This is one of the wings of the Como Park Conservatory in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was a cool October day outside, but inside it was warm enough to grow flowers, ferns, palms and cactus, which makes this place a perfect escape.Subscribe to A Photo A Day by Email
Some of my readers will know right away that this "coffee house" sells more than coffee and that's why there is an age restriction. I was looking at the photos I took in Amsterdam a few years ago and decided to post this.What do they serve here besides coffee? They serve pot in a variety of forms. Not only can you buy joints (so I'm told) but marijuana infused brownies and cookies, too. Only a desperate person would smoke the last two but you can eat them and get more than I sugar high.For the record, I didn't go in to one of these coffee shops. Neither did my wife. Or my Lutheran pastor friend Billy. Honest!
This is a real trout and a real fisherman. But is the fish really as big as it appears? I think you know the answer - this fish was only about 13" long. The trick is an old fisherman's trick. You simply hold the fish as far away from your body as you can, and, if you are lucky, the photographer has a wide angle lens. Does this fisherman need to exaggerate when it comes to fish size? I don't think so. He's an accomplished fisherman who already has one "real" big fish posted in this blog.
One of the slogans of Lake Area Technical Institute in Watertown, SD, is "It's your world." These cupcakes were offered to spectators at the ground breaking of Phase 3 of the LATI improvement and growth program. I didn't make these delicacies but I did eat two shortly after I took the photo.
I visited the Como Park Conservatory in St. Paul this past weekend and enjoyed stepping from the cool, October air into tropical humidity. There are many photo opportunities, including a room filled with many types of ferns. I don't know what the name of this particular fern is but from the other side, it was one of the least interesting. But the backside was amazing, as I hope you agree.I always feel good when I see something that many others don't see because I think that this ability is what helps define a "photographer." And I keep working on becoming a better photographer.
This vine is at its best when it's green - when it is busy doing its photosynthetic thing. So there is an irony in the fact that it looks best when it is about to give up its efforts for the season. That's true of almost all leaves, I guess.
Sometimes when I am out taking photos in our garden, I carry a spray bottle to add a little "nature's mist" to the flowers. During the time I had to take photos in Olympia, Washington, a few years ago, mist was no problem - it drizzled almost non-stop. And there were many photo opportunities, though I had to work quickly because my camera isn't particularly water proof.I found this photo in the Japanese garden close to downtown Olympia. I would love to go back on a nicer day, though the rain did much to enhance my photos.
Here are some statistics about this blog: Since February, "A Photo A Day" has had 9561 unique hits and 42,119 total hits. On any given day, some of my viewers visit because they know about this blog. But I also get visitors using Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. to search for things like "flying geese," "amazing flowers," "mycenae," "Thad Titze," "southern most point Hawaii," and "Japanese school girls." Those searches were all charted from yesterday's hits. Every time I look at the search terms that got people to my site, I am humored and mystified. And sometimes chagrinned. (Japanese school girls!!!????). (Thad may be mystified by being subject of a Google search but I'm not. He's going to be famous some day. And here's the post that made my blog.)I have also posted 584 day's worth of photos and that's what got me started on this post on statistics today. Being pretty right brained, I keep no master list of what I have posted. Thus, I rely on memory to keep from repeating myself. I can actually recall almost all of the photos I post, though I often can't remember the specific photo I posted on any given day. My wife, who looks at the photos late in the day, will say "Nice photo today." And I will often say, "What's the photo?"And today I don't know if I have posted this particular photo before. I can tell you that the very first "A Photo A Day" photo was taken from this very spot. I visit this spot as often as I can, both "really" and "virtually." I tend to go alone but today I am taking you. Thanks for coming along.
There are thousands of "safe harbors" in the islands that spread out along the Dalmatian Coast in Croatia. This particular harbor (to paraphrase a song title by Jimmy Buffett) is on the west end of the Island of Hvar, which I have visited twice.I've mentioned in another post that Deb and I hope to charter a sailboat and cruise the Croatian islands but she tells me that we need our son, Captain Jon, aboard. I agree, but I'm not sure that our need for a precise travel schedule can mesh with Jon's free-form lifestyle. Our goal was to do it in the summer of 2011. We'll see. . . .
I suppose you could say that this is the second is a series. I'll call the series "Three From the Same Tree." Today, the dominant color is yellow, which one would expect from aspen trees.
There is still color to be found in South Dakota, though most of the trees in our yard have lost their leaves. These aspen leaves are still hanging on. The blurred color in the background is caused by the bright red leaves still clinging to the burning bush plants that decorate one edge of our deck. Generally, I work pretty hard to get the focus on the main subject to be deep enough so it is all in focus. But this time, when I looked through the viewfinder, I decided it was OK to have a couple places on this branch blurred. Why? I can't tell you, except that it seems to somehow complement the seeming randomness of nature.We have had a great October in eastern South Dakota but I know winter is coming. In fact, I looked at the snow blower in my garage yesterday and thought that maybe I should see if it runs.