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Here and There…Now and Then |
Lilies
As everything else this spring, the lilies are ahead of their normal schedule. Our first two flowers are officially open in May. While I can’t say I’ve kept careful records over the years, I’m pretty sure that’s unusual. These are relatively short plants growing in a container on our back patio. Cathy picked off little bulbils from some my dad planted in his yard and these grew from that. Bulbils are little bulblets that grow in the leaf axils of some lilies.
Congratulations Garduates!
Caption Contest…
Bass Guitar
Sometimes you have to stop and get back to basics. That is, to the basis of this whole blogging experiment. So, what’s more basic than a bass? I guess I could have gone fishing.
Glass Bricks
These are glass bricks that form a divider in the local Cheeburger Cheeburger. I like the patterns in them, which are given depth by the light coming from outside as well as the colored interior lighting.
Briggs and Stratton
When we moved into out current house in 2006 I decided it was time to retire the lawn mower we had been using at our old house. It was 12 years old and had served faithfully with very little trouble. For the new mower, I thought I’d try a Toro. I can’t say I’m particularly impressed. The engine itself hasn’t had any trouble and I hate to say it’s time for a new one but the rest of the mower could be more robust. The drive transaxle gave up a few years ago. I bought a new one and replaced it and I thought that was going to be the worst of things. Well, a few short years later and it looks like it’s gone again. I don’t really want to keep replacing that. Also, now the bolt the holds the handle to the chassis has come out and disappeared somewhere in the yard. So, I decided to cut my losses and start over. I’m sure there are other people with stories exactly opposite to mine but I’ve gone back to Craftsman. Sorry Toro.
Dorothy and Hannah
In general I try not to repeat pictures too often and I’d say that in general, I’m successful in that. When it comes to people pictures, especially “friends of Dorothy” pictures, I’m more likely to repeat because there is a somewhat limited pool of subjects. The number is reduced when you filter out those I don’t often get to photograph (often because they hate having their picture taken). I also try to get permission from Dorothy to post any picture she’s in and often she doesn’t like them (the pictures, not her friends). Anyway, I took her to see her good friend Hannah this afternoon and as I hadn’t taken any pictures yet today, I asked if I could take a few of them. This is the best of what I took. A little fill flash would not have gone amiss but it turned out well, anyway. Want to know the secret to good people pictures? “Only take pictures of attractive people.”
Rose ‘Playboy”
Every year I look forward to visiting Nick’s garden when he opens it to the public. It’s very interesting how different it is from year to year. Last spring the roses were early. This year they were earlier still. Many rose bushes had completely finished blooming. Of course, there are some that typically bloom later and it was a rare treat to see those in bloom this time. There were enough still fresh that I was able to get a few good pictures. This one is a floribunda called ‘Playboy’ Bred by Alec Cocker (Scotland, 1976). Alas, I was only able to stay for a little while, but I was happy to have that. Thank you Nick and Roseanne!
Dorothy
The Music Guild performed the songs from their recently released CD this evening. That includes Dorothy playing and singing her song, Voices in the Tempest, with Lizzie, Carrie, and Ben singing harmony, Paul and Lexi on guitar and Alex on Drums. They did a wonderful job and Dorothy sounded as good as you’d expect me to say she did anyway. I recorded all the songs from the event and took a bunch of pictures, as well. This one of Dorothy was taken during practice. Sadly, I can’t record video and take stills at the same time.
Poecilocapsus lineatus (Four-lined Plant Bug)
We’ve noticed that some of our plants are showing signs of attack. At least some of the damage is caused by a great many of these little critters. The four-lined plant bug has a fairly short life span and only produces one generation per year, so their damage is caused during a relatively short period. The plants seem to mostly recover and should be fine again before too long. Still, it’s a nuisance.
Air Ducts As Art
OK, maybe art is too strong a word here. Perhaps air ducts as design elements. Anyway, I went out to lunch with a couple friends from work today and noticed the nicely painted air ducts overhead. Anyone know where this is?
Asclepias curassavica (Mexican Butterfly Weed)
I really like Asclepias (butterfly weed) species and we bought a little more this spring to go with what we already have. It’s still in its pot, sitting on our driveway, which seems to always have plants waiting to be planted.
Update: I labeled this Asclepias tuberosa without really thinking. We have a few of that plant growing and I just assumed this was more of the same. It isn’t. This is Asclepias curassavica instead. It’s still a butterfly weed but now, more specifically Mexican Butterfly Weed. I have changed the title and the photo caption.
Securigera varia (Crown Vetch)
I was waiting to be picked up from work today and went out into the drizzle to take a few pictures. There is crown vetch growing here and there in the wild places near my office building and I took this of the leaves with water beaded up on it. It’s name comes from the flower clusters which (when not weighted down with rain) are neat, little crowns. The fact that it’s so common has a lot to do with it being planted for erosion control along highways.
Potomac Hunt Races
Were were invited by our good friends, the Glenns, to come to the Potomac Hunt Races today. The weather was wonderful and the horses were fast. Actually, I have no idea how they compare to any other horses. We aren’t really in the horsey set and I don’t think I’m often described as being racy. Anyway, we enjoyed sitting in the shade of the canopy and eating a nice picnic lunch with friends. It’s always nice to see them and we don’t as often as we’d like. Little Elsie and Benton are certainly growing and are as cute as ever. We also met the Elkans, a name we’ve heard but never had faces to associate.
Potomac Hunt Races
I was able to get some nice action shots showing the horses with all four feet off the ground. Of course I was trying to blur them, so I used a much slower shutter speed than I could have done. Photographic technology has come a little way in the last 140 years, I’d say.
From Wikipedia: In 1872, the former governor of California Leland Stanford, a businessman and race-horse owner, hired Eadweard Muybridge for some photographic studies. He had taken a position on a popularly-debated question of the day — whether all four feet of a horse were off the ground at the same time while trotting. The same question had arisen about the actions of horses during a gallop. The human eye could not break down the action at the quick gaits of the trot and gallop. Up until this time, most artists painted horses at a trot with one foot always on the ground; and at a full gallop with the front legs extended forward and the hind legs extended to the rear, and all feet off the ground. Stanford sided with the assertion of “unsupported transit” in the trot and gallop, and decided to have it proven scientifically. Stanford sought out Muybridge and hired him to settle the question.
Potomac Hunt Races
In 1872, Muybridge settled Stanford’s question with a single photographic negative showing his Standardbred trotting horse Occident airborne at the trot. This negative was lost, but the image survives through woodcuts made at the time (the technology for printed reproductions of photographs was still being developed). He later did additional studies, as well as improving his camera for quicker shutter speed and faster film emulsions. By 1878, spurred on by Stanford to expand the experiments, Muybridge had successfully photographed a horse at a trot; lantern slides have survived of this later work. Scientific American was among the publications at the time that carried reports of Muybridge’s groundbreaking images.
Kayte Grace
WCA alumna Kayte Grace came with her band to give us a concert at the school. I was particularly pleased because Dorothy was roped (I mean encouraged) into being one of the opening acts. She sang a song she wrote and, at the risk of sounding like the stereotypical dad, I think she did a pretty darn good job. Happily I recorded Dorothy but she’d kill me if I posted that here but fear not, because you get a picture of the lovely and extremely talented Kayte Grace. If you’d like to hear her music, you can start at http://www.kaytegracemusic.com/. Her music is also available on iTunes and Amazon.
Leucauge venusta (Orchard Orbweaver)
I came home and took some pictures of flowers in the yard (see the previous post) but then I came across this spider, hovering over some iris leaves. Each time I moved my tripod a little closer and bumped the web supporting leaves the spider fled to the side but she came back and took up her post again after a little while. I’d like to have gotten a bit closer still, but this is the best I could do without disturbing her web (which I didn’t want to do — spiders are our friends!).
Sisyrinchium angustifolium (Blue-eyed Grass)
I went out into the back yard after work today and took some pictures of the tiny blue-eyed grass flowers. They are in abundance right now but the individual flowers don’t stay open for long, opening and closing each morning and evening. I got this one before it shut for the night. We only planted a few of these but they have come up in other places around the yard. I wouldn’t describe them as aggressive but we will need to start pulling them up before too long so we aren’t overrun. If any of our friends would like one, let us know and we might dig one up for you.
Decorated Art Room
Dorothy and some of her friends stayed a little while after school yesterday to decorate the art room with a few post-it notes. Each one says “I Love Your Face” on it. It was impossible to show all of them (there are over 2,000!) in one picture but this gives you a pretty good idea of what the entire room looked like. Well done, girls.
Maple Leaf
It’s like fall color in the spring. This little maple leaf was on the ground in our back yard and I liked the color when the sun shone through it. Needless to say, I had my camera with me so I took a picture. What a beautiful day.
Kousa Dogwood
The Cornus kousa (Japanese dogwood) is in bloom and I love these trees. Personally I think they are nicer in almost every way to the native C. florida (the flowering dogwood). There aren’t as many good pink varieties, of course, but it’s a handsomer tree with interesting bark and less bothered by anthracnose. The fruit is interesting, as well, although I guess if it were dropping on my patio I would prefer the smaller fruit of the native. Kousa also blooms much later, obviously, which I suppose is a downside, since there is so much else blooming right now. This is one of a bunch growing around my office building.
Ghost Car
It isn’t a great picture but I never promised great pictures. I was waiting at a light on the way home and decided to see if I could get a good blur from the cars going across in front of me. If I had taken this picture about a half a second later I’d have gotten a police car with its lights flashing. Oh well.
I also took some pictures of Dorothy and some of her friends but I’ll post a couple of those on Facebook for those of you who see my pictures there.