Flower Power

Last time I was in California, I took many, many pictures of flowers. And I'm sure I'll do the same thing again this time. Wait and see...

One Week To Go

This time next week, I'll be in Berkeley, California, seeing the sights and enjoying the week off of work. I've been reviewing the pictures I took out there four years ago, just to help me remember what I want to see again this time, and that's where these pictures come from. I hope to take much better shots this time around, because I think I've learned a lot in the past four years. We'll have to wait and see, now waon't we? The pictures I'm posting today all came from a single afternoon in Golden Gate Park. It's a huge man-made park, similar to Central Park in NYC, but that doesn't make it any less beautiful. It stretches from nearly downtown all the way to the Pacific Ocean, but oddly enough doesn't abut the Golden Gate itself. The shot above is one of two windmills in the park. I seem to remember that the other was in pieces when I was there, soon to be reconstructed. Hopefully it's done by now. Below is a small pagoda in the Japanese Tea Garden. I was there late last time, and it was closed, so I had to take this shot from outside the actual garden. I'm not going to make that mistake this trip.


Above is just a snail in some yellow leaves. I don't know the type of snail or the plant, but I thought it was a great contrast, with the spiral shell and the oddly colored leaves. Sometimes you get lucky and find something appealing to the eye. Below is one of the stone bridges that dot the park. I seem to remember all of the water in the park was green, and I'm pretty sure it's dyed that way for whatever reason. But it makes for a nice contrast.

This Week In June

Yep, it's time for another calendar page. This week is a shot of the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland where it meets Lake Erie. The area is known as The Flats, and it used to be the hip place to hang out, but I understand it's gone downhill in the past few years. That might explain why this is a day shot and not a night shot.

The Big Picture

I wanted to emphasize how far away I was from the launch pad for the shuttle launch Friday. In this single shot, you can see the vehicle assembly building on the right (behind a small island in the Banana River), launch pad 39B is at the extreme left and pad 39A, the one from which the shuttle launched, is left of center. Trust me, they are there. I know they are nearly impossible to see, but that's the way it looks from 11 miles away.

Can anybody see the picture above? I could when I posted this last night, but now it's gone... Hmmm, looks like it never posted to Blogger. Should be better now. Sorry about that.