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Posts from the ‘photography’ Category

Aug 30

Powering up after Hurricane Laura

jetsam-mAccording to the National Weather Service, Hurricane/Tropical Storm Marco was responsible for the last minute wobble in Laura’s path to deviate into Louisiana instead of here in Beaumont Texas. Just east of us in Orange County and I’m told they had significant damage. We were on the ‘clean’ side of the hurricane and outside of a lot of small twigs and a carpet of crepe myrtle leaves on our lawn escaped most of the damage.

fern20jetsam-mHowever, our power went out and some neighborhoods will not have power until sometime this next week. Our internet which is quixotic in the best of times is even less reliable.

live20oak20cluster-mFriends and family have called to see if we are okay….now that we are in the ‘feeble three legged cane’ age group—although neither of us possesses such a thing. Running a generator to power our refrigerator, a box fan and our freezer took some doing including dismantling my pantry shelves to get at the plug for the refrigerator—why don’t appliance people put an accessory plug somewhere near the front of the machine?

pink20vine-mWe have power now and we are trying to clear up some of the trash left behind. I took a few photos around the neighborhood—while I could focus on the things that have destroyed or the boarded up buildings, there are plenty of those photos taken by others.

purple20flower-mIt is hard to get back to ‘normal’ whatever that is in these days. I decided I would clean out my sewing machine desk drawers—what a wealth of useless stuff I found! Instruction manuals for a DVD player long consigned to the trash as non-functional, several packages of rotary cutter blades–like most I use mine until they cut like I am chewing on the fabric instead of cutting it cleanly.

down20the20street-mYesterday I brought back an unused cart from the shop to see if I could put the bits and pieces of fabric—too big and good to toss—seems I am related to my grandmother who lived through the Depression and World War II rationing. Today I might do some sorting and see if I can use that new saw I bought to cut up some of the larger limbs so I can haul them to the side for big trash pickup day.

Tomorrow is a new day—we have tonight’s meal planned—pizza from the freezer.

 

Aug 19

Trying Something New

Finding a good way to take photos of quilts and other fiber artwork is challenging. I have set up a small photo studio in my shop for formal photos of pieces hopefully destined for shows and exhibitions. Some are far too large and I’ve set up an alternative on the side of the shed with a black drape and poles—a big project to hang the quilt and then photo as it seems a bit of wind always starts the minute I climb up on a ladder to take the formal photo.

And then there are the pieces I do more for fun and maybe as a gift. I’d like a record of them but doesn’t need to be fancy; doesn’t need to document stitching–just an overall photo.

I’ve looked at photos of quilts draped over fences and porch railings. I didn’t have those but I did have two hooks on the front porch originally used to hang flower pots; I got some clothesline, strung it up, got out the plastic clothespins from surface design days and tried this method out.

I probably should re-organize the items on the porch to be a bit more photogenic and maybe take the time to climb into the bed of my truck for a straight shot—but in general, these photos are good enough for what I want.

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The first one is one I made from a pattern under the tutelage of Alex Anderson of the Quilt Show. It is the first time I have made something quite like this–it was surprisingly fun.

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And this one is one I started while I was at home with my oldest son. It is all hand-pieced and needle-turned applique. I blanket-stitched around each bird; did straight line quilting, turning it sideways for more straight-line quilting. It took me quite some time to finish it but I”m pleased.love20ring-m

Jun 3

Another Day at Cat Tail Marsh

img_3853-mLocated on the south side of Beaumont is a wonderful wild life sanctuary that serves as the tertiary sewage treatment area for the city. This always sounds rather off-putting but it is quite wonderful. there are three large watery areas filled with marsh plants of various kinds, and an abundance of water birds. There is a wide gravel road around the area with plenty of room for bicycles and pedestrians. A boardwalk extends into one of the ponds allowing for a closer look at spoonbills, egrets, herons, coots, ibis, and an assortment of other birds along with the occasional alligator, raccoon, and snake.

img_3845-mAs members of the local orchid society that met in the garden center building once a month, we would usually arrive sufficiently early to take in a walk around a portion of the cat-tail marsh. Last year, the city convention center proffered an early morning view of the park along with coffee.

img_3850-mSince quarantine, we had not been out to the marsh; but late last week with beautiful weather and a lovely breeze, it was the perfect small excursion. I’ve posted a few pictures fo the flowers and the scenery there. A raccoon wandered along the side of the marsh deliberately weaving between the reeds so we could not get a good photo. Birds flew overhead and a bull frog sounded like a warning buoy.

It was a good day.img_3856-m

 

Mar 30

Resilience otherwise known as Best Shot

Sylvia Weir Week 12 ResilienceI’m enrolled in a photography challenge with weekly challenges. I read them all but some of them involve a lot of fancy photoshop techniques…..not something I really enjoy doing. But other challenges are fun exercises as each of us tries to figure out something that no-one else has done. I don’t look at the photos until after I post mine but too frequently the week gets away with me and I haven’t posted anything at all.

During the first real week of quarantine/pandemic and cancellations of various gatherings, the challenge was resilience. The next week’s challenge..Best Shot..was posted underneath the Week 11 challenge.. I posted Week 11 Resilience under Week 12 Best Shot—

 

Ooops!

But I think we can all give ourselves a bit of grace here for mistakes like this.

 

Mar 20

Zooming In

After taking Plaquenil for about six months, I began to notice some really strange visual things—sparkly colors, reversing colors of images. After reporting this to my ophthalmologist, I was scheduled to see a retinal specialist. He did some sort of fancy scans and it was determined I was one of the unlucky few to have Plaquenil deposits around both macula–the site of our most acute vision. Plaquenil was immediately stopped and very slowly some of my vision has returned. However, not enough to use that tiny little view finder on my camera.

I could be frustrated with having to use the pull-out window on my Canon SX 50 but sometimes the results are rather amusing particularly with the zoom feature.

One of our favorite spots is the tertiary treating area at Tyrell Park here in Beaumont. There are long walkways around each containment area, the occasional alligator can be spotted along with hundreds of birds.

This was an avocet on an overcast day and my attempts to get some good closeups. That camera can take photos of the water droplets on a duck from a considerable distance but that doesn’t mean it can tell I want the whole bird in the photo, not just its legs.

Tell me what you think!

Here is my subject.

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First attempt with actual bird parts visualized. I omitted the ones of the just the water.

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And another try.

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so I back up the zoom and find that silly bird again.

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my best effort—and I decided it was going to have be good enough.

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Feb 23

Heading Home

img_3261-mWhooping cranes posed for us and for several other locals including a couple from Corpus Christi who had lived there for over 30 years but had never seen the whooping cranes. They have a festival in late February early March but by the second week of March, the cranes are headed north.

I took a few more photos and of the sun rise that morning–and it was time to head home.

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Houston traffic is always iffy but we were there slightly before lunchtime.

We arrived home in time to collect Toby and Dora, take them to the dog park, and attend the monthly bee meeting.

New adventures await us.

 

Feb 22

Goose Island’s Harvey Memento

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Goose Island State Park is surrounded by water and suburbia. Along the banks facing the intercoastal bridge were two large areas of picnic shelters and two really nice bath houses. Unfortunately, Hurricane Harvey left these areas in what can charitably called disarray–and funds to repair have been slow in coming.

The road has large pits and is very uneven but a few fishermen were out including one with a fishing kayak.

We strolled along the banks of the levee—noticed the jelly fish floating near the shore. jelly20fish-m

The day was cold and windy–and we quickly retreated to our little cabin—by now we had figured out the optimum arrangement of the small electric heaters.

Feb 21

Mustang Island State Park

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Mustang Island is the northern island of the Padre Island complex ranging from Corpus Christi to Brownsville. The beach is a long white sandy one—and the day we picked to visit had perfect temperatures.

We were mostly by ourselves on the lower portion of the beach and there was some wind–enough to keep us moving but not so much as to make it unpleasant. We strolled the beach, picking up a few shell fragments here and there–that urge is irresistible for Midwest natives—although we have quickly grown accustomed to thinking 50 degrees is COLD and required heavy coats–and definitely no water play.

Near the levees we found fisher people and lots of these little birds pecking away at something that must have been quite tasty amid the moss covered rocks. There were quite a few kites out–they are so fun to watch and so hard to get decent photos.img_3128-m

There were some Hispanic men with their children–tossing footballs, digging in the sand, playing with Tonka dump trucks, and eatimg barbeque sandwiches set up on a table underneath and small tent shelter—no girls except those under six were visible–a guys weekend out—and all were having a blast—their music was a nice selection and quite lively.

My step count for the day was nearly 16000 and my feet and back agreed.

Feb 20

A Parade of Pelicans

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Late in the afternoon on our arrival and nearly every day while we were there, we walked down to the harbor–actually the Intercoastal Waterway. On the first night, a flock of pelicans flew in and swam across the small harbor. They were so elegant in the water and resting for the evening. Later we found them resting on one of the piers.

Some piers have been rebuilt but others are still in disarray.

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I don’t know if this is the result of Hurricane Harvey or whether this one was just one maintained but I enjoyed the graphic quality of those piers jutting out at various angles against the backdrop of ocean and barrier island

Feb 19

Fish and Flamingoes

The day promised to be very chilly, windy, and rainy…not a good day for these arthritic bones to enjoy hiking. The cabin did not have central heat and we finally wised up and put one of the small space heaters in the bathroom so we did not have to work to soap between the chill bumps.

We drove about half an hour or a bit more to the Texas State Aquarium. Glen had been there when it first opened, thought it to be smallish and not to be compared to Shedd Aquarium in Chicago–the first aquarium I’d ever seen and full of art deco details.

We were very surprised when we got to the Aquarium. There is a lot of road construction (isn’t there always) but some of it was repair work due to Hurricane Harvey.

The place is quite large with large glass domes. The ticket price was also a surprise ($35 each and that might have been the senior discount). But inside—-there is a Starbucks and a restaurant inside. We toured the Caribbean area first and were entranced by the 12 coral flamingos.flamingoe204-m

There were sloths, scarlet ibis, a screamer bird, macaws, not to mention deep tanks of fish you could see from on top and then from the side.l-m

Lion fish are so dramatic but they have taken over and are at the top of the food chain elbowing (if fish have elbows) other creatures.

We tried to identify the dolphins as they swam round and round in their tank; the otters came out to play–they are always so delightful, watched part of a bird show, and finally watched a 4 D Planet Earth movie.

It was a full day—and there were docents everywhere—all ready to explain the creatures and answer questions.

It was well worth that $35 dollar ticket.

 

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