Then
sort through the pictures that have accumulated since Wednesday. There
are a few that could be displayed on Flickr, (see the slideshow below).
While they upload, I eat a healthy breakfast and do a bit of reading.
A Few Photo Highlights;
I had
hoped to go see what new fresh produce was appearing at the Saturday
farmers market, but they close each week about the time my eyes are
focusing. (The crack of noon)
Yesterday
I was up early to go the the food distribution at the convention
center. I drive Mark Relly, and whomever else happens to need a ride
each month, to pick up commodities and produce. At certain times of the
year, this requires me to be up at the crack of dawn.
This
might be a good day to explore some new photo opportunities around this
picturesque part of the world where I am experiencing the amazing gift
of existence.
When
I think of the damages caused to nature, people, and the environment,
that are included with each gallon of gas that I burn, it makes me more
judicious in choosing where, how much, and why, I travel.
On
the other hand, I realize that if I go out and photograph some of this
great life we have now, the next generations will at least have pictures
of what a wonderful place this used to be.
Also
on my list is a fishing license, and a senior parks pass. I would like
to fish now and then, and I do enjoy visiting the parks and recreation
areas around here. So, clearly, I would be well served by obtaining the
appropriate permits to do so.
Well,
now it is time grab my cameras and head out into the grandeur of the
northstate landscape to save little pieces of time through the magic of
digital images.
Yesterday,
I took advantage of the rain that allowed me to towel away the big
dust spots left by the previous week's rain shower. I guess it was a two
towel job because this morning, instead of big dust spots there were a
whole bunch of little dust spots left by the subsequent rain showers
later that evening.
All day we had clear blue skies with a few clouds around the fringes of the horizon.
As usual, there were a few flowers that insisted that I take their picture. The colors and beauty could not be ignored.
I didn’t get
around back to photograph the flowers in Dorothy’s garden, but I did
get to see her and her dog Murphy, so I took his picture instead.
I sang the song, “All I Do Is Dream Of You”,
yesterday at the Treehouse music matinee, and it has been stuck in my
head ever since. It’s a fun song that I have played with the LMP Trio,
but I had never tried singing it until Monday.
In one of
Marian’s emails, she mentioned that there may be a possible live
performance coming up for the LMP Trio. That sounds like fun to me.
The moon is reappearing in another round of the earthly skies. I will see just how detailed a picture I can get this time.
According to
the weather forecast, we should have clear skies for at least a week or
two. The blue skies will be accompanied by the warm temperatures of
summer in the northstate.
Clouds drifted
slowly overhead from the west, and lingered over Redding while leaving
the eastern mountain range sunny and clear for most of the day.
When old Sol did shine through holes in the cloud cover, I was able to get some pictures of the gardens behind building A.
There were
colors and combinations that I don’t normally get to photograph out
back with the sun upon them. Today was special and I got these out of
the ordinary views.
The opportunities
for capturing color and light continued as I got another chance to snap
a few pictures outside the dining room just before we began the Monday
Treehouse Cabaret and Poetry Hour.
The sunlight was diffuse, giving rich color tones to some of the roses along the parking lot by the patio.
It was
our resident poet’s birthday, so after the music and poetry, Margaret
shared her cake with those of us who were there. Jackie and Darlene
baked the cake. It was a chocolate cake with chocolate whipped cream
frosting.
Margaret successfully blows out the candles.
After enjoying
a piece of cake and conversation, I packed up the instruments and
equipment so I could take them back upstairs. The clouds overhead
finally grew too heavy to hold all the water they were accumulating and
it began to rain.
Off to the east, MT Lassen was still basking in the sunshine.
I figured
the big drops of rain that were wetting the Buick made it the perfect
time to towel off the water spots on the car. It was a nice gift and it
saved me the 2 bucks I was going to spend at the coin op car wash up on Lake Blvd.
That extra
two dollars came in handy when I went to Raley’s to get another box of
one of my favorite organic cereals. Soon, I was sitting with the laptop
on my lap, editing the photos taken during the day.
My phone
rang right before the door bell was rung. It was two of my neighbors
letting me know that there was a rainbow now appearing outside to be
admired and photographed.
The setting
sun had managed to peek under the clouds and raindrops refracted the
low angled light into all the colors of a rainbow. There was even a
double portion to be seen.
It was a lovely sunset no matter how you looked at it. What a day.
We had a beautiful day with temperatures in the high 70s.
I didn’t start
taking pictures today until around 7 PM. That’s when I returned from
singing and playing music at the Jefferson State Blues Society Sunday
Jam. It was fun.
I spent most of the day catching up on the things I needed to do here in my apartment and tidying up the data on this computer.
It was nice
to experience such pleasant weather, here in Redding. It reminds me of
last year when the rest of the country was melting in record heat at the
same time that our weather was relatively mild.
Our overall
temperature for Redding last summer was a couple of degrees higher than
it has ever been recorded. But, since we didn’t have our usual bunch of
114 and 115° days, it didn’t seem like a record-setting summer to most
of us.
I feel
my energy returning. It seemed to have taken a brief vacation for a few
days. Some of my friends would think that was because of the summer
solstice, while others feel that the summer solstice should be a source
of new energy.
All I know is that my get up and go seems to have returned as evidenced by the fact that I got out and played at the Sunday blues jam.
This rose
caught my eye the way the midday sun enhanced its color as I was
crossing the parking lot toward Sandi’s car. It was a gift at that
moment. For soon the sun was flickering through the trees on a different
flower.
This evening,
after I returned from singing and playing at the Shasta Blues Society
Thursday Jam, I took another look at the flowers. They were lit up
again, only this time it was from a much lower angle. The sun was muted
by haze and a few clouds.
That same rose
was illuminated, producing a new mixture of colors and light just for
that moment. What a nice gift for my photographic enjoyment. As you look
at it now, it is a present just for you.
As I remember now, the way it looked and smelled then, that is also the present.
Will I be able to make pretty designs when I whip up whipping cream myself?
I am waiting to see what kind of whipping device presents itself to me before I spend too much time in speculation.
I have
never tried those whirling swizzle stick frother-whipper things. I
wonder if that will be what pops up in some future present, or will I
find a hand mixer on sale instead?
I do know
that I plan to only whip up enough for one serving at a time. The
spinning swizzle stick seems like it would be easier to wash after each
use than a blender, or mix-master.
I like keeping my quests to those things that I can realistically accomplish.
I find
it less frustrating than spending all my time trying to protect
what is left of the planet from the overwhelmingly destructive practices
of money-crazed industrialists.
I donated $5
to the democratic convention. We/They even have a car in the race there
in that 'NASCAR land' they call the Southeastern United States.
I am hoping that the car is fueled by good old American ethanol from the local moonshine stills.
We had a nice sunset
today, here in Redding. I sincerely hope yours was enjoyable too, ( for my readers in some other parts of the world, I hope you are enjoying
the sunset you are presently, or about to, watch ).
When I first
went outside today, I noticed clear, blue sky and crisp views of the
distant mountains. It was a probable promise of great photo possibilities
on this, the longest day of 2012.
I immediately
noticed that with less than a minute of standing still, I could feel
the sun’s radiation burning my skin. I also noticed that no one else was
standing around in the sun.
I took
a few pictures of Lassen and Shasta Bally from the parking lot and went
into the mailroom to see what might be awaiting perusal. I brought
Erma’s MacBook Pro and iPhone with me when I went back up to my
apartment.
I
noticed the other day that she wasn’t getting all the interactive magic
from those two devices, so I spent a little time tidying them up and
making them more fun for Erma to use.
After I
showed Erma some of the things she could now do with her MacBook Pro
and iPhone, I walked across the parking lot and went up the stairwell on
the east side of A building so I could snap a pic or two of MT Shasta
from the second floor landing.
I could also see the wind turbines on top of Hatchet Ridge, so I focused a few shots on them before I stepped inside, out of the heat.
When I
got to my door at the other end of the hallway, I looked outside and
through the latticework I could see a bird perched on the fence that
encloses the Fido play area.
I wasn’t
up to going back out in the heat, just then, but I thought I would try
zooming through the glass door, threading a diamond in the lattice, and
focusing on the bird.
The Lumix FZ5 let me focus through the diamond with precision and ease.
I did go
out again around 6:00pm to return a book to the Library and to Trader
Joe’s to get milk and ice cream. When I returned to the Treehouse, I
noticed the temperature had fallen to 99 degrees. Chilly.
It was
beginning to get a bit hazy. MT Shasta was no longer crisp and distinct
through the days accumulation of photo-chemicals, dust and pollen. I
could still see features on Lassen fairly well, but it wouldn’t be a
sharp sunset on either one.
I took
one last picture of MT Lassen and called it a day, (even though it
remained a day for another 2 ½ to 3 hours due to the summer solstice).
After the
Monday Music Fest, here in the Treehouse dining room, I was packing up
the equipment and someone exclaimed; “Oh look, there is the fox.”
I had been hearing about the fox and kits that had a den under the tool shed down by the turnaround, but no one had got a picture, yet.
The fox
slipped behind some bushes near the patio so I slinked outside with the
TZ3 in hand. By the time I reached the spot where the fox had been, it
had vanished. Perhaps it ‘jumped over the lazy dog’.
I finally
caught a glimpse of movement in the corner of my vision while I was
photographing a rose. I quickly lifted the camera and snapped the
shutter, but before I could take another, the fox had fled the scene.
*The CCD is a major technology fordigital imaging. In a CCDimage sensor,pixels are represented by p-dopedMOS
capacitors. These capacitors are biased above the threshold for
inversion when image acquisition begins, allowing the conversion of
incomingphotons into electron charges at the semiconductor-oxide interface; the CCD is then used to read out these charges. (Source - Wikipedia)
Crazy Politicians Exposed Excerpt from Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest
Ah, nothing like some good black helicopter fantasies out in Big Sky country. It
was a blood-boiler of a story, a menacing tale of government gone too
far: The Environmental Protection Agency was spying on Midwestern
farmers with the same aerial "drones" used to kill terrorists overseas.
This
month, the idea has been repeated in TV segments, on multiple blogs and
by at least four congressmen. The only trouble is, it isn't true.
It was never true. The EPA isn't using drone aircraft—in the Midwest or anywhere else.
And GOP Rep. Denny Rehberg got caught repeating this latest lunatic bullshit:
"The
Obama Administration has, once again, stepped way over the line," Rep.
Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) said in a news release. He was sending a letter
to the EPA, responding to "reports" about drone use. "First they wanted
to expand their authority to regulate water, and now they want to use
air drones to spy on American citizens." (Source - Daily Kos)
Fire Near The Treehouse
A fire department
spokesman stated that it was started by 3 kids playing with fire. It
burned 20 acres of hillside by Clay street and Buckeye Terrace, (two
streets not far from here).
Air support and fire fighting crews on the hillside had it stopped in an hour or so.
All three little fire-starters are under 10 years old and were released into their parents custody.
The parents may be held responsible for the cost of putting out the fire.
There were some very skilled pilots in a variety of firefighting aircraft.
The winds
were from the north today. They blew the smoke away from the Treehouse
and off toward the river. A few residents came outside to see what all
the sirens and airplanes were about.
I joined them to watch the planes and helicopters flying around, above, and through the smoke.
