For years I kept journals -- in composition, spiral bound, and French graph paper books. This blog is an attempt to get back to writing and documenting the world around me using photos, newspaper headlines, and other articles.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

The snake and the chipmunk

Selim and I went out to Hermit Lake this afternoon with Amy and Jacob.  Today's wildlife sightings included a beaver, a snake and a chipmunk.  From the lake house second story deck, we watched the beaver swim across the channel between the grass islands and the lake shore.  When he got close to his dam, he thwacked his tail and disappeared under the water.  I wasn't quick thinking enough to grab my camera and document.

When we went down for a swim, the boys were jumping, cartwheeling, cannonballing off the dock.  The lake water was warmer than the ocean, but still, not bath water, or just walk right in temperature.





The snake appeared by the dock.  Amy and I were separated from our boys who were on the dock in the lake and the snake was in between us.  The snake has slithered out of the water and was headed across the area in front of the boys.  It posed for me and I got a good shot.  Vogue.




Then, it went into the stone wall, seemingly stalking a chipmunk.   The chipmunk scampered off and the snake decided to hang around the chippy den and wait. 




The boys grabbed sticks (because really, what boy wouldn't), climbed up on the bench in front of the den, out of the snake's reach and brandished their weapons.  We waited, ate popcorn, pretended to be chippies and waited for some action.





Finally the snake moved out of the den and went back into the water.  And the guys moved on to eating apples.





With the wildlife entertainment portion concluded for the afternoon, the boys and Amy got back into the water on a wide, inflatable, kid size wind surfer base and went out a bit into the lake and away from the weeds.  Much diving and falling off the base ensued.




Just as I was getting ready to swim out to them, I noticed the the chippy was in front of the den.  It froze as I grabbed the camera and asked it to stay still, please, so that I could take its glamour shot.  It obliged.



I swam out for a bit but didn't feel like getting splashed so much; so I didn't stay out too long.  Some friends from across the lake swam out to join the gang.  I lay out on the dock and snapped pictures of the flowers and the swimming party returning to shore.





All in all -- a great afternoon.



In other news, Neil Armstrong died today.  They are showing the landing on the moon on the news tonight.  What an amazing man and time in our country.  I wish the Mars landing was as unifying and uplifting as the moon.  But without humans touching down on Mars, it isn't quite the same.

The other Armstrong making headlines yesterday and today is Lance.  I don't understand fully the merit of the court battles, jurisdictions, charges and accusations against him.  The whole thing makes me sad.  He never tested positive for doping.  But the sport of cycling was full of cheaters while he was at the helm.  I appreciated Sally Jenkins column for her viewpoint on the Agencies that are stripping him of all his titles.  Her writing gives me pause in thinking that since he has stopped fighting the charges that he is therefore guilty as charged.

And the Red Sox did a huge trade sending Beckett and Crawford and two others out to the LA Dodgers.  I don't know who is coming this way in return.  The Red Sox team is a mess this year.  I guess Bobby Valenine isn't working out quite as they expected.  Although with his track record, they should have known what they were getting into.  But still... wow.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

In the news...

Yesterday was a field day for political and sports news and both had gender angles.

As I was watching Sergio Garcia win the rain-delayed golf tournament, the coverage broke off for a news update the Augusta National had invited two women to be members, Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore.  'Bout time.  Here are some reactions, from Sally Jenkins and Christine Brennan.  I think it is a big deal and I will find it easier to watch the Masters tournament. (As I won't have the little irate voice inside my head saying -- you suck, you little small-minded, board members with visions of self-grandiosity that are way over inflated.  Get a clue, get over yourselves and admit women as members.)

The political stories were as bad as the Augusta National story was good.  In Missouri, a House Republican who is challenging Claire McCaskill for the Senate seat made comments the suggested that women who were "legitimately raped" didn't get pregnant.  That grabbed the headlines, but what is more scary is that last year he introduced legislation that tried to make the distinction between "forcible" rape and some "other" rape as it relates to abortion and other health care issues.  What rape isn't about force?  Who is this man?  The kicker for broader national discussion is that the man just put on the Republican ticket as the VP nominee last week was a co-sponsor of the bill. 

Of course, he has now said that he misspoke.  Right.  That would explain his legislation last year, as pointed out by Eugene Robinson this morning in his Op Ed piece in the Washington Post.  He is now running an ad titled "forgiveness" saying that he used the wrong words.  What would have been the right words?  And (continuing with the golf theme of this morning) par for the course, the ad has a black and white still shot of his wife, standing by her man.  Makes me want to vomit.

The other crazy, self-inflicted wound story was about the 30 Republican House members who went on a funded trip to Israel last year, right after the failed budget negotiations.  One evening as they were down by the Sea of Galilee, they decided to go swimming.  One dude, Rep. Yoder went in buck naked.  Who makes up these crazy stories?  Oh wait, this is real.  According to the report in Politico, they were told that alcohol may have been involved.  Let's hope these lawmakers, many of whom I bet you consider themselves Christian, have since learned the religious significance of that particular body of water.

Who are these people that we have elected to office?  What happened to their brains when they got to Washington?  Go figure.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Beach!

Yesterday Selim and I headed to Wallis Sands beach for a get together with some of my former Sant Bani classmates.  We started to reconnect 10 years ago and since then we have met most years for one afternoon on a summer day, at a body of water.  This year was the shortest drive for me, only 20 minutes.

I've known Thomas and Bev since 1975 and the others since 1977 or so.  We grew up together, parted ways after high school, and later celebrated weddings and the birth of our children.  While I have been on the periphery more than the center of this group, it is so easy to spend a few hours at the beach catching up on old times and diving right in to the here and now of our current lives.  It is also nice that our kids are at ages where they can play together without much parent involvement.



Selim enjoyed playing the kids his age.  He had so much fun in the water, and super time with a borrowed boogie board.  He is my water boy!








After parting ways, Selim and I headed home to get our warm gear and then turn around and meet Nedim in Hampton for a cruise out to the Isle of Shoals sponsored by the Turkish American Cultural Center.  We enjoyed perfect weather.  The seas were calm and until the sun went down, a pleasant evening in the low 70s.  When it got dark and we were full steam ahead to shore, the wind made it a bit nippy on the top deck.







The cruise was also part wedding reception.  I don't think I would have wanted to wear my wedding dress on a fishing boat, just sayin'.



Selim was so tired from our 7 previous hours at the beach, that he fell asleep on the way back.  Before my lap was his pillow, I got to take a few pictures of the light house and sunset over the ocean.








It was a full and great day.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

The Lloyd's building

I was reviewing my photos from London and realized that I have several posts to do with pictures that I hadn't posted while there.  One of the buildings that I love the most is the new Lloyd's of London building at the intersection of Leadenhall and where Lime Street turns into St. Mary.  Kitty corner is the Swiss Re / Gherkin building.  So it is a great place for architecture photography.

To me, it is a fascinating structure.  It is steel and glass, hard edges with rounded parts, imposingly solid yet has open space and a peek through (or two) where you can glimpse the street beyond.  It is made up of wonderful contradictions all within one huge building.  I walked around and around, getting close up and then moving back -- trying to capture what I find so intriguing.  I don't know if I had much success, but here are a few:

The first view I had of the building came when I was going north out of the Leadenhall market.






The entryway is really cool -- I tried some different filters to see how different the same shot could be.






I saw people going up and down in these boxes.  Can you imagine riding these elevators?




And then the peek-a-boo places that add whimsy for me and make the structure more approachable and less industrial.




To top it off, it is smack in the same neighborhood of really old churches and the new signature piece of the city sky scape, the Gherkin.





Everywhere I went I saw buildings to photograph.  It all seemed so different from my neighborhood.  However, I hope I will take inspiration in the detail.  There are beautiful places near home and I shouldn't leave the camera on the shelf when I go out.  I may not see the dramatic, but I bet I could find the whimsy, a structure that is actively harmonious or in contrast with its natural environment, striking in its vision, round windows in a boxy structure, blue doors, fun weather vanes -- that I find so pleasing, if I look close enough and with enough attention.