All In a Days Walk

Different trail views of my walking path one day.
I love photos of trails, paths, roads, etc.

Start at the dirt trail


Thru the tunnel.
I added a little bit of zoom radial blur just for a fun effect.


Curvy:


Rest Stop:


Trees Overhead:

Foggy Morning Walking Companion

I have tons of photos of geese and robins since they are abundant right now.
I don't post unless it's something unique.
I thought this goose would fly away, but instead it kept skittering along in front of me like my walking companion or something.
I got a chuckle out of it.
I kept walking and snapping photos when its wings would come up and out.

Silly Goose and Boats

I thought this was an interesting composition because of that silly goose.
There is a fishing tournament coming up and there has been tons of boat activity on the river.
I can hear a boat coming, so I compose the shot and wait to snap the pic as the boat(s) goes by.

Trees

I like these pics because of the soft cloud background and the way the branches branch out.

Mallards

Don't have any mallard pics posted to my blog either.
Here's the couple:


Quack, quack, quack:





In flight (not very good, but I'll post anyway):


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UPDATE: 23 May 10
More, different views of the mallard.
Same place, maybe not same duck.
These were taken with the XSi and tele, so a little closer. I did some layer masking to sharpen duck and soften background a little more.

Wood Duck

My first pic of a wood duck.
The males do look like wooden decoys instead of real ducks.

npwrc
npwrc2
Ducks at a Distance
A Waterfowl ID Guide - Wood Duck

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cornell

New Leaves

Still taking pics of buds and new leaves.
I thought this was pretty...


Not sure what kind of tree it is, though.

This one reminds me of hanging jewels:


Here's another one I like:

Garden Statues and Tulips

I don't usually go for this kind of thing, but I thought these were cute.
Close to someone's front door.
I'd be afraid someone would steal them.
I had to do some masking work to retain the color on the duck cuz it was a lot brighter than the rest of the picture.

And along the side of the house...tulips.




I think this was the same house. Not absolutely sure.
I love tulips. One of the things that says "spring" to me.

Song Sparrow

A new bird to add to my photographed list.

Song Sparrow
Melospiza melodia

Singing his little heart out right near where I was walking.

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cornell

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Sparrows of ND

UPDATE: 23 May 10
More, better:




One advantage to photo walking the same place is sometimes I get to do retakes.

Photo Walk

Bird Bag


I thought that looked odd.
It's a plastic shopping bag stuck in a tree and the shape looks like a bird.
It says on the bag: "Thank You. Have a Nice Day."

New Life Bursts Forth




Ocean Clouds


I used Clarify 4 times to give these clouds more definition and they look like the ocean.

I saw "Old Blue" (Great Blue Heron) and took pictures, but nothing better than I already have. Seems to show up same place spring and autumn.

The Canada Geese are very noisy and territorial this time of year. Lots of feuds. I've been trying to photograph them in action, but so far nothing I like.

Also a mallard duck couple with the geese.
I'm thinking I'll see babies sometime, but not sure when.

Music

Okay, I'll try some of this stuff.
Angels And Airwaves:
The Adventure Final
Everything's Magic
Breathe

Wiki:
"Angels & Airwaves is an alternative rock band led by Blink-182 guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge."

What do I have of Blink 182, not much - I Miss You, is all.

And how about:
Parachute
"Parachute is a pop rock band from Charlottesville, Virginia. The members graduated from college in May 2008 and since then have been touring and promoting their debut album Losing Sleep full-time."

All That I Am
(Reminds me of Goo Goo Dolls.)
She Is Love
(Acoustic Version)
Words Meet Heartbeats

Susan Boyle:
That's a last.fm link.
Wild Horses is my fav and last.fm seemed to have a good quality video there.
A lot of the YouTube videos of Susan are poor quality.
She has a very clear, strong, and beautiful voice on her album.

Mutemath - Valium
Odd title? But hey, I like the music.

Cathy Dennis - Why
Makes me want to dance.

City Girl - Stars Crashing Cars
(last.fm link.)

You Set Me Free - Michelle Branch

I'll See Ya Soon - Coldplay

Closer To You - The Wallflowers

Shining Light - Annie Lennox

I Can't Dance - Phil Collins

Most of these are direct links to YouTube videos--eek.
Probably be dead links, eventually.
If that's the case, you know what to do, right.

High Up In The Tree

Up in the trees so high...



a pair of shoes.

Not quite what I was expecting. lol

I was scanning the tree with my camera looking for that little chickadee chattering away at me.

Clouds

Skechers vs MBT

Skechers
vs
MBT

I tried these two shoes on at the sports store.

MBT has been around a long time and Skechers are a knock off of them.
MBT are way more expensive. They were around $225.00. (Skechers were about $150.00?)
At first they look very similar.
But note that shaded/darker colored part of the sole.
That's the squishy soft part, the area of your foot where you will feel most of the pressure when you walk in them.
I felt a lot of pressure in my arch area with the Skechers and disliked that. They were softer soled too.
The MBT felt totally different and better all around.
There are several different styles of both MBT and Skechers, so maybe some feel better than others, I don't know.

I didn't buy, but if I did, it would be a MBT.
I guess you can get the MBT resoled and save some money there in the long run.
I heard that lots of people who are on their feet all day, like nurses, are wearing Skechers, so people must like those too.
They both would definitely take some getting used to. My feet felt a little tired and stressed just from the little time I had them on and walked around in them.
Definitely something a person would want to try on before buying.

Blind Side

Bought The Blind Side DVD.
Nice family feel good movie.
I liked it, but just don't have a whole lot to say about it.

Based on the book:
The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, by Michael Lewis.

Info

Michael Oher essay on
The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Lord Tennyson
Quote from imdb.

"Courage is a hard thing to figure.
You can have courage based on a dumb idea or mistake, but you're not supposed to question adults, or your coach or your teacher, because they make the rules.
Maybe they know best, but maybe they don't. It all depends on who you are, where you come from.
Didn't at least one of the six hundred guys think about giving up, and joining with the other side? I mean, valley of death that's pretty salty stuff.
That's why courage it's tricky. Should you always do what others tell you to do?
Sometimes you might not even know why you're doing something. I mean any fool can have courage.
But honor, that's the real reason for you either do something or you don't. It's who you are and maybe who you want to be.
If you die trying for something important, then you have both honor and courage, and that's pretty good.
I think that's what the writer was saying, that you should hope for courage and try for honor.
And maybe even pray that the people telling you what to do have some, too."

Power Outage

Snow storm and power outage.
(Camping equipment comes in handy at a time like this. Coolers, cook stoves, lighting, etc.)

Power outage was from about 1p.m. Good Friday 'til sundown Sat.
I got a kick out of the symbolism of that, Easter weekend and all.
I even read the resurrection stories.
Lots of drama and emotion.

Read side-by-side here:
The Four Canonicals
Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20
(RSV)

The storm was thick heavy wet slushy stuff which disappeared from the roads the next day. The parking lots and sidewalks still showed signs of what it was like.



Thousands in the dark this Easter due to storm

Here's a pic of a snapped power line pole near where I live, taken Easter Monday. The snow is just about all melted already.



I also found some good detailed storm damage photos from the Flasher area:
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photos

More Tunes

More songs I've been listening to lately.

Hey, Soul Sister, by Train

The Haunting, by Above The Golden State

Sound Of Your Name, by Above The Golden State

Vivaldi

Sometimes I get into classical music.
Right now, I'm listening to Vivaldi's Four Seasons Spring and Autumn.
Composed almost 300 years ago.

It seems like some version of the songs are better than others.
I like the ones that are faster and more intense.



Antonio Lucio Vivaldi
(March 4, 1678 – July 28, 1741)

Four Seasons
A set of four violin concertos.
Composed in 1723.

Concerto No. 1 in E major, Op. 8, RV 269, "La primavera" (Spring)
1. Allegro
2. Largo
3. Allegro Pastorale

Concerto No. 3 in F major, Op. 8, RV 293, "L'autunno" (Autumn)
1. Allegro
2. Adagio molto
3. Allegro

Pic from
last.fm

Added the text.
Vivaldi Font

I Hope You Dance

I Hope You Dance
by
Lee Ann Womack

Not a country music person, so maybe that's why I'm not familiar with this song?
I like the lyrics.

Ronan Keating also sang it.
I kinda like the male voice better.
I'm not familiar with Keating either.

Heard it on the movie, The Family That Preys.

Lyrics:
I hope you never lose your sense of wonder,
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger,
May you never take one single breath for granted,
God forbid love ever leaves you empty handed,
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance....I hope you dance.

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance,
Never settle for the path of least resistance,
Livin' might mean takin' chances but they're worth takin',
Lovin' might be a mistake but it's worth makin',
Don't let some hell bent heart leave you bitter,
When you come close to sellin' out, reconsider,
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance....I hope you dance.