Oriental Art

I came across this plant in the snow walking up to the mailbox one day this past week. It reminded me of something oriental. It was hidden under the boughs of some large pine trees. Today was the first day we had sun in about a week. It felt good, though I was a bit under the weather and didn't feel like going out for a walk.

Maybe tomorrow.

Blanket of Snow

 My son had half a day of school yesterday, so he helped me shovel the driveway so we wouldn't have a

a big job this morning. Old man winter turned to rain late yesterday, and back to snow last night, really leaving us a mess. After breakfast, I got up to put on boots and my coat when to my surprise, someone was plowing my driveway!

We couldn't recognize who it was. The plow driver was all wrapped-up with a scarf around his lower face and a hood. It turned out to be the neighbor that used to live in front of us. (He moved but still owns the house out front.) How lucky we were. We did have a lot of shoveling to do, but the majority of the driveway was done.

I wanted to post a photo of Isabel in her winter outfit. She's never sure what to do in the snow.

Old Blue Chevy Pick-up

I covered a press conference yesterday and this and this old truck was parked on the property next to us. I thought I turned the flash off, but it looks like it fired anyway. The image file info says flash did not fire... I was intrigued by the lines and the model plate. The back was covered with snow and I didn't want to trespass (so unlike me), but I'm thinking 1950.

We had snow flurries for a good part of the morning yesterday. I was in a rush most of the day and didn't get a chance to make a flurries photo. The forecast is ten inches of snow starting today into tomorrow. I had a job cancel because of the forecast.

The other end of the sky.

 

Here's another photo from yesterday's brisk walk at the beach. I'm a sucker for sunsets and sunrises.

For me, a brisk morning walk is a is great way to clear my head.

A morning walk.

I took a walk on the beach this morning. The sun was coming up in the east and the moon was setting in the west. I didn't last long, it was only sixteen degrees. I did manage to make a few photos.

The western sky was a beautiful blue.

This is my contribution to Carmi's thematic-photographic theme; blue.

Grey on Grey

There's always this funky light in winter, especially mornings. This was made in mid-morning, on the north shore of Long Island.

Winter reveals all that summer hides.

A grasshopper's view of winter.

Some snow covered grass in a planter helped me make this grasshopper's view. The shallow depth of field of the lens also helped isolate the subject from the background. I wast drawn to the colors of the grass on this gray day.

They say there's more snow in the forecast for us tomorrow.

Sepia Time

This old clock is a muse for me. Whenever I'm looking for something to photograph around the house it's there.

We've had rain all day, cold rain. Not fun to go out walking it cold driving rain.

Turned into gray scale and toned sepia with Photoshop.

Birds on a wire #2

 

One of my favorite's, Leonard Cohen, supplied the title to today's post. Though he was writing about being free, the photo is not. In fact, I've used the title twice, back in April of 2009 I posted another photo of birds on overhead lines.

Every now and then one of the birds would change power lines, I guess she's just looking to be free.

Newpaper in the snow

 

I've always been intrigued by littered newspapers. This one has interesting angles.

Black Pine in winter

 

 

I have such a fascination with pine needles and pine cones. This is another photo of pine needles.

 

Narnia

We got hit with a lot of snow, possibly eighteen to twenty inches. But it was pretty, could have inspired another CS Lewis novel. The leyland cypress' were all hold hands.

The paths through the neighborhood. All the branches were heavy with snow and looked beautiful.

Sitting And Waiting

I'm sitting here waiting for the snow to start. Weather reports say we're in for eight to fifteen inches or snow mixed with rain. So, it's wait and see.

Today's photo I made Saturday. It was a great day for finding things.

Winter 2011

Well, the holidays are over and winter is settling in. We had more light snow, about two inches and real cold weather today. It was enough to have to shovel.

I'm planning my annual trip to visit my mom and dad in Florida. They are selling their house and moving into an assisted living place, they want me to see the new digs. My dad is not in the best of health and he's overweight. It's a lot of work for my mom.

Today's photo is from yesterday's time between jobs. It was productive.

What a day

I made this photo between jobs today. We had light snow last night and no wind. So I spent some time looking at everything covered with snow. The contrast in color between the blue gray background and the yellow material caught my eye and that was that.

This evening I learned of the tragic act in Arizona. I just can't believe it. I spend my working days at events like that meet and great. Just unbelievable.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by this senseless hatred.

A thin slice of Connecticut.

 

This is another photo from yesterday's walk along Long Island Sound. That thin line between the water and the light color in the sky is Connecticut. I was attracted to the vapor or steam cloud rising from a power plant.

The evenness of color and flatness of the sound were a perfect match for the kind of day it was.

Peaceful.

Sunken Meadow State Park

 

It was a beautiful day today and I had some time to kill before my first assignment this morning. Enough to go for a walk along the north shore. One of the best parts of Long Island is the difference between the two shores. The south shore of the eastern end of Long Island is either the ocean or towards the west, the Great South Bay. The north shore is the Long Island Sound, and in some spots on a clear day, you can see Connecticut. While the south shore is sandy, the north shore is rocky. Today's photo was made in the Sunken Meadow State Park. There's a frozen salt marsh at the bottom of the frame.

 

Footprint in the snow

The snow is melting, what's left is ice. This is my footprint from the driveway. I found it funny how it was raised as the snow melted around it. I guess the compacted snow just melts slower. It almost looks like a bare foot, but I assure you, I had boots on.

Back to the routine

 

Evan and Cel get back to the routine tomorrow, the Christmas vacation is over. My first and only assignment tomorrow is at noon and I'll be there for four or five hours.

It was warm today, somewhere in the forties. Much of the snow melted away and I was able to get some stuff done around the house. We took down a lot of the Christmas decorations and put them away. I had time to take today's photo, which was made with the Canon G10 in the yard. The daisy plants look kinda neat all shriveled, almost metallic. I turned it to gray scale and then added some yellow and red for a sepia effect.

 

A lazy new year's day.

 

 

After a late night, it felt good to just be lazy all day. I watched Salt, the Angelina Jolie spy thriller. I liked it.Not much to it, just a lot of shoot'm up action.

I also had some fun playing with photoshop and an image I made this past November in a clock shop window. I added a texture and some color of the results you see here.

The clock image was made with the Canon G10 and the texture came from the Kim Klassen Cafe blogspot.