Technicalities

September 22, 2011

Armstrong Woods

While we were in flitting about the north parts of California we heard about Armstrong Woods and decided to stop. Everyone had been urging us to go see Muir Woods (just north of SF) and we had that on the agenda, but figured… why not stop here since we’re driving right by.

It’s a beautiful place. There were people, but it wasn’t crowded at all. There were paved walking paths and then some unpaved paths too. One could spend many hours hiking there. Here are a few of the many many photos I took.

This is called (according to the tour guides at Korbel where you will see this too) a fairy circle. When a redwood is cut down and the stump is left in the ground, it sends out shoots all around the base and a ring of trees grows.

I saw this gentleman walking along and decided it would be nice to have a person in the shot to give some sort of scale to the trees.

The next is the Parson Jones tree. It’s the second oldest (the pic of the the oldest tree didn’t turn out quite so well). It’s 310 ft tall, 13.8 ft in diameter and approximately 1300 years old.

This a cross section of a tree that fell during the 1906 SF earthquake. The various plaques show important dates in history.

Down to the date it sprang into being.

There are even a few root balls on display.

And naturally I had to find one tree that I could lean against and look straight up.

That is certainly not all, so if you ever are north of SF - do look for this place. We passed on Muir Woods because it was so extremely crowded we would have had to park nearly a mile down the road and walk back. Armstrong was far better if only because it was less crowded.

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September 20, 2011

Garden Tour

While we were in California we toured the Korbel Winery. They have 2 tours, the main part of the winery, where they make champagne, and a garden tour. The original Korbel house and gardens are still on the site although no one lives in the house anymore. There are some lovely gardens surrounding the house. I don’t know all of the flower names, but they are pretty. As usual you can click to make them bigger if you want.

I caught a butterfly here:

This one was eye-catching

This is from a rose bush that is over 100 years old growing on the side of the house.

This is a cork tree. Let us all bow to this lovely little plant that allowed wine bottles to be properly closed for many many years.

This was the strangest plant I’ve ever seen. Some sort of Chinese plant with teal petals… wow!

And last of all we have this one. Interesting flower. Not sure what it’s supposed to be doing but interesting.

This concludes our garden tour. If I have time, there will be a tour of the Armstrong Forest tomorrow.

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July 17, 2011

Dragonfly and Chickens

And thus we come to the end of another weekend. Didn’t do much which is fine. It was on the warmer side, in the low 90’s and today we even had a breeze. The bugs continue to number in the millions, all of them trying to buzz my ears as I walk.

Saturday’s pics were rather a bust. I was using the wide angle lens and being a bit lazy I didn’t check while taking the pics and a I blew out all the skies. Oh well. There will be other skies and I will be more careful next time.

Today we had chickens and a dragonfly.

Not sure what was up with the dragonfly. I got up very close to take my shot and it never moved. (as always click to make bigger)

Then it is a never ending source of amusement to me to see chickens roaming around. This is not a usual site in the suburban Midwest.

That’s about it for now. Hope everyone else had a great weekend.

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July 14, 2011

Smoke

Over on the The Digital Story, Derrick has a photo assignment this month called "Smoke”. I was trying to get some pics that might work for it… but so far I’m not satisfied.

First we have the smoke bush giving off smoke

Then we have a reflection that looks like Smoke on the Water.

Must ponder a bit more. Not sure what I’ll try next.

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June 29, 2011

The Eos

I posted one of these photos the other day on my Posterous blog. But wanted to add a bit more to that small post.

Last Sunday we went sailing. In Boston Harbor you could see the masts of this ship - it was huge!

Here’s the shot I took from the water. (click to make them bigger)

It’s the Eos one of the world’s largest sailing yachts. And quite a beautiful site. I haven’t yet posted other pics I got that day.

This is the bowsprit which is impressively big in person.

Then we have the main part of the ship. Look at all that lovely wood. It’s just gorgeous.

The masts are downright enormous!

The sails (like all the large sailing ships) are likely computer controlled. I think what I love is that it’s got such wonderful lines and looks so graceful. It’s all very proportionate even if it is large. I would love to see how it’s sailed. However, I’m just glad we got a chance to see it and I have to thank Mr. Diller for having it built. Beautiful things are always good to have in the world.

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June 09, 2011

On the Water

In an effort not to damage our good cameras, we bought an Olympus p&s waterproof camera to take with us on the boat. The tide pics and those we took on the water were done with that camera. Not too bad, although it's really hard to get a clear shot when the boat is bobbling all over the place.

Here’s a fairly decent one of Boston.

This is less, clear but with more white caps!

The view from the floor. heh. You can see it’s a bit wet where the water has been splashing over the bow.

Coming in for a landing at Logan

Last of all we have this lovely boat that sailed by. It was a beauty. Wish we’d gotten a better pic of it.

Hope you enjoyed the virtual sail.

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June 01, 2011

It's the Lens

I’ve been busy taking pictures. I know... how surprising! Ha.

I didn’t come up with a whole lot that I would want to post, but I do have a few here. You see I rented a lens for the first time over the holiday weekend from Lens Pro To Go. I am trying to determine if I might want to buy one of my own. (I want to replace my current lens) I’m still not sure. I have to rent the second lens I’m considering before I decide, but that might not be until the July 4th holiday.

BTW - Lens Pro To Go - great service very easy to work with. They really have it down to a science. If you want to rent a lens I highly recommend them!

This particular lens is the Nikon 28-300mm FX (full frame) lens. First off - it’s heavy to carry around. Probably about twice the weight of my current Nikon 18-135 DX kit lens for cameras with a smaller than full frame sensor. This is a consideration since we often walk for miles when we go out. Full frame lenses add size and weight because they have to cover a larger area on those honking big pro cameras. I already knew that was an issue. I could get used to carrying it if the end image quality was good enough to make me take notice.

The other thing is that I would need to get used to using the lens. At the extreme long end, I need to rethink macro type shots. All of these can be clicked to make bigger as usual.

For instance this one at the 300mm end.

Very very small field of focus. These things are essential to know.

Loved the colors and clarity of this one.

I like how this last one turned out. My husband loves it and wanted a print. I keep trying to take this same shot over and over again every time I walk by. I think this is the best one so far. Because I can - I photoshopped out the utility pole and lines. So if you’re looking for true news quality photos - these ain’t them. heh.

I have more that I want to work with, but this is a good sampling from the weekend. I hope the next lens is as good. It’s the "lesser” Nikon 18-200mm DX lens that would work well on my camera for range and be much easier to carry.

We shall see.

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May 12, 2011

Oooh Shiny

Well, the hole in the yard has been filled in. Finally. Not sure why I have to call so many times to get people to do their jobs. And they are always so surprised when I tell them the job isn't finished... ho-hum.

In other news my yard guy was not happy with the way they filled the hole and left the yard. I told him I was just happy to have the septic system covered. It's all in how you look at it. heh.

Oh well, off to read. It's been one of those days when I've been very distracted for no good reason...

Oh Shiny!

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April 21, 2011

Pictures - Because It's All I Have Right Now

Some more pics from last weekend.

Daffodils which were out in force.

This spiky thing that I keep thinking I should know the name of…

Another visit to the horse farm.

And a rock wall.

And that’s what I’ve got for tonight. Sadly I can't even think up any decent commentary. Oh well.

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April 19, 2011

Looking a bit like Spring

Yes, spring is trying to claw its way in. We don’t have snow, but the temps aren’t fantastic only marginally okay. It just started raining this evening again. The trees love it so I guess that’s something.

Our walk this last weekend produced some flowers! The crocus and daffodils have arisen.

The sap is running. These 2 stumps were left last year after a beaver got to the trees. Looks like the roots are still alive and trying to kick it into gear.

I think they must have trapped the beaver and moved it, I see no signs of it in the pond this year.

The trees don’t have leaves yet. But give it another couple of weeks and maybe…

Still, I think I like this pic of the white birch against the other darker trees and of course the rock wall.

Wow - I can’t believe I managed an entire post of pics. It’s been quite a while. I hope to get another up this week.

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April 12, 2011

Anyone Seen My Extra Hours?

I mean the extra hours I need in my day to get to everything. The time is disappearing before I know it! Amazing how that works. Been working quite a bit lately. When you’re trying to pick up some business, it means working extra hours to get things going. It’s always a painful process while everything gets adjusted. Eventually it all shakes out. If it means extra business at the end, then it’s all great and well worth the effort. Sadly, it also means I don’t get around to reading my favorite blogs or even writing any blog posts myself.

Since I have been so neglectful lately, here’s a rock wall for you. Headed off into the woods… no telling where it ends. Rather like most of my days lately.

More later - I hope!

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April 04, 2011

Hmmm... Where Was I?

Yeah, I’m still around. Been somewhat busy. I keep thinking “I want to blog this…” then I don’t get to it. That should be a story of sorts, but right now it’s boring.

We’ve had snow

But that is mostly melted again. I wonder if that counts when it lasts about a day. I know it does down south. Maybe since my husband had to fire up the snowblower so we could get down the driveway without sliding into the street... Must ponder this question.

This last weekend we walked down to the horse farm. Where this horse was acting very coy.

Today it rained, snowed, rained, and was foggy. Simply delightful. I suppose I should be happy that the temps were in the 40’s. After all it could be colder… couldn’t it? Well, we also saw minor signs of spring on our walk, so there is hope.

One question remains though… why did the chicken cross the road?

Just wondering…

I have more pics from the last few weeks, but haven’t gotten them processed. We shall see how the week goes.

Posted by: Teresa in Photos at 10:43 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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1 LMAO!!! Adore the chicken; that image made me laugh out loud...

Posted by: pam at April 05, 2011 02:45 PM (i3Kno)

2 Heh - the chicken cracked me up too. There were more of them, but this was the best pic of the lot. Too funny to see them running across the road.

Posted by: Teresa at April 05, 2011 09:15 PM (xE2iU)

3 I LOVE the chicken pic! Great shot. Classic!

Posted by: DogsDontPurr at April 05, 2011 10:01 PM (EiUa9)

4 That's one yoooogly (aka ugly) chicken, and believe me, I've seen some pretty scrawny ones before. Looks more like a turkey since he doesn't seem to have feathers on his head.

By the way, what kind of camera do you use? I have a Canon digital SLR that replaced my old film SLR, but the digital SLR needs to have the image sensor cleaned. Never had to do that with a film camera...

:-/

Posted by: Jack at April 06, 2011 08:37 AM (VpPTf)

5 LOL - yeah a scrawny chicken it is. I wasn't really too close and he was running like mad. I was surprised any of the pics turned out.

I am using a Nikon D300s. I love it. I would like to get a new telephoto lens, but haven't yet. I'm using the kit 18-135mm which I actually love most of the time. So I'll likely get the slight upgrade to it (it's got issues with being too loose) the 18-200 VR... so far haven't managed to talk myself into it.

A tip when changing lenses. I know it's difficult to do, but point the lens opening down toward the ground when changing out lenses. This way there is less opportunity for dust to get on the sensor. I also try to change lenses as little as possible or not at all when the conditions are dusty/heavy pollen/windy. Pollen is the worst since it gets on everything and sticks like glue.

I didn't ever shoot much film - my husband did. He was always very careful about not getting dust in the camera. You're right though - it is more difficult with a DSLR. The higher end cameras have better seals and therefore less sensor dust issues if you're careful.

Posted by: Teresa at April 06, 2011 10:19 AM (xE2iU)

6 Nice camera you have there. I've got a Canon EOS 20D that I bought back when I was in France 6 or so years ago. It replaced two film cameras, a Canon AE-1 and a Canon AV-1, but unfortunately the lenses weren't compatible between the film and digital cameras. I still use the film cameras for astrophotography with my telescope, which I got back in 1984 (as you can see, I keep things for a LONG time....). I should probably upgrade to a CCD camera for the telescope, but I should probably try to update the telescope mount, too. Gah!!! This gets expensive!

The spot I have may be a dead pixel instead of dust, I'm not sure. It's not bad, and I can use Photoshop to get rid of the problem, but it's still a pain.

Posted by: Jack at April 09, 2011 07:56 AM (VpPTf)

7 LOL Jack we still have our original Pentax K1000 film camera - a total classic! We bought it back in the very early 80's. All the pics of our kids growing up were taken with that baby by my husband (who LOVES film photography). Then when he was laid off in the early 2000's he took up B&W photography. He even got into a studio where he could do his own film developing. He loved it. I wish he could find something like that here - it's a great hobby for him. He's not really interested in digital so much. I like digital because for me it's so much easier oh and geekier.

Posted by: Teresa at April 09, 2011 10:46 AM (xE2iU)

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March 30, 2011

The Ice... It Just Won't Go Away

There are any number of icy/snow piles hanging around. There was so much snow this winter that a few weeks of mere 50 degree days are not enough to make it all go away. On the whole it is looking much the worse for wear with lots of sand and gravel mixed into any remaining patches.

But if you get a little closer with the camera it can look kinda pretty.

Still, I’m ready for it to be gone.

Unfortunately we’re supposed to get 3 more inches of the stuff tomorrow night. Time to go put on another heavy sweater. sigh

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March 29, 2011

Cleanup On Branch 2

One portion of a usual walk route takes us past some forest land donated to either the city, county or state - still don’t know which. This last year they were thinning out some of the trees. From the previous signs they had up it looks like this is done every 10 years. As we were walking past the other day, we saw this…

On looking a bit closer I had to laugh.

Click for larger but top 2 lines of the sign says:

Forest Care in Progress
Please pardon our appearance

Ha. I think they're sleeping it off somewhere.

Posted by: Teresa in Photos at 09:18 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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March 28, 2011

Return of the Pictures

It’s been quite a while since I’ve managed to find time to work on pictures so I could post them. I’ve been taking some, just haven’t had the time to do anything with them. Of course now that I’ve had a minute to download to my computer I’m not really thrilled with what I got. But here ya go - the great meltoff from the past 3 weekends.

When things started melting it looked a bit like this…

The next week it looked like this…

Yesterday it looked like this…

There are more pics of course, but I shall have to work on getting them uploaded. We shall see.

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January 28, 2011

Soon We'll Need to Tag Ourselves With Those Orange Road Flags

You may remember my last post of pictures a couple of weeks ago after our first big snow. Have a look back and marvel at how paltry it appears now.***

Since then we've gotten 2 more snows of about 6-8 inches, a bit of sleet to shine everything up and then 10 more inches night before last. We're running out of places to put the stuff.

This would be the little bistro table and chairs on the back porch.

Getting the sidewalk cleared to the front door is now a major project. The top of the snow on the right is at my shoulder height. On the left there are large bushes that we hope will survive the weight of the snow.

We would move this pile of snow...

But there isn't really anywhere to put it. This is the back patio where we generally throw it to get it off the deck. Yes, somewhere under the large mound is the gas grill... I'm sure the mice are quite cozy under the grill cover with all the snow on top.

Mother Nature has not been behaving herself very well of late.

*** note to self - never move to Buffalo, NY where this amount of snow is a mere trifle.

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January 12, 2011

Through the Window Darkly

Well, I'm so not up to opening the doors right now and stepping outside to take pictures. So all of these are through my windows which are okay, but not exactly spotless. Ha! Not to mention the day is on the "dark" side. So the pics are dark too - even though I played with them a bit to make them brighter.

We figure we got about 18 inches of snow so far. You can kinda see it on our little back porch table. (you can click to make larger if you like)

Out the front door it looks pretty.

The grills are a bit buried.

The rock wall out front is nearly buried.

I was going to try for some video, but the snow flakes are too small and it all looks like fog or fuzziness in the picture. Yes, it's still snowing. It's supposed to go on most of the day.

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December 08, 2010

Sums The Week Up Nicely

I finally loaded my pics from last weekend. This one pretty much covers my week so far.

Yep, about says it all. (couldn't even get the dratted post title right sheesh!)

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December 02, 2010

Rocks Trees and Shed

You know, when you mess up and use really high ISO settings - the end result is okay - but a bit too grainy. I still need to figure out how to get the noise out. I know it's doable, I have avoided doing it up til now. Oh well.

Much better to check the camera settings before rather than cleaning up after. heh.

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December 01, 2010

Flowers

Well, they were flowers. Ha.

It's been a busy day as usual. Lots of things going on. I did manage to get a full night sleep last night for the first time in ages (so long I don't remember the last time). I hope tonight will continue this new and exciting trend.