Happy New Year, From The Kitty

Happy New Year! You can see that the kitty is SO excited about the arrival of the new year - you can see it in her eyes, and the smile on her face. She jumped up on the coffee table to celebrate! We hope you have a wonderful New Year, all of us!

Running Girl

Another "aerial photo" of people, this time from the Getty Museum. OK, so we are back in New York, but I have a lot of photos from California, so I will post them for the next few days. I will show more photos from the Getty, my favorite place in Los Angeles. There are photos everywhere. There are several levels of plazas and multiple stairways and balconies looking off in all directions - the views are spectacular. So I was idly looking down at the lawn and gardens below, late in the afternoon, and saw this young girl starting to run. Fortunately, I was ready, and managed to get one nice shot.

Benice Cafe

So this is the second part of the Benice Cafe story. This is the building itself. The first thing to note is that the word "Benice" sounds like the city of "Venice" but if you break it down, it also can say "Be Nice." How wonderful is that! It is lovely both outside and inside, with morning sunlight streaming in through the windows and on to the tables. The cafe is not fancy at all, and that too, is part of its charm. And the service is sunny as well. Bacon and eggs, or omelets and hot buttered sourdough toast, and steaming hot coffee and conversations with good friends. There is a remote chance that it will survive, and we certainly hope so, but things are not looking good.

The Tuesdaters

OK, so this is a long story, and this post is Part One. Liz has a group of friends who get together for lunch on Tuesdays once in a while, and so they call themselves the "Tuesdaters," One of their favorite places to eat is the "Benice Cafe." Interesting that "Benice" is in "Venice." We have eaten breakfast there several times. Awesome! Anyhow, Benice may be gone before long, which is terribly sad. It has to do with stuff like leases and things like that. So I decided I would take a photo of the group, and the owner, for the sake of posterity. The owner is in the middle of this group shot, wearing glasses. Her name is Elan, but I don't know if it is spelled that way, and she is delightful. More tomorrow...

Air Dry

When we were at the beach yesterday, after walking around for a while, some of us stretched out on the sand to relax and soak up some rays, and even snooze just a bit. When we got up, some of us found out that we had been lying on sand that was slightly damp. Liz was one of those, so she was trying to figure out a way to dry her jacket. Then she came up with the idea of twirling the jacket around to see if that would dry it out at all. The wonderful thing is, that she decided to do this at sunset, so that made for an interesting shot! I am not sure how much dryer the jacket got.

Contemplating Infinity

We did a lot of walking today, including around the Venice canals, and then we came down to the Venice pier and walked out over the beach and the Pacific Ocean. It is absolutely beautiful at the beach, with the mountains in the distance. I was watching people in the distance, strolling along on the wet sand. Then I noticed one couple who was approaching and I moved over so I would be above them when they walked under the pier. I photographed them from further away, and then got this last photo just before they disappeared under me. It feels to me that it is a bit more than just a straight photo - it seems a bit cosmic in some way - as if they are walking into the future, perhaps.

A Venice Rooftop

On the way to the beach yesterday, Amy pointed out this rooftop on a home just a stone's throw from Venice Beach. The building is three stories high. We know nothing at all about who lives here, or who made these statues, or anything else. Zero. All we can do is be amazed that someone took the time to do this. Sorry for not knowing more about this. Some things in life are supposed to be a mystery.

Merry Christmas To All!

We went off to church at 6 O'Clock, and then after the service, we took part in our annual family tradition of Christmas Eve dinner in a Chinese restaurant. We were trying to figure out how long ago this ritual started, but we couldn't remember exactly. anyhow, we had a really delicious dinner, and then suddenly Amy put this package on the table in the restaurant. She said it was a family present, for all of us. So because of that, we all put our hands on it to open it. I thought: "Hey, that's a shot!" So here it is. The present? A board game. Games are another tradition in our family. This one is called "Catch Phrase" and we have had fun playing it tonight. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, as we are!

Liz & Amy Take Their Own Portrait

We went to the Huntington Library, which consists of a Library, Art Collections, and a Botanical garden. This was our first visit to this amazing place. There is so much to see that we only scratched the surface with our visit today. We did spend most of the time in the gardens. The Chinese garden is particularly beautiful, with multiple bridges, courtyards and buildings. There were pictures everywhere. But when I looked up and saw this one, it really touched me - Liz and Amy are masters of hand-holding their cameras in order to do portraits of themselves wherever we go someplace special. And there they are, at it again. Aren't they beautiful!

Tarzan Did This

We woke up this morning to a sunny day in California. I loved seeing the shadows of plants on the venetian blinds in the room. Then I saw the flowers through the missing blinds. I know who did this. Tarzan did. Tarzan is Gus's cat and rules the roost here. He is a beautiful long-haired cat. Tarzan likes to look outdoors - I have been in this room and seen him come in and paw the blinds open so he could see what was going on outside. Amy said that he kept pawing them until several of them broke and so she removed several of the blinds. So now we can see the flowers outside. And Tarzan can see outside as well. I really love the shadows - I think that those are really subject of this photograph.

America!

New York to Los Angeles covers a distance of 2475 miles, and encompasses an amazing variety of landforms as seen from the air. But this scene topped them all. I think it was on the border of Nebraska and Kansas, and most of the ground was brown, but there was a narrow swath of snow running east to west for maybe a hundred miles, and it was maybe 20 to 30 miles wide. I never realized a storm could be this localized. Anyhow, what caught my eye at first were brown fields with straight lines of snow on one edge. I guess the snow had drifted because of the winds. A bit further along this came into view. I am assuming that some of the wavy lines had to do with contour ploughing, but I can't be sure. It feels as if this is some kind of a child's collection of blocks. To me, it is an astounding image.

Gingerbread Cookies!

Well, I made my annual batch of Gingerbread cookies! Yummm... This is a fairly old New England recipe - my grandmother got it from her friend, and passed it along to my mom and she passed it along to my sisters and I. I am guessing that the recipe is 80 or 90 years old. And if you ever have one of these cookies, you will be ruined for life! There are generous portions of the spices and molasses that make up this recipe, and it is so much better than commercial gingerbread cookies that you buy. You make the dough, and then refrigerate it for an hour, then divide it up and roll it out, and use cookie cutters to make the cookies. That cutter that looks like a Dutch girl? I made that outline years ago, but I have no idea what it was based on. It is certainly not "a gingerbread man." It doesn't matter - one taste and you will be hooked forever!

The Garden in Late Fall

Do you remember the four pieces of Lilac bush trunk, and how I was not sure why the scene appealed to me? Well This is another instance of that, I am afraid. I got out of the car, and saw the sunlight on this scene, which included some dead pieces of bush that snapped off. There is something about the light in this - the fact that it is coming directly over my shoulder - the kind of lighting I would usually not use because it is considered "flat." But there are exceptions to everything. I think this is also about little patches of color and texture in various places in the image.

One Small Cloud

Are you tired of my night shots by now? I am. So I found this sunny-feeling picture from a month or so ago. I saw it at the end of my bike ride. It was the single cloud that jumped out at me. It was just lovely against the blue sky. The thing that really clinched it was that somehow that single cloud was illuminated by sunlight, making it glow, unlike all the other clouds. Left me with a kind of mystical feeling. It feels as if the tree is reaching out to the cloud. I think this photograph is much more significant than I first thought it was. I shot this with the iPhone, believe it or not.

The Night Train

I got a late train out of Penn Station the other night after the concert. It arrived here in Glen Head at about a quarter after midnight. As I was walking down the platform I saw this crossing gate illuminated by the sodium vapor lights, giving the scene a strange reddish cast. I think that was what first made me stop to look more carefully at the scene. I had to struggle with the composition - there was a telephone pole very close so I did shots including it, and then excluding it. Then I spent a LOT of time trying to decide whether or not I liked the black and white version better. That was a struggle. I decided I liked the strange red light best. But the bad part is, there is no train! I think this picture would be much better if the train was disappearing in the distance. Duh! I may go try this photo all over again, and get the train next time.

Not Long For This World, II

On the way to the Beacon Theater the other night, I was walking down Broadway and saw one of those plywood walls surrounding a site. You know the ones - they always say "Post no bills." So I was curious what was behind the walls. I saw some heavy timbers along the edge of the street, so I climbed up on them to gain some altitude and to get a better view. This is the best I could do. It appears that these buildings are about to be torn down. What is interesting is to see how decrepit the fronts of the buildings are. I almost wonder if there were false fronts on the stores that have now been removed. I do think that this photo has a spooky feel to it with the three illuminated windows higher up.

Not Long For This World

I love to photograph industrial ruins. Oh wait, you already know that. I know these are not ruins. Yet. This was the Long Island Lighting Lighting Company for nearly forty years and has been here since before I moved here in 1966. It has been managed by something called "National Grid" the last eight years or so. It was recently announced that it will be shut down and demolished! Wow! This is only half the facility - there is a huge brick building with more smokestacks on it, to the left of these structures. I think these boilers are newer than those in the brick building. It will be unimaginable that these structures will be gone one day. Oh, and one other thing - this company pays a fortune in school taxes to the community. It is going to hurt when we have to make up the difference.

The National!

One of my new favoritist groups EVER is "The National." I heard them do one number on Letterman about a year ago, and heard "something" in their music that grabbed me. So I asked Liz if she knew about them, and she sent me a few tracks. Then I got "Boxer" - one of their albums, and it was amazing. Then I got their newest album "High Violet" and it was astounding. I don't know anything about music, really, but their songs are very musical, and complex musically, and some of the songs do what Amy describes as giving her "The Chills." The National does that for me, so I got a ticket for their performance tonight at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan. The venue is relatively small and really nice, their music is great and their performance was wonderful! So glad I got to see them live.

The New Bridge

I have done photographs of the destruction of the old Roslyn Viaduct, and the construction of the new one. I have been looking forward to photographing the finished bridge once all the construction equipment was moved away. I went by there today, and unfortunately there is still a lot of construction stuff around that ruins any attempt at a beautiful photograph. I wandered around, looking for some angle or composition that would not include the junk. I happened to glance up and saw this amazing abstraction with much of the structure in shadow, and only a narrow strip illuminated by the afternoon sun. I was stunned by how beautiful this was. I was also surprised that I didn't have to move more than a foot to get the perfect composition!

Decorating for Christmas

We have decided to put up some decorations, but are not sure what would be appropriate. So I have spent a lot of time driving around looking for good examples to follow. I think I found my favorite. This is about a mile from our house. Of course, it takes a lot of time to put up something this complex. I know that having done stories on people who "do" their houses, many of them start planning in July for December. So I am late to the starting line. I guess I will have to tone it down a bit, at least this year.

Another Christmas Party

We went to another Christmas party this afternoon with friends who we met when our kids were in school together. That was a long time ago. Anyhow, I met one of the grandchildren and was told that he loved science. He is 12 years old. I forget how the conversation with him started, but somewhere along the line I told him I built a telescope, and he was surprised, and asked how I did it. So we got a piece of paper, and I started drawing the telescope I built. He was fascinated, so I then explained about two different kinds of telescopes how they both worked. He still seemed interested so I spent some time talking about astronomy. Then I remembered I had a pair of binoculars in the car, and Jupiter was in the sky, so we went outside and I showed him where it was. He was able to see Jupiter and two of its moons, and he thought that was pretty cool. A couple of hours later he got to look at the rising full Moon. Here is the best part - I promised I would bring my telescope back to their house, at the next first quarter moon, and show everyone the Moon and Jupiter. Now THAT will be cool!

The Christmas Party

So our astronomy club had its Holiday party tonight, a yearly event for us. It's always nice to gather with friends and have plenty of time to talk with each other. Of course everyone has to take photographs of everyone else seated at their tables. There were flashes going off all over the place - it seems as if everyone is a photographer. So while they were taking our photo I decided to take theirs. Always great to have my toy camera on my belt!

The Kitty is Waiting

So we have this routine. The kitty waits outside the bathroom door while I take a shower. Then she runs into the bedroom, and jumps on the corner of the bed closest to the door. Then she sits. And stares. At me. Because she is waiting for me to scratch her behind her ears. So I carry out my part of the bargain, and scratch her behind the ears, then under her chin, and she purrs. And her day is complete. The sun was shining in the south window today, through the opening in the curtains, and it silhouetted the kitty on the wall. I know, you want to know which kitty this is. I haven't a clue...

Man Talking in Times Square

I take the subway up from Penn Station to Times Square then walk over a block to get to the International Center of Photography. As I was passing through Times Square I saw this video camera on a tripod and lighting setup. So I stopped and watched for a few minutes, and before long the man began to talk. I couldn't see any sign of what this was for and I didn't recognize the speaker. I do know that this kind of thing is called a "standup" where a reporter on a story ends up filming himself talking, instead of filming the scene. So that's all I know. And this may not even be a reporter on a storhy. I should have asked more questions!

Primordial Mists

The weather around here has been wonderful for nearly a week, with fog every morning. What is interesting and different is that the fog on the water stayed around for most of the day, but it was a fog bank out over the water. Late in the afternoon I decided to take a look at the Sound from Memorial Park in Sea Cliff which is very high up overlooking the water. I was stunned that the fog was still there. And what was really cool was the way that it was absent from the harbor, but at the tip of Sands Point, it had moved in and enveloped the tips of the peninsula. It looked as if it was the dawn of time. Please click on the image to see it in more detail.

Manhattan at Twilight

I went to the city today to see the photo exhibits at the International Center of Photography. Found all kinds of interesting photos along the way. But when I left ICP and stepped into the street, I saw this. Twilight in Manhattan. The city is magical, at this hour, on a gray and drizzly day. In fact it is magical at so many times. It always recharges my batteries to go there. Makes me feel more connected to the world.

Chris, and Angela with Crutches

We had surprise visitors yesterday! We received a call from Chris, and he and Angela had to come to Long Island for a funeral, so we offered them a place to stay overnight. This was not the best time for them to travel - Angela had JUST had surgery on one of her feet, so the last thing she needed was a long ride in a car to get from Baltimore to here. We did make it worth their while with a nice dinner Sunday night, and some home-made bran muffins washed down with my legendary coffee made from beans I roasted here at home. So bright and early this morning they headed out for a long day at the funeral, then a family gathering, and after all that, they head back to Baltimore late in the day! Whew!

Looking for Something

I can't stop looking at these four pieces of tree trunk . You have seen them in another post, surrounded by beautiful fall leaves. There is SOMETHING about these pieces that I can't let go of. They are from a Lilac tree that I planted about 30 years ago. About six months ago I cut away the dead wood, and these are pieces from that. What attracts me to them, is that the branches have a twist to them. I laid them down together, because they fascinated me. I could have just thrown them out, but I didn't. I walk by them every day, and I have photographed them several times, but I can't seem to put my finger on what it is that I am trying to show. But I keep trying different views, different compositions, from close to far, and in different light. This closer view seems to be the right one, but I can't tell you why. Anyhow, here they are, and they are still a mystery to me. You might want to click on the image to see it in more detail.

Christmas Cookies!

Christmas Cookies! It's that time of year, and these are the first ones done. Very fancy this year. In fact, they are so fancy, that you should be able to tell that I didn't make these - Kathy did. But guess is going to help eating them? Yes, you got that right. I test one about every 15 minutes, just to be sure they measure up, and because I am the quality-control officer for things like this.

Urban Archaeology - The Store Room

I still have some pictures from my urban exploration project. This room was in the building I photographed from outside and posted a couple of weeks ago. It apparently was a plumbing supply room - thats what the bins on both sides of the room are for. There were some fittings left in some bins. I love the light in this room but it was contrasty, so I did several exposures and combined them to show more detail. The processing is called "HDR" for High Dynamic Range, for those of you who are technically inclined.

Strange Landscape

When I stopped to photograph the trees yesterday I leaned my bike up against a fence that was covered with vines. Curious, I tried to look over the fence, but it was difficult. I grabbed my iPhone and held it up over the fence, and I could see the view. So I shot this. This property was going to be developed, so the owner cut down a lot of trees and removed brush put up a fence, and then they discovered that the property at one time had some kind of industry on it and was in fact polluted. Wow. So the land has been untouched for several years, and these vines have completely taken over. A very strange landscape.

Winter's Coming On

Does this scene look cold? Guess what - it was cold! This is the last mile of my bike ride each day, and today it was cold and windy, and the sky was a blue-gray in color, which only seemed to emphasize the cold. Brrrrrrr.... And why am I complainging? It was 49 degrees at the time. Of course that is warm compared to 32 degrees, which I will soon be riding in. But it is cold compared to 90 degrees in the summer, which I actually don't mind. I know I have photographed this scene before, and posted it on the blog. But I wanted to show you this version because of the color of the sky.

Kings Park

I have a number of photographs left over from my urban archaeology field trip two weekends ago. I am gradually editing the shoot, and there are a lot of photographs to look through. As you know, I love landscapes, both beautiful scenic ones, and industrial ones like this. The abandoned power plant is in the distance, and a loading dock for a building in the foreground. I love the foreground/background here - it makes the photograph more three-dimensional and has more interest, in my opinion. The original photograph is in color, but the color was distracting, so I converted it to black & white which emphasizes the form of the structures more.

In Praise of an Unknown Photographer

So today I sing the praises of an unknown photographer, from a long time ago. And it is also in praise of a time when quality and craft really mattered. My sister loaned me several photographs of my mother and her twin sister to make copies of. I chose this one of the three as being the most elegant. Look how beautiful this image is, and how it has been carefully composed and lit with care. It is such a delight to contemplate the artistry and quality of this. There is no date on this. The inscription embossed on the mat says "Crosby, 831 Chapel Street, New Haven, Conn." Credit where credit is due.

Coffee with Friends

My friends Adam and Jessica are home from college for Thanksgiving, and we managed to get together for coffee today, which was wonderful. Actually I was the only one having coffee. We talked for three hours non-stop about school, and life, and astronomy, and engineering and who knows what else. What a great time. I have missed them being off at college, even thought they are only an hour away here on Long Island. The cool thing is that they brought a SONY PSP with a game on it, and I had never seen one of those in use, so they were showing me how it worked. Looks like they are having fun with it. Now I want one!

Joan's White Chairs

We stopped at Joan's on the way home from Massachusetts, because I needed to pick up a bowl of Indian Pudding that she and Betsey saved for me from Thanksgiving Day. I LOVE Indian Pudding, and in our family we only had it twice a year, at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Anyhow, I stopped to pick up my pudding and saw these chairs on the porch. There was something about the white chairs and the white walls - a kind of sparse still life that speaks to me of New England.

Twilight

Late in the afternoon I took a walk around the house here in Attleboro, looking for photographs. I photographed a few things, but then saw these decorative grasses against the twilight sky. It feels as if this photograph has a different feeling than so many of my other photographs. I like how this looks, and I like that it is different, and I love the feeling of a November twilight on a crystal clear day. These are called decorative grasses, and this one, in particular, is called "Miscanthus sinensis" - I just know that some of you out there would like to know the scientific name for this. Of course, I could be wrong... In that case, please feel free to correct me!

Finley!

This is the beautiful Finley, all of 4 months old, the daughter of Pat and Bethany. The last time I photographed her, she was still being carried by Bethany, her mom, and I photographed them both on the chaise lounge in the back yard. So this is exciting for us because this is the first time we have seen her in person. She is such a happy baby, and is always smiling, and lively - note that she is a bit blurry in this photo. I should have used a higher shutter speed. You would think I would know this by now! I decided that I should use the photo anyway, because her character shines in this image, even if it is not perfectly sharp. So that's my excuse...

A New England Stone Wall

We are in Attleboro, Mass, in the heart of New England, at Pat & Bethany's for Thanksgiving with family from upstate New York and Baltimore, Maryland. When we drove in this morning, on a rainy misty day, this stone wall jumped out at me right away. When I was growing up, I would visit my grandfather's farm, and all the fields were ringed with these old stone walls built by hand from rocks which came to the surface after plowing each spring. These walls were all covered with lichen, and seeing this brought back so many wonderful feelings of visiting the old farm. Together with family at Thanksgiving - the only place to be.

Dusty Miller

I spent yesterday raking leaves in the yard. I actually hated to rake the beautiful red and yellow leaves from underneath the Japanese maple tree, but it was time. In the process, I did a quick job raking leaves out of parts of the gardens around the house. That is what brought me here to this garden, and this plant. I love the beautiful subtle color of Dusty miller. And the shape of the leaves, if that is what they are called, resemble snowflakes in their shape. Just a lovely plant. I spent a while with various different compositions, both close and further away, and settled on this closer view.

Completely Legal

So this is one of the subjects of our photographs on Sunday. It appears to be some kind of workshop, but it was hard to tell. It is two stories high. It is in pretty bad shape, in that half the roof has completely collapsed onto the second floor, and we could see from outside that the floor is rotted. I say we could see these conditions from outside, because of course we would never go inside an abandoned building like this. It is amazing how overgrown it is with vines, and it has been that way for a really long time. I have two closeup photographs of vines on the outside that I will have to post eventually, because they are so interesting.

Urban Archaeology

Had a cool "field trip" today with a friend of mine from the astronomy club. We went out photographing and doing some "urban archaeology." That is a euphemism for exploring abandoned buildings. To be accurate, we spent most of the day wandering around and photographing the outsides of different buildings at a former mental hospital. Many of these buildings are slated for demolition in the spring. Twenty years ago I did a photo essay, which took me several months to complete, about the architecture of abandoned mental hospitals on Long Island. At that time I had the luxury of access to the insides of all the buildings. Today it was different, since this was not an official visit. So my friend and I had to arrange our own access. You're looking at it! We got a lot of great photos, and I will, of course, be sharing them with you. With luck, this will not turn into Urban Archaeology Week!

The Old Dogwood

This old Dogwood was here when we bought the house forty years ago. It was flourishing then, but it has slowly lost branches to whatever the blight is that is killing Dogwood trees. I have tried to take care of it, but there is not much anyone can do when these trees have this disease. Anyhow, some of the branches still bear leaves. The leaves have fallen off any live branches by now. I do like the shapes of the branches, and to me what makes this photograph is the design of the branches - the different shapes. And maybe the sense that the tree is reaching for the heavens, like the arms of the Joshua trees do.

The Blue Period

I was at the Cradle of Aviation the other day for the training class for Project Astro. You already know that. Anyhow, when I left the building I looked up while walking under the entrance covering and stopped in my tracks. What grabbed me was the dramatic color difference between the warm lighting in the entrance and the deep blue sky at dusk. There is a time of day, at dusk, called "The Blue Period." I think that when I first heard of this, I saw it described in French. In any case, once I knew the term, I look for it at that time of day. And here it is!

A Magical Moment

I walked across the porch this morning, to go get the newspaper, and when I got to the front steps, this is what I saw! There is a day each year, when a majority of the leaves of the Japanese maple fall. They gently blanket the ground under the tree, and they are brilliant in their color. Today was that morning. I was just stunned with how beautiful it was. You will notice that there several pieces of wood in the middle of the photo. These are dead pieces of a lilac tree that I cut off in the spring. They are interesting because they are twisted, so I left them there, thinking that one day I might make a picture of them. Well, today was the day for the branches, as well as the leaves. It started raining later in the day, and now the leaves are soggy and matted down, and the magic moment is gone. I posted a larger than normal image, so please click on this to see it in greater detail.

Modeling Moon Phases

Had an interesting day today. I am taking part in a program called "Project Astro," where an astronomer is teamed up with a school teacher and they work together three times during the year to teach astronomy. I am really excited about this project. Today we had a training with a group of astronomers, and a group of teachers working together. Various class projects were talked about and demonstrated. Then we tried the exercises ourselves. This one is "Modeling Moon Phases" where we took a ping-pong ball and watched the effect of light on it, as if were the moon revolving around the Earth in a month, changing phases.

Spooky Plant Photo

I came out on the front porch in the morning, to get the newspaper, and this sight stopped me in my tracks! What is interesting is that this photo was taken on a sunny day. It doesn't look like it, except for the sharp shadows of the plant on the white porch. This is a plant that has been on the front porch all summer along. There is a basket of dark pink flowers up above, and then these long stringy things that hang down. They are green-gray in color for most of the season, but have turned just plain gray now. I, of course, don't have the faintest idea of what plants these are. But you don't come here for horticultural information - I am sure of that! In any case the reason the background is black on a sunny day is because it is the shady side of the Japanese maple tree in the distance, and is what gives this image the spooky feeling. I like this photo a lot - it has a completely different feeling from any other garden photo I have ever done.

Flying Again!

Well at least today's photo isn't fall color again. Of course, it is me again... I promise, no more pictures of me for a long time. But I am excited today! I have been meaning to get back to flying for about a year now. I need to do a lot of studying for my biennial flight review. Stuff like airspace, weather and forecasts, aircraft performance, and FAA regulations among other knowledge. So until I have done all my studying, I wasn't planning on flying. The biennial consists of an informal written and oral exam, and then several hours of time in the airplane with an instructor. But I realized that I was really missing flying - it must have been sitting in the cockpit of that Thunderbolt! So I today I just scheduled time in an airplane with an instructor. I haven't really flown in four years, so a lot of things seemed a bit foreign to me, but my flying skills, according to the instructor were not bad. It was great to be back in the air again!

Fall Color, Again

I have had to wait for fall color for so long this year. Now that it is here, I am seeing pictures everywhere. This is the Japanese maple, and I see it from this angle every time I pull into the driveway. I saw it the day before yesterday and did some pictures, but the Sun had moved too far west to illuminate the whole branch. Imagine my happiness when today, earlier in the day, I saw that the branch was completely illuminated. I tried some subtle differences in composition before deciding on this view.

Ablaze With Color

During my bike ride today, I was grinding my way up the mile-long hill when I saw this gorgeous red japanese maple kind of all by itself in the woods in front of someone's home. But I had a hill to climb, so I did a dangerous thing - I didn't stop! Then I immediately worried that the light might change by the time I came back down the hill. Dumb thing to do, passing a picture like that. The rule is always STOP NOW! Well I didn't but I was in luck. I finished the ride to the top, turned around and raced half way to the bottom, and the orange sunlight was still on the tree! Whew! Just brilliant color, the combination of the red leaves and the orange light.