Bed Head

I am fascinated by these fuzzy red flowers growing in my wife's garden. I believe they are called bee balm. I suppose they are so named because they nourish the bodies and souls of the bees that visit them. I think the flowers are past their prime right now and so they look a little bedraggled. Thus the title today. They look a little like my kids looked when they woke up when they were little - hair all over the place.I took this photo with my Canon 70-200mm zoom and was once again impressed with its ability to smoothly blur things in the background - especially when I'm shooting with a 2.8 aperture.I'm not sure this is a good photograph, but I like the fading red flower. If it had a face, it would probably look a little confused.

Another World

When I took this photo, I saw a single pink rose. But, as is often the case, I saw other things as I began to process it. I don't know how your broswer behaves when you look at my photos in this blog but on my computer when I click on the photo, I get a bigger view. And when I hover my cursor over the bigger view, it turns into a magnifying glass with a "+" sign on it. Try clicking on the photo then and you get an even bigger view.When the photo is fully magnified to full resolution, you might be able to see what I saw and understand why I called this post "Another World." While you are here, how about taking a look at the Crab Nebula and looking for similarities between it and this flower which is no bigger than a US quarter (or a 2 Euro Coin). The Crab Nebula has a diameter of 11 light years, by the way. I guess I've given away one of the differences.Canon 5DII 1/60s f/2.8 ISO320 100mm

Look Right!

To someone from the US (and much of the rest of the world), one of the many endearing idiosyncrasies of England is that they drive on the "wrong" side of the road. One would think that this would have little impact on the pedestrian but that would be wrong. For example, which side of the sidewalk do you walk on? How about people movers at airports? Escalators? Etc.As a pedestrian in London for the first time, I appreciated the courtesy of the warnings painted at many crosswalk because more than once, I looked left as I would at home, stepped into the crosswalk and then was aware that traffic was bearing down on me on the "wrong" side of the road.Incidentally, without trying to sound pedantic, 34% of the world's population drives on the left. The French used to drive on the left but Napoleon changed it. I don't know why.

Ready To Bloom

Because we typically go on vacation at the end of May and the beginning of June, this is all Deb and I normally see of the Iris that she has planted in her garden. But there is something attractive and stately about an Iris that is ready to bloom.

Sunset, July 4, 2010

Yes, this is just another sunset photo and there is nothing that would necessarily distinguish this shot from a billion other sunset photos. So why post it?Well, in part because it was Independence Day in the US and that night, since we had no fireworks in our supplies on my sailboat, the beautiful, blazing sunset would have to suffice. Also, this photo - a snapshot really - marks a moment in my summer worth remembering. Scott P and I had had a successful day of sailing and fishing. After 15 hours of nearly constant motion, we had pulled in to our anchorage in Mission Creek on Lake Oahe and we had the whole place to ourselves.The wind had died and the only sounds we could hear were the gentle creaking of the rigging of "Wandering Star," the muted sound of birdsong and crickets coming from the shore and the distant call of coyotes flowing down the western hills from miles away. All of that and, to borrow a phrase from Emily Dickinson, the "yellow noise" of the sun. I was in one of my favorite places in the world with one of my favorite people.This captured moment may have little meaning to you. But it will give me sustenance for months to come.

The Happy Fisherman

Most people fish Lake Oahe for its walleye. But my friend Peterson thought finding northerns would be just fine and on day two of our fishing/sailing expedition, this is what he found. I don't have a scale on my sailboat so we had to go looking for a fisherman who did. Total weight: 20.2 lbs. Scott has been fishing in Canada for 30 years but this is the largest northern he has ever caught. And I helped.If you want to see the exact location where we caught this fish, check out the Panoramio link. There may be more.

Rural Scene

I have mentioned that one of the virtues of my home town of 25,000 people is that I can get in my car and drive north and be a place as rural as any one could look for. This photo is evidence. I found this scene looking for sunrise shots. The color has not been manipulated or enhanced - this is what my camera saw. I guess the golden light and fog are "real."

The Little Girl and the Pigeon

A Friendly Fisherman

The FLW Outdoors walleye fishing circuit came to Lake Oahe and brought pro fishermen looking for The Big One(s). I was watching the pros get ready on one of the mornings of the tourney and captured this photo. I was trying to get a candid shot but instead I got a friendly wave. The winner won close to $38,000 for his efforts. If you are a walleye fisherman, you may be interested in the tournament story. Try going here.

We Can See Ourselves!

We were packing our rental car and getting ready to leave our little cottage in Aldeia da Mata Pequena, Portugal, when the two resident peacocks walked up and started to look at themselves in the dark reflection. I thought they were admiring themselves, but when they started to peck at our car, I concluded that they thought they were looking at two other peacocks that somehow posed a threat. They moved on amiably when I opened the passenger car door.

Fish and Chips

I had heard of the famous English delicacy "fish and chips" long before I had been to London the first time. And so, when I had the opportunity, I ordered the combo from a street vendor. It was served in a cone of paper that was soon drenched with the oil from the deep fat fryer it was cooked in. For a person with a cholesterol problem, this is not the best cuisine.On our recent trip to London, it was Deb's turn to order fish and chips. I sampled it and it seemed better than what I had had. Better fish? Better potatoes? Maybe better presentation? Who knows.

Portuguese Countryside

I have posted another photo from this same area - of a little stone wall. I wanted to post this because it shows (with a little imagination) the small village 40 miles north of Lisbon where our stone cottage was. In the near distance is a walled cemetery. Moving up from that you see a fairly large town. And then above that and a little to the right is the small village we called home