flight

This picture of a heron was taken sometime in the spring. I may have used it before, except that this is the new improved bluer and smaller version.

habanero contrition

Forgive me for having doubted thy strength, for it is I who is weak, and thou who in thy mercy did spare me thine most strenuous wrath. Instead, thou have my toes brought wondrous delights, have my armpits shown colors abundant, and have the door upon the crown of my head opened to journeys ineffable. My tongue shall sing thy praises, as soon as it begins working again.

spiral

This snail was minding its own business when someone moved it into the light (not fair in 100 degree weather) and forced it to pose for a few pictures. It was a good sport about it.

vanitas still life

Vanitas painting was a style inspired by a line in Ecclesiastes: "all is vanity." The paintings were typically dark and filled with objects that symbolize the transience of life and the futility of earthly possessions. A human skull, for example, was a common way for the painter to say "hey look, people die."

I didn't have any skulls around the house, so I decided to use what was already on my desk and come up with the symbolism later. So here it is. There is a modem, responsible for much idleness. There are two daily joke calendars showing time fly. I still have last year's because it's so funny, and this year's because I forget what day it.

In a classical vanitas painting, musical instruments (along with books) pointed to the empty pursuit of loftiness or knowledge. I prefer to think that mine symbolize an angel playing maracas and a harmonica while dancing on my grave. (I've made a mental note to someday take a picture of what that might look like.)

There is a camera, delegated to less use since I got another. There is an oblique reference to money that will soon be used to pay someone to drill a hole in one of my molars. There is also a large pile of miscellaneous crap, which symbolizes a large pile of miscellaneous crap.

the great outdoors

There were a lot of great views of lakes and mountains where this picture was taken, but sometimes the great outdoors is about the details.

more (or less) movement

I had a couple of pictures that I thought contrasted with the previous post, and oddly enough, with each other. Those are turtles above, if you don't at first see, waiting to have their picture taken. Below is someone who, despite moving fast, still looks a little like Buddha.

movement

When given the photo challenge theme of movement, I decided to look toward the sun, shown here reflected against a palm leaf. As you can plainly see, the picture was taken at precisely 7:24 PM, CDT.

more tahoe pictures

By imaginary popular demand.

tahoe pictures

Just a few.

fire

Need I say more? Okay, I will. This is a photofriday picture for "fire," taken down at the neighborhood fire station. Thankfully my presence did not set off any alarms.

wildflowers

I came across a load of wildflowers the other day. I also learned from the dogs (below) that you don't need a keen sense of sight, hearing, or hygiene to enjoy life.

The occasion for the outing was waking up to find squatters moving into my trees. (Actually tree-trimmers).

post-rain post

In the previous post I showed what my yard (actually facing the neighbor's house) looks like when the cottonwood tree is letting loose. Above is a picture from almost the same spot shortly after the rain washed it all away.


Below is a picture of what follows me everwhere when there's thunder.

And below that is a picture of a pool in a banana leaf.

snowing again

This time the white stuff on the ground is from the cottonwood tree, which seems to be producing a bumper crop this year. I have mixed feelings. I always enjoy watching the seed float through the air, which creates a fanciful setting where one expects wood sprites to emerge and harp music to play. On the other hand, it gets really nasty, gets tracked into the house, gums up air conditioning units, and requires vigilant clean-up. I believe there must be some lesson to draw from this. All that glitters might get dragged on to the carpet, or for every silver lining there's a bunch of stuff to clean up.

my little secret

When photofriday asked for pictures of "my little secret," I had to reach into my briefcase.

photos from the dog butt project

The project feels like it's near completion.

electricity

In order to get this picture to post on photofriday, I had to burn 1.3 tons of coal. It's a good thing I'm not a perfectionist.

a day at the races

Here are some pictures of boat races along the Brazos River. It was a great day to get back to nature, if you consider explosive engines, bazaars, four-wheelers, travel-trailers, loud-speakers, and gawkers part of nature. There were a few birds who didn't seem to mind.

One of the most interesting things was the temporary village that sprung up in the park for the event. It made me think that this would be the closest thing to Woodstock that I'd ever experience in Waco this decade. There was probably a lot less hair, slightly less consumption, and much less general psychedelia. If there was free love, I did not personally encounter any. Still, it was quite a scene.

suddenly, without warning, I'm blogging my dreams

Recently I dreamed I was being tortured by "the Germans." This wasn't a WWII flashback. As far as I could tell, these Germans were acting on behalf of the current American government. The sole purpose of the torture seemed to be, well, torture.

The torture itself was almost exactly like going to the dentist. Friendly people with sterilized appearance led people back to a room where we would wait in private. Then the torturer would come in, lean us back, and start stuffing things into our mouths. They would ask questions in a German accent, but answering was impossible. The level of discomfort was identical to being at the dentist, except it was not actual dentistry. It was torture.

After having gone through it once I became determined to put a stop to it. So the next time I was greeted in the waiting room and called on back, I claimed to be a personal friend of Kofi Annan, and that they'd better watch themselves. This seemed to do the trick. When the torturer came in and leaned me back, she withheld torture in exchange for a dream-like monologue about her childhood.

Below is a non-sequitur photo of some spring wildflowers. I post the picture here to encourage people to work for peace and harmony by lying about being friends with Kofi Annan.

cold

I invited some people to my house the other night. Then the next day I opened my freezer to discover something I've never seen before: a whiskey pop. I have since rescued the bottle from this act of cruelty. It was a cold thing to do.

fragile

I think this is an ancho pepper plant. It might be a serrano, but I'm pretty sure it's the ancho. I'll know for sure if it survives and produces a pepper in about 100 months. I think I may have gotten the seeds in a little late.

You see I didn't pretty it up any for the picture.

You can find pictures of other fragile things here.