A rainy morning. Kim and Charlie take off early to the “bird park” (Pioneer), and I promise to catch up with them after I finish breakfast. On the way, the usual miscellany:
I see another old geezer with a camera at the Pioneer Park Rose Garden and almost approach him, but think better of it as he is in deep concentration and there is always the matter of social distancing.
Rose Garden Shooter
Rose Garden Shooter (detail)
Inside the park:
Suddenly my beautiful bride and her vicious hound appear over the park’s “burial mound”:
A few vehicles here and there. Behind me I hear a distinctive sound, and turn to see friend/CPA Michael’s 47-year-old purple autocrosser (dubbed “Barney”) buzz past.
Michael’s 911
Home of the Brave
Home of the Brave (detail)
Flora is probably the only consistently cheerful visual element out there these days. (Did I ever mention that I have never seen, outside of Hawaii, more ubiquitous streetside and yard display of flowers than in WaWaWA?)
Not In Ascendance
Finally, no sooner than I return home, Kim announces that a hummingbird (she has a feeder for them on the deck) just crashed into the patio sliding door. I grabbed my camera, quickly clicked in the general direction from waist level without composing, hoping to capture *something* before the tiny winged dinosaur regained its composure. It flew away as I slid the door open, and I didn’t realize that I had actually grabbed an image until I later uploaded the files.
These days I generally try to keep my workplace visits to weekends only. That turns out to mean that I join in the daily dog walks more frequently. In turn, it means spousal communication on the topics of flora and fauna is often shared. And, following yesterday’s jaunt to Jasper Mountain, where I happened to photograph a tiny flower I saw beside me when I sat to rest, my interest in chasing macro photography seems to be warming up. Maybe it will even get to the level that I take it seriously enough to “do it right” with tripod and manual measures. For now, I’m still lazily hand-holding, even at this alarming view of a coronavirus-reminiscent dogwood (do I remember that right? Is that what Kim said it was?):
Others, somewhat less ominous:
Then, backing off a bit:
Russian Orthodox Church
Some words:
Sharpstein School Sidewalk Sentiments
Yes, It’s Talking About You, Charlie
Finally, over to the west pond at Pioneer Park and … over the top:
Avoiding any travel on Mother’s Day, we wait a day — co-incident with the seventh birthday of the Dog Most Foul — and seek the social distance of Jasper Mountain on Monday. So we head out on East Highway 12, seeking the back roads and engaging in a bit of windshield photography on the way:
Hwy 12 Lights and Clouds
In time, we leave paved roads and start gaining altitude as we negotiate Jackson Mountain.
Charlie Looks Back
Charlie Looks Back (detail)
A pause for rest gives an opportunity for some ill-advised — I learned over fifty years ago that proper macro photography isn’t likely without tripod and wind barrier — closeups in the range of an inch or two.
Spotting a socially distanced 911 Cabrio on the Hwy 12 return:
