Life Through A Lens

Photo-Luminescence

2010-03-04T16:15:00.000-05:00

My new Photoblog is up! Head on over to www.douglasmulford.com to see Photo-Luminescence. I will be posting one picture a day there so it will be updated much more often :) I am sure that I will still post here on occasion, but my main focus will be the new blog.

It's Been a While

2009-12-17T15:42:00.000-05:00

It has been a while since I last posted so here are some goodies from Costa Rica! These all came from the Arenal area

Blue-Grey Tanager

Water lily like plants

Purty flower--large! About 10 inches across!

Pedro, one of the hotel mascot birds :)

A Guest Post

2009-11-22T23:29:00.000-05:00

Time for my first guest shot! I didn't not, of course, take the above picture...our doctor did-Courtney and I are gonna be parents!!!!!! Our little one will make his or her first appearance around June 14, 2010. Yea!!! :)

The masks we wear

2009-11-21T14:36:00.001-05:00

Hyena mask by Yacouba Bonde at the High museum in Atlanta. Really darned cool!!!

Butterfly mask by the same artist. This is really big ~ 6 feet long. Here is a shot of it being worn:

And a bush cow. Most nifty!!

Spikey!!!

2009-11-20T14:38:00.001-05:00

Image of Jeal driving a spike through the head of Sisera-always a popular bible story for youth group!!! Engraving is from 1517 and part of a special exhibit at the Carlos museum on the Emory campus.

Fall is here

2009-11-12T16:14:00.000-05:00

Quick shot of a purty tree outside the Avondale Post Office. First post from my iPhone with a pict from my phone-hope it works :)

Better than Galileo

2009-10-23T15:50:00.000-04:00

No, not that I am better than Galileo! But, my camera does have more magnification at 300mm than Galileo did in 1609-1610 when he first turned his eyes to Jupiter. And at a complete surprise to me, on a clear fall night in NY I was able to capture this picture of Jupiter with my camera...and yup, those are the Galilean moons surrounding it. COOL!

A hint of purple

2009-10-22T15:46:00.001-04:00

Right near where we were grillin' up dinner on the NY trip were these pretty little flowers. Those who know me know that I can't resist a flower picture!!!!

So Much Depends...

2009-10-21T15:44:00.000-04:00

On the blue wheel barrow...

Another goodie from the NY trip a couple weeks ago. This picture just says fall and farm to me. They also had a bathtub as a planter...most creative!

Salad Dressing Anyone?

2009-10-20T15:40:00.002-04:00

Another picture form the NY trip. Poke salad (also known as Pokeweed) has some darned pretty berries in the fall and I always seem to find some to take pictures of now that I live in the south!

Hello, I am Fall and I Am Cool!

2009-10-19T15:36:00.000-04:00

OK, so I really should be grading student papers right now, but I think I will avoid it a bit longer by blogging! :) A couple weeks ago Courtney and I had the chance to head up to near Salt Point, NY to visit with some family (new family for me!) and go to their home winery bottling party! More on the party is here. Fall was starting in up north and we got to see some great foliage. This little guy was just outside one of our friends' house and I fell in love with it. No idea what type of plant it is but I love the way the leaves changes in stripes! Most Cool Fall!!

Growing in the Trees

2009-09-29T11:11:00.002-04:00

The various plants that hand onto trees in the Jungle are just cool. No soil, and all the water they need form the air. Nifty! And not just small little plants, but, like this one, the tree dwellers can get really darned big!

Don't Blow Your Top

2009-09-22T12:54:00.002-04:00

Arenal, Costa Rica. This is the view from our hotel! I guess that many people visit Arenal and never get the chance to see top of the volcano so we were very lucky. We were in Arenal for 4 nights and saw the mountain top every single day. WooHoo! We did not, alas, get a chance to see the actual lava flow, but the continual steam form the eruption was pretty impressive!

First grilled pizza!!!

2009-09-18T21:25:00.001-04:00

Here is our first attempt at a grilled pizza with homemade dough. This one is Courtney's cause it is prettier!! Note that this is half way through the cooking.

And here is Courtney's when done. Tasty!!!!

Little Birdie

2009-09-18T13:04:00.001-04:00

Whole bevies of quail come to feed at my parents' feeder all year. This guy visited us at Christmas last year.

Dew Drop In

2009-09-15T10:56:00.002-04:00

Seen on the ground cover on a walk at the Sea Ranch New Years 2008. I like the way the drop pooled in the center of the star. Most Nifty Nature!

Purty

2009-09-11T14:49:00.000-04:00

Sunset. Sea Ranch, CA 12/2008

One Mighty Ant

2009-08-31T12:16:00.003-04:00

Throughout Costa Rica we found many a leaf-cutter ant. There fascinating little guys building highways through the undergrowth and carying leaves someitmes great distances back to their nests. As it turn out, the soldier type ants int he colony are very strong. In Arenal we visited a hanging bridges tour and out guide demonstrated the strength of the ants as shown in the picture. If you zoom in you will see that he is holding the ant and that the ant is holding that huge leaf! Wowzers!

Guady Leaf Frog

2009-08-27T15:36:00.000-04:00

OK, it has officially been WAY too long since I posted here! It has been a crazy and wonderful summer getting married in May, going on a honeymoon to Costa Rica, teaching summer session 2, and then getting ready for the new school year. Tomorrow is the first day of classes and I think I might actually be ready. So, here is a picture to start things off again. Courtney and I had a fantastic time in Costa Rica and I will post several pictures here over the next little while. Courtney has a great set of blog posts describing the trip if you'd like to check them out here, here, here, here, here, and here. The first place we visited, Lapa Rios was one of my favorites! It is a great resort near the Corcovado National Park and there is an incredible amount of wildlife there. One the last night I went on a night hike and say lots of nifty things. Now, most were spiders and other creepy crawlies, but I did get to see one of these Red-eyed Tree Frog (or Gaudy Leaf Frog) hanging around on a branch. I was very happy to be able to find one of these in the wild--most cool! He is a little guy--only a couple inches long but nifty!

Feeling a bit Luna-ey

2009-05-10T15:00:00.005-04:00

A couple of weekends ago I joined Courtney and Kate for tour of chicken coops in Oakhurst...yup, you read that correctly :) If you want to see a post on the coops then check out Courtney's post where you will also get to read about my Peep experiments! :) At one of the stops, the one with the baby ducks, there was the incredible Luna moth sitting on one of the coops. I don't remember ever having seen one before and was amazed. he is pretty big--3-4 inches across. and was just sitting there for the many photographers to come by and have a ball taking pictures. A truly beautiful animal!

Powerful Sights To See

2009-04-10T15:00:00.000-04:00

Another travel blog:

Today was a day for a walking tour of the old town (Staré Mésto) of Prague—we headed out the apartment into the old town—only a couple blocks away. Our first stop was the Old-New Synagogue (Staranová synagóga). This is the oldest practicing synagogue in Europe (begun 1270) and was very interesting to see—it is fairly plain inside, but there is a lot of history for the Prague Jewish quarter and much of it is reflected here. There is a very old banner, red, with the Star of David on it that was given to them by one of the past kings. It is carried by 8 members of the congregation on the occasions of a royal visit to the Jewish Ghetto (no pictures allowed). They also have a great clock tower that counts time backwards in honor of the fact that Hebrew is read right to left. We then headed over to the old Jewish Cemetery (Starỳ Židovskỳ Hřbitov). For a period of a couple hundred (439-1787) years the Jewish inhabitants of the city were not allowed to bury bodies outside of the city and were only allowed to use the small space within—the result is a very small cemetery, say a couple hundred feet on a side that has a couple thousand tombstones and then under each one can be up to 12 bodies—it is believed that there may be as many as 80,000 people who were buried there. It was fascinating to visit. Also attached to the cemetery is a converted synagogue (Pinkas Synagogue—Pinkasova synagóga) that lists on the walls the names of all of the Polish Jews killed during WWII. It is a very humbling thing to see.

Did Someone Say Look Up?!?!?!

2009-04-08T15:00:00.000-04:00

The year was 1530 and the Bebenhausen Monastery ceiling needed a little bit of primitive painted sunshine. This is what they got :)

Looking Up, Again

2009-04-06T15:00:00.000-04:00

Once again, it is time to look up at and see what is above you! While touring Eastern Europe we ended up in Prague which is a wonderful city to visit--though a bit hard to drive around in! I found this ceiling in the castle--I like the patterns and the seeming randomness of the types of stone--it has been repaired several times over the years and they used whatever local stone they found each time. It makes for a great patchwork of color and lines.

A Different Perpective

2009-04-03T15:00:00.001-04:00

Spain, 2005. I have had the chance to photograph many beautiful churches around the work and the cathedral in Barcelona was no exception. However, the pictures can start to look the same after a while so I start to experiment with points of view and perspective. I was particularly happy with this one--this was taken from behind the altar looking up. I like the flow of the picture and the altered point of view.

More Purty Flowers, Netherlands Style

2009-04-01T15:00:00.001-04:00

And back to The Netherlands again today :)

6/10/2005

Though I was pretty sure that I was past the time, I headed down to Haarlem (ever wonder where that NY neighborhood got its name?!?! ) to see the bulb fields. And I say a lot of fields, but no blooms. Darn it. I think that I missed it by about 3-4 weeks. Ah well, a reason to come back someday. Which I will, I really like it here. I did find 3 or 4 very small plots in bloom and of course took pictures  Iris and Alliums.
I drove around looking at the country side for a while then headed up to the town of Spaarndam mentioned in my green guidebook and this was a great find. It is a little tiny town perched along one of the dikes. It also has a small number of houses on one side, but much is perched right up along top. Also three locks in town and on the third is a statue to the little boy who put his finger in a hole in the dyke all night too keep it from flooding! The town was a lot of fun though and I am really glad that I headed up there. They are also having some sort of a festival in the not too distant future (after I leave unfortunately) but several sail boats had shown up and had blocked in one of the locks—the one around the town square. People were out on the boats just talking and enjoying the company. I actually had to wait while the pedestrian draw bridge was raised to get a couple of the boats in.

Say Cheese!!!!

2009-03-30T15:00:00.001-04:00

Here is another lunch time vacation...a bit of my travel blog from the summer of 2005

6/10/2005

Cheese anyone? Lots and lots of it? I went up to Alkmaar this morning to get to the cheese market that happens there every Friday morning during the summer—and has for a long time! They have records of their being a scale there since 1352! 650 years of cheese markets—we just don’t have any traditions like that at home. It was fun to see it and realize that it has been going on so long! And it wasn’t just a standard market. The cheese makers lay out their wares—28,000 kg this time though in the middle ages it was close to 300,000 kg! Anyway, so the cheese is laid out in long lines (we are talking 20 kg wheels and 10 kg balls here) by gentlemen in blue shirts, part of a guild in the market square, or Waagplein. The buyers and maker reps then sample the cheese and finally agree on a price per kg by slapping hands. But, each wheel weights slightly different so it all needs to be weighed. In comes another guild, the cheese carriers. There are 4 teams of 7 men who carry the cheese. They are dressed in shirts with straw hats brimmed in one of 4 colors so that they can be identified in their group. The guys in blue load up these cart/sled things (not sure how to describe it—it has no wheels, is completely carried) with up to 8 wheels of cheese and two of the carriers attached ropes on harnesses they wear to the sled and carry it to massive scales. The carts weigh 150-200 kg total when loaded. After weighing, overseen by another guild, the carriers then take the cheese over to another area where another guild, dressed in brown, load them on to carts and nowadays then into truck though it used to be onto boats. In all, it takes about 2.5 to 3 hours to sell all the cheese now though it used to take until midnight in old times. Needless to say it is a colorful spectacle and they carriers seems to have a great time, and constantly play some with the crowd—taking some people around on the sleds and one cart I saw go by had 8 wheels of cheese and a 4-5 year old girl on it—I assume they took her off before weighing and didn’t charge the buyer for her weight as well! :)

Pikes R Us

2009-03-18T12:22:00.003-04:00

Visited a military museum in Germany when I was traveling around with my parents. Not usually my cup of tea, but dad wanted to go and it was interesting. This is set of old pikes on display and I liked the shadows. However, if you look closely at them you can see that they are well used. Yuck! ;)

More Carcassonne

2009-03-05T10:42:00.003-05:00

Before we had the wonderful interval of some snow, I had intended to post a few more pictures form Carcassonne so here they are :) Enjoy!

Snow!

2009-03-03T11:23:00.003-05:00

Well, we finally got a good snow out here in Atlanta. I know that many people might think me crazy, but I absolutely love the snow. It really makes my soul happy to be out in it and see it all around. There is something about breathing in that crisp cold air that just rejuvenates me. I forget how much I miss it and how important it is to me until I get back to it. So, needless to say, this weekend was wonderful for me! We got a couple inches here in Atlanta and though most of it has melted, my snow angel was still intact this morning in my front yard :) The first picture above is actually from Douglasville just West of Atlanta--where we are having out wedding in May. I just love the big old tree with its bare branches covered in snow. Pine trees are pretty in the snow, but there is something about a deciduous tree that strikes me. The second show is from a block away from my house in Atlanta showing just how hard it was snowing :)

Carcassonne

2009-02-26T13:24:00.001-05:00

Here is another entry from my 2005 Europe travels:

Carcassonne! I was here with the family all those years ago and it is even cooler than I remember! A very impressive, completely walled city that sits on a little hill. However, here is where the question of the day comes in How do you hide an entire walled city?!?! OK, it didn’t help that it was raining, rush-hour in the fairly large town/city that surrounds it, and I didn’t have a good map. Now to the other more interesting aspects of finding it—I had to come in a weird way due to lots of construction. That shouldn’t be too bad. However, you can’t drive in the medieval city—and they (the people who live there) all know where it is—so they don’t bother putting up obvious signs!!! And the City Center signs don’t lead you there, they take you to the surround city’s center—no where near and clogged with traffic. But lots of parking areas such that it looks like you are in the right neighborhood. Oh, and the buildings are all tall enough that once in the area, you can no longer even see the medieval city!!! Needless to say, there was much frustration and circling ;) I did finally get there (1 hour later—wanted to stop and ask for directions, but was stuck in traffic and no where to stop!). Turns out the signs say La Cité and evidentially you are supposed to know that that means the medieval part of town.
Argh. But, as I say, I did make it and it was great. The youth hostel is in the city and I have included a picture from outside the bedroom window! I wandered around town—walking the outside walls, for a couple hours taking many a picture and then finally ended up in the town square for dinner while writing post cards and petting a really cute kitty-cat. Then I went out again later with my tri-pod to try some night shots. Though getting ther was difficult, it was well worth it as a stop over on my travels south to Spain.

A little slice of hell...

2009-02-25T13:21:00.001-05:00

OK, so I was going to post a pretty picture of a butterfly on lavender today, but I have come down with a cold and I am trying to grade close to 200 exams while feeling yucky! Not fun! So, I am going with a picture from Cathedral (Duomo) Cupola in Florence. I think the subject sums up how I am feeling about right now. OK, no, it really isn't all that bad, and I am actually blessed with a very good immune system. I only rarely get sick and when I do it is usually only for about 24 hours or so, but man, those are a fun 24 hours! My elementary school secretary said that I actually turned green! The Grinch aint got nothing on me ;)

Picture? What Picture?!?!

2009-02-20T14:00:00.007-05:00

An icon...seen in real life...and it is darned tall!! Needless to say, seeing the David in person was very impressive. And just in case you are curious, you are not supposed to take pictures so you don't actually see this one. I would never take a picture where I am not supposed to! :) The Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence is a small, though good museum. David is certainly impressive, though I find the Nonfiti (unfinished slaves) be be equally fascinating. Seeing the creative process is amazing.
Most people only come to see David and the Nonfiniti and miss the rest of the museum. Most people don't even realize that there is a second floor! In fact, the average visit time, based on ticket sales and other data the museum collects is just 7 1/2 minutes. Ummm...wow! If you ever go, take a little more time to enjoy! If you are on a tour, make them wait for you :)

2009-02-19T14:00:00.001-05:00

Final Fernbank froggy friends.

More Froggy Friends

2009-02-18T14:00:00.002-05:00

Some more froggy friends from Fernbank!!

Hello, I am a cute little froggy!

2009-02-17T14:00:00.025-05:00

In September of 2007 Courtney and I headed over to the Fernbank Science museum to check it out--being the nerd that I am it kinda surprises me that it took me a year to get to the museum! Though somewhat smaller than similar museums in Chicago and San Francisco of course, it is still a great science museum with a good amount of hands-on exhibits and some fun variations of some classics. We went to the museum on that particular weekend as there was a special exhibit on the color of frogs. It was a bit challenging getting pictures through the glass and around all the little kids (and finger/nose prints!), but it was fun trying. Here are a couple of my favorites with more to come in the next post.

Highlight of the trip?

2009-02-16T13:34:00.005-05:00

It would be hard to pick a single highlight of the Africa trip this past summer, but this might come close. While traveling around in Botswana we say a couple impala watching the brush very carefully and ignoring us--a good sign. A little down the road we found this guy. For close to 11 minutes we were able to follow him around as he marked his territory one last time before sleeping for the day. It was only 8:30 AM, but still, leopards are not usually up at that time and the most that you usually get to see is the flip of a tail hanging out of a tree. We were very luck to say the least!!! If you look closely in the 2nd picture you an see him marking the tree :)

Goats on the Coast

2009-02-08T13:00:00.004-05:00

One of the big pushes up at The Sea Ranch where my parents have a place is to have a minimal environmental impact. However, being the California coast there are often lots of dry grasses around which are a real fire hazard. So, the community has hired a shepherd with his flocks of sheep and goats to move up and down the property trimming the grasses to a reasonable height. They use a mix of sheep and goats because the sheep are more efficient, but there are some grasses that even they won't eat--no such qualms for the goats! Environmentally friendly, and around the time of kidding/lambing season, really darned cute. This little goat was posing for us this past Christmas, just getting ready to eat his way south!

Not just in America!

2009-02-04T15:21:00.003-05:00

Fish eagles were one of the more prevalent or the large birds we saw in Africa--though not usually this well! This guy was hanging out on a branch we think drying himself off. We were able to get actually very close to him--this is no where near maximum telephoto for me. Many of our guides were also photographers and we could always tell when we found a good sighting when the guide, who does this all the time, brought out his own camera! Needless to say the guide snapped quite a few pictures of this Fish Eagle

Feeling Kelpless

2009-01-25T10:19:00.003-05:00

Sea Ranch again for today's post. We had some pretty good storms while I was up there this year and that always means some interesting things get washed up. I liked the way this particular piece of kelp had coral growing in between the roots--Nifty :)

A Marvelous Bird is the Pelican....

2009-01-21T13:38:00.002-05:00

A marvelous bird is the pelican
His beak can hold more than his bellycan
and I don't know how in the hellhecan.

As a kid I loved that poem...parental sanctioned swearing. Nothing better for a 6 year old! :) This particular pelican was spotted of the The Sea Ranch in California this Christmas. He (or she?!?!) was kind enough to fly right in front of me and pose for the camera!

A Little Birdie...

2009-01-20T12:10:00.004-05:00

Another picture from Christmas 2008. This is one of many a birdie who came to visit the feeder on the back porch of my parent's house. I like the seed in his mouth and the slight tilt to his head. My parent's have a Great Pyrenees dog--a 120 pound fluffball who works hard to protect us from the finches and chickadees. :) He has been up at Sea Ranch for over 10 year sand the birds have learned that his bark is MUCH worse than his bite. As soon as he turns his back they come flocking in :)

To Be or Not to Be

2009-01-12T10:59:00.010-05:00

It has been a while since I did a post based on my summer travels of 2005 but I was talking about this castle the past weekend so I thought I'd share!

Frederiksburg

Kronborg

(6/23/2005)
What better way to start out a day than with 2 castles?!?! First was Frederiksburg Slot. When the Rosenburg Slot (from Copenhagen) became too small Frederik II had this castle built up north of the city. He built a pretty modest one, but then his son, Christian IV (the builder king) got a hold of it and the construction went on for 20 more years! It was the seat of the monarchy during the years of absolute monarchy (1600’s to 1840’s I think) so the kings and queens were all crowned here during that time and lived there. So, it’s a bit over done at times, but not as out of control as say, Versailles. Actually, much of the interior was gutted by a fire in the 1800’s and they have had to reproduce the interiors, but you could still get a feel for how it looked. It does stretch across three small islands on a lake though so it has a very impressive look.
And then off to the next castle. “To be or not to be…” That is the question. My next stop was Elsinor and the castle now called Kronborg Slot. It was in this castle that Shakespeare set Hamlet! Kind of fun to be wandering the halls of the supposed castle. Didn’t look anything like I imagined Hamlet’s castle to look. Still, it is a fairly good castle with a view across the water to Sweden. It is pretty bare inside because, at least according to our guide, after the Swedish royalty stayed they took (stole!) everything with them on leaving. Not sure if it’s true, but makes a good story!

The Fence to Nowhere

2009-01-09T12:48:00.002-05:00

OK, it has officially been too long since I posted. I had the chance to go to California for over 2 weeks this year to spend time with my family and had a great time. It was the first time the family had been together for any time after mom survived breast cancer (GET CHECKED!!!) and so it was nice to reconnect. My Fiancee also came out for a week and it was great to be able to spend time with her and my family. We even did the tour of Doug's childhood locations and visited with many a friend. We went by the house I grew up in (from 1 year old to 28) and the new owners were there and kind enough to invite us in! It was fun to see the old house again and what the new family has done with it. Courtney and I also wandered around my old elementary school and high school. it was fun reminiscing and showing her where I came from. The picture above came from The Sea Ranch where we spend Christmas and New Years. I have walked along this fence many a time and though the day was cloudy I loved the way the light hit the fence highlighting it in certain points.

Prettyness in Holyrood

2008-12-16T13:26:00.004-05:00

Yup, that's right, Holyrood...the royal house of the kings and queens of Scotland since the fifteenth century though it was started as an abbey in 1128. The palace itself is pretty and what you would expect of many European royal residences. Much opulence! You are not allowed to take pictures inside as it is still used by the queen, but the grounds are pretty and open for pictres.

Azelas Gone Mad

2008-12-08T15:01:00.001-05:00

These were taken in my front yard 2 Marches--such a wonderful explosion of color!

As Pretty as the Skye

2008-12-02T12:28:00.003-05:00

These pretties came from the Isle of Skye in Scotland at Dunvegan Castle. Enjoy!

The Rising Mist

2008-11-30T17:01:00.004-05:00

In August of 2000 I had the opportunity to to take a wonderful trip to New Hampshire and Maine with my dear friends the Trippeers where we hiked a week on the Appalachian Trail (The AT Trail) and then spent another week in Acadia, Maine. There are many a story from that trip--some never to be told again ;) The hike ended up being a bit more challenging than we had planned--OK, the AT train in New Hampshire is INSANE!!! Straight up and down mountains without switchbacks. We were often bouldering as much as we were hiking. The trip was still wonderful and as we started out we crossed this covered bridge. I loved the light on the mist is the morning as we began out trek.

Butter or Parquet?!?!

2008-11-21T15:24:00.002-05:00

Here is a bit of fun with patterns! When visiting Munich, Germany I swung by the Residenz Munchen which is palace of the old Bavarian monarchs. There were many a goopy decoration as one would expect in a palace but I was especially struck by the parquet floors throughout the palace. Each room was done in a different pattern of inlaid wood. Some were a bit busy for my taste if I were to try to live with them, but the craftsmaship was impressive to say the least.

Fun with Exposure Settings Take 2

2008-11-18T17:47:00.002-05:00

Hello all! Here are 2 more from my recent visit to the smokies. Once again changing up the exposure settings to play with the water effects. This one is a bit more traditional but still interesting :)

Fun with Exposure Settings

2008-11-15T14:04:00.003-05:00

I had the chance to go up to the Great Smokey National Park in early October for my fall break with my parents and my fiancee. We had a wonderful time being leaf watchers and I am sure some of those picts will make their way here (I am just not getting around to editing them!). These two shots are essentially identical, take of the same subject just a few seconds apart. This is the Cades Cove primitive Baptist Church, organized June 16, 1827. As we were getting ready to leave I noticed that if you stood in just the right part of the parking lot and hoped that no one ran over you, the sun was right at the top of the bell tower/steeple. I snapped a couple shots playing with exposures and f-stops to come up with these two. I like the contrast between them--I hope you do too!

Cawdor Castle...the best of the rest

2008-11-10T13:31:00.006-05:00

OK, these picts didn't end up popping like i had hoped. Not sure why but they just didn't carry the same impact as some of the other I have posted. I was using my e-mail system to post as whereas that should make no difference, I am going to try to post. No idea why that might matter, but if nothing else I will avaoid the annoying e-mail disclaimer that Emory has started to add (without our knowing mind you) to all of our outgoing mail.

Ppfffttt!

2008-11-06T13:14:00.001-05:00

Hanover, Germany in June of 2005--I found this sculpture just outside of city hall--I think it sums up many a political battle very nicely :)

Awww....

2008-11-03T09:33:00.003-05:00

So, for those of you that haven't heard yet, I'm a gettin' married!!!! Yup, that's right...pigs are flying everywhere! We do not have a definite date yet, but Courtney and I will be married sometime next year. Yea!!!! This picture was taken by me just after the proposal :)

Cawdor Day #10

2008-10-31T17:00:00.002-04:00

Cawdor Day #9

2008-10-30T17:00:00.002-04:00

Cawdor Day #8

2008-10-29T17:00:00.002-04:00

Cawdor Day #7

2008-10-28T17:00:00.001-04:00

Cawdor Day #6

2008-10-27T17:00:00.002-04:00

Cawdor Day #5

2008-10-26T17:00:00.002-04:00

Cawdor Day #4

2008-10-25T17:00:00.003-04:00

Cawdor Day #3

2008-10-24T17:00:00.002-04:00

Cawdor Castle #2

2008-10-23T17:01:00.002-04:00

Day 2 :)

Cawdor Castle #1

2008-10-22T13:53:00.001-04:00

When visiting Scotland and England back in 2007 we ended up visiting Cawdor Castle up near Edinburgh. It is in this castle that Shakespeare set Macbeth. Not that it likely happened here, but it is still a nice castle with a great gardens. It was kind of rainy that day (in Scotland?!?! Never!) but that didn’t stop us from hitting the gardens for lots of pictures! So, here is the beginning of 1 picture form Cawdor Castle per day for a little while. Enjoy!

More Smokies Goodness

2008-10-21T13:33:00.004-04:00

Pretty Butterfly near the Odgen house in Cades Cove.
The old Odgen home. I love the dove tail joints here. They have stood for over 100 years and likely will a hundred more!
I love the mix of all of the stages of fall here...green, yellow, and red!!!
Fungi....everywhere!
Just a really darned cool leaf
Here are some more goodies from the Smokies a couple of weeks ago :)

Fall Is Here

2008-10-15T23:10:00.004-04:00

Well, it is here if here is the Great Smokey National Park. It was 85 in Atlanta today...not really Fall if you ask me!!! My parents are in town though so I took them on up to the Smokies to go leaf watching. At it was incredible!!! Fall has arrive up in the mountains (as well as WAY too many people in Gatlinburg. Wow, that town in scary!) and we traveled for four days (Courtney joined us for 2 of those days) and we saw many a leaf changing color and took even more pictures. All four of us had cameras and I think that at times we may have all even taken the same picture :) These three picture are to start you out in the Fall Feast and were all taken the last day. I was really happy to actually see the 'smokey' aspect to the Smokies in the middle picture. So often the smog limits visibility but real really lucked out. You could see out in the direction of Pigeon Forge that the smog was definitely there but it in most of the other directions the view was incredible. It was much clearer this year than last year when Courtney and I visited over Labor Day. More people too!

The Window to Nowhere

2008-10-09T11:32:00.002-04:00

While traveling around in Europe I became obsessed with windows for a while. Each country has such different architectural styles and the winds seems to reflect that. This little door/window was taken in Germany. I love the lines of the 1/2 timbering surrounding the window. It has a very primitive/earthy feel to it.

Down the Rabbit Hole

2008-10-08T00:15:00.005-04:00

This weekend I joined a bunch of friends visiting Washington Farms in Watkinsville, GA. We went pumpkin picking and even braved the corn maze--a pretty good one as it took us 45 minutes to get through! At the end of the maze they had the Vortex Tunnel to walk through. It is similar to the ice cave on the Universal Studios Tour. Essentially you walk down the middle through a tube that is spinning pretty fast around you. With dots painted on it. And you get REALLY dizzy. It is really darned disconcerting even if you know what to expect. I took this shot at the beginning of the tunnel. The camera had no chance of focusing on the spinning craziness so I put it on manual and held it as steady as I could for an 8 second exposure. Trippy!!! Click on the picture to see it full screen and feel like you are there!!!

Athens Botanical Gardens

2008-10-06T22:59:00.003-04:00

More purty stuff...this time from last weekend at the Georgia State Botanical Gardens in Athens!

Backyard Goodies

2008-10-02T10:21:00.004-04:00

I was out in the yard watering for a few minutes today and noticed a couple of pretties that I wanted to share :) After putting in the new screened in porch last year I have been working (with lots of help!) on landscaping a bed that runs all along the back of the house. These are a couple of the flowers from back there. I planted 2 of the clematis vines and I think I have killed one of them-though there is a new sprout coming up at the base of the 'dead' one which is either a new growth or a weed--not sure yet! The other vine is doing well--it lost a lot of leaves on initial planting, but has spread into the trellis well-yea!

Pulchritudinous Plants

2008-09-29T15:21:00.002-04:00

A sampling of the pretties from Africa:

A sample of clawfoot grass in its dried out summer state:

These next two pictures are of the dada plant--it is the local version of pot! We had one of the more politic guides try to convince us that no one smoked it, but a couple other guides were very up front about the fact that it is indeed smokable! The first picture is of the dried seed pod and the second of the still green slowing plant. The pod beneath the flowers will expand to become like the top picture. The plant is interesting as each stalk can have several (4 or 5?) of these pods along its height.

Thorny acacia. Only tasty to giraffe's. Somehow they manage to wrap their almost prehensile tongues around the branch and remove the leaves without getting skewered!

One of the many water lilies seen in Namibia. There are actually two kinds--a night lily and a day lily. Both evidently are white until pollinated at which point hey turn light purple!

Ooooo...See the Birdie

2008-09-23T20:15:00.006-04:00

The Blue Bird of Happiness taking a bath

Purty birdie (another blue bird possible...female? molting...so many possibilities!) roosting on the sprinkler it is now illegal to use in Georgia. Maybe someday I will get to use it again!
Woodie Woodpecker came for a visit :)

One who quoths nevermore...

The camera was getting pretty squirrelly here!

This past weekend I finally refilled my bird feeder after about 2 weeks of flaking (sorry birds!) and a couple days later the birds had found it again! Lots of visitors. Not my best shots but still fun. These were taken from the upstairs window through a screen so the quality isn't great but I didn't want to scare them away. :-)

Mom and Her Prince Charming

2008-09-17T22:25:00.003-04:00

In November of 2006 my parents came out for a visit and we headed out to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Very pretty though a bit more expensive than the Georgia Botanical gardens (which are free!!!) They have many a pretty flower and sculpture for you to see. Mom say this guy sitting on a bench and fell in love with it running over to get her picture taken--I hope my dad wasn't too jealous. :) I love the smile on my mom's face in this shot :)

Williamsburg Wonderfullness

2008-09-11T23:00:00.003-04:00

Here are a selections of goodies from the Williamsburg area! I had the chance to head out there for Spring break this year and there were many a nifty site to be seen. If you had told me as a kid that I would volunteer to go on a historically themed vacation I would have told you you were crazy :) But as I get older, even the learning vacations are fun!!!

This is a goodie from the Richmond Botanical Gardens--I like the patterns.

And now to Williamsburg--one of the aspects of the city that makes it fun to visit is that as a part of the living history they recreate many of the crafts from the 1600's and 1700's int he traditional manner. One of those crafts is the spinning and dying of wool. They hand the wool from the rafters to dry before weaving which is how I got this shot.
Another Williamsburg craft they keep up are the traditional cooking methods--seen here is a baked potato hedgehog which I am sure is traditional!!
While visiting the area I also ended up over in Richmond, VA so had to visit a battlefield or two to prove that I was a true patriot. (Side note: there is a shop in Richmond that takes the patriotism thing (with a Republican bent) more seriously then I knew possible...it's s little scary. I really don't need a tie with George Bush or Newt Gingritch surrounded by USA flags on it!). But, the battle field was interesting and in the museum you can see this--one of General George Washington's actual tents! This was his command tent through much of the war. A nifty connection with history!
Every battlefield needs a cannon or two!

Most Illuminating

2008-09-10T14:05:00.003-04:00

Siena. 2004. Illuminated manuscript. Purty

Major Cuteness!

2008-09-05T12:19:00.004-04:00

Ok, thought I'd do a collection today...here are some of the way to cute animal babies we ran into while traveling. They are from a variety of parks--enjoy!

Hippolet from Hwange National Park in Zimbabwae

Baby elephant and mom also from Hwange. I love how the baby kept his tail in the air the whole time he walked across the watering hole with his mom--I guess he really didn't want to get it wet!

This is one of the lion cubs that we walked with in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwae--the female this time.

Botswana Baboons! When they are younger they rude under mom and when older (or depending on how fast she is traveling, they will sit on her back as well.

I love the ears! (Also Botswana)

Chobe park In Botswana seems to have been a heaven for the little ones--the baboons above as well as this giraffe and the elephants at the bottom of the post! We ran into this family grouping a couple of times and took pictures of the cuteness every chance we got!

Two different elephant babies from Chobe in Botswana. the first was on his/her way down to the river around dusk to get a last drink and the second cam down for a mud bath :)

Clear as a Bell

2008-09-04T11:46:00.004-04:00

Back to Africa and Botswana for today's post. We had been traveling for a couple of weeks and one of the constants throughout the different countries we visited was that at night you could hear a very distinctive frog call that sounded just like the ringing of a bell. The sound was actually very loud and evidentially traveled long distances easily. Turns out all that loud noise was made by some pretty tiny frogs! The African reed frog, or bell frog was the culprit and when were exploring the Okavango delta by canoe (mokoro) we finally found some. The first picture os of a female and then next two are males. For a sense of scale, they are ounly a couple inches long.

Water Lillies Everywhere!!!

2008-09-02T18:27:00.002-04:00

Back to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens for today's post. There were many a pretty water lily in bloom throughout the gardens and I captured several..here are a few for your enjoyment :)

Red, White, Yellow, and Green

2008-08-26T22:13:00.003-04:00

A little change of pace today. We will get back to Africa soon enough but I had the chance to take a whole lot of pictures at the Atlanta Botanical Garden this past weekend. Of course, if I am going to a botanical garden I will have my camera and often take lots of pictures. Sometimes I get some good ones and other times not so much. This was a good trip in that I managed to get 4 or 5 ones that I really like. This one was fun because I didn't think I had captured the picture so I didn't really remember/note it. When I was going through the pictures that night I came across thsi one and was pleasantly surprised! Always nice to find one that you didn't think was going to work. I like the focus and the subject of course, and the diagonal line of the stem is a nice entrance to the picture. What I like best though is the delineation of the color. The red, white, yellow, and green are all such strong colors, especially against the blurred, dark background, and they are so tightly restricted to small, distinct areas. Me like!

Where the Deer and Antalope ROAN

2008-08-17T17:51:00.004-04:00

Oh give me a home where the deer and the antelope Roan (Groan!). As mentioned in previous posts, there are many an antelope throughout Africa of many different types and by the end of the trip they were all kind of blurring together :) The Roan antelope is not the most common, but is a truly beautiful animal and it was very nice of this male to pose in both portrait and profile. He was actually quite a distance away so these were taken with my telephoto on max. We saw a few of these throughout the trip--not nearly as plenty as impala! I find the markings on his face to be very striking and I love the line of his body as he starts to take a step in the profile picture. The sweeping antlers are a favorite.
The Sable is another beautiful antelope with somewhat similar facial markings and is also very striking. Unfortunately the Sables seemed to be particularly camera shy for me though others in our group got to see them well. Here are the best shots I was able to get and a link to Wikipedia to show you what it is supposed to look like :)

Another Purty Sunset

2008-08-11T11:41:00.005-04:00

I think that the title says it all. Another purty sunset!!! This was taken in Chobe National Park from the dinning platform in our camp. The sun was actually setting across the Chobe river and there was a fisherman on a traditional Mokoru passing in front of the sunset for this even more incredible shot:

It was very nice of the fishermen to pose like that for us! :) I love how the light of the sunset is reflected in the slow wake of the Mokoro. If you click on the second shot you will see it even better :)

Plethora of Pretty Flowers

2008-08-07T12:11:00.009-04:00

On our Africa trip we went through Victoria Falls several times as a central hub to the other countries. On one of those layovers we stopped by the Ilala Lodge to drop off some luggage and have lunch before heading out to Hwange National Park. The lodge had a great view of the Smoke that Thunders (the smoke part) and many a pretty flower. We were actually visiting in the middle of their winter so there was not much in bloom on the trip, but we did find a few pretty flowers along the way. And if there are flowers then I must take pictures!!!! Enjoy!! And don't miss the cool African bee in Picture 5 :)

10 Little Bee Eaters All In A Row

2008-08-05T12:26:00.003-04:00

It can be cold on those African mornings! Or, at least cold for them :) The mornings were around 45 degrees and many of the locals were huddling together for warmth including some of the birds and animals. These are Little Bee-Eaters and every morning these guys lined up on a branch just under the dining area and huddled together for warmth. It was actually fairly dark and they were hard to see...yea for the new camera and image stabilization. The next day they were lined up again, but not all in the same direction.
As a bonus, here is why they are called Bee-eaters...

The guides were describing a behavior of these birds that I wish I had seen. When they catch the bees they slam them against the branches on either side of them to kill the bugs before eating. We did see that and it is quite something to watch. However, if the birds eat the bee and it isn't quite dead, the bee-eaters will fly themselves into branches slamming their tummies into the branch to kill the bee inside them!!!!!! I guess it is a learned behavior and the parents will pass it on to their offspring. Weird!

Just can't quite reach that one spot.....

2008-07-27T20:08:00.002-04:00

Can you scratch just a....little...bit....lower????

This has to be one of the funniest grooming potions I have ever seen! There baboons were part of a very large troop--around 70-100--that we saw near sunset one night in Chobe National Park in Botswana along the Chobe river. There were several male-female pairs grooming but This guy bending head over heals to get that right spot is my favorite.

The most dangerous animal in africa

2008-07-25T11:21:00.003-04:00

Believe it or not, this guy is considered the most dangerous animal in all of Africa! Much of their problem is their temper. The males are out on their own (not part of the heard) and as they get older they get more and more irascible. They will charge pretty much anything and don't do mock charges like elephants. If they come running they mean business. And that horn, or boss, on the top of their heads?!? I goes all the way across the skull and can stop a bullet! Wowzers. Needless to say I wasn't petting one of these!

Why did the elephant cross the road....

2008-07-15T13:19:00.002-04:00

...because he could! At a couple of tons you don't argue! Actually, I think it was just so that she could show off her baby to the tourists and look really cute. Baby elephants really are charming and we had the opportunity to see several on our travels. Most cute!!!

Beautiful Baptism

2008-07-11T10:44:00.003-04:00

Over the 4th of July weekend Courtney and I had the chance to head on up to Greenville, TN to visit with her cousin and be there for the baptism of their son, Wallace Wyatt. The visit was a lot of fun and Wallace is a cutie./ His dad, Brian, is actually the minister for Timber Ridge Presbyterian so he got to baptize his own son--cool! I caught this image after the service amidst a flurry of other photo taking. I took many of the traditional photos and you see them on my Flickr account here. The image I posted here though particularly stuck me and I think is one of the better baptism shots I have taken. I really like the combination of the baby with the cross on his father's vestments. It just says baptism and faith, and God, and love all in one!

Too Cute Not to Post

2008-07-08T20:58:00.005-04:00

Back to the lion walk in Victoria Falls and a few more that are just too darned cute!

I'm Ready for my Closeup:

Greco Roman Lion Wrestling:

Ummm...Tourists are Tasty!

I'm Cute and I Know It!

See the Birdie

2008-07-07T21:08:00.007-04:00

Giant Kingfisher:
African Darter:
Here are a couple of pictures taken of birds in flight that I was impressed with. Once again, yea for the new camera that can focus on the fly :) The first, the Giant Kingfisher is larger than some of his other kindred like the Pied Kingfisher but this is still a smaller bird--say a little larger than a large robin. The second picture is of an African Darter. They have the most incredible necks that look for all the world like minnows. In fact, here is another picture so you can see the neck:

Ceratotherium simum simum

2008-07-01T13:51:00.003-04:00

WOW!!!!! A (Southern)White Rhino. One of the big 5 that I knew I would like to see but just didn't expect to. It is the more common of they types of rhino, but there are still only ~10,000 estimated left in the world.
On June 11 we were heading out to visit a local school and village just outside of Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. About 10-15 minutes out of camp a call came over the radio in the jeep that a white rhino had been spotted just outside of camp and was wandering around in a large field. Our driver told us to hold on tight and we took off across the rough dirt tracks of the bush at ridiculous speed. (Actually, the drive was a lot of fun--very like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland!) We got back to camp in a few minutes and lo and behold, there in the distance was rhino number 25! Hwange had LOTS of problems with poaching and they didn't have the security to protect the rhinos so they shipped them all over to a smaller park where they could protect them and work on a breeding program. Well, it seems the program worked as they have so many that the smaller park had too many and they have started re-introducing them into Hwange (where they have better security now). They will not say how many they have re-introduced to protect them (a few have been poached--mostly to use their horns for knife handles) but this guy was number 25 (as determined by his ear notches--The code is here).
We stopped a good way away form him and though he saw us (and the 2 other trucks) he really didn't seem to care that we were there and just keep grazing his way across the field. He actually ended up coming within about 20 meters of our truck, passing just behind us. Needless to say I took quite a few pictures. Here are just a couple of my favorites.
Every wonder why they are called White and Black rhinos? Here is what Wikipedia has to say about it:

A popular theory of the origins of the name White Rhinoceros is a mistranslation from Dutch into Afrikaans and English. The Afrikaans word "wit", meaning "white" in English is said to have been derived by mistranslation of the Dutch word "wijd", which means "wide" in English and is spelt "wyd" in Afrikaans. The word "wide" refers to the width of the Rhinoceros mouth. So early European settlers in South Africa misinterpreted the "wyd" for "white" and the rhino with the wide mouth ended up being called the White Rhino and the other one, with the narrow pointed mouth, was called the Black Rhinoceros. A review of Dutch and Afrikaans literature about the rhinoceros has also failed to produce any evidence that the word wyd was ever used to describe the rhino.^[2] Other popular theories suggest the name comes from its wide appearance throughout Africa, its colour due to wallowing in calcerous soil or bird droppings or because of the lighter colour of its horn. An alternative common name for the white rhinoceros, more accurate but rarely used, is the square-lipped rhinoceros. The White Rhinoceros' generic name, Ceratotherium, given by the zoologist John Edward Gray in 1868,^[3] is derived from the Greek terms keras "horn" and therion "beast". Simum, is derived from the Greek term simus, meaning "flat nosed".

As common as an....

2008-06-30T13:07:00.006-04:00

...Impala! When we first landed in Kruger National park in South Africa there was a short drive from the airstrip (OK, some mowed grass) to the camp. On the way we say some impala, baboons, and kudu. Our guide assured us that we would see MANY more impala (impalae?!?!) on our trip and wow was he correct. As common as an impala is a phrase used down there for good reason. These grazers are everywhere and we saw them in all of the parks that we visited. They are the main course for many a predator but don't usually care about the Land Rovers so we often got very close to them. Being unconcerned with the jeeps did make them easy to picture (see below) but one of the most impressive things about them is to see them run and jump whch is a little harder to get on film if they don't run away from you :) A couple of times something else spooked them (in fact, that is how we spotted the lionesses in Hwange but more on that in a later post) and my new camera made itself useful--it is almost instantly on and there is only a fraction of a second delay to focus usually so I was able to get this shot. In truth, they are capable of jumping 4 meters int he air--clean over the land Rover if they wanted though we did not get to see that. They are really beautiful while running and their leaps are incredibly graceful. I have added another jumping shot below as well as a group shot. These were taken in Chobe National Park in Botswana:

Waterfall rainbow goodness

2008-06-25T14:26:00.005-04:00

(Note: I couldn't decide which of these I liked best--so you get to vote in the comments--let me know!)

Victoria Falls!!!! It really is amazing. It is an odd type of waterfall in that instead of falling off of a cliff it falls into a crevasse. So, instead of seeing the falls from the bottom like you are used to, you stand across from it, at the same height as the top of the falls! It is pretty hard to see the whole thing as the rift fills up mist. The native name for the falls, in fact, is Mosi-oa-Tunya which means the Smoke that Thunders. You can see it from a long ways away (the land around there is VERY flat) and it really does thunder! There is enough mist that on the opposite side form the falls (where you view it from) it is actually a very small rainforest! To give you an idea of just how wet it is, check out Charles, our guide waiting for Cathy and me as we walked out to Danger Point.

Mom's Favorite

2008-06-23T16:21:00.005-04:00

June 5 and a sunset cruise on the Kwando river in Namibia (who ever thought I would be in Namibia some day?!?!) and we ran into another of my mom's favorite animals! OK, that may be a bit of a sarcastic exaggeration :) This guy was a BIG one, estimated to be in the 5ish meter range. We were on a boat and so safe as long as none of us hopped out to say hi! His full picture is below, but I liked the textures of the ridges along his back and I think that they made for an interesting picture. We ran into many a crocadile thoughout the trip of a variety of sizes. I think that this guy may be the winner for largest.

Heffalumps and Woozles

2008-06-21T16:22:00.007-04:00

At sunset on June 1 were along the Chobe river in Botswana. There was a veritable plethora of animals that came down for one last drink before nightfall including elephant, baboons, impala, and mongooses. We hung around at the water's edge for quite some time and I got many, many pictures including some really cute ones of the baboons that will be coming soon. This elephant was on his own, but we were about 30 yards away so I was able to get some nice close-ups. Here he is in full profile!

Birdie!!!!

2008-06-20T16:09:00.005-04:00

Time for a birdie today! I am not usually a big birder, though I do really enjoy having a feeder in my yard and seeing what comes by. While in Africa I was amazed at all of the gorgeous birds and was happy to see, and photograph, them along with the big game. My favorites were probably the lilac-breasted roller seen here, any of the bee eaters, and the plover though the darter and the fish eagles were favorites too. You'll have to wait a few days to see the other though :) If you click on the picture above you can really see the wonderful colors of this bird!

Wow. Just plain Wow

2008-06-18T15:47:00.002-04:00

Near the end of the trip we were out on a game drive out in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe at sunset and stopped by a watering hole with lots of buffalo, guinea hens, and even three giraffes. However, it was the sunset that stole the show that night. This is just one of many fantasmigorical sunset pictures I got on the trip--I am sure that I will share many more over the coming months.

What is black and white and re(a)d all over?!?!?

2008-06-17T20:57:00.004-04:00

Of to Namibia for today's picture. I think you can all identify the animal in today's shot--if not, then you need to eat more animal crackers. These three guys lined up for their group portrait very conveniently when were in Namibia. They were grazing in and amongst many a wildebeest (otherwise known as Gnu's) and were very cooperative to help out with the picture :) I love the fact that their mains are colored too!

Really Big Putty Tat!!!

2008-06-16T10:24:00.005-04:00

Hello! Well, I just got back from three weeks in Africa on Safari in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Needless to say the experience was INCREDIBLE and I took just a few pictures! I will be posting several of them here over the next little while but it is going to take me some time to go through the 3000-4000 that I brought home. I promise not to post them all :)
On our last day in Africa we were in Victoria Falls and there were several options for activities--in honor of my parent's 43rd wedding anniversary my sister and I took the family on a lion walk, an elephant safari, and a sunset cruise on the Zambezi just above the falls. For the lion walk we walked about a kilometer through a private game reserve accompanied by three really darned cute 14 month old lions. In the middle of the walk they had the lions lie down and we each got to pet them. Yes, I actually got to pet a lion!! He was actually pretty soft and cuddly--more so given that he didn't show me his claws! His main was a bit rougher, but wow, I pet a lion!

Update..it was actually 7230 picts

Machu Picchu Goodness

2008-06-09T17:00:00.002-04:00

A small detail from Machu Picchu that has always amazed me. Notice no mortar. No modern tools. Many hundreds of years and they still fit perfect. Wow!

Just Plain Cute!!!

2008-06-02T17:00:00.001-04:00

Need I say more?!?! This little mini horse was living on a farm near Tienhoven in the Netherlands. Most cute!

It's a rock...It's an elephant....

2008-05-26T17:00:00.002-04:00

It’s the stone forest in China!!! Taken on my trip there in 1991 this is a natural formation. My parents visited few months later and took the same shot…copycats!