Just checking in

So I'm feeling pretty guilty about not having appeared here for months (!) after being so gung-ho about blogging regularly again. After a bit of reflection, I realize that I was mostly enthusiastic about others blogging regularly again. ;-) I've been busy with the new job, of course, and busy sitting on my butt in the air-conditioning. This knee thing has really thrown me for a loop and I'm just now getting to feel better after a month of physical therapy. Why that dopey doctor I went to didn't recommend it for me, I don't know. I'm just glad I decided to be proactive after suffering for 3 months with barely any progress and so grateful to have good health insurance to pay for it. It's really made all the difference in my ability to function like a regular person again.

We've planned a camping trip this weekend and I'm looking forward to hopefully being able to hike without pain. Other than work and physical therapy, I haven't done much so far this summer other than try to avoid the heat. I still don't know how people stand it here - I've got major cabin-fever! We're sharing season tickets for the Braves and have been going to a couple of evening games each month. We're discovering new favorite places to have breakfast on the weekends. We're eating ice cream more often than is probably healthy. My brother and his family came to visit for a couple days at the beginning of July - it was super great to see them and to show off some of the fun things we do here in the A. I've been reunited with my dog Luka from that other life and just last week said goodbye to the senior shelter dog, Sadie, that we adopted only four years ago. I bought myself a new camera lens - a super wide angle - and look forward to playing with that in the future. J and I went out the weekend that I bought it to take some photos of the tall buildings in midtown Atlanta, but ended up at the High Museum of Art as a way to escape the heat and enjoy some free air conditioning. I'm not much of an art museum type, but I enjoy the High and it's folk and modern art.

The photo that accompanies this post was taken there. I plan to be back here in a couple days to share some memories of Sadie - once we're back from camping in the mountains where hopefully it'll be cool!

Parasoled

It didn't feel much like the end of summer today; Atlanta is as hot as ever in the middle of the afternoon. We strolled along the Belt Line looking at the art on display and found these two sweet little girls...

Fast forward

Piping Plover chick 1 of 2. Day 25. Fledge Day!

We lost two chicks from this brood, but it's still a win.

If I repeat that often enough, I might begin to believe it...

Fresh from the nest!

Piping Plover chick 1 of 4. Day 7. 19 days until fledge day.

Today was our first sunny day with people on the beach.

We all survived without too many ruffled feathers.

:-)

A field guide to PIPLs

Much of the general beach-going public seems determined to believe that Piping Plovers don't really exist. Many act as if they're just an imaginary endangered bird the rest of us have made up to inconvenience dog-walkers or otherwise prevent folks from fully enjoying a day at the beach.

But, I have photographic proof of their existence!

;-)

The past couple weeks have been Piping Plover boot camp here. Like the mailman, neither fog nor rain nor blazing sun nor gust of wind stays this courier from the swift completion of her appointed rounds! (The weather has been pretty crappy.) I'm out there on the beach daily trying to piece together tracks and sightings of individual birds to predict where they might nest. There's been a fair amount of false starts and leads, and a steep learning curve for me, but we've got 3 pairs with nests!

I can empathize with the public's general cluelessness about these birds. They're really hard to see... even for those of us who are looking for them. They're designed to be invisible. Just imagine trying to find a tiny bird the color of wet sand on a beach strewn with shell shards. It's not easy! If nothing else, it gives you a real respect for the power of camouflage. But as a result, the public is left looking at yards and yards of "empty" roped-off beach that they're not allowed to use and wondering what all the fuss is about.

I spent my afternoon "off" the other day visiting with the plovers out at Sandy Hook. The National Park Service monitors the birds there; I just plopped myself down on the beach with my camera, well outside of the roped-off areas, in order to get a general beach-going public sort of view of them. Just to try and see them the way the rest of the world does (or doesn't!) PIPLs are very agreeable little birds... if you just sit quietly and still enough, they'll happily share the beach with you. Every little drama of their lives is playing itself out around us on the beaches...

I am not a figment of your imagination!

I like to feed on the sparkly parts of the beach.

The dunes hide me well; they're a good place to rest.

Pebbly and shelly places make me disappear even more.

If I position myself just so, I can have a private bath right at your feet!

My eggs: a masterwork of disguise.

Please share the beach.

Please encourage others to do so.

Please help others to see and respect even the hard-to-see wonders of this world.

These birds live here, too. They're our neighbors. They need our help.

Snow birds

A snow day literally and figuratively falls from the sky, unbidden, and seems like a thing of wonder. 

 -Susan Orlean

We had snow today in Atlanta... real snow that caused my school to shut down early. I just saw on the TV that school's closed tomorrow too... a snow day!

I spent the afternoon watching the birds in their snow-induced feeding frenzy. I sat on the warm couch and photographed them through the window as they scavenged bits of dropped seeds and suet or quenched their thirst at the flowerpot saucer I kept unfrozen with warm water.

I'm happiest to see the bluebirds so close; we have four or five at time at the suet feeder when the weather is especially cold. They bring other nice birds with them. A couple of yellow-rumped warblers are often around and occasionally a ruby-crowned kinglet even visits!

Pine warblers... we have what seems like a lot of pine warblers. It's hard to know for sure how many there are because the males chase everyone else away from the feeder.

And they chase everyone else off their perch on the fence.

And they don't like to share the flowerpot saucer, either. Such pretty birds, like a ray of bright sunshine. It's still odd to me to see them in wintertime, but what a treat!

Surprise yourself

May your coming year be 

filled with magic and

dreams and good

madness. I hope you read

some fine books and kiss

someone who thinks

you're wonderful, and

don't forget to make some

art - write or draw or build

or sing or live as only you

can. And I hope,

somewhere in the next

year, you surprise

yourself. 

-Neil Gaiman

Happy New Year!

10/100

We went wandering over to Apalachicola this afternoon to look at the shrimp boats there and found this gentleman first. He came over to tell us about the bald eagle he sees around the marina. I thought maybe he was the watchman, but no, he said he's camping out there beneath the maritime museum building until they give him a job. He told us he's worked on fishing boats in Alaska too, so I figure he can handle the Florida cold.

This photo is #10 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at Flickr 100 Strangers or www.100Strangers.com

Almost perfect

I'm home now from Thanksgiving in NJ... tired but happy. I'm glad to report that vast quantities of mashed potatoes were consumed (as was a piece of Brian's homemade cheesecake). I found my winter coat and was thankful for it. Surprise of all surprises, I found time amid the holiday craziness to see some good friends, as well as some good birds. Thankfully, we did not forget the Brussels sprouts or the mashed turnips. There was a beach walk and lots of wide-eyed staring at the places I miss so much. I thought about my dad a lot.

Mid-week bunny fix

Today is a much-awaited day on the bunny calendar, more popular even, than Easter. It's Hay Day; the day when a fresh shipment of hay arrives via Sweet Meadow Farms all the way in Massachusetts. Peeper's a happy bunny!

Ghost signs

I'm happy to finally have a name for these faded advertisements that I like to photograph. I find them painted on falling-down buildings along rural roads and in the old parts of sleepy Southern towns.

Wikipedia, my source for everything that I didn't know had a name, says they were most common before the Great Depression and that the artists who painted them were known as "wall dogs."

In some places, there's an effort to preserve or restore them. Oftentimes, they just fade away like so much history.

I'm not even sure, myself, where I took these couple photos, but for the last one. On the way to somewhere else is all I remember.

This one is a favorite, simply because I get to see it most often. It's on the way to Tallahassee and, despite many tries, I've yet to get a photo that I like.

Apparently, other people like to photograph these old signs, too. And if you're so inclined and have some favorites, you might consider adding them to the Ghost Sign Project so other people can find them, too.

Sunday in the Park

A photographic portrait is a picture of someone who knows they're being photographed, and what he does with this knowledge is as much a part of the photograph as what he's wearing or how he looks.

- Richard Avedon

A photographic portrait is a picture of someone who knows he is being photographed, and what he does with this knowledge is as much a part of the photograph as what he's wearing or how he looks.

Richard Avedon

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/richardave531391.html#m1zZipxLsc3qOGGX.99

A couple weeks ago I went to Sunday in the Park at Oakland Cemetery here in Atlanta. It's billed as a Victorian street festival and includes music, food, and an artist's market. I went mainly for the picture-taking opportunities, expecting to want to photograph inside some of the spectacular mausoleums (opened up just for this event), but instead and as usual, got sidetracked with people photos. The folks in "period garb" were fun, but I especially liked the steampunk couple!

I left my heart

A view of San Francisco from the top of Lombard St. - the crookedest street in the world.

Hood goddess

Anyone recognize her?

Things I can't resist

Another little black party dress

One last dip in the ocean before heading back to the city

One more piece of pie!

Bunny butts,

puppy kisses

and trying to catch frogs

 

Trying to get the perfect tree photo

 

Or the pefect sanderling photo

Sticking my nose deep into blooming tea olive bushes

Whistling back at Blue Jays 

Poetry at bedtime
 

Lens flare

Touching velvet 

Naps

Stopping to watch Red Tails turn lazy circles in the sky above me

Waking up napping kitties 

Going barefoot 

Green olives

Singing along with Paolo Nutini

Befriending horses on country roads 

Another cup of coffee 

Making funny faces at shy babies

Guacamole

Black and white

Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts!  

~James Beard

Boardwalk reflections revisited

Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth, but not its twin. 

  ~Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams

Reflection is the beauty of a time remembered, a daydream captured in a flash of sunlight and sea sparkle. Two selves connect at the photographer's wrist on a cold October day by the sea.

I miss the boardwalk. I miss its opportunity for people-watching. I'd go there looking for things to photograph. I'd go there often to reflect and turn the world on end, to dive inside and peak beneath the ordinary world I faced everyday.

I gazed into windows searching for other dimensions. Through reflection, other worlds seemed to break free and be united. Nothing is as it seems in these photos. I love their dreaminess.

Photography is equal parts abstract art and truthful storytelling. Reflections provide creative control. Bending and twisting the world into something surreal and obscure, this tweaking of reality is incredibly freeing. And disorienting. And fun!

Reflection also grants a window into the mind. Like paint on canvas, there's a glimpse of a loved one abstracted, but true. We might catch each other in passing, yet hardly recognize one another. These images mark a place in time: the confusion of life turned upside down and inside out, but also an honest mirror into reality.

All pix from what feels like a lifetime ago in Asbury Park, NJ.

Art seen (in progress)

The Living Walls conference is back in Atlanta and we spent the afternoon the other day wandering around the city trying to see all the murals. Many of them are in out-of-the-way-for-us neighborhoods and some of them we pass by almost every day. Getting out to see them and appreciate each for its distinct style was a fun project for a steamy summer afternoon.

Of particular interest were the murals that are being painted in the Summerhill neighborhood that surrounds Turner Field. We're there quite often for Braves' games and, like the CNN article implies, it's a pretty sketchy place. It'll be nice to have these sad-looking abandoned buildings transformed with color. Stay tuned...

Outisde the touch of time

To the outside world, we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other's hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time. 
~Clara Ortega

This is one of those magical photos that I took almost by accident, but that manages to capture some of the truest parts of my brother Brian. We'd just come back from visiting a local auction, one of his favorite places, and he was pouring over the treasures that he brought home with him. In this case it was a box of old records. The look on his face, his posture and the lighting all contribute to a scene I think I've been witnessing my whole life as his kid sister... his total enchantment with anything related to music and with old, discarded things.

The sunflower farm

Boy... time sure does fly when you're not paying attention!

I was about to tell you about our visit to The Sunflower Farm, but then, poof! and 3 weeks had gotten away from me.

There's an actual festival here each summer, but I've yet to brave the heat and the crowds to attend. As it is, no matter how mild you think a particular day is, once you're out in the middle of that ten acre field, it's hotter than blazes!

The farm itself is beautiful and is a picture-maker's delight. I first heard about the place because so many photo groups visit it. I go to pick flowers, tho.

I'm not sure there's anything more cheerful than a field of sunflowers, except maybe for the bees and birds that visit it.

: )

I wondered aloud to the farmer if they sell the leavings for birdseed.

Nope, but they sometimes hunt the doves that are drawn to the seeds in the fall. That's okay, too.

There's plenty to photograph, here. Red (and green) tractors, old farm tools and a beautiful hummingbird garden. There's even an enchanted forest nestled on the back of the property. And if you want directions to the little local place that sells the best homemade strawberry-cream cheese fried pies, just ask!

Plus, you get to keep as many sunflowers as you can carry away for $15.

: )

That makes for many old mason jar bouquets.