Day 212: July 31, 2010

Meet Me in St. Louis

Day 2: Joliet, IL to Cuba, MO.  Today was a very full day!  There will be all sorts of details and photos on the trip blog soon - the Internet speed at our current hotel may delay that a day or two, however.

This was my first trip to St. Louis.  (From here on out, every place we go will be a first for me, I think.)  We arrived a bit later than we intended, and after fighting Cardinals fans for parking, walking uphill for about 10 blocks, and waiting in line for a little while, the ranger came out to tell us all the tickets to ride to the top of the arch were sold out for the day.  So we settled for pictures from the outside.

It was very sunny (about 90F and very humid, too) and the sun was starting to set.  This shot looked a lot better in black and white - it was inspired by The Weekend in Black and White - go check them out!

Day 211: July 30, 2010

The Bean

Today we drove to Chicago to start our Route 66 Trip properly. For more details and pics of the trip as it progresses, please see my other blog: HERE.  While I fully intend to update this blog daily, the Route 66 blog may get delayed depending on time available to edit pictures.

This of course is the famous "Bean" sculpture in Millennium Park in downtown Chicago.  It's proper name is Cloud Gate, but it looks like a giant bean.  It reflects everyone and everything around it.  It was a gray, hazy day in Chicago, but the rain held off long enough to get some shots.

Day 210: July 29, 2010

Under Construction

Sorry for the change in url.  I decided to make a bit better use of my domain name and add another blog to it.  That site (http://toledonative.com) will most likely undergo a few more changes along the way - I'm not overly happy with some of the constraints of blogger.  In the mean time, please redirect your bookmarks to this address, or just go to the old one and click on the link for this blog.

This shot was taken a few days ago near my house.  I did not see the Woody (from Toy Story) doll hanging from a makeshift noose until I made the picture big! Can you find it?

Tomorrow morning begins VACATION! Driving Route 66 and flying home from LA (OK, Burbank) on August 10.  Hence the second blog.  I want to blog the trip in more detail than one photo a day allows.  But never fear, I will continue to choose one picture from each day to post here.

Day 209: July 28, 2010

One Thousand Days of Detours

So the Ohio Department of Transportation is undertaking a major project to widen I-475 from roughly my neighborhood to the I-75 split.  Along the way they are eliminating one exit, completely re-doing another so it empties directly into Toledo Hospital, and closing overpasses and exits during construction. 

It is a THREE YEAR project. 

While most exits will only be closed for part of the time, the one on Monroe street apparently is out for the duration.  I'm used to seeing signs like this that say construction will last for 90 days, or 180 days, but 1,000 days really floored me.

This would be bad enough, but all summer long, not one, not two, not even three, but FOUR major roads surrounding my house (OK one is 5 miles away but on my route to work) have been under construction with periodic lane closures and detours.  It's been nearly impossible to get out of my neighborhood without encountering orange barrels.

All of this construction is needed, it's just incredibly inconvenient to have such a convergence of it in my end of town and for such duration.

I have no idea what the graffiti means nor do I know why ODOT uses stick on letters (or are they hand-drawn?) for signs that will be up for three years.  Nor do I know why they cannot manage to hang a sign that is not crooked.  Let's hope their road construction skills are slightly better.

Day 208: July 27, 2010

Titus Flavius

My daughter and I went to the Toledo Museum of Art today.  Photography is only allowed in certain areas and no flash is allowed at all. Which limited my choices of photos for today.  In the ancient art room, I found this bust of Roman Emperor Titus Flavius.  In real life, it's a yellowed marble bust.  I really wasn't happy with the photo but it was the best I had in terms of clarity due to lighting issues.  So I played with it quite a bit in PhotoShop,

Day 207: July 26, 2010

Splendor in the Grass

The inspiration credit for today's shot goes to my daughter.  She grabbed my camera and started shooting today then suddenly she was on her stomach in the grass, shooting away.  I liked where she was going with her shots, so tried it myself.  This is what happens when you don't mow your lawn and it rains a lot - the grass goes to seed! Since our yard is more weeds than actual grass, however, it really doesn't look that terrible...yet.

I couldn't resist playing with this shot in PhotoShop - the result is below.

Day 206: July 25, 2010

Power Lines

As often happens, this is not the shot I set out to take today.  I stopped at a construction site that has a major road near my home shut down for a couple of weeks.  I've passed it every day for a week and said to myself that I need to stop and photograph the two meter diameter concrete pipe sections and giant machines.  Today, I did, as it is Sunday and there were no workers around.  Then on the way back to my car, I looked up at the clouds and saw this confluence of wires crisscrossing the sky. I didn't notice the birds til I got home and looked at the shot on my computer.  For some reason, the lines look wavy when the photo is small - click to make it bigger to see how they really look!

Day 205: July 24, 2010

Dragonfly

While at a family reunion today, I staked out the hummingbird feeder waiting for the hummingbird to come back while I actually had my camera out....he was sneaky and refused to cooperate.  However, this pretty dragonfly landed on the feeder and was very cooperative during his photo shoot!  It was pretty windy, as you can tell by how much his right side wings are bending.  He looks kind of like a dog with goggles to me.  And yes, this is seriously cropped - had only the kit lens again - and no tripod - I have GOT to start traveling with all my gear!

Day 204: July 23, 2010

Cake!

Today was the last day of my summer classes for this year! YAY! We survived! To celebrate, one of my classmates, Elizabeth, made us this gorgeous cake! It was almost too pretty to eat...but we managed.  Yes, she used chocolate fondant and malted milk balls! It was a stunning cake!  Thanks, Elizabeth!

Day 203: July 22, 2010

You're Not Mr. McGregor, Are You?

This little guy reminded me of Peter Rabbit, checking out Mr. McGregor's garden.  The statue is called "The Gardner" and is in a smallish landscaped plot in front of University Hall at UT.  I started shooting the sculpture then noticed this little guy sniffing around.  He was too cute to pass up!

Day 202: July 21, 2010

Circular Reflections

Today, one of my classmates, who teaches at Toledo Technology Academy, brought in his Stirling Engine to show us. It gathers and concentrates the sun's rays and the little doohickey in the center of the dish is the heat collector.  It uses the heat from the sun to run a motor on the back of the dish. It's only about two feet across and is mounted on what looks like a camera tripod.  Despite being just a small-scale model, it was pretty cool! I loved the reflections of the surrounding buildings in the dish.  I did crop out my classmates surrounding the dish to reduce distractions.

Day 201: July 20, 2010

Watering Day

Ok, so Day 201 was actually taken on Day 202.  Yesterday just got away from me.  Despite the promise of rain in the clouds, the university was watering in full-force today.  As you can see from the brown patches, it's been a bit dry around here! 

Day 200: July 19, 2010

Lacy Leaves in Summer

I found myself a little less than inspired on day 200.  Then I looked up.  There are a half dozen large oak trees in my yard and the branches are full of leaves.  The clouds added a bit of interest as well.  With the early evening shadows and cloudy sky, it was nearly monochrome when I started.  A little desaturation really made the patterns pop.

Day 199: July 18, 2010

Sunset on the Maumee

Had to pick up my daughter at Walbridge Park tonight at 9 pm (Zoo Teen picnic).  We had a line of storms move through the area earlier in the evening, and they left behind some gorgeous clouds for the sun to color.  Here are two of my favorites.  Saw some incredibly amazing potential shots on the drive home, but decided it was not safe to stop on an interstate.