the parking lot outside my office today. He gave a single scream which alerted me to his presence and I got quite a few half-decent pictures (with my less than decent long lens). Gotta get me a good telephoto.
Categories: Creatures
Tags: Buteo, Buteo jamaicensis, Hawk, Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk
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Wacky Sophomores*
Wacky Sophomores
School starts on Wednesday and the sophomore and junior classes had a joint “back to school” party this afternoon. In this photo, Dorothy and some of her friends are… well, I’m not sure what they’re doing.
*I know, Hannah is a junior. Sorry.
American Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
The horizontal wire just above the bird bothers me a bit but otherwise I really like this picture. It is a female American goldfinch (Carduelis tristis) taking off from a dried sunflower growing between rows of grape vines (which is what the wire is for) at Rocklands Farm.
Categories: Creatures
Tags: American Goldfinch, Bird, Birds, Carduelis, Carduelis tristis, Goldfinch
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Mowing the Lawn
Mowing the Lawn
A good friend of ours said she liked mowing the lawn because it was the only thing she could do around the house that her two sons couldn’t undo in half an hour.
I think Cathy does it for a similar reason to why I do the cooking. She considers the lawn in need of attention before I do. I consider dinner in need of attention before she does.