241/365 Fashion Statement

"Hell on Heels"

We have already established here that I have no fashion sense.  Clothes at best are a necessity and are at worst an encumbrance.  Therefore, I knew that I was going to be searching for a willing participant to help me with today's photo.  Brooke is definitely the one in our family who uses clothing to make a statement.

We always kid her about her shoes.  She already towers over all of us by a couple of inches naturally.  Add to that the five inch heels that most of her shoes have and we all become midgets.  Self expression through clothing has been her thing for a long time so she actually volunteered to help me today.  

These particular shoes definitely make a statement - I'm not exactly sure what they are saying, but I do know they are saying something.  Come to think of it, it may be better that I don't know what they are saying. 

I was OK when the "spikes" on her shoes came in the form of soccer cleats.  

After we were done taking pictures, we noticed this critter climbing along the wall.  As we got a better look, we noticed that he/she too is making a fashion statement by shedding old skin.  I have seen snakes shed their skin, but I have never seen a lizard do it.  This one didn't seem to be camera shy at all.

240/365 Rust

"Handle on the Past"

This shovel has been around here for a long time.  It has dug many holes and shoveled many piles.  Though it is a bit weathered and rusted, it is sturdy and has many more chores left in its lifetime.

239/365 With Seeds

"Chance and Necessity"

It is hatch chili season and we have about ten pounds of them.  As I write this, Brooke is roasting them so that they can soon become sauce for enchiladas or some other such goodness.  

238/365 Green

"First Day 47"

Today was my 47th first day of school.  Every year since beginning kindergarten at age 4, I have had a first day of school.  Some were as a student, some have been as a faculty member and then there were those as a graduate teaching fellow where I had one foot in each camp.

Since our school color is green and the campus map shown here was a big part of life on campus today as our new students found their way to the correct classrooms, this perfectly represents my day and contains a little green to address the prompt.

In case you are wondering,  there are no students in this picture because I got to school much earlier than most of them.

237/365 The Extraordinary in the Ordinary

"A Tisket, A Tasket …

…  a shadow and a basket"

I wish that I had had more time to look for things for this prompt.  It is a great mental challenge to try and find interesting perspectives and parts of seemingly uninteresting things to photograph.  This is a laundry basket casting its shadow in the afternoon sun.

236/365 Steps

"Saturday Sunset"

What does this have to do with steps? Umm … they both start with "S"? 

Finding an opportunity of a photo that included steps wasn't happening today.  This is what was happening and thus is the picture of the day.

I learned that sunsets are hard, at least for me, to photograph such that they are as beautiful in the photo as they are firsthand.

235/365 Landscape

'Summer Parked"

There are lots of great things about Dallas, but its beautiful landscape is not one of them.  Cityscape?  Maybe, but definitely not landscape.  With today's prompt being a local landscape, I was at a loss.  I finally decided, almost too late in the day,  that we do have lots of parks that provide a nice respite from the concrete and glass that covers most of the city.

I took several photos of this expansive park.  In the end, I was drawn to this image with the "beyond their prime" flowers in the foreground.  As I was looking at it on the computer, I realized that this is because, right now, I feel kind of like those flowers.  We have been easing into the school year.  Weber has been back at school this entire week for in-service and I had meetings today.  Students arrive for both of us on Monday.  That will be the true mark that summer is over for us - just like summer is over for those flowers