153 - Chappell Hill Cafe

 

We were not able to fly from Chappell Hill or Brenham today due to low ceilings and high winds.  We had great country breakfast at the Chappell Hill Cafe and then went next door to Floyd's Foods.  An old time country store.  I bought some sausages to try out.  Smoked and hot.  You just don't see them anymore.

 

Floyd's Foods

Cousins Gene and Susie, I can remember the diary farms of Cerritos during the 1950s-a place so suburban today youngsters would never believe it.

152 - Say "Hello" to My Little Friend

This has been my friend all week.  This week we had some routing issues inside the cluster and it was very frustrating.  So I connected my speakers to my iPhone and Video iPod to listen to music and pods. I listened to all of Sir Arthur's  "Sherlock Holmes" series.

151 - Would the Japanese Do This?

Waiting for the light to turn I noticed all of the imperfections and thought back on how Japanese manufacturing was considered to much better than that of the US.  As I do work on my house I notice all the defects like these that need to be corrected.

150 - Jessica

Taken at Starbucks shooting towards a window. Lighting is terrible, but we will bring you interesting shots in the future.

149 - Bubbles

148 - Flowers

147 - Flowers

146 - Technology

145 - iPhone Zoom

It seems that sometimes I can be a little slow.  I just noticed that there is a zoom slider on my iPhone's camera.  I took two images at my desk of an emergency light I keep there.  Taken from the same distance and same lighting.   I wonder if it has a macro mode...  At best I am not in a rush to get the new disaster iPhone.

Before and After
Without Zoom	With Max Zoom

144 - Rain

My garbage disposal went out yesterday.  Without that I can't even run the dishwasher-and I wash the  babies bowls every single night.  While waiting for the home warranty people to come, it rained like the dickens.  The streaks you see in the image are rain drops!
[iPhone Pano 2 images]

143 - Texture-or is it Pattern?

142 - Life Ruled

This device seems to have control of my life in one form or another.

141 - Tyler

One of my friends on Facebook posted an image of his 14 1/2 year old puppy with a hat on.  That evening I noticed Ty-Ty asleep as I watched Shelter Island (spooky but good.)  Here's my 14 year old 60 pound bundle of love who still thinks she's a lap dog.  The vet says she still moves like a teenager and I thank God for that every day.

You can see her in her puppy days on my The Crew page.  I am going to get it finished someday.  This is her bed downstairs but she still comes up to be with us most nights (Babies are kenneled at night.)  Light is harsh but I took it with my point and shoot and shooting a black dog against a white background is tough.  She woke up after this shot and shot me "the look!"

140 - Kemah

Today I got up early and went to the Kemah Boardwalk.  The purpose was to take a picture to be used in the entryway of my home.  I have finally started putting up my pictures.  I got there at 8:30. All the places to park are now "valet parking" zones so I had to park further away since like always I am not carrying cash.  It was hot and muggy.

 [Scan 35mm Fujicolor C-41 Processed]

To me this was a personal achievement because I got there on my own.  I have never done that before.  Patty said I should leave the house at 6:15 and she was right (she will call me to have me say this to her out loud!)  I left at 7:30.  They have made changes to NASA Road 1, but the traffic was very light.

This is my navigation rig on the seat and floor of the GP.  That blue dot is where I was located at the time the image was taken.  Please pull over before using electronic devices when driving.  I actually did not need it to get there since the route was easy to remember-even for an old man.

 

I look like such a stud with all that gear!   If I were really good like Sean Mahoney all I would have needed was my iPhone-but it was in my left-hand pants pocket.  What you can't see is how wet my shirt is. 

Bottom line, "Did I get the picture?"  Yes, I think so.  But that will be another day's post...

139 - Wolf

 

Remind me to tell you the story of my late friend Becky Cockrum's love for Mother Earth and Brother Wolf.  She wasn't known as Etsi Waya (aa-chee waya) for nothing.

138 - Flying Saucer?

The original plan was to shoot the moon, Saturn, Mars and Venus but the clouds obscured it all.  But I did get the flying saucer!

137 - Textures

This pattern is from the fabric  covering the speakers on my workstation.  I am like looking inwards with the macro setting.  Thanks Tom!

136 - Moon and Venus

The neighbor's roof-line frames the evening star high above the crescent moon.   Taken from my back  yard.

135 - Patterns

 

Safety is paramount at work.  This is taken in the  cluster room where we were changing 10Gb low latency cards for testing.

 [iPhone Image]

134 - Eating Local Foods

Walking into our cafeteria (run by Sodexo) showing us how food is being purchased closer and closer to work-lowering the carbon expenditure.

133 - Patterns

I saw this decoration on a new building in a nondescript strip center in Katy and became heartened. Perhaps the homogenization of local architecture is being rethought?

132 - Huevos Rio Grande Valley (Revisited)

Last Saturday I made my first honest attempt at duplicating Silvia's famous Rio Grande Valley sauce.  This morning I had the opportunity of refining it a little bit more.  Today I made the sauce a bit wetter and the flavor a little more subtler.  I also poached the eggs.

I start with a ranchera sauce which is more of a tomato sauce and not a hot salsa (although I love heat!)  I cheated and used canned tomatoes (fire roasted) but everything else was fresh.  Well except for the scallions and bacon on the potatoes. Stole that from MS. Glenda.  Note to self: Post about the jelly she made out of her grapes.

Anywho, I am to the point where next weekend (If we don't fly) I will have a real recipe.  I remember my grandmother cooking.  She would always throw this in and that in. I would ask her how much and she would answer, "sufficiente."

131 - Tom

Today it is about Tom.  He wanted to show you how he looks, but this is how I seem him.

So...

I took this image on the QT.  Or at least that was the plan.  This floor is in the bathroom on my floor.  I was going to try and use PS shear tool to put a well in the middle of the image.  So I sat down, turn off all the noise from my camera since the seat next door was occupied.  (Trying to be a little discreet so work with me here.)  Got everything ready and I clicked the shutter and a blast of light sprang from the camera. I had forgotten to turn that off.  I hear hysterical laughter from next door.  Welcome to the eWolf show.

130 - Patterns

 

129 - Patterns

128 - Tom and I at Lunch

So... I met Tom at Jason's Deli today for lunch.  Here is what the table looks like before we got our meal.  What's missing missing is my APS, and sunglasses and reading glasses...  We need to pass a rule about phones and lunch.  Here is another view.

127 - The Pool

Today I had great meals and lounged around all afternoon in one of those doughnut shaped floats lazily traveling around and around the pool.

126 - Brunch at Brio Tuscan Grill

Today I had brunch at Brio Tuscan Grill in the Woodlands.  Started with the Seasonal Bruschetta which was divine.  For the main meal, I had  Bistecca Alla Romano-a crusted tomato with a beef tenderloin cooked to perfection on top.  On top of that, a poached egg with their home made Hollandaise-and you all KNOW how much I love that.  A nice fruit cup rounded out the meal.

I liked Brio, but need to try more of their dishes.  There seems to be one near the I-10, just inside the Sam Houston.

Seared Shrimp With Orzo.

These images were taken with my FujiFilm APS using ambient light.  Don't you just wish we had Smell-O-Vision?

125 - Huevos Rio Grande Valley

I first had this at Silvia's Enchilada Chicken when they were open for breakfast Sat and Sun.  Today I started trying to make the Rio Grande Valley sauce which is like a ranchera sauce.  I cheated by using canned diced tomatoes (fire roasted of course.)  It also has one jalapeño, green bell pepper, onions, garlic and beef chorizo.  It came out too thick for my taste but will get this right if it clogs my arteries...  When they were open for breakfast I would go there at least Sunday, sit in the same booth for months, and have the same dish.  I fried the eggs in buttah this time.  I have noticed that many places poached their eggs.  I think I like them poached better.
[iPhone Image]

124 - Rain

Today's weather forecast-rain, rain, rain, and more rain.

[iPhone Image]

123 - Patterns

Something different today.  Original image converted to black and white, increase in contrast and added film grain.
[iPhone Image]