More Water

I don't know what this thing I have with water is.  Maybe because I lived most of the my life within a stone's throw of the ocean on the west coast?  Or the fact that good water is so hard to find?

Today Phoenix and I took a walk to talk about outstanding issues before I started my vacation, when I stopped to listen to the sound of water flowing.  We talked about my plan for the adding a water feature and he came up with some good ideas for me to follow...  I can even smell the chemicals in the water....
[iPhone Image]

Haunted Patterson Road

Welcome to Haunted Patterson Road.  Looks pretty benign, and in fact downright beautiful right now doesn't it?  At night this road, which connects Eldridge Parkway and Highway 6, is pitch black.  It is said that a bloody civil war battle was fought near here, and that if you park your car on that bridge ahead, at night, you will hear tapping on the sides of your car by soldiers-ghosts who died here.

I have driven this road when it is pitch black and believe me it is spooky.  Once, going to work while it was still black,  I heard the tapping.  I stepped on the gas. I did not stop.  I did not jump out with my recorder (there is an app for that too) and start yelling, "Does anyone here want to talk to me?"   Tom keeps trying to talk me into it.  Not gonna happen!  You can read about this road in the book Weird Texas.
[iPhone Image]

Spring is Coming

Sometimes I forget how nice working on campus is.  Today I took at break with Tom and we sat outside. I said we should enjoy the sunny weather before it became too hot.  I notice how spring is coming with a vengeance.  This evening I am spending outside with the babies.
[iPhone Image]

Roland's Birthday

Got a haircut today.  My hair was getting too long and was becoming uncontrollable.  Besides too much hair makes the idea of coloring it too much work.  My friend Kristen said I should just keep that little hair on my chin.   Easier to keep colored.  My gal is so good I keep being told that whatever I do I need to keep her. 

Today has been a good, quiet day which started with a trip to Starbucks. Had breakfast at Cafe del Sol which Patty told me for years to go try.   Miss Grey is doing well, as is Bella.  I gave the babies new collars today.  Had to get a headlight for the Grand Prix.  And I got my haircut. 

Happy Birthday to my brother Roland.
[iPhone Image]

Peaceful Saturday

Saturday has been calm, quiet and peaceful.  I did not even answer my phone.  The babies were playing outside, Tyler happy with the respite,  Bella and crew doing well.   After a few weeks of personal turmoil,  I was able to spend time working on images without an impending deadline screaming in my ear.  After all, I still have to fill every frame in my living room.

This is a picture of my 30 inch monitor as I am working on an image of Chameleon.  This is going to be an 8x10 so I now have two balloons in my living room.

As far as not answering the phones, I had to answer my work cell since I am on call.  I have work to do...
[iPhone Image]

The Williams Tower

Tom and I went to Camera Exchange today, Phoenix was out sick (See what we do when you are not here?)   We noticed the Williams Tower (formerly the Transco Tower) off the Westpark and remembered the email Phoenix sent about the Gerald D. Hines Waterfall Park-so it became an adventure.  We did stop, took a few pictures, then sidled up to the tower to take a few more.  I got slightly dizzy taking this picture.

Gerald D. Hines Waterfall Park

 The wall is breathtaking.  Feel the coolness of it.  The sound of the rushing water. Here we go with rushing water again..

Lately I've been taking photos with my iPhone. I have a friend named Dan Mahoney who's son Sean I have know since he was pretty small.  He has matured into the kind of person I am proud to call my friend and a photographer I so want to emulate.  His uncle is also a photographer so he comes by it honestly. He has a blog devoted to iPhone pictures and I hope someday to come close to one of those-even if I have to use a real camera.
 [iPhone Image]

PS: I did get a cool photographer's vest at the Camera Exchange.

Our office has been working very hard to combat the H1N1 pandemic.  This is a sign posted on our bathroom doors to remind us about what we can do to protect ourselves.  Good news!  So far I have not been hit.
[iPhone Image]

Another Park

Today we tried taking a gander at the velodrome in Katy but it was fenced off-probably to keep kids from hurting themselves.   We went across the road to a small park (Cullen Park) which had a small brook.  No one was around.  The sound was so soothing.

Note to self: Need to get start working on the design for a water feature for my back yard...

[iPhone Image]

The Egyptian Eye

The sound of running water can be so restorative.   This feature looks almost like an Egyptian eye to me. Or a kayak?  I loved it enough that this spring I will be designing and building a water feature for my backyard.  Well, have Mr. Navarro build it anyway.  :)
[iPhone Image]

A Father and His Son

 

Tom and I went for BBQ today and wound up talking about Friday's outing to the War Memorial.  We decided to visit.  In a nostalgic moment as I looked at the Vietnam monument, I remembered the struggles of the tumultuous 60's when I refused to Pledge Allegiance in school.  For me, to stand and recite it would have been height of hypocrisy.  We recited the Pledge with emphasis on "under God" and this time I saw it is a promise.

What really caught my eye was a father and his young son feeding the ducks and geese from the pond.  Quietly he shows his son how to shred the tortillas and toss it to the birds.   He stands on the table so the more aggressive geese do not bowl him over in order to get at the food.  They made my day.

 

I know we are only supposed to post one image, but I loved this one as well.  But for me the real story is above.

New Children

  Near as we can figure out Bella had kittens sometime Friday night.  I noticed yesterday that she was in the kennel we left out for her.  Looking inside I saw the kittens.  Bella had just left with I ran out to take this picture. I did not get too close so I cranked the magnification all I could on the APS.

  I caught sight of Miss Grey this morning as she was eating.

  Bella is a beautiful if loony cat.  Patty found her crawling inside the Expedition engine compartment when we lived in Birnham Woods.  She would just not give her up and she terrorized this family for years.   Imagine two 60 pound dogs that gave in to her-well, except for Sidney.   About a year and half ago she got out and has refused to come back so we try and take care of her outside as best we can.  Miss Grey is her daughter.

Old Eldridge Road

In the early 1980s the old Addicks-Fairbanks was expanded from two lanes to four.   Part of that expansion, included moving part of it and raising the roadbed since this area is subject to flooding.  This view is looking south towards I-10 from War Memorial.  If you turn around you will see more roadbed where the surface has been removed.  I hope to look for more of the old road going south.

War Memorial at Bear Creek Park

 

There is a road which crosses Bear Creek Park between Clay Rd. and Eldridge Parkway called War Memorial.  I have always wondered why it was called that.  Today I stopped to look and found out. There is a memorial dedicated to Houstonians who lost their lives in battle under the American flag.  

Wars include, WWI, WWII, Korean, Vietnam and Persian Gulf I.  The long walls have the names of the heroes on all sides.  It does help us never to forget.  Keep them in your prayers.

Ceremonies every Memorial Day at 2:00PM.

My Trip Home

Took the "short cut" home today by the airport, which isn't really short at all.  But it is a beautiful drive and I get to bypass the grid-locked madhouse that is Highway 6.  Taken from the towncar while driving I took only one snap but I probably should not have done even that.
[iPhone Image]

My Trip to The Apple Store

 

Gawd I hate shopping, even for computer stuff. Today Norman and I ran to the Memorial City Mall to get some software upgrades for my Frankenstein Mac Pro.  This year I need to create more presentations, financials for the non-profit, and pano prints and want to make sure I have the proper tools in place.  We were in and out in just a few minutes.  Because I work where I work we get a decent discount (?) on software and I liked that.  Those are cutouts at the front of the store.

[iPhone Image]

What Else is There?

Sometimes you just have to know when to gracefully throw in the towel.   Today I finally realized that I was in the sunset of an important relationship-one  I've had for almost two decades.  Our conversation ended with, "What else is there?"

Normally I would not be saying anything and just suffering in silence.  But today,  I took out my trusty Starbucks gold card, told them to fill 'er up,  and added soy milk to my coffee for free!!

Pictures, Pictures Everywhere...

...but not on my walls.   From what little you can see, you should notice that most frames are empty. We had a few pictures on the mantle but have never had any on our walls.  In the living room, I now have 20 frames but 15 are still empty. With all the pictures I have taken, why is it only now that I even think to put them up on my walls?

A very dear friend said it will do me a lot of good to put up pictures of family up.  That it would give me confidence to have my work on my walls.  I think I am going to listen and act on that advice.

This year I am going to fill my home with pictures.

Chasing the Balloon

I shot only film today-mostly because I forgot the memory sticks for the dSLR-it was hard getting up this morning with the time change.  I was not the only one.  Two other balloons went up with Chameleon.  After they were all up I started the chase. I got to this open field off I-10 and 99S in Katy before they got that and was able to capture my of images before running down to help pack Chameleon into the trailer.

Chasing is so unpredictable and fun. Today I got the bear and was able to keep up and stay a little ahead.  [Fujicolor C-14 Scan]

Clock as a Metaphor

 I walked around the house today at sunset making a mental note of all the clocks and watches I need to change before I go to bed tonight.  Tomorrow morning I am crewing on Chameleon and have been told there should be a bunch of balloons launching from the same location which will be exciting.  I am going to chase and retrieve as well.  When I reached this one, it hit me that it is a metaphor for my life. It too has been standing still for almost three years and today I decided I needed to take control.  So I went into my cupboard and found "the bag" with all the batteries in it and replaced it.  I cleaned it and set the time.  Now it is clean and running like a timepiece should.  Too bad fixing my life is not that easy!

I told you that my kitchen is an homage to cows.  And you can also see my pretty new walls-thanks Mr. Navarro.

Practice Practice Practice

 

Today I start playing with the desktop studio I got from Adorama.

This is a plaster cast of a Gray Wolf  (canis lupus)  B-5-M the Alpha Male (with B-10-F) of the Selway Pack of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in Idaho/Montana.  The cast was made circa 1998.  This photo was taken with a D70 at f22 mounted on tripod.  I tried using a wide aperture but the DOF was too shallow an a large part of the cast was out of focus.

This also reminds me I need to get back to working for the protection of our wolf brothers.

Friends

When I got home today, Bella and Miss Grey were waiting for me.  I am not sure why since Patty has always exhorted me to keep them fed and watered-and I do.  They still had food in their feeder.  But they purred and Bella roller over on the driveway like she's wont to do when she wants your attention.  I looked around trying to figure out what I was going to do to about the yard I noticed the tree for the first time in quite a while.  We thought about removing it when we moved in.  It too was a baby then too.  But we watered it and gave it love and it survived Rita and Ike.

I've been pensive lately.  Feeling lost in so many ways.   Like something is about to happen and I am powerless-can't even understand it.   So I grope around trying to figure it out.  I have to tell you I have some great friends...  Like this tree in my front yard, our quiet friendship has been watered every day.  And we survive Ike every day together.

Gremolata Seared Chicken

 

Or at least my version of Donna Hay's chicken recipe.   I have been eating way too much beef and pork lately and decided to eat something a little healthier.   So I stopped at the grocery store today, found some fresh boneless/skinless chicken breasts and decided this is what I wanted.   Not shown is the Italian sea salt and exotic blend of peppers I put on top. I had beer with it.  Texas beer of course.

 Gramelata Seared Chicken

String Beans

Green Onions

Garlic Mash Potatoes

Shot the picture with a 50mm f1.8 lens and started using my table top studio.   Need to work more with bounces to manage the shadows properly.

Cows in My Kitchen

Also known as Week 2 Day 2!  Just imaging, 51 weeks more.

Anyone who has been to my house knows that the kitchen is where I like to spend time with friends and family-specially if I am feeding you.  They also know my kitchen is an homage (said in a pretentious French way) to our bovine friends.

I have been wanting to raise the caliber of my food images so last week I ordered a table-top studio and a macro ring flash which I connected to my EOS 35mm film camera.  I shot this image around the EOS so that's why I have that weird angle.  The sides and top are an opaque white which act like a soft box and once I learn to use the ring flash correctly it should drop the shadows to a manageable level.  And it can all get packed into a small case for storage and transportation.  Now to look for more backgrounds.

eWolf

Waterdrop Mondays

Grrr... Still struggling at getting the image I have in my head to the camera.  I guess I am going to have to just keep at it until I get what I want.

The set up for these is a pan of water (I am using a black roller pan), a bag of water (for the drip) hanging from a hook, and a bounce I use to backlight the drops.  Last Monday I used a white bounce and changed the WB on the DSLR to tungsten which gave it that bluish glow.   Today, I went to Walmart and found a pink/yellow poster paper and used the pink side as the bounce.  I shot this one with a little longer lens.

eWolf

BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich

Today's I had a hankering for something BBQ.  Lately, every week or so Tom and I have been slinking off to a BBQ joint. This morning I put some pork tenderloin into the slow cooker and let it work its magic.  This was the result...

eWolf
Day 7

Khushbu - Will You Marry Me?

 

Today is her day!  Today Khushbu became engaged.

This cold Saturday morning I was tapped to help launch the 103,000 square foot hot air balloon-Chameleon.  Unfortunately the winds were up and Captain Dale scrubbed the flight for safety reasons. The plan was that while the lucky couple were in flight, Dale's friend would fly around it with a sign that said, "Khushbu - Will You Marry Me?"  So we rapidly had to move to plan B.  We dragged out the setting up of the post flight celebration while Dale vectored the pilot towards our location.  Then we were all able to read the sign.  She said "YES!"  We toast their good fortune.

One picture a day is tough.  Monday it was trying to get one picture for that day. Today it was working to whittle it down to one.  I have pictures of the plane and sign, the festivities, the couple, etc.-but this one is the one I wanted to use because for me it was about her.  These are wonderful young people.

eWolf

Day 6

Uncle Jupe

Also at Rice University, we noticed this sculpture.  Named Energy,  the bas-relief at the entrance to the Abercrombie Engineering Laboratory by artist William McVey (class of 1927) very definitely caught my attention.  Christened "Uncle Jupe" by McVey this noon shot without any filters and on film make this sculpture even more terrifying.  If I squint I can almost imagine it being on the wall in the ancient city of Babylon.

This image qualifies for inclusion today because it was taken on film-giving an extra 24 hours.  [FujiColor 35mm C-41 processing]

eWolf
Day 5

Rice University

This project is helping me make choices, sometimes difficult ones, when having to decide which image  to post. Today we were at Rice University  attending the Oil and Gas HPC Conference.  My first thought was to publish an image of the meeting rooms during the panel discussion or a two-shot pano of the main auditorium hallway, but decided that at least for today I would focus on art.  This image was taken from the front portico of McMurtry Auditorium  Duncan Hall (just look left when you walk out the main door.)    The architecture and the public art at Rice got our creativity juices flowing. 

Although I have back dated this posting, our rules of engagement requires a mea culpa for not getting done on time.  Time got away from me.  So today I get the opportunity of making two posts.

eWolf
Day4 (er, 5)

Rituals

When things get overwhelming, I can always depend on rituals to keep me going.  At 5:00 am I have to get up and let the non-human members of my family outside.  Get them fed, watered, and let them play while I get ready for work.  When I leave the house the ritual is always the same-half way between home and work is my Starbucks on Highway 6. I walk in and before I can say anything they hand my beverage.  Simple order "large, sumatra (or whatever the current bold is), black!

It is interesting that since I got this done first thing in the morning, my day went rather well. This was taken with an iPhone.

eWolf
Day 3

The Soccer Field

 

As we left for lunch today, we were deep in discussion and as we got to the parking structure, we turned around to see guys playing on the soccer field again.  Although cool, we feel that spring just around the corner-and that is exciting.

This was my original picture.  I wanted to you to feel the coldness as we move from winter into spring.

eWolf
Day 2 (363 left to go)

Day One of my Journey

Whew, my first photo.  I've really wanted to explore these kinds of pictures for many months and tonight, with my back to the wall, I went into my darkroom and set it up and got my shot.  I am not going to wax long and poetic. I got by.  But perhaps Tom has is right when he says it will be a great learning experience.

eWolf

Day 1