Day 242: August 30, 2010

Suburban Fountain

While taking a shortcut through an office park near my school today, I spotted this fountain in the middle of a pond.  It worked better in monochrome - I especially liked the reflections.

Day 241: August 29, 2010

Pollination

Visited the Matthei Botanical Gardens in Ann Arbor today.  The bees were everywhere and were very busy getting in some end-of-summer pollination.  There were also a lot of decorated flamingos but that's another story for another day.

 

Day 240: August 28, 2010

Incongruous Garlic

So I ate at a restaurant in Ann Arbor that is called Quarter Bistro.  As you might guess from the name, it is a New Orleans-themed restaurant.  Upon leaving, I looked up and above the door I saw this giant clove of garlic.  Now, I like garlic as much as the next person (I even ate at an all-garlic restaurant once in San Francisco called The Stinking Rose), but I don't really associate garlic with New Orleans.  The building formerly housed a restaurant called Rio Bravo.....nope....no connection between Mexico and garlic either that I can think of.  Odd.  But very good food!

Day 239: August 27, 2010

Hidden Beauty

Found this single blossom hiding at the very back of my yard.  Another accidental planting, I think!

Day 238: August 26, 2010

Shadow Tree

The weather today was phenomenal!  Feels like fall is finally on the way! (I'm ignoring the forecast that calls for upper 80's again this weekend.)  The early evening sun made some fantastic shadows at Wildwood Park tonight.  I think the shadow tree looks a lot better than the real one!

Day 237: August 25, 2010

Finally - The Moon!

Finally, the trees and clouds cooperated and I had my tripod and telephoto lens....and the picture is still lame.  Oh well.  It looked a lot cooler than this picture.

Day 236: August 24, 2010

Pink Blossom

This is a cheat.  I tried to take a picture of  the full moon on the actual date of the full moon (today) but it was cloudy.  Very sad.  So this was taken a couple of days later at Wildwood Park.

Day 235: August 23, 2010

Accidental Squash Blossoms

So I really wanted to take a shot of the full moon and clouds tonight.  Driving home from my daughter's volleyball practice it looked AMAZING!  But I was driving! And I didn't have my telephoto lens! And I didn't have my tripod!  So the minute I got home I swapped lenses, grabbed the tripod, and ran out the door to shoot the moon.  Sadly, my neighborhood is so densely treed I could barely see any sky at all, certainly not the part of the sky with the moon.  I walked (tripod over my shoulder) for several blocks in all directions - no luck.  My neighbors probably think I'm a bit odd at this point.

So instead, I've posted a shot of the accidental squash blossoms growing at school.  I took this while waiting for volleyball to be finished - it was more twilight than full night.  They are accidental because they weren't actually planted.  Last fall, a parent donated some pumpkins and squash to decorate the center island in the school driveway.  Apparently, some planted themselves.  The vines have taken over and are already producing squash!

Technically, it's not a full moon til tomorrow (or at midnight tonight) so I am going to try again tomorrow night to capture the moon!

Day 234: August 22, 2010

Tree Pods

Today was the back-to-school ice cream social sponsored by PTO at the school where I teach.  I took a ton of pictures of the kids and parents enjoying ice cream and playing on the swings and other playground equipment.  Some are really good, but I didn't get anyone's permission to publish them here, so you get the tree instead.  There are a few of these trees in the playground and ever fall they drop these massive seed pods everywhere. I have no idea what sort of tree they are (a shameful thing for a science teacher to admit!) but they are unlike any other tree I've seen around here. I suspect they are native to some other climate.

Day 233: August 21, 2010

Another Cheat

As noted in Friday's post, I've been a slacker this weekend.  This is another sunflower from the manicurist's place.  I love sunflowers!

Day 232: August 20, 2010

First Day!

OK, so her first day of high school classes was actually Wednesday.  I have been a bit of a slacker this weekend with taking photos, so I'm cheating a bit. I did take this on her actual first day - in the parking lot to minimize her level of embarrassment.  A far cry from the photo below of Natalie on her first day of first grade!  My little girl is growing up!

Day 231: August 19, 2010

Yes, It's Duct Tape

Duct Tape comes in all sorts of colors and patterns now.  My daughter loves them all and makes everything from wallets to roses to hair bows from it.  Here she is modeling her latest creation (and it's also the only way she'll let me post a picture of her here).

Day 230: August 18, 2010

Sunflower!

There were some HUGE sunflowers in front of the place I get my nails done.  After my manicure at lunch time today I grabbed the camera from the car and took some pictures. This one is my favorite!

Day 229: August 17, 2010

Note To Self...

Don't Be a Bird Brain!

So yes, this is a picture from last week's visit to Malibu.  Because it was "chilly" (perfect weather in my book) there were more seagulls on the tanning cots than people.  

And why are you looking at a week-old photo you ask?  Well, that would be because it is helpful to actually put the battery back in the camera after charging it.  I didn't realize I hadn't done that til I was at a park tonight trying to shoot the ducks.  Sigh.  I'm blaming the stress of the start of a new school year.

Day 228: August 16, 2010

I Wonder Who Lives Here?

Since the weather was glorious (and the humidity was actually low!) I headed to the park this afternoon.  My walk was cut short by the hoards of ravenous mosquitoes, however - one even tried to bite my eyebrow!  I did come across this fungi growing in the hollow of a tree along the path.  It looks just like a real life "fairy door", all decorated with white mushrooms for an awning!

Day 227: August 15, 2010

Underbelly of the Beast

This little guy was hanging on my neighbor's garage today just before a storm blew in.  It's not as sharp as I'd like due to not having the tripod (no time to grab it with the rain starting) and due to the breeze blowing him around a bit.

Day 226: August 14, 2010

Do Not Leave Me Alone With Photo Shop Filters...

OK, so my photo-mojo isn't quite back yet.  I looked around for something to photograph tonight and saw this little bird ocarina I picked up on vacation.  He really is black with white painted bits - which is kind of boring.  So I started messing around with cropping, angles, and filters.  Ahem.  Got a bit carried away but it's always fun to play with the filters in PS and see what they can do.

Day 225: August 13, 2010

Cats!

Today was another long, hectic day.  The cats sort of cooperated for a photo shoot, but my living room lighting leaves a lot to be desired.  This means I have to use a flash which means they blink.  Every time.  So I cropped this one of Wednesday in close and played with some of the artistic filters.

I caught Colby looking a little pensive below.

Day 224: August 12, 2010

Fried/Fry's

I promise this is the last day I post a cheat (at least for a while!).  Jet-lag kicked my butt this am (feeling much better now) and once again, I spent all day prepping my room - still not ready, but getting there.

This is another picture from the last day of my trip - this is the Fry's store in Burbank, CA.  The inside is even weirder - space aliens, giant robots, huge octopus whose arms hold shelves full of TV's, etc...  I did not take the camera inside the store - d'oh!

Day 223: August 11, 2010

Wish I Was Here:

So I didn't take any pictures today - a bit jet-lagged and also spent the entire day at school as I am pretty behind on getting my room ready for next Thursday's start of school.  I took this at Malibu outside Paradise Cove restaurant - the seagull was a surprise - flew across my view just I snapped the pic!

Day 222: August 10, 2010

Airport Oddity

Well, I did manage to take one photo today.  I had a layover of just over two hours at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport today and this structure was smack in the middle of the concourse near the food court.  There is nothing to see inside of it (I checked) - it just appears to be some sort of artistic statement.  Shrug.  Made for a an interesting picture on an otherwise uninteresting day of travel.

Day 221: August 9, 2010

Rock Lobster!

On the last day of our vacation, we went to Malibu and had lunch at Paradise Cove, which is right on the beach.  There are some tide pools just down the beach from the restaurant and a bunch of kids were having a blast with the lobster-munching sea urchins.  Empty lobster shells were everywhere - one of the kids was more than happy to hold one up for me so I could snap a picture!

Day 220: August 8, 2010

Sunset at Santa Monica

We reached the end of Route 66 in Santa Monica, California.  Whew!  What a ride!  The beach near the Santa Monica Pier wasn't too crowded - water was a bit chillier than Californians are used to apparently.  It felt good on my toes, though!

Tomorrow is a day to bum around the LA area then I fly home on Tuesday.  Tuesday's post may be difficult as I'll be traveling most of the day, but I'll do my best to take a picture somewhere!

Day 219: August 7, 2010

Desert Cows!

Visited my second ever desert today - the Mojave Desert.  It was WINDY!  And not as hot as the Painted Desert was.  Driving out of the National Preserve I spotted this foursome literally on the side of the road.  Some were standing, some were laying down, but all were nomming away on the brush.  By the time we had the car turned around and in position for me to hop out and take this picture, they had all stood up to look at us.  The one on the far left was very spooked by us and bolted pretty quickly.  

So to sum up, what I have learned about deserts is:  1. it rains and 2. they have cows.  Who knew?

Day 218: August 6, 2010

Sunset at the Grand Canyon

Spent the entire day at the Grand Canyon.  Ended with a view of the sun setting from the Watchtower area near the Eastern Entrance to the South Rim.  It was cloudy and threatened rain but the view was spectacular.  I probably have a better shot somewhere amongst the 255 I took today, but after 11 hours at the canyon and an hour drive each way, I'm exhausted! Look for more canyon photos to be up on the travel blog in the coming days.

Day 217: August 5, 2010

Painted Desert

So I went to a desert for the first time in my life.....and it rained.  Seriously. Not the whole time, thankfully, but still!  The painted desert really does live up to it's reputation - stunning views at every turn.  Unfortunately, it was 93F plus humidity and was actually very sunny for most of the drive through the park.  Someday I'd like to come back with better camera equipment and more photography knowledge and a heckuva lot more time!

Day 216: August 4, 2010

Sandia Crest, New Mexico

This is the view from Sandia Crest outside Albuquerque, New Mexico.  We drove up to the top (10, 685 feet) this morning and were rewarded with fantastic views in all directions.  We spent most of today in Albuquerque - but it's late and the Route 66 blog will have to wait until tomorrow!

Day 215: August 3, 2010

Cadillac Ranch

Sorry for the delay in updating - last night's hotel had a bad wireless router and a defunct land line.  

As always, more details on the Route 66 blog.  This is the infamous Cadillac Ranch.  Basically, someone "planted" a row of old cars into a field and allows/encourages people to spray paint them.  It was a bit of a trek from the road back to the cars.  We didn't stick around very long in the 102 degree heat!

Day 214: August 2, 2010

In Memoriam

 

Yet another monolith in the sun.  This time it's a bit more somber, however.  This is part of the Oklahoma City National Memorial.  More on the travel blog.

Day 213: August 1, 2010

Stonehenge

Today's portion of Route 66 took us through Rolla, MO - home of a scale model of Stonehenge! It's set up to be astronomically accurate - complete with an analemma to mark the calendar.  I don't think I've ever before seen a sign saying, "Do not stand on the analemma"!