While The Snow is on the Ground

After all the leaves are off the trees it gets more difficult for me to fine beautiful photographs in nature.  So I hope you will forgive me if I am showing you so many snow photographs lately.  The new snow reveals all kinds of wonderful things, especially when the sun comes out.  These stalks are almost two feet high, which gives you an idea of how much snow we got.  Early in the morning the low sun made wonderful shadows of the stalks, which I spotted from the second floor bedroom window.

A Leftover

I have a leftover photograph from the snowstorm.  While the snow was tapering off on Saturday night, I started looking out the windows to see if I could find any pictures.  I have posted one already, and this is the second one.  It is our new back porch, showing the snow drifting over the stairs, and one of the columns which hold up the roof of the portico.  I love that this is pretty much an abstract, and I also like that I have kept it really dark, which adds to the abstract nature of the image.

The New Computer Desk

I have posted a couple of photographs of this oak desk when I was building it, and then a photograph of it after it was varnished.  Today I installed it in a corner of the new back room.  It is fastened to the wall on two sides with aluminum angle so it appears to be suspended in space. The three coats of  marine spar varnish have such a glossy finish that the desktop looks wet all the time. It is such a beautiful addition to the addition.

Is this Any Way to Deliver a Package?

So this is not our mailbox - it is the neighbor's across the street.  Can you believe that the mail carrier left a package balanced on top of the mailbox like this!  I spotted this today, and it struck a nerve.  We have the best mailman ever and he is so conscientious.  Whenever there is something that doesn't fit the mailbox, he brings it up and puts it on our front porch, by the front door.  But every once in a while, a replacement driver does the route, and this happens.  I came home one day and there were two small Amazon boxes sitting on the curb at the foot of our mailbox.  It would be too easy for someone to walk away with them, so I complained to the post office.  They said they were sorry, and that they had talked to the driver, but he continues to do it his way.  Sigh...

The Snow at Night

On Saturday afternoon, I used my snowblower on the whole driveway, knowing that much of the show would drift back, but still, I would have a head start on cleaning up.  Saturday night the snow continued to fall, and I tried several views of the snow and shadows outside our windows.  This one of the views, and I love the subtlety of the light and shade on the snow.  Please click on this to see the larger image.

The Delicacy of the Tree

I have never photographed the Japanese maple from this angle before.  It wouldn't be very interesting when the tree was leafed out, seen against the grass.  But to have the delicate branches silhouetted against the snow covered yard gives a whole new sense of the structure of the tree.  Funny that I have never noticed this before.

George Takei

I went to the city tonight to attend a lecture at the Japan Society by George Takei.  My friend Stan and his wife had two tickets, but Ann couldn't make it, so Stan invited me.  George is presently on Broadway in a musical called "Allegiance" which is based on his own story of he and his family being sent to a U.S. Japanese-American internment camp, when he was five years old.  They were in the camp for three and one-half years!  His story was very moving because of all the details he shared with the audience.  The first thing he experienced was when two soldiers with rifles banged on the door of their house and escorted the whole family away before dawn.  As an activist, his mission is to promote seeing that this story is told in history classes everywhere.  Education is the only thing that will keep this from happening again.