109/365 At The Edge

"Edge Of The Water"

We went to the park this evening just to get some fresh air and wind down at the end of another school week.  I love to watch the ducks and the birds and the children playing.  I love the sounds of the park.  Even though there is usually a lot of activity, the park always seems peaceful to me.

On our way, we stopped along the road so that I could take some pictures of a tiny patch of bluebonnets on the edge between someone's yard and the street.  Having fulfilled the day's prompt, I figured I'd just shoot whatever at the park.  No pressure.

I took a few pictures of roses, birds and some basic duck pictures.  It wasn't until we were about to leave that the little guy above made his way out of the water right up beside me.  I love his colors, particularly his bright orange feet.  They look exactly like stereotypical duck feet.  I also like the water droplets on his belly and tail feathers.  He replaced the bluebonnets as today's depiction of "on the edge."

One of these birds sat in this spot for the entire hour or so that we were at the park.  The other would come and go.  I'm not sure what they are, but they have an impressive call and an equally impressive wing span.  With those wings, this one looks like it is trying to impersonate Batman.

"Batman"

108/365 Passed Down

"A Love of Reading"

Pictured here is a first edition of Robin Hood given to Weber's father in 1924.  Weber remembers his dad reading it to him when he was a little boy.  The oil lamp has also been in Weber's family for a long, long time.  He thinks that it once belonged to his great-great, or maybe great-great-great aunt.  Either way, it has been around a good long while.  I love having all these pieces of family history as part of our home.

107/365 A Sign

"In Big Trouble With the Big Cheese"

Rick Maxwell, aka the "the big cheese," is our division dean and this is a photo of our shared refrigerator in the faculty workroom.  I think someone had the wrong idea about what shared really means!  How could they take the boss's cheese sticks?

106/365 Pie or Pile

Pie of Berries and Pile of Berries"

At the beginning of each month Katrina Kennedy of Capture Your 365 publishes the list of prompts for each day of the month.  Then, each day she sends an inspirational email with photo tips of tidbits of inspiration.  I had been looking forward to the "pie" prompt all month since we have our family baker at home with us.  When Katrina's email came this morning, she said that she had actually intended for the day's prompt to be pile, not pie.  Pie was actually a typo.  

I had pie on the brain so I decided to go ahead a photograph a pie.  I was afraid that if I told Brooke that the prompt wasn't really "pie" that she would then decide not to make me a pie.  That would be very sad!  When it came time to actually take the photo, I decided to add a pile of blackberries next to the berry pie.  Thus, I ended up with both a pie of berries and a pile of berries.

Later in the day, I decided to attempt the "pile" prompt.  I had fun with these colored hair bands.

"A Pile of Ponytail Bands"

105/365 Sprouts

"Dinner Sprouts"

I wish the sprouts that I had photographed today were sprouting plants in my garden.  Sadly, I have planted nothing.  I was feeling OK about that last week when we had temperatures in the upper 30's.  Today the high temperature was 90.  This is good garden weather.  I guess I will break down and buy some plants rather than starting from seeds.  I'm not sure when that is going to happen.

Since I had no sprouting plants, I had to take a different approach and cheat a little with Brussels sprouts.  Oh well . . .

I also took this photo of my blooming spathiphyllum.  This isn't a sprout but I think it's pretty.

104/365 Stairs

"Stairway to Heaven"

This is not "my" church; it is Oak Lawn United Methodist Church in Dallas, the church that kindly allows Resounding Harmony to rehearse in their sanctuary.  I like the red steps and the places where the paint and the concrete are worn.  I like the way the steps lead to the doors.  Even the lens flare is starting to grow on me.

This is a beautiful building.  When I saw the the prompt of "stairs" fell on a Sunday, I knew that I would have several possible sets of stairs to shoot at OLMC.  We went early for rehearsal this afternoon to allow time for picture taking.  I am still getting used to my new camera so having extra time was definitely a plus.

Though the above picture is my official POTD, I took several others that I liked.  Today was one of those days where it was hard to decide which photo was "the one."  

Here are the others.  Any thoughts?

I like this one because of all the lines and the somewhat odd symmetry.  But maybe that makes it too busy?? Hmm . . .

I like the fact that this one is at an angle and looks down on this strange little door that actually goes under the main stairway shown above.

I like the way the colors divide this one into horizontal thirds and the rail almost cuts the frame in half.  I wish that I hadn't chopped off the tops of the arches.

103/365 Feature

"Yes, It's Natural"

It's that time of the month again.  No, no THAT time, although I hate it almost as much.  Today was the day for April's self-portrait.  This month we were supposed to focus on a specific feature of ourselves.  I asked Weber what I should do.  His first suggestion was one for which the photos would have been inappropriate for a public blog.  The alternative was my hair.

When you have hair the color of mine it becomes a feature whether you like it or not.  It took me nearly fifty years to get to the point where I was OK with it.  If for no other reason, I'm pretty sure it gets us undeserved senior discounts at restaurants every now and then.  

Those of you who have known me for awhile know that I have always had short hair.  I have decided to give it a try a little longer.  That is another reason that it was appropriate as a defining feature this month.  To further illustrate that it is getting long, I didn't try to control it as the wind blew it around while trying to take this picture.

On a much happier note than self portraits, I got a new macro lens today.   I had fun shooting flowers this morning.  Little tiny colorful flowers that are actually weeds looked beautiful.  When I came in and looked at the photos on the computer, I noticed a weird line through about half of the photos.  I have had this problem a few times before but only when I was pointing the camera up at an angle. Fortunately,  I knew the issue wasn't with the new lens.  I think it may be the sensor. 

I have chosen the last two new lenses that I have gotten with the thought that some day I might get a new camera.  These lenses work on the camera that I have as well as the one to which I would likely upgrade.

With today's camera weirdness, I started thinking about what I would do if something like this happened while we were traveling this summer.  What if I couldn't take any photos while we were gone?  This was terrifying to think about!  Actually, just thinking about taking my camera and leaving it to be cleaned and have its sensor checked kind of freaked me out.  I couldn't be without my camera!  What would become of my picture of the day?

As often is the case, Weber had a simple solution: get the new camera now.  But, but, but, I just got a new lens, a lens that was not cheap.  And the new camera, if I upgrade, definitely won't be cheap.  Again he said, "Just get the new camera."  We stopped in the camera shop to ask about the problem that I am having with my camera and to ask how much it will cost to have it cleaned.  We told the guy we'd bring it in sometime this week.  And, I got a new camera.

I had to charge its battery so I haven't done much with it yet, But I did use it for today's picture.  I also took this picture of Erin.  I was not really trying to take a good picture of her; I just wanted to get the settings for my self portrait.  She is just so darn photogenic that she takes beautiful photos even when we're not trying for that.