Picture of the Day - 10/28/09

Rain was the order of the day today, coming down over a multi-state area. I left New Hampshire this morning and purposely followed tertiary roads so that I could really see and experience the countryside. I passed through countless New England farms, which tend to be smaller, but with classic farm houses and barns. There were three covered bridges that found their way in front of my lens. I saw several wild turkeys on the road into Rhododendron State Park (NH). There were also plenty of wild areas - undeveloped and just begging to have photographs taken of the last of their fall color. It's almost like the forests were saying, "We've saved some of our color just for you, but you better hurry and get your shot!". Well, I'm a little late for the peak color, but I still enjoy the more subtle hints of fall. This misty image was shot near Barnard, Vermont, near where I'm staying with friend, Randal and Eilene. He treated me to lunch in the old fashioned general store down the street and then toured me around the area. This image was taken on the road to Hunger Mountain. What caught my eye, besides the fog, was the various diagonal lines in the ridges and treetops.

Picture of the Day - 10/27/09

It was a cold foggy morning today - perfect for capturing the fall colors of forests. While I photographed several scenes of brightly colored foliage, sometimes a more subtle rendering is the most effective at conveying the desired mood. This was the case in this scene just north from where I'm staying with friends in Hollis, NH. It is part of the "Siergiewicz Family Conservation Lot" off South Merrimac Rd. I was taught by a well-known photographer (he's on this distribution - ha!) that "when you see water - think reflection"! {See Weldon, I'm trainable!} Unfortunately, the rural roads of New Hampshire seldom allow for turnouts, so I ended up making a number of "U"-turns as I overshot several great photo spots. Turning around and walking back a ways, I took several reflection shots, but thought this one turned out the best. Tomorrow, I plan to loop through part of Vermont.

Picture of the Day - 10/26/09

Today was a super day for photography! I only had to work four hours this morning, so I was able to spend sunrise photographing an old farmhouse and barn in an old apple orchard. Silver Lake, near where I'm staying, had a layer of fog, which made for some moody fall color shots. The morning proved bitterly cold and frost had formed around the edges of most of the foliage. I was glad to climb back into a warm car after photographing the lake and barn! Once I finished my consulting job near Chelmsford, I headed to one of my favorite spots in Massachusetts - Waldon Pond - down near Concord. There's 1.7 mile path around the lake and I took my time enjoying the last vestiges of the fall color season. The smell of fallen leaves was in the air and the temperature had warmed up to perfect conditions for a long walk. I visited the site of Henry David Thoreau's cabin, which at the time was built on land owned by Ralph Waldo Emerson. The foundation stones for the cabin and chimney were excavated in 1941. There's a marker where the chimney foundation was laid - also stone markers where the corners of the cabin and woodshed were located. He had a wonderful view of the lake and lived there from 1845 to 1847. Traditionally, visitors to the site now throw a stone onto a large pile near the cabin site. I added mine to the pile! In his book, "Walden; or Life in the Woods", in the chapter on Baker Farm, he stated, "Rise free from care before dawn, and seek adventures." That's what I did today - and it felt good!

Picture of the Day - 10/25/09

I'm currently traveling in New Hampshire and Massachusetts in my other life as an engineering consultant, but have had little time for photography until this morning. I decided to find the local Christian church and attend their service before heading back to the client's for more product testing. I arrived a bit early and as I walked around the grounds, I was able to find a few pictures to snap. It's just past peak color here in New Hampshire where I'm staying, but there are pockets of good color and this is one of the better shots of leaves. I like the layering effect from front to back. More pictures to come, as things are starting to wind down job-wise.

Picture of the Day - 10/18/09

A pot full of posies, taken in Keith and Connie's backyard garden.

Picture of the Day - 10/17/09

Friends Keith and Connie toured us around the area today, showing us many of the historic buildings around Nevada City and Grass Valley. One of the stops was the covered bridge in Bridgeport. This is the longest single-span covered bridge in the United States at 271 feet long. It spans the south fork of the Yuba River and was built by David Isaac John Wood in 1862. The bridge was part of the Virginia Turnpike Company toll road which served the northern mines and the busy Nevada Comstock Lode.

Picture of the Day - 10/16/09

Dewey mornings are great opportunities to capture macro shots of plants and insects. Here's a succulent in Sue's backyard garden that I took with the little compact Canon SX110 IS in "tulip" (macro) mode. This mode blurs the background, so makes the near leaves "pop".

Picture of the Day - 10/15/09

We've been busy visiting friends and family and are on our way back to Colorado and home. While we were visiting my sister, Sue, they had over five inches of rain! Here's another picture taken the morning after. Clearing weather is often the best time for great scenics and I was up before sunrise. When the dew point is equal, or close, to the outside temperature, you'll get fog. This lasted just a few minutes, so I had to work fast to capture the scene unfolding before me.

Picture of the Day - 10/14/09

Here's another shot taken this morning following an all day & night rain. The morning was misty, making for perfect lighting conditions. This rocky area reminded me of scenes from Washington's Olympic Peninsula in the rain forest regions. Just the day before the rains, this moss was dry and grayish brown. It doesn't take long for the moss to re-grow once the rains start.

Picture of the Day - 10/13/09

We're at my sister, Sue's, house for the next few days in North Fork, CA. This picture was actually taken this morning (the 14th) following a five+ inch rain the previous day and night, but I have many more to show you from this area in the Sierra foothills, so didn't want to skip a day. The morning dawned very misty and humid, making for perfect photography of the forested areas, but a challenge in keeping my lens from fogging up in the humid air. This manzanita bush is native to California and has an unusual smooth reddish outer bark. Manzanita is one of the many chaparral plants that typically burn during the fires here.

Picture of the Day - 10/12/09

No, it's not your eyes - just one of my mistakes I assumed would be deleted until I saw it on my screen. This is an impressionistic abstract of Goldenfleece in sister, Sue's, back yard. Goldenfleece is a native plant found in the Sierra foothills - especially following a wildland fire. I was trying to take this without a tripod at dusk and simply couldn't hold the camera still enough. The relatively "in-focus" tree trunk serves somewhat as an anchor for the eye to return to after perusing the rest of the image. It was raining at the time and you can see the angled, almost brush-like, striations in what could be mistaken as an oil painting.

Picture of the Day - 10/11/09

Hi All, today was a very special day! Several months ago, a few of us from Brookhurst Elementary School started to reunite via phone calls and email. The size of the group expanded gradually as we discovered others through Facebook, Classmates and diligent Google searching. One thing led to another and we decided to meet face to face on the day after our high school reunion at one of our favorite hangouts, Marie Calender's Restaurant. We were also able to locate two of our favorite teachers, Bev Kulp and Frank Noe (lavender and blue outfits below), and presented them with signed thank you cards. Many of us not seen each other in nearly 50 years! It was a great time for all as judged by the constant exchange of memories form that period in our lives. One of us organizers even managed to locate a store selling period candy of that era! People who found out what we were up to simply couldn't believe we were actually having an elementary school reunion!

Picture of the Day - 10/10/09

Hi All, Tonight we attended our 40th high school reunion at the Prego Ristaurante in Irvine. There was a handful of people I knew and a whole lot more I didn't, but we had fun catching up with friends from the past. I was pleased to run into one of my favorite teachers, Mrs. Marlys Autry, who taught me English. I must have done pretty well, as she remembered me. She was happy to discover I now write for a living, as well as doing my photography, of course. I surprised her with one of my signed prints.

Picture of the Day - 10/9/09

We attended the local Okoberfest at the Phoenix Club in Anaheim tonight with family members Jack and Irene. I've been fortunate to have attended the "real" one in München (Munich), Germany and this one tonight is quite authentic - only a single "beer hall", though, instead of a dozen. The beer hall is under a humongous tent - largest I've ever seen. It could probably have covered 2-3 family-sized homes. The inside had long tables with an "umpah" band at the end (no tuba, though). Outside the main tent were several booths selling traditional German foods as well as gifts and souvenirs. Pictured above is a cook preparing potato cakes. Below that is an interior shot of the beer hall with the band and dancing.

I love to shoot travel photos in available light, because it avoids that artificial look when using flash. I simply open up the aperture all the way and increase the ISO to 800 or 1600 and fire away. Setting your white balance for incandescent light (in this case) helped render more accurate colors, but if shooting RAW format, this may be adjusted in post-processing.

For more information on the München Oktoberfest (largest in Germany), click on: http://www.oktoberfest.de/en/. This year was their 176th!

Picture of the Day - 10/8/09

Today was the last leg of our trip to California. We had stayed the night in St. George, Utah, and I had a few errands to run this morning - which took me to the older part of downtown. I had parked on Main St. just off Saint Gearge Blvd. and noticed this water trough system along the sidewalk. Looking more closely, I realized it traveled most of the length of the street, which is slightly sloped downhill. This "Water Walk" arts project of random cascades and flowering plants was a joint effort by the City of St. George and the Utah Arts Council. Lovely!

Picture of the Day - 10/7/09 (START - CA Trip)

Sheila and I are off to California for a couple weeks to visit family and friends. My 40th high school reunion is this Saturday and - amazingly - several of us from elementary school have been reuniting via the internet and many of us will be meeting each other for the first time in about 50 years! Next week, we'll head up to visit sister Sue in North Fork and long-time friend Keith in Nevada City.

Sheila and her mom had left two days earlier to spend some time with our daughter, Linda, and husband, Robb, in Grand Junction. I met up with them today and we left one vehicle at their house and piled into the Explorer. Just prior to meeting them, I stopped for a break at the Hanging Lake rest stop off I-70 in Glenwood Canyon and discovered the creek flowing from Hanging Lake with just a touch of fall color showing.

Picture of the Day, Sept. 30, 2009 (BONUS)

Well, even though the fall color tour is over, I thought I'd send out a bonus shot of the Crystal Mill/Pumphouse. This well-known Colorado icon is only found at the end of a very rough and narrow jeep road east of Marble. More description of this is found at the post below.

Colorado Fall Color - Sept. 27, 2009 (END)

Last day of the fall color tour today. We drove up Ohio Pass Road and all over Kebler Pass Road in search of good color. The best area seemed to be at the west end of Kebler. Later that afternoon, we drove through Marble to the the small mining town (near ghost town) of Crystal, where we photographed a Colorado icon - the so-called Crystal Mill (actually the pumphouse portion of an air compression system that fed to several of the nearby mines). You've probably seen it portrayed in Colorado calenders. There's a picture of it on my Web site, as it didn't make the picture of the day. That honor goes to a special grove of aspen near the west end of Kebler. The sun was low in the horizon, ready to set, and providing a soft sidelight. This single grove is considered one of the largest living organisms in the world, stretching for miles in every direction. Tomorrow we're homeward bound - thanks for joining us on this trip!

Colorado Fall Color - Sept. 26, 2009

Today, we toured all around the Crested Butte area. The fall color in the aspens is quite late this year based on the average. Yet we found several isolated stands of excellent aspens in their full glory. We also photographed several waterfalls, but the attached image won picture of the day status hands down. This was one of the last photos taken today. The sun had already set, but there was enough residual light that backlit the leaves nicely. Tomorrow, more aspens and we be traveling out the Jeep road to the Crystal Mill - a Colorado icon!

Colorado Fall Color - Sept. 25, 2009

Today, we started the fall color tour in the Crested Butte area. I spent the morning scouting out locations for the best color and then met Tim from Missouri later in the afternoon. I must say...the aspens this year are confused. Some have already turned and dropped their leaves - but most are still green and just beginning to turn (they're late by at least a week). However there are a few colorful stands, and this is one of them. The very best time to photograph forests are when they are out of direct sunlight. This stand was north of Crested Butte on a north-facing slope, so were in the shade. The color tone is simply amazing with very subtle coloring and without the harsh shadows had it been taken with direct sun.

Colorado Fall Color - Sept. 24, 2009

Today, I woke up at 3:30 AM in order to drive out to Maroon Bells for the sunrise. There were 40 other photographers lined up along Maroon Lake in order to capture the reflection - and this, on a Thursday morning! The clouds muted the sunrise quite a bit, so the Bells weren't quite as striking as normal. I decided to leave early and scouted around for nice-looking aspen trees. Very often, it pays to "take the road less traveled". I discovered an unmarked side road as I left the Maroon Bells area. This side road led to a trail, which led me to this path in amongst a beautiful aspen grove. I followed the path a ways and it took me deeper into the grove - a lovely way to spend the morning. The path reminds me of Robert Frost's 1920 poem, and a lesson I try to live. This afternoon, I moved the trailer to Gunnison in preparation for a photo tour I'm leading over the weekend.

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth

Then took the other as just as fair

And having perhaps the better claim

Because it was grassy and wanted wear

Though as for that, the passing there

Had worn them really about the same

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet, knowing how way leads onto way

I doubted if I should ever come back

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence

Two roads diverged in a wood

And I took the one less traveled by

And that has made all the difference

Robert Frost

Colorado Fall Color - Sept. 23, 2009

Today is the official start of our fall color week here in Colorado. I'll be ending the week by leading a photo tour around the Crested Butte area. Today, though, I'm camped near Buena Vista and spent the day scouting out good fall color locations in the Cottonwood Canyon area, west of Buena Vista. The conditions were a bit unusual, in that half the aspens hadn't turned yet and the other half were way past prime and many leaves had already fallen. I suspect they've had high winds lately, which will "do a number" on the leaves. Although I took a number of aspen pictures, none really "grabbed" me, so Cottonwood Creek gets the nomination for picture of the day. I used a polarizing filter to eliminate the glare on the water surface and about a 6th of a second shutter speed to turn the water "cottony", which helped depict a degree of motion. Of course, I had to use a tripod to get this shot.

Colorado Fall Color - Sept. 22, 2009

As this was a travel day today, there were no pictures taken, so I dipped back into the images of the last two days and chose one taken by friend, Bob. This was also taken at the spot overlooking Bear Lake on the 20th. What really struck me was the intense reds and oranges in the aspen leaves, as well as the rich greens of the lake and browns of the tree trunk. The composition is balanced well and the rocks serve as an anchor at the bottom. If you want to get my attention, use lots of color! Bob did well here. Note this was taken with a Panasonic compact camera. It's not the camera folks, it's the one holding the camera!

Colorado Fall Color - Sept. 21, 2009

We were camping at the Elk Meadow Lodge & RV Resort just outside the south entry to Rocky Mountain NP and we had about an inch of snow last night and this morning. Clearing later in the day, Bob and I hit the road to capture some elk and take some short hikes. By the time the snow slowed and the sun came out, however, the elk were out in the center of Moraine Park (meadow), so were tough to photograph. Best times for elk are early morning or late afternoon, where they may come closer to the roadways. Just in case, I took Bob out to the Cub Lake Trail, where, after about a half mile, the cows tend to bed down late in the day. We also decided to take the trail to the lake since the day was proving to be perfect. The two-mile trail wound around a large moraine and then up a small valley passing through several nice groves of aspen. Golden aspen leaves littered the trail adding the perfect element for our fall hike.

Colorado Fall Color - Sept. 20, 2009

Sheila and I are on the road again - this time meeting long-time friend Bob in Rocky Mountain NP. We were hoping for some early fall color in the park and we weren't disappointed! The image above was taken just above Bear Lake about a quarter-mile up the trail towards Bierstad Lake. The day was overcast much of the time and we hoped for a nice sunset - but it was not to be. Still, the golden aspens were striking against the dark rocks. Hallett Peak is in the background (right side).

Midwest Tour - 5/31/09 (END)

Well, this brings us all to the end of our little midwest tour. We spent the last day with son, Chris, in Ft. Collins. While waiting for him, Sheila and I decided to take a short bike ride along one of the many bike trails in the SW part of town. As I passed a small wetland area, I saw this red-winged blackbird (have no idea where it got that name!) and made this photograph with my little Canon SX110 IS, which I'm starting to take everywhere with me. I even managed to capture a little highlight in the eye, which is a compositional plus.

I'd like to thank everyone who traveled with us on our journey! Until next time, au revoir.

Midwest Tour - 5/30/09

The very last stop during our Midwest Tour was Estes Park, CO, where we were attending another ham radio convention. This sunrise was taken from our hotel window with the Canon SX110 IS compact. This time of year is best for sunrises due to the start of the monsoon season. Afternoons are often too overcast or rainy to offer up nice displays of color during sunsets, so it pays to be the "early bird".

Midwest Tour - 5/28/09

This snowy egret decided to pose for us as we drove slowly through the Salt Plains NWR in northern Oklahoma. The gusting wind kept blowing its feathers this way and that. For you bird lovers, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (www.allaboutbirds.org) maintains a wonderful directory of birds. This shot was also taken with my little Canon SX110 IS at about 6X.

Midwest Tour - 5/27/09

Skipping a few days of transit from Ann Arbor to Claremore, OK, I present this succulent plant, which caught my eye at cousin Mike's place. This is part of wife, Wanda's, flower garden. The day was overcast, so perfect for close-up photography. I love the red/green complementary colors. This was taken with my small Canon SX110 IS compact camera, which, by the way, received a "best buy" rating from this year's Consumer Reports.

Midwest Tour - 5/23/09

Today was the wedding of good friends, Bob & Joyce's younger daughter, Rachel. The ceremony was held in the Ann Arbor Christian Reformed Church in Ann Arbor, MI. While I was not the wedding photographer at this ceremony, I did manage to take several neat shots of the happy couple. The reason this one caught my eye was the look of anticipation and joy (plus maybe a little relief?) in their faces. I also managed to catch the cross and colored reflection from the stained glass. The relatively low 1/40th shutter speed added a sense of motion as they exited from the stage. The reception and dinner following the ceremony ended a perfect day. Tomorrow, we head back to Indiana.

Midwest Tour - 5/22/09

Sheila and I spent the day biking along the Huron River Bikeway in Ann Arbor. Canadian geese were clamoring all along the route - some with little chicks. About halfway along, we saw this swan swimming near the shore. Later in the afternoon, we spent some time searching out a couple new lighthouses south of Detroit to add to our list. The second lighthouse required a 3.5-mile bike ride around an isolated island to be able to view it. Tomorrow, we have a wedding!

Midwest Tour - 5/21/09

While I was helping Lee with his EMC seminar and photographing the IEEE EMC Society "EMC Fest" today near Detroit, Sheila was off hunting up a few more lighthouses. Rather than show you a picture of "geeks at work", I'll let Sheila provide the picture of the day. This is a shot of Lorain Light in Lorain, Ohio, on the shore of Lake Erie. The catamaran provides a bit of color to the composition. The date of construction is in question, but most reliable sources indicate the current building was probably constructed in 1917. It is now owned by the Port of Lorain Foundation.

Midwest Tour - 5/20/09

The photo of the day today goes to Bob & Mary's daughter, Lynn. This is a spiral galaxy with an attached worm hole photographed through her dad's 80-inch double-helix telescope.

Ahem, actually, this is a shot of red food coloring dropped into a fish aquarium of water. I let her use my Canon 5D with 100mm macro lens to shoot upward towards the water's surface. A white shelf board was propped up behind to provide a uniform background. Lynn told me this was a "project for school", but I believe it was really her creative side at work. The image was processed with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Pretty cool abstract!

Midwest Tour - 5/19/09

Today, I spent the afternoon photographing Bob & Mary's daughter, Lynn, for her senior pictures. She'll be graduating next week and will be majoring in theater and visual arts. Lynn is also a very talented artist and we had earlier commissioned her to paint typical Colorado wildlife on an old saw blade we found earlier in an antique store. Here's her completed work - nice, eh?

Midwest Tour - 5/18/09

Back to my "Iris Project". I finally located a blue iris that was in good health down the street and around the corner from where I'm staying in Indiana. Knocking on the door and introducing myself, the owner gave me permission to photograph her blue iris - probably shaking here head when I wasn't looking... With the help of my able assistents, Bob and wife, Sheila, who held the white backdrop, I was able to photograph an iris portrait of each in the field (in situ, for you latin enthusiasts). So I now had a collection of red, white, and now blue irises. Well, what else could I do but combine them into a single panel - and just in time to celebrate the Fourth of July! This is still a "work in progress" as I'm not entirely satisfied with the background color or purity of the white backgrounds. But, I'll keep trying different things until it looks right. Here's the result as of today.

Midwest Tour - 5/17/09

As a break from iris photography, I elected to document the lowly maple seed. Here's one propped on some magnolia leaves for a contrasting background. Maple seeds are truly unique in that they form almost a perfect auto-rotating helicopter as they descend from their perch high in the tree. The ground here is littered with them.

As a diversion, here here are some links about maple seeds:

How to Make an Auto-rotating Maple Seed from Paper: http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/TRC/Aeronautics/Maple_Seed.html

Exploring Science and Design with a Maple Seed: http://www.cs.indiana.edu/~jwmills/EDUCATION.NOTEBOOK/maple/maple.html

The Journal of Maple Seed Science: http://www.cs.indiana.edu/~jwmills/EDUCATION.NOTEBOOK/journal/journal.html

Probably more than you needed to know about maple seeds!

Midwest Tour - 5/16/09

The irises are in bloom here in Indiana and are one of my favorite flowers to photograph. Bob and I took some time during this afternoon to try out our macro lenses on some of the subjects around his yard. A morning rain had eased and you can still see raindrops in the flower. This shot was taken handheld - a risky maneuver, as it takes a steady hand to keep everything sharp. I used an aperture of f11 at shutter speed of 1/125th and ISO of 400, which -just- captured the center of this red iris with good sharpness (I was very lucky!). The best technique is to turn AF off, compose and focus manually, then using breath control, rock back and forth slowly until all is focussed properly. Holding the depth of field preview button during the process will aid in determining the right time to trigger the shutter.

Midwest Tour - 5/15/09

Today was spent at a major ham radio convention, so I'll send you a picture from yesterday's trip to Hocking Hills State Park in SE Ohio. While most of Ohio is relatively flat, as one approaches the Appalachian region, it becomes more hilly. This state park - actually comprised of a chain of parks - stretched along a winding series of canyons, includes multiple waterfalls, caves, alcoves and small streams. It reminds me a great deal of some of the temperate rain forests along the Pacific coast. Being overcast, the day today was perfect for photographing waterfalls and forest landscapes. In fact, driving east from Indiana, we were following the trailing edge of a system of thunderstorms, which filled the streams and waterfalls nicely. Shown is the Lower Old Man Cave Waterfall.

Midwest Tour - 5/14/09

Friend Bob, took Sheila and me to Hocking Hills State Park today. On the way, we passed through Circleville, Ohio, to see the famous (at least in the surrounding region) "Circleville Mural". This is a depiction of the 100th anniversary of the Circleville Pumpkin Show, which originated in 1903. It was completed by Eric Henn (www.erichennmurals.com) in May 2007 and is an amazing 3D view of the street fair and parade. Mind you, this is actually a painting on the side of a building! Notice the extension of the real cornices into the painting. The two flags are also painted on. I created a larger than normal image, so the detail may be seen better. Pictures of the state park taken later today will come to you soon.

Midwest Tour - 5/12/09

The day after my engineering seminar on the Monday, the 11th, Sheila and I flew back to Dayton to stay a few more days with friends Bob & Mary in Indiana. On the way home, we stopped through Detroit. Now Detroit has one of the longest terminal buildings I've ever seen. It is so long that there are two trams that take people from either end to the middle. It seemed we always had to go from the long terminal to the shorter one and this necessitated taking the tram to the middle and crossing under the taxiways through this lit up tunnel. It very much reminds me of the tunnel in Chicago's O'Hare Airport. This is the third lit up airport tunnel - if you recall, I posted the last one of the new Indianapolis Airport tunnel on my blog back in November last year. Here is an abstract view inside.

Midwest Tour - 5/10/09

Elementary school friend, Mike, with son Thomas and wife Karen, enjoy photos from Mike's early years. There are several of us from that grade level that have been reuniting via the Internet after nearly 50 years! Mike is the first one I've visited face-to-face and he graciously invited us to stay overnight. We had a lot of early memories to share and it was such a privilege to visit so many years later. Mike spent his career in the Army as a Special Forces-qualified "Green Beret" and Paratrooper Medical Service Corps officer and combat medic. He currently holds a Ph.D in human biology (public health). He met Karen in Germany and Thomas is studying journalism at Syracuse University. Karen cooked us a traditional German dinner which tasted , ohhh so good!

Midwest Tour - 5/9/09

In a past life, I was a Scoutmaster of a troop of Boy Scouts in our home town of Woodland Park. Over the weekend, we had an opportunity to visit with one of my Eagle Scouts, Karl, who's just wrapping up his Ph.D. work at the University of New Hampshire in Dover. He is researching the chemical makeup of the atmosphere and has developed a real-time sampling system which can analyze pollutants in the atmosphere very quickly from moving aircraft. Here we are posing in his favorite burrito restaurant in downtown Dover following our lunch there.

From there, we're off to visit elementary school buddy Mike, wife Karen and son Thomas - also near Dover.

Midwest Tour - 5/8/09

A double-header today from Sheila to make up for the skipped day yesterday. The top picture is of Whaleback Ledge Light (with artist) and the bottom picture is of the Cape Neddick Light - both in Maine. The first light at Whaleback Ledge was so "fraudulently built" that sea water would wash through gaps in the stones, almost drowning the keeper. The present version was rebuilt in 1872 of solid granite blocks. The Cape Neddick Light was completed in 1879. Interestingly, the Voyager spacecraft, which carries photographs of Earth's most prominent man-made structures and natural features includes this light as well as photos of the Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal.

Midwest Tour - 5/6/09

While I was busy helping Lee with his engineering seminars this week, Sheila explored the coast tracking down lighthouses - one of her passions. Pictured is the Newburyport Harbor Light on the Massachusetts coast. This one was built in 1788, rebuilt in 1898 and has been moved several times due to "shifting sands".

Midwest Tour - 5/5/09

Once we arrived in New Hampshire, we noticed many of the apple trees were in bloom. This crab apple in front of Lee & Ellen's home was bursting wildly in a colorful display. I applied a bit of pastel strokes in Photoshop to make it a little more "artsy".

Midwest Tour - 5/3/09

Starting out on our Midwest Tour, Sheila and I arrived at Bob and Mary's place and there was just enough daylight to photograph some iris blooms in their yard. There will be more of these in a few days. This was taken with my little Canon compact camera in "tulip" (macro) mode.

Midwest Tour - 5/2/09

Although Sheila and I have been on the road for two weeks, I'm just now getting a chance to send out a few pictures. I apologize for the delay, but it's been rather hectic. The plan for this trip was to drive out to good friends Bob & Mary's place in Indiana - then fly from Dayton to Manchester, NH, where we stayed at the home of the owner (Lee) of my new consulting company. I'll be helping Lee with his four days of seminars and then I'll give mine the next Monday. During the weekend, we drove out to see one of my Eagle Scouts and an old friend from my elementary school - both in Dover, NH. After my seminar Monday, we'll fly back to Indiana to complete our visit with Bob and Mary - visiting the world-renowned Dayton Hamvention (ham radio gathering). From Bob's, we'll travel to up to Ann Arbor, MI, for the wedding for the daughter of good friends Bob & Joyce, then back to Bob & Mary's and off to Oklahoma to visit my cousin Mike and his wife, Wanda - then head back to Colorado in time for our regional ham radio convention in Estes Park! Confused? I had to record a detailed itinerary to be sure we were in the right place at the right time!

The picture below is of a black-headed chicadee sitting next to a fake bird on a birdhouse. This was just outside the visitor's center on I-270 just north of St. Louis. We ended up staying the night just east of here. Otherwise, it was "the rolling hills of Kansas" most of the day.

Picture of the Day - 4/1/09 (END)

We overnighted at the Great Sand Dunes NP and it was cold and windy. The lighting was quite flat, due to the overcast, so we passed on the photography and just enjoyed the warmth of the trailer and did a little cleaning up in preparation for our return home. It's been a lot of fun having you all share our Southwest Safari this year! I appreciate all your many comments and hope you'll join us next time. Sheila and I enjoyed the challenge each day of selecting just one of the many images captured - well, sometimes there had  to be two! Pictured is our dog, Foxie, dozing on my camera as we were homeward bound on I-25. That kind of sums up the trip for us as well. We all had some fun with family, relaxed a little, were fulfilled beyond measure, photographed a lot, had some great experiences and after six weeks on the road, were looking forward to returning back to the ranch - just ahead of a snowstorm! Until next time - adios!