Yesterday, in the process of sifting through the photo collection of my aunt Gladys, we came across this photo and it made my wife laugh. There aren't many photos of me that aren't posed. But this one appears to show me as I really was. Waiting in the Roadmaster with tousled hair, I look a little like an eager puppy ready for another ride.I don't know who took this picture, but it is a great candid photo from a wonderful angle.
Fuzzy Logic
If you hadn't already figured it out, this is a cactus. Nature's design? Or an experiment in genetic engineering? Either way, what were they thinking!? Compare this cactus with "Thorny Problem."The botanical name for this plant is the Mammillaria vaupelli "Cristata." Sometimes it's called "brain cactus."
Electric
This is another photo from our recent trip to California. After I got done taking a few broad shots from the top of Mulholland Drive, I turned my camera towards some long grass that was illuminated by the strong morning sun.
Who Are You?
I appreciate the fact that every day I have between 20 and 50 unique visitors to this blog. Some are returning again and again. And some visit once and never return. Because this is "a blog for the right brain" I get very few comments, which is perfectly OK with me.If you click on the screen capture in today's post, you will see that most visitors come from the US but a few come from exotic places like Iran and China. And I'm curious. . .Would you mind taking a minute to let me know who you are? I don't think you need to register to leave a comment. A first name and city/country would be enough. If you don't mind, though, I would like to know a little more.
An Angel Dances the Charleston
Gladys, born in 1912, passed away yesterday at the age of 97. She was my father's sister and when I was growing up, we would make the trek out to Olympia, Washington, every other year to visit her. Like my aunt Betty in California, Gladys moved to the west coast from South Dakota looking for opportunity.Throughout her entire life, she was an amazing woman. She was organized, decisive, caring and deeply involved in her church. She was a driving force that even time and sickness couldn't slow down. Diagnosed with cancer in her 70s, Gladys scheduled her treatments early in the morning so they wouldn't conflict with her home visits to shut-ins and "real" sick people, as she liked to refer to them.In 2004, Deb and I visited her and we watched in amazement as she stood behind her walker in the day room of her assisted living center and, at the age of 91, danced the Charleston. We laughed and applauded.If any angel has a special place in Heaven, Gladys does. And she is no doubt entertaining all the other angels by dancing the Charleston.
03-31-10 Resolution
"Resolution" is a term used in digital photograhy to describe a camera's and/or a lens' ability to show detail. In this photo the detail is evident in the individual grains of pollen that are visible. To be honest, I didn't see this in this little flower until I opened the image on my computer and cropped the flower down to about 1/3 of its orignal size. I continue to be impressed with what 23 million megapixels can do!
Forget the technical stuff, though, and consider this: "resolution" also means "intention," "determination" and even "courage." Can a single crocus be evidence of any of this? Is Nature an "intent?" Or is it an unthinking force?
Don't ask me. . . I just enjoy the emergence of life from the cold, brown earth after a long, cold winter in South Dakota.
Canon 1DII 1/250s f/2.8 ISO400 100mm
03-30-10 Purple and Green
I have no clue what kind of plant this is. But I like it. This was growing in one of the gardens at the Getty Villa in Malibu.
I highly recommend that you visit this beautiful museum, the design of which is based on upscale Roman villa. Admission is free but parking is $15. Reservations are highly recommended.
03-29-10 Trompe l'Oeil
Trompe l'Oeil (pronounced tromp loy) is French for "fool the eye." It applies mainly to extremely realistic paintings, but I thought that this floor tile in the Getty Villa in Malibu also fooled the eye.
While waiting for Deb to get done at the museum store I was attempting to take a photo of my own feet on this tile when a girl and her mother approached and wanted to know if I would take a photo with her camera of her feet. I obliged and then took the same photo with mine. Her shoes were much more photogenic than mine.
03-28-10 Stranger In A Strange Land
This title is not at all descriptive of the subject of this photo. The title suggests how I felt when we visited California. The fact that I had never seen a plant like this (in the Norton Simon art park in Pasdena, California) suggests that I was a bit of an alien. Sorry, but I don't know what it is called.
As I was looking at my California photos to find something to post today, I decided that I think that everybody ought to visit the Los Angeles area. It seems so American to me: the sprawling megapolis, the wealth, the exotic cars, the Walk of Fame, the beautiful endless coast and the mixing of cultures, to name a few.
For a South Dakotan like me, California is like Japan: exotic and inviting. For what it's worth, incidentally, I also think that everybody ought to visit South Dakota - especially Californians.
03-27-10 Don't Be Koi
I think this is an ugly fish but I am posting the photo because I feel compelled to use the lame title. This was a huge koi in a koi pond at the Sherman Library and Gardens in Corona del Mar, California.
Like many things in our travels, we found this beautiful spot by accident. We were driving south on the Pacific Coast Highway and came to a bit of a traffic jam. Deb looked over and saw the sign for the garden and amazingly, there was an open parking spot right in front. It was destiny.
And it was the destiny of this ugly yellow decidedly un-coy koi to be photographed by me.
03-26-10 Cool Cat
in Travel
This is my third post in six days from the Norton Simon Museum of Art in Pasadena. The museum was great but the sculpture garden was beautiful - espcially on a spring day in California. The bronze cat is a sculpture but the white trees also are a strong sculptural element in the garden.
Canon 5DII 1/100s f/4.5 ISO200 65mm
03-25-10 Betty
Betty is my 89 year old aunt. At age 18 she left South Dakota for California and has lived there ever since. At age 18 she showed a willingness to explore and she recently showed the same willingness when we carted her all over the Los Angeles area.
In this photo she is sitting complacently in the lobby of the Norton Simon Art Museum in Pasadena. I thought a full day of visiting places like Hollywood, the Santa Monica pier and an art gallery would do her in. But she never slowed us down!