This is likely a more traditional idea when discussing a photo with less dimension or depth than usually found. But this is very small. It is of moss and lichen found on a granite rock wall in Tennessee and most of the foliage is under an inch high. Of course, because of today’s date I can show this every day for years:)
Special Extra Post /
It is time. Sadly. No other possession has provided so much joy. The 2002 MINI is now for sale. I ordered it on the first day they were available for sale in the US. To be able to do that you had to have put down a $500 refundable deposit months before they went on sale. So when the post card arrived (included with the car among many other promotional gifts from MINI) it was off for a test drive. One quick drive was sufficient and the order was made. It would be several weeks before it arrived from Oxford but it turned out to be one of the first 100 SO MINIs in the US.
I drove this car across Virginia countless times working for the VEF and visiting churches. It was in NC, Tennessee, Maryland, Pennsylvania and more. I loved picking an interesting road, like Rt 40 or 42, 231 out of Madison, the Blue Ridge Parkway, 58 across the bottom of Virginia or 13 up the Eastern Shore. One of my best memories is taking my grandson, Kellen, six years ago, to the Vintage Gran Prix in Pittsburgh where MINI was the marque of the year and we got to do drive the course and a lot of events plus charting a course from Williamsburg to Pittsburgh on secondary roads and byways. Route 30 from Breezewood has always been a special drive.
I took it for a last weekend adventure to Chincoteague in early December, it is still great fun and a great car.
Flat Plane Photography .1 /
I have no idea if that is a real name or an accurate name or just weird but this is my attempt to shoot something different. I have been looking for these opportunities for a bit and just collecting them in a folder. So welcome to the first week of something very different for me. I find these pleasing and would be quite interested in your perspective. The subjects vary but they are not flat like a painting on a canvas but are confined to a small space generally of an inch or maybe three in depth. One is a bit more and some less. They also fill the frame so that is all you get.
Today’s is dinner or a part of dinner cooking on our flat, Forge cast iron griddle.
Safety /
We were on a hike in the Great Smoky Mountains on a trail we had not tried before. It skirted a river at several places and then we came to a crossing where instead of the ordinary bridge there was a very thick steel I-beam that spanned the gap. It was clearly over what used to be a wider bridge. We learned that the bridge often washed away because it needed support underneath and the spring floods would batter it and finally it would weaken and fall. This one has no understructure and it sits above the rushing water. Safety in a strong narrow path.
“The Lord supported me. He led me to a place of safety; he rescued me because he delights in me. The Lord rewarded me for doing right; he restored me because of my innocence.” 2 Samuel 2:19b-23 NLT
Custis-Lee Mansion /
Or so it was known for years, now it is the more bland Arlington House, a striking home that commands an amazing view of Washington, DC. Owned by Lee through his marriage to a descendant of Martha Custis Washington, the Lees lived here from 1831 to the start of the Civil War and Lee never returned. The government turned the grounds into what is now Arlington National Cemetery. In this photo you see both the front of the house and the Kennedy Graves with the eternal flame.
Cutie /
Not all of the bird photos need to be of the rare Red-morphed, Great-crested, Flavo-billed Crane. Of course if you actually find that mythological bird you ought to photograph it. Today’s bird is seen in most backyards, street sides, fields and empty lots across America. This Song Sparrow was photographed in Alaska. It is aptly named for its sweet and soaring song. It begins often with two or three notes, then an ascending trill and ends with a couple of buzzes.
Another Perspective /
This is a different angle of the fishing shack on a pier in Harborton, VA on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and just a few yards from the Chesapeake Bay. Pretty little village - the kind you might write a story about.
Guard /
This is one of my favorite images from a DC trip about four years ago in the Fall. The guards of the Tomb of the Unknowns are here 24 hours a day every day regardless of weather or circumstances. Remarkable dedication. Plus you don’t really want to mess with this fellow and you really don’t want to disrespect the place.
Creek Wars /
Andrew Jackson attacked the Red Stick Creeks here with 3300 men and cannon in late March of 1814. The Creeks fielded 1000 warriors but to no avail. About 800 of the defenders died here. This is where the Creek wars ended. The cannon is unusual for the color of its carriage, a light blue. After the Revolution the Americans adopted the French color for the artillery but it ended soon after this battle.
Favorite Farmer /
This is another image from Lancaster, Pennsylvania last June or July. This farm is across the street from our campground and watching he and his son work was fascinating. They used a variety of mules and horses and lots of different equipment. Here he is mowing a row of some sort of hay (highly detailed plant information is not on the way) between his corn and tobacco rows. This part of the field was laid out in long strips with different crops alternating.
Lavender Dreams /
At the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge in early December there was a terrific storm overnight and into the early morning. It stayed cloudy, windy and the sky was often threatening during the day. Toward evening there was a heavy, dark bank of clouds that I could see from the beach and then suddenly some of the sunlight flooded underneath. It was beautiful and, in the photo, it seemed to turn the sand to lavender. What a treat.
“Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.” Ephesians 4:2-4 NLT
Lower Yosemite Falls /
The week we were here was during the spring when the area had a tremendous amount of snow and the rivers were full, the waterfall were overflowing and lots of people from CA drove in on weekends because it had been about 8 years since they had a spring like this one.
Steaming Toward the Weekend /
Hope your weekend is good and that you have found a great church to view online if you, like me, don’t feel comfortable quite yet meeting in person. We have had some excellent messages from six states and all kinds of congregations. Plus most are doing a pretty good job now with the technical side.
Steam locomotive on the Strasburg RR in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Number 396! Verdin /
This is a bird I shot in Joshua Tree near the campground on our trip there about 3 years ago. I was not able to ID the bird so, while I knew I had not seen one it did not count on the list - you need the ID to count. So, last week while redoing some of the older photos from that trip, you may have noticed Yosemite ones, I found this bird and posted him on a FB site just for Bird ID and it came back quickly as a Verdin. So, enjoy as we creep to the 400 threshold. I think I have four or five others over the last few years that I have no iID on too, I just need to find them.
The Mists of the Yosemite Valley /
This breathtaking view was first memorialized in a photograph by Ansel Adams and since then I think there have been millions of photographs from this location. That did not stop me from being next in line the first time we saw this vista. It is a very special place even if you have to jostle with a few score of other people taking the same shot and it takes 15 minutes to wait for a parking spot to open up. If you are fortunate as we were.
It is worth the crowds to stand in awe of the beauty of this place. We were here three times on our week in Yosemite, once with bright sun and blue skies and once just past sunset. Yet this first view with the rain clearing (it was actually raining on us where we were standing but lightly) is the one I will always remember. I recently edited this photo and this is the first time I have posted it but I did have another one from this general area when we were there three years ago. This one is more subtile. Yosemite should be on your list of places you really don’t want to miss in the USA.
You can see El Capitan peeking out a bit on the extreme left, Bridal Veil Falls toward the middle and Cathedral Rocks right behind the falls.
An Excellent Joy (2 photos) /
I have been blessed in so many ways in my life: God’s grace, good marriage and family, important friendships, interesting and meaningful career, opportunity to see and go places, and, I got to be a grandfather to three outstanding kids. But we are focused on one today, my grandson, Kellen, who officially graduates today from high school a few months early. He did so with highest honors. Kellen has become a solid, creative, disciplined and trustworthy young man. He has not completely settled on a college yet but industrial design is the direction of the next phase of school. I honestly could go on for several paragraphs about him, suffice it to say, I am proud to be his grandfather - every day.
The actual ceremony is tonight at 6 but includes only 10 people. Graduation is one person at a time.
This also has to do with TLT because of an upcoming adventure: C 2 C 2 C. In April Kellen and his dad, Geof, will travel to Wilmington, NC (along with his mom and sisters for the launch party) and from there head West. Like way west traveling on a mix of interstates and back roads across 11 states and ending up on the Santa Monica Pier, the end of the blacktop for the old Route 66. Cindy and I are flying to LA, renting a car and visiting several parks in CA, NV and AZ before heading back to LA to join them as they arrive. Cindy and Geof will fly back to Raleigh and Kellen and I will take 101 north toward San Francisco, across Nevada (on the “loneliest road in America”), Utah and the Salt Flats, WY, SD, and across the upper mid-West through Pennsylvania and stopping in Chincoteague, VA to park again next to the Atlantic and then back to Raleigh.
You can start today following C 2 C 2 C by accessing that heading on the menu bar. Before the trip begins there will be maps, and cars, and preparation. While on the way there will be regular photos and updates. Some of those will be the main photo of the day and the C 2 C 2 C section will still have more each day.
It will be a memorable trip and a special opportunity to spend time with Kellen that I will treasure.
This is a photo of a photo, one of his graduation pictures. Not the best translation of a really nice photograph.
Online school completion is not quite the same as leaving the building for the last time with all your friends but meaningful just the same. The text on the screen reads: “You Left the Meeting” and 12 years of school ends.
Half-Dome /
Half-Dome is one of the iconic mountains you see in scores of photographs of Yosemite National Park. It looms over the Yosemite Valley and is one of the more difficult hikes to undertake there with the last bit using cable supports for the climbers. The hike is 14 to 17 miles roundtrip and an elevation gain of 4,800 feet. And, no, I did not tackle that challenge in my first trip to this park. Nor likely on the next if I get to return. It is beautiful in the moonlight of the early evening as it takes on a whole new tone. We camped at the campground in front of the mountain and in the morning it was equally stunning.
Where were you.... /
Fifty years ago this month, Apollo 14 left for the moon and they landed on the 5th of February. It would be one of two landings that year. And the last time men were on the moon would be less than two years later. One of the greatest technical and scientific achievements of any age and we seemed to give up on the idea. The four remaining men who walked on the moon are nearing 90. It was such an amazing time and the recent movie, Hidden Figures, was one of those moments that you realized how incredibly hard it was and how brave were those who first flew.
“When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers— the moon and the stars you set in place— what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor” Psalm 8:3-5 NLT
Flyby /
On a walk at Lake Lynn I saw this Great Blue Heron lift off from a small inlet on the lake. We were on one of the bridges and it flew right over head and since I had my camera with me, I was able to get a shot of this bird and it turned out pretty sharp. Good idea to have the camera with you!
Mr. Rockefeller's Bridges /
At Acadia National Park there are nearly 50 miles of carriage roads that Mr. Rockefeller built in the early 1900’s so he could enjoy his carriage rides with no nasty cars sprewing fumes. He did not like cars and tried but failed to have them banned from the island. There are several bridges he built and all of them are designed in place to enhance the view. This is one of the smaller and it is a bit further to reach by foot than many of them. Here I took several photos from differing perspectives and last week found out that I never edited any of them. So, presenting the bridge.
