Sunset-Moonrise

OK, after a long, hot summer, it's finally starting to cool off here in FL. Well, not so much cool off, since the thermometer in the car said 105 when I got in it this afternoon, but at least the humidity isn't so bad. The upshot of all that means I can get excited about going outside and taking pictures again! So I went down to North Lido Beach tonight and got a whole series of great shots. And since I'm so happy about that, I'm going to share a whole pile of them with you tonight. This first shot above is right as I arrived. The sea oats are just a little past their prime, so they've lost some of their seeds, but they still look pretty good in silhouette. And the lifeguard tower is pretty much always the same.

It only took a few more minutes for the sun to set, and I missed most of it while I was fiddling with my camera. I even saw a bit of a flash out of the corner of my eye that looked like something other than orange, but I missed it. There was plenty of orange left in the sky, though, as this second silhouette shows.

And, after watching this great sunset, I turn around, and get to see moonrise! Yep, it's October, which I think makes this a harvest moon. (Maybe? Maybe not...) Anyhow, there it was, big as life and twice as beautiful. It was even still light enough in the sky that you can see the trees just below. Usually, when I shoot the moon, it's by far the brightest object in the field of view, and everything else is just reduced to black.

I kept bouncing back and forth, shooting the moon on one side, and the sunset on the other. I almost missed this shot as a lady walked her dog into a massive flock of seagulls. They erupted into the air like those films you see of bats leaving their cave for the night.

Have you ever seen pictures where something is silhouetted against the moon? Have you ever wondered how they do it? Well, most of the time I think it's faked, but sometimes you can make it work. I happened to catch the top of this tree against the moon, and they are both relatively in focus. I was maybe a quarter mile from the tree, and the moon of course is roughly 238,000 miles away, so it can be difficult to get both things in focus, and in line. But with some jockeying for position, I managed to get it. I'm sure this wasn't how Steven Spielberg did it in ET, but it's a start. Oh, I neglected to mention that the tip of that tree is something like 60 feet up in the air. It just gets harder and harder to do.

Is that it? Yeah, pretty much. By the time I got back to the car it was pretty dark, but I was happy because I knew I had some good shots in the can. Well, on the chip anyhow. And then on the way home I found gas for $2.17 a gallon! It took less than $40 to fill the tank. What a bargain!

Not Quite Famous

I just noticed that Robert X. Cringely linked to my blog in his latest column! Hard to believe. I'm sure all those people that are sure to come by will look at the one single, solitary post, then move on, but it's still the big time for me. That column gets emailed out to many, many IT people (including me) on a weekly basis, and I think it will go out next week. So I'm about to get some bonus traffic. So far I've gotten a grand total of 6 hits from there, but it's only been out a short while. Just for future reference, my current hit total is 93941. Oh, the page he linked to is here, a story about how we baited a rat trap with Cheeze-Its instead of cheese or peanut butter at work.

I used to watch Mr. Cringely on PBS back in the day (Triumph Of The Nerds, I think, was the show I watched), and have read his weekly column for 5 or 6 years now. It's geeky computer stuff, and sometimes odd tales of his lovelife. I'm so excited, can you tell?

Wait a minute. There are two guys using the name Cringely? I'm confused... I guess the person I remember from TV is no longer the person writing the column. Maybe I'm not going to be so famous after all.

Last Time

Last time I was in Ohio, it looked like this. I'm hoping it's a little warmer up there this time around. Only one week to go!

Dead In Ohio

I'm coming back to Ohio, and hopefully I'll find something more colorful to take pictures of than dead flowers. Not that dead flowers are all that bad. And I guess this is really a seed pod. Look close and you can see a seed or two still wedged in there...

Christmas Is Still In July

I was quite surprised yesterday to find that my Best Of Christmas In July 2006 collection is still available for download at Rapidshare. That means that more than two months later, folks are still downloading it. Well, just under eighty people, but that's still not too shabby for Christmas music released at the beginning of August. So click on over and get it before it's too late. And if you really want, you can get some neato cover art for the collection from my buddy CaptainOT over at his Christmas blog.

Look Ma, No Arms!

Since I'm going back to Ohio, I'm making a list of all the places I need to go shoot. This is a copy of the Venus de Milo that stands in front of the US Courthouse in downtown Cleveland. I took this shot last year from a moving tour bus, then never made it back to try and get a better view. So this is on my list of places to revisit. I know some of you folks reading this are in Ohio, so if you have any places you think I should visit, drop me a line!

Falling

OK, it's not quite set in stone, but it's likely enough that I can mention it. I'm heading off to Ohio in a couple of weeks to do some work, and hopefully I'll be in time to see some fall color. We don't really get any seasonal change in the foliage here in Florida, so I'm sort of excited about seeing leaves that turn funky colors before they die. I was in Ohio last year about a month early, but I did happen to catch the tree above that had recently been transplanted, and I guess that shocked it into shedding it's leaves early. Wish me luck!

Bonus Page, Part Three

Here's another picture that almost made my weekly calendar, but didn't. This ray was swimming in the water next to the Rod 'N Reel Pier on Anna Maria Island here in Florida sometime last year. I seem to recall he was about 2 feet from wingtip to wingtip, and certainly over four feet in length with that tail. He was in water that was maybe a foot deep, maybe less. I wish I'd had a polarizing filter on the camera when I shot him, as that would have filtered out some of the glare and reflection you see on the water. But you never know what you're going to see, and you can't be loaded for bear every day.

Now You See It...

Take a good close look at the sunset above. See the little bit at the bottom that looks like a reflection of the part above? Well, this is a mirage that is created when a layer of air at a different temperature is trapped at the surface. Sometimes, the net result of this mirage, at the instant the sun dips below the horizon, is a green flash. Yes, it really does exist. I didn't get one Saturday night when I took this picture, but I keep hoping. It helps to be a small distance above the water, and I was right at sea level, so that may be why I missed it. Next time I see this, I'm heading for the nearest seawall.

October

You get a new monthly picture, too. This is a view of Terminal Tower in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. I was all excited last night when they mentioned this building on Antiques Roadshow, and I knew where it was. I guess the little things just excite me so...

The First Week In October

I'm a couple of days late with this week's picture. I've been a little under the weather for the past few days. But here's a great shot for you from the shore of Lake Erie in Ohio. This lighthouse is in Mentor, I think, right down the road from where they mine Morton salt. From the lighthouse itself, you can see this other lighthouse I posted a couple of weeks ago.

Houseboat

Many of you may have seen this house on the news recently. They moved it from the spot where it sat since 1910 on the Manatee River in Palmetto, Florida, to a new lot on the Little Manatee River. And they moved it on a barge! I took this shot last year during the Fourth Of July celebrations in Palmetto, and wondered what the story of the house was. Now I guess it doesn't matter. I didn't know they were moving it or I would have gone out and gotten shots of it in motion.

Bonus Pages, Part Two

Here's another shot I thought about using in my weekly calendar, but didn't. This lizard was giving me the evil eyeball for whatever reason. Perhaps he thought I was going to steal his soul with my camera. Perhaps not. The shot below is a rather uninteresting picture of a sea snail of some sort. I think it's pretty obvious why this picture didn't make the calendar.

September Goes To The Turtles

Is this the right page for this week? I hope so. I don't like it when I can't seem to post pictures in the correct order for the correct week. If this is the picture for this week, then it shows a bunch of baby turtles in a tank at a street fair over in New Smyrna Beach. They were for sale, along with any number of other crawly critters, but I thought these guys made the best photo. Just to give you a sense of scale, these terrapins are each about an inch long.

The Accidental Squirrel

Here's another picture that almost made my weekly calendar this year, but didn't. That's a happy little squirrel above. I think I left this guy out because the page break down the middle would have split his head from his body, and that would have looked pretty poor. You have to think about things like that when you're putting together a project. Appearance is everything.

Hmmm, when I tried to post this picture last week, Blogger was giving me problems. Thus, I didn't know it was actually up here. So if you were wondering about the lack of a title, the bad grammer, the mention of a second, non-existant picture, or anything else that seemed odd, it's because I never got to go in and edit my post. Sorry about that.

Magnolia-Classic Ernie

Here's a picture from long, long ago. I think I took this back in 2002 or so. I found it in a book of pictures I turned into a calendar for 2003. This is a magnolia blossom, and I most likely shot it in my parents front yard.

Bonus Pages, Part One

Well, I screwed up the posting of my weekly calendar pages a few weeks ago, so I posted the page that should normally go up today sometime last week. So, to help you get over your pain, here are some pictures that almost made the calendar, but didn't for whatever reason. Above is a lighthouse from Mentor Headland in Ohio on Lake Erie. The shot below is a great blue heron along Lake Myakka here in Florida.

A Missing Week From September

Uh-Oh. Somehow I got my weekly pictures all screwed up. I missed this picture a couple of weeks ago. I remember trying to upload it, and Blogger was down, so at least I have some measly excuse. Anyhow, this shot shows a couple of windsurfers enjoying a stiff breeze on Sarasota Bay. I was learning to shoot with my long lens and hold it steady at the same time. That's tougher than you might think sometimes. I still hope to get a longer lens sometime soon, but I'm not holding my breath for it. At least not until it cools off a little bit. Errr, make that cools off a lot.

Another Week Into September

This week brings a cool picture of a bronze copy of the statue of David located in the main courtyard of the John And Mable Ringling Museum Of Art here in Sarasota. You're looking west in this shot, so you have to get up early in the morning to catch the light falling on the front of the statue. But I did it. Michelangelo would be proud.

A Week Into September

This photo was taken in some small town in Ohio. I'm afraid I don't remember the name. I'll go look it up when I have a chance, but I'm in a hurry right at the moment.

Last Night At Sunset

Once again, I was looking in the wrong direction. Sunset was behind me, but I caught these brilliantly lit clouds in the other direction. Pretty cool, eh?

September 2006

The monthly picture for September is this sunset over Lake Erie. Look closely out on the horizon and you can see a very small lighthouse that marks the entrance to the Cuyahoga River.

Two Days In September

I almost forgot that today was the first of the month, so you get two calendar pages. This is from the set of weekly pictures, and features the Rear Range Light Tower down at Boca Grande. The lizard I showed you the other day was shot just down the road from here.

September Sunset

I thought you might want to see the sunset from this evening. We've been getting pretty good ones since Ernesto blew through, but this was the first one I got the chance to capture.

Frog (Not Kermit)

See, I told you there as a litte brown frog on my window!

The End Of August

For the last few days in August, here's a close-up of a fairly large flower. I don't remember what type of flower this is, maybe a zinnia? I have a vague memory of shooting it at Historic Spanish Point, down in Osprey, but it could really have come from anywhere.

Oodles Of Doodles CCIV

Could this little doodle be the original stereo? I'm not too sure about that, but it's certainly the coolest doodle of a gramophone I've ever seen. This hails from the flip side of How To Get The Most Out Of Your Stereo (Warner Brothers XS 1400, 1960), a various artists sampler LP that hyped the new sound. If the promise of spectacular stereo sound wasn't enough to draw in the buyers, there was the rather attractive cover model, who adapted her stethoscope for maximum stereo pleasure. Oh, and did I mention the clear gold vinyl inside?

Oodles Of Doodles CCIII

I've got to start looking closer at my records, both inside and out. I was in the process of putting away the Red Nichols LP I just featured when I happened to pull the record out of the sleeve. Well, the inner sleeve didn't come out with it like I expected, so I reached in and pulled it all the way out, and there in my hand were all the doodles you see here. Seven different vignettes of life at Capitol Records circa 1956, as well as an advertisement for a magazine I'd never heard of published by Capitol, and an advertisement for T-Rim, a little manufacturing trick that they used to make a big deal about. For you record buffs, there is also a rather lengthy list of then-current offerings on Capitol, including Frank Sinatra, Les Baxter, Duke Ellington, Louis Prima, Benny Goodman, Jackie Gleason, Les Paul, Stan Kenton, Kay Starr, Yma Sumac, Billy May, the list just goes on and on. I placed a date of 1956 on this, since the LP I found it in claims it was recorded in September of 1956, but it may not have been released until the following year. I'm pretty sure it's no later than that, because none of the records listed say anything about being available in stereo. So, have a look at the doodles, and there's a picture of a large corner from the sleeve, showing the Capitol logo and some of the doodles in their original context. Enjoy!











The big picture below is from one corner of the inner sleeve, maybe a 7" square chunk of it. I also found this website that talks about these inner sleeves, and even has a full scan of this same sleeve.

There's also a small blurp about Music Views, a monthly magazine available from your record dealer. I assume this was put out by Capitol since it's hyped on their sleeve, but I really have no idea. Time to have a go at Google...

Last but not least, here's the T-Rim logo. I think I blogged about this last year, but I'll have to look. Basically, it meant that the edges of the record were raised above the playing surface, so when you changer dropped the next record on the last, it hit that raised edge, and not the grooves. Maybe it was a big deal after the fragile 78's of a few years earlier.

Oodles Of Doodles CCII

Here's a rather abstract doodle for you from the back side of Red Nichols And His Famous Pennies-Hot Pennies (Capitol T-775). Get it? Nichols, nickle, five pennies... OK, nevermind. Anyhow, I assume this little doodle is supposed to make you think of those famous pennies. (I brought you another doodle from Red a couple of weeks ago that was much more straightforward than this one.) Don't get me wrong, I like the abstract, I really do, it's just so different from what I usually find on the backs of these dusty old records.

Rock! Brother

Here's a great tagline from a great LP. I usually bring you tags from records that are best described as easy-listening, or exotica, or maybe space-age bachelor pad music, but not this time. This is "Rock! Brother", from the cover of The Isley Brothers-Shout! (RCA Victor LPM-2156, 1959). I had no idea that The Isley Brothers ever even recorded for RCA, but here's the proof. (Looks like they weren't there for very long, according to some cursory searching on the web.) There is no doodle on the back, just in case you're curious. I'm sure there are other great tags and doodles both on some of the classic Elvis records from this period, but I'm pretty sure I'm not going to find them at the Goodwill store for $1. Well, maybe, but not very likely.

Cloudscape

Sometimes you have to turn around and look in the wrong direction. This oddly illuminated cloud was opposite the sunrise this morning. The sunrise wasn't too exciting, but I thought this half-lit cloud was pretty neat. As I watched, the light spread out from left to right across the cloud, then the color started to fade away as the sky brightened. Weird...

The Next Week In August

This week I've got a picture from The Happiest Place On Earth! I'm always practicing my shooting at night, when there's no light and it's hard to get a usable picture. I shot this statue for twenty minutes, just hoping that the exposure was right, and it wasn't too blurry. I think I did pretty good. They were illuminating the castle with different color washes that changed about every 30 seconds, so I had that long to get a shot with each color. This blue wasn't my favorite, but I liked the way Walt and Mickey looked in this one best.

Lizard (Not Louie)

I ventured down to Boca Grande this weekend, but the temps were too high to let me spend a lot of time out of doors. At one point I nearly passed out. I kid you not, it was that hot. I did spot more lizards down there than I've ever seen before, but with the high temperatures, they were moving fast from shady spot to shady spot. I caught this guy crossing the road in a hurry. Look close and you'll notice he's missing most of his tail. I guess he got in a fight with some other lizard, maybe about how they were going to kill some frog or something.

Oodles Of Doodles CCI

The doodle du jour is a pretty rare bird in the sense that I think it may be the first one I've found on the United Artists label. This lovely exotic lady is from the back side of Ferrante & Teicher-Pianos In Paradise (United Artists UAS 6230). The back side of my LP is water damaged, so I had to do a lot of work to restore this picture. I also moved some things around a bit to get everything in the frame and avoid a big chunk of white space. I think you can still enjoy it, though. Just for the sake of reference, I'll include the front and back cover below. You can look at the back to see just how much work I had to do on the doodle, and the front cover so you can see why I bought this LP in the first place. If you're interested in hearing it, you can download it over at Xtabay's World.

Yet Another Week In August

What a luverly bunch of coconuts! OK, so they aren't really coconuts, but they are from a palm tree. The Christmas palm, to be exact. These colorful fruits show up under the bright green palm fronds, making a bright Christmassy combination. Unfortunately, it never seems to happen around Christmas time.