Dog and I were enjoying the nice weather on Saturday. The ice plant is in full bloom and the fruit trees have the first hints of peaches. Meanwhile, the weather has finally warmed up in Arlington and the class is going well. The jetlag is still causing me some grief but hopefully tonight I'll be able to sleep decently. In the meantime, I managed to retake some of the pictures with the setting sun. They should be nice.
Cold, damp and drizzly in Arlington. Miss that San Diego weather already. The people in class are, for the most part, very nice and class has been fascinating. I'll pop up a picture or two when I get back.
The Muse was from Balboa park on Saturday. The sun was just right to get a few shadows on there. Hope you like him.
There was some serious partying going on at the St. Pattie's Day festival at Balboa park. I didn't check to see if the beer was really green but this old guy was dancing up a storm to one of the two live bands that were playing.
I also received my admissions letter to law school just before I went to the park so that was just one more reason to have a happy St. Pattie's Day! Yaaaay!!!! No more worrying. At least until exam time. I hope your St. Pat's was as good as mine.
Oh yeah, I forgot the cabbage in the corned beef but it was still really soft and tasty. You'll have to ask if you want the secret.
I love Spring! The flowers are bursting out everywhere and there are brilliant splashes of color, each yard a little different, with new discoveries as you walk along. I found this very profusely blooming lavender wisteria growing on top of a stucco and tile garage. It made a tremendous display!
Here's a little Irish Green for St. Pattie's Day. It's a backlit Palm I snapped while walking along San Diego Bay. I'm going to make an exception tomorrow and cook some corned beef just for chuckles and grins. It's normally pretty chewy stuff...mumph but maybe it'll be better when I cook it! Hah! Wish me luck!
Have you ever stared out the window of an airplane and wondered at the geology spread below you? Details that are invisible when you're walking upon them open their secrets before your eyes from 30,000 feet. Millions of years of erosion show up as deep valleys and chasms and yet, from altitude, look surprising like little rivulets in the mud during rain storms. Huge basins stretch outwards from long dried inland seas, fed by dry riverbeds that stretch outward like tendrils. Occasionally, you will see faults in the earth itself, sheer jagged rocks jutting out from the ground at odd angles, all lined up like soldiers leaning on an invisible wall. I could stare out the window of a plane for hours. My only regret being not having the geologist with me to explain the wonders stretched below.
In this picture of Little Rock, Arkansas, we have the stately Pulaski House where the Pulaski County Government was first organized. The picture was taken from the little park in back of the house which had, nicely enough, two prominent bird houses, one of which is visible in the center of the picture.
Hello from Little Rock, Arkansas. The trees are blooming outside and it's actually quite warm and humid outside. I had a few spare moments and decided to got out for a quick walk around the block to snap a few picures. As I came back around the block towards the hotel, there was a big gang fight going on with Police attempting to calm things down. Mostly just a lot of yelling and histrionics. I stayed away from the crowd (basically ignoring them and vice versa) and still managed to snap my photos of the old architecture buildings, the wonderful flowering trees and the spring flowers without mishap. When I got back to the hotel, there were people out front checking things out. Seemed like quite the spectacle going on. I, however, decided I would head off to the lounge for a snack instead. Hopefully, that will be all the excitement for this trip.
In animal photography, many people like to get the WHOLE animal in the picture. I think, however, that the face shots are often worth a thousand words. This shot, of a giraffe chewing, really reminds me of an old man chewing tobacco. No good reason why. It just does. Does it remind you of anyone you know?
It was a gorgeous, sunny 90F today. Light breezes and generally toasty all around. We went for a walk along the bay and saw this man with a halibut which I thought was pretty cool so here he is. It was just a hair small so he ended up tossing it back in.
The day started out misty and overcast but, as the sun came out, the fog burned off and it turned into a bright, sunny, clear skied day. We stopped by the zoo for a little bit to see the animals who were being very frisky in the morning coolness. We went to Baccione for lunch and ended up discussing digital photography with the owner. He convinced me, after showing me a series of stunning landscape photos, that polarizers are the way to go for landscape. I figured I'd try it out myself so I stopped by Nelson's Camera and bought a circular polarizer which I used to snap this fairly dramatic picture off of the neighbor's balcony. I always wondered how they did that. It pays to chat with the restaurant staff.
It was hot enough today to throw on the air conditioning in the car. The weather service is putting out a fire alert for the next few days due to the hot dry desert wind that is blowing through San Diego. Not bad for March. Seems like it was cold and wet just a few weeks ago.
Mr. Tree Frog, here, in the picture, came up to the window looking for food. Unfortunately, I was all out of meal worms so a photo had to do. I like the zen pose he's in. It looks like some kind of reptilian martial arts.
I'm back. Did anyone miss me? It was freezing cold in New Jersey with bitter gusty winds. Oh bleah! It was snowing in Baltimore with a light smattering of that wet, slushy stuff that sticks to your hair and just gets kind of damp all over. However, San Diego is as sunny and warm as ever. Glad to be back.
Here's a picture of a giant pacific octopus. They are normally found on the Northern Pacific Coast. I first saw one many years ago on Victoria Island. This one is happily fed and cared for. You can see more of him at the link above.
Hello from lovely Overland Park, KS. It's a gorgeous sunny day out; not a flake of snow in sight anywhere! I'm in the hotel room waiting for an email file to upload before I run of to a meeting. Nothing much but big buildings outside the window so this little lizard from the South of France is going to have to do. The email torrent hasn't started yet since it is still 8am Pacific and the folks in the office are just getting warmed up. Happy Monday.
The tiniest hummingbird came up while I was watering the Mexican Sage. It appeared to want to sip from the stream of water from the hose. So, I held the stream really really still so he could get in close without getting doused. He came closer and closer and closer and then whoosh, disappeared. I couldn't see him anymore and could only imagine that he got sucked into the stream of water and washed into the Sage. I shut off the stream of water immediately and was looking at the sage when, whooosh, off he went. Breathing a sigh of relief, I watched as he moved to the honeysuckle bush for some nectar and then perched on the peach tree to preen and dry off a little. He appeared damp but none the worse for the wear. He's shown here drying off.
Spent the afternoon snapping duck pics. This one is one of my favorite Ruddy Ducks. He's always good for a few pictures and for some reason or another is always scratching. I suspect that's how they keep their feathers oiled and fluffed full of air.
The company had the anniversary dinner tonight for us old timers. They reserved the Aerospace museum so we got to tour the museum for free. There were some really cool planes including a blackbird out front, some really old biplanes, a mig or two and a recreation of the Apollo space capsule. There was also a GPS satellite which, ironically, looked just like in the pictures I've seen on the web.
We sat at the gay ghetto table where we spent the time talking about real estate strategy and what markets were moving. I may retire yet and, in the meantime, a little effort seems to keep me moving in the right direction.
We had dinner at the Tadich Grill in San Francisco on Wednesday night. It was cold, wet and dreary in the city that night. However, the restaurant was absolutely packed to the gills. Perhaps there is some truth to the sign outside that claims that they are the "original cold day restaurant." Either way, their grilled salmon filet was lightly marinated and seared to perfection and their clam chowder was absolutely jam packed with clams. I couldn't think of a nicer way to spend a cold, drizzly night.
I snapped this duck last weekend. It reminds me of the look my dog gives me when she's expecting food. Or, perhaps the "wassup?" look. Either way, I thought it was kind of cute.
San Francisco was cold and drizzly. However, being the bird/photo nut that I am, I went out for a quick walk in the rain to see if any of my feather photo-subjects were out enjoying the peace and tranquility. There was a small flock of Canadian Geese doing a fly-by. I had no idea they made it all the way out to San Francisco but here is living proof.
