04-JUL-2008
Road Trip - Day 2 (Mom left the room)
My wife left the hotel room to run downstairs to the car to get the kids bathing suits. I let them jump on the beds to let off some steam after the long (very long) drive. We left from somewhere west of Albany, NY this morning and have checked into a Holiday Inn Express (my favorite travel hotel) just outside of Indianapolis.
My son was jumping from bed to bed, I got a few good ones, my wife's favorite is of him doing a canon ball in mid-flight, I didn't post it here because his back was to the camera.
03-JUL-2008
Road Trip - Day 1
I have no idea where this was taken. My best guess is in southern NH. We left a day early, took the road(s) less traveled to arrive in Amsterdam, NY. Virtually no traffic on the route we took.
There is hardly any room for the kids in the back of the Tahoe. We are so used to traveling with an RV behind us to store all our junk.
I am making use of the available, and surprisingly free WIFI at the Hotel we have chosen for tonight ("Americas Best Value Inn") with such a lofty claim, we were just itching to see if they lived up to their name. So far it looks like they might need to rethink the name. Hotel pricing is odd, I am scratching my head thinking that we paid about the same price for a 4 star hotel that the wife & I will get to stay at next week in Milwaukee (via priceline) as we just did for the room we have tonight. I wish I had WIFI in the car, I'd be bidding on Hotel rooms as we pull into town...
02-JUL-2008
Mushroom
There are a bunch of these guys growing under some spruce trees that divide our lot from our neighbors. Not much (if any) sunlight hits this area. It has been so damp lately with all the rain that they are thriving.
I had to get way down on the ground for this shot. At this angle, there is no viewfinder and Liveview was of limited use so I basically shot a bunch and hoped it was in focus. I was able to set the [off camera] flash directly onto the ground (I should check it for bugs now).
We are heading out on a road trip vacation either tomorrow or the next day (depending on traffic). I hope to keep posting, but might slip a few days based on WIFI and level of energy at the end of each day. I will definitely keep the PaD going albeit a bit slow to post.
01-JUL-2008
Summer Squash
We are growing some Summer Squash, Zucchini, and Cucumbers in large flower pots in the front of our house (lots of sun). I'd forgotten how large these plants can get. We have had yet another afternoon thunderstorm, there's a few drops left in this shot (I rode the bike all the way home, following the thunderstorm the whole way up. . .
30-JUN-2008
All Stars Softball - South Berwick Team vs Saco
We were at my oldest's All Star softball game today. She was in left field and I was messing around with odd angles on 3rd base when this girl from Saco was caught stealing. My daughter had backed up the throw which went wild and was able to still throw her out. I saw none of this, I was still in the viewfinder. . .
It turned out to be the last out made by our team for the game. We lost, but went out with a bang. . .
29-JUN-2008
Serious Uno Game
My wife and kids involved in a pretty serious Uno game this evening (while we were inside due to yet another evening of Thunderstorms).
28-JUN-2008
Ajar
This was an interesting shot of my wife's china cabinet, something that sits about 8' behind me when I am sitting at the computer. I started shooting various angles of this thing and settled on this.
I actually bounced the flash off myself and the ceiling (I almost went blind in the process).
27-JUN-2008
Brick ice
The photos that I did take for my PaD basically sucked, I rushed them and it showed. In search of something remotely interesting, I decided upon the ice theme. I'd pictured (in my head) the cube sitting in its own puddle, on a counter. Only problem is our kitchen is straight out of the 80's, yellow counter and all. Not the best contrast. Our brickwork in the family room was put to use again (its appeared in quite a few shots).
While I was sitting there waiting for the ice to melt, I realized I could simply pour a little water over the ice to give the same effect. I won't tell you how long I was sitting there waiting...
26-JUN-2008
The ride is over
It was a bit of a wet ride home today. Just a light sprinkle, nothing much. There were enough clouds and enough water on my bike to force me to put my rain gear on. It had been a while since I'd used my two piece rain gear. I was pretty worried that I would burn/melt my rain pants on the pipes.
I had the motorcycle inspected this afternoon, I'd made the appointment a few days earlier so I had no choice, riding was a must. I got the the shop and was able to stay on the bike the whole time (pull up to the side, someone comes out, does the walk around inspection and gets your sticker ready). While I was waiting for the sticker, I burnt three good sized holes into my rain pants. Guess I was right to worry. I think I can duct tape the holes. The pipes, however, now have to be cleaned, I have to get the plastic off them and I have no idea how that will happen (or when as we are pretty busy the next few days).
25-JUN-2008
X's, M's, W's, and V's
On the way back from picking up new Crocs for my ten-year-old, I stopped beside the low train bridge in Dover and captured this angle. This bridge has been around for a while, it is very low, like 10 feet low (perhaps lower). Each year, someone (local) drives a vehicle that is about 6" higher than the posted clearance of this bridge, beneath it. My guess, if you went back far enough into their childhood, they would be the ones who continuously tried to slam that square plastic peg into the round hole and just didn't get it.
I never noticed the X's, M's, W's, and V's before. In fact, I'd taken all my shots before I'd noticed them from the angle of my car (of all places). I snuck back out and captured this angle.
I had a few different post processing options on this, I opted for Black and White to emphasize the letters. The color shots had some beautiful blue skies, but that drew the attention away from the main subject.
24-JUN-2008
Empty Nest
I went back to the nest today, I kind of expected some closure as it has been a number of days since I had visited. There were no Blue Jays present, no parents, no children. No feathers either. This could be good news, they'd all gone off hunting some food and they were not present when I arrived.
I didn't stay all that long, instead of getting attacked by the parents, I was assaulted by mosquitoes. Someone must have dumped a box of dehydrated mosquitoes in that area last week before the rains. They were all over me, it was almost like I was in New England...
I will have to find another kind of theme now, the dragonflies are out, I need to start hunting them.
23-JUN-2008
After the storm
We got hit with another incredible storm. For some reason, the past few thunderstorms have centered on where I work. We'd hear the rain on the roof & check weather.com for more details, you can zoom right in on the new storm tracker. Our building (well, all of the tradeport actually) was covered in red from the center of the cell.
So on my way home from work, I took a different way off the tradeport and saw this beautiful scene. I stopped my car in the road (put on the blinkers), got out, grabbed the camera, and ran across the street to catch this. I'd wanted to catch the sun peeking through the trees, but it had just passed below the cloudline as I got into place. I think that might be for the better as the sun would have really darkened the foreground. LR did a good job in adjusting the exposure (one of the presets).