Sunday, December 31, 2006

2006



I decided that if I were going to choose a favorite picture for the year, it should represent the best time I had, which has to have been hanging out in London. I believe that this was from the day spent in Cambridge, getting back in time to loiter in Kensington Gardens for a while, which is where this picture was taken.

Oh, I guess I also had fun hanging out with the evildoers:


Wednesday, December 27, 2006

statue on foggy day



This picture was taken on the same foggy day as the picture under "weather." I think it also happened to be the second shortest day of the year, or at least tied. I've taken pictures of this statue before, but the weather this time seemed to help.

I'm pretty sure I know that girl from somewhere.

Friday, December 22, 2006

weather



Normally weather in these parts ranges from balmy to oppressive. Earlier this week, though, we had thick fog move in and stay a couple of days. I discovered that it's hard to get close-ups of fog. It keeps moving back.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

ambushed



My alternate picture for the Photo Friday theme of "ambushed" was of a mall Santa Claus swarmed by children. The ambush of Santa was to represent my own sense of being ambushed upon shopping this time of year, as well as nearly being ambushed by mall security for unauthorized photography. But it turned out this picture of a backyard squirrel was much less fuzzy. He's poised to attack the bird feeder, not knowing that it's been spiked with cayenne pepper. The ambusher has become the ambushee. Ha!

Monday, December 18, 2006

open way



I just started a book called "River Horse" by William Least Heat-Moon where he's taking a boat journey, and the boat is adorned with two inscriptions. One is "proceed as the way opens," and the other is "avoid irritation." The first is a Quaker proverb and the second is from Heart of Darkness. My response to reading them is that they are both easy to do when you're out on the water, but more of a challenge if you apply them to land-life.

I should acknowledge that the picture above doesn't exactly show someone proceeding as the way opens, mainly because I can't steer and take pictures at the same time. I mention this to try and avoid the irritation of corrective comments.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Avoid Irritation.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

fresh



"Fresh" is the Photo Friday theme for the week. In this case it's navy beans with onion, anaheim peppers, tomato, mustard greens, thyme, bay leaf, cumin, garlic, and olive oil. The secret ingredient is prolonged anticipation.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

stillness



This week's Photo Friday theme is "stillness." I was having a moment of inner stillness earlier this afternoon, so I decided to take a picture. By the time I was in and out of the house and had my camera set up, the inner stillness was gone. I got a couple of pictures, but when I pulled them up on the computer I came across this lone duck from a couple of weeks ago. Looking at it brought back the inner stillness, and made me less fond of today's pictures.