10-14-01 Why Wooden Shoes??

They float if you drop them into the canal. But otherwise, they seem less than user friendly - no stretch, not stealthy, and a little heavy.

10-13-10 Corsican Poppies

These poppies were on the island of Corsica, which is off the coast of Italy. They could have been anywhere, since they seem to grow wild along roads and in pastures throughout western Europe.

10-12-10 More Natural Symmetry

When I researched this plant, I discovered that there is a multitude of types of palms. This is one, but I don't know the name. :-(

01-11-10 God's Ruler?

The metaphysical debate that intrigues me is whether nature is chaotic or patterned. The palm leaves and flowers that I've posted on this blog suggests that not only is nature patterned but it's predictable.

I didn't have a ruler or protractor with me when I took this photo, but I'm guessing that both would show precisely repeated angles and spacings in these palm fronds. And, as you've noticed, I love the architecture of palms.

01-10-10 Harmony

Polly did not like sharing space with our new kitten, Mac; but she was obedient and knew that we wanted her to tolerate him. Mac, having never been taught to hate, thought Polly was just another big cat - and and warm one at that. If you could read Polly's mind as we could, she's saying, "Do I have to allow this?"

There is a lesson here, of course, about peaceful co-existence. . .

Kodak DC265 1/30s f/2.8 8mm (This photo was taken in 2000 with my first ever digital camera.)

01-09-10 More Green

If you needed any more evidence of my palm tree fetish, here it is.

01-08-10 By the Pool

I thought I would go back to the tropics for a day or two.

01-07-10 Snowscape

This is what I see when I look out my back door - pure snow that has been sculpted by the winter wind and colored purple and blue by the early morning sun. And it's cold as h@##!

01-06-10 Not the Last Resort

This is the central plaza at the Riu Palace Hotel just south of Playa del Carmen, Mexico. We stayed here for a week in late December And while it isn't "the last resort," 1/2 mile south of here, there were no resorts and a mile-long stretch of beach and trees and jungle. That's where I went every morning to watch the sun come up over the Caribbean.

Then I would stroll back to pampered civilization, take a spot by the pool and think from time to time about the blizzard that was raging in my home state. Not a bad way to spend a week. :-) Get a bird's eye view of this place by clicking here.

And, if you have nothing better to do, check out my 17 second video called "Shadows and Palms." (click)

01-05-10 Timeless

The exposure for this photo was 1/200 of a second but the rocks I was watching the waves crash against had been exposed to the pounding ocean for thousands of years. The sea and the rocks are timeless. We are not.

01-04-10 The Newlyweds

This is Derek and Alicia. The blurring of the rice (or tapioca) is an accident - I had been using a slow shutter speed inside the church. But the blurring adds an important element to this photo. I'd rather be good than lucky but I settle for lucky more often than not.

01-03-10 Salvavidas

AKA - "The Lifeguard." This photo was taken a couple miles south of Playa del Carmen on the famous "Maya Riviera."