A Walk On the Moon?

This is clearly not the moon. It is the kind of terrain you will find at South Point on the Big Island of Hawaii. If you have never been to Hawaii, I hope you get to the Big Island because there are such amazing contrasts. It has lush, tropical rain forests, and nearly barren, wind-swept areas like the one pictured here. And it has everything in between, including rolling cattle ranches.This photo was taken very near the famous Green Sand Beach, which our son Jon took us to several years ago. Getting there was difficult but well worth it. I doubt I would have gone if it hadn't been for Jon. It is also close to the spot where you can jump off the most southern point in the US.

Bleeding Heart

We're not quite this far into spring yet - we'll have bleeding hearts in another month, I suppose. But I couldn't resist posting something green and flowering.

Swan Dive

Some peered cautiously over the edge (me). Some jumped in feet first (Brian). And one did a swan dive (nicknamed "Grom.")This was taken at a place called South Point on the Big Island of Hawaii. I don't know Grom's real name but I do know that he was very athletic and half crazy, from what my son Jon told me.

The Distant Past

I don't know if 1958 counts as "the distant past." But for me it does. I found this photo as we were culling pictures from my recently deceased aunt Gladys' photo collection. Pictured from left to right: Clarence (my dad), Harold (Dad's brother), Mary (Harold's wife, Mildred (Dad's sister), Gladys (sister) and Bernice (my mom). Front row: me.Do you like the suspenders? They were apparently fashionable because I have seen more than one photo of me and my brother wearing suspenders. Or maybe my mom just bought pants that we could grow in to?Anyway, this photo was taken in Sioux Falls outside the visitors' center of John Morrel Meat Packing Company.

Scotty

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.