Month: December 2014

I discovered this small ivory carving in a box I acquired at a garage sale years ago. When I first found it, I realized it was scrimshaw and when I researched the carver’s name, W. Walluk, I found he was an Inupiat Alaskan Native carver who died in 1968 at the age of 40. I thought the small object was charming so I set it in a glass display cabinet with some sea shells. Tuesday’s daily challenge theme in my Flickr group was “in the middle” and I remembered the small, half dollar sized, walrus tusk carving of a polar bear and thought that it might work for the challenge.

I decided to take a macro shot to feature not only the small carving but the concentric rings of the ivory tusk. The rings of the walrus tusk are quite visible in the photo. It was only after I started to process the shot that I realized that also in the middle of the shot is a barely visible tiny wad of crumpled silver wire, so fine I didn’t see it until I looked at the greater-than-life-size photograph. So, for my challenge I actually have three things “in the middle:” the carving; the concentric rings; and the tiny bit of wire.

If you click on the photograph, then click on it again, the photo will be magnified so that you can see the wire just above the polar bear’s neck.

Focal Length 105mm; ISO 100; f/11; 1/20s

I am not an Oregon Ducks fan; I am not a Duck Dynasty fan; I’m not a college (or any kind of) football fan. But I found this trepidatious looking guy in my brother’s backyard when I visited there over Christmas. My sister-in-law is a rabid Duck fan–Oregon, not Dynasty. I liked the expression on this guy’s face. He looks a little uncertain about Thursday’s Rose Bowl game. I won’t be watching the game but I’m sure I’ll hear the screams all the way from Redding.

When the Carlson-Currier Silk Manufacturing Company (the building was purchased by Sunset Line & Twine Company in 1940) was built in 1892 in Petaluma, CA, its landscaping included roses whose names are long since lost to the ages. My brother John, who worked at Sunset Line & Twine Co., the family business, for more than 40 years, loved the roses there and when the company closed, he brought home cuttings of the roses that are now thriving in his garden in Santa Rosa. Despite the cold weather and the time of year, one of his beloved Sunset roses was blooming in his garden at Christmastime. I took this shot Sunday morning. I hope the cuttings John has entrusted me with will grow in my garden as well.

Both of my brothers are outstanding, innovative cooks. After leaving Redding Saturday, I drove to Santa Rosa in time for a delicious meal that my brother John created. It was turkey meatballs in a savory turkey soup with yams and sweet potatoes. I snapped a couple of shots of John browning the meatballs. I wish I’d captured the finished soup that included popovers dripping with butter. Maybe next time, except with John’s recipes, they seem never to be recreated.

Friday afternoon, I cajoled my brother into taking me out shooting but a malfunction with the water heater delayed our start until late in the day when the sun was almost gone. We ended up at the Sundial Bridge and I watched this pair of mallards swim under the bridge into the quickly setting sun. I had my 80-400mm lens with the 1.4X teleconverter attached and had difficulty steadying the camera so these are not in perfect focus but it’s the best I did today.

I brought a few Meyer lemons with me to Redding so my brother and I decided to bake a lemon meringue pie for Christmas dinner. We neither one had made anything with meringue in quite a while but our favorite “how-to” cookbook, America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook, helped us out. Arthur made the crust and I cooked the lemon curd and made the meringue. The pie was delicious.

“At last!” After almost 4 years, my limoncello is finally seeing the light of day. It’s been boxed in the closet since I bottled it before I went to Italy in 2011. Quite frankly, I’d forgotten about it, except for the one bottle I have stashed in the freezer that I sampled once with a friend (it’s pretty potent stuff). My sister-in-law asked me recently whatever happened to it. Well, now that I’ve been reminded of it, my limoncello is going to be given away as Xmas gifts. It’s been awaiting a label all this time and yesterday I designed a hangtag using the shot from yesterday’s blog post (yet to be printed). Because I made this limoncello using Barbara’s Meyer lemons, I thought it was appropriate to feature a few of the latest batch of her Meyer lemons with the limoncello. And, in case anyone wonders whether it’s still good after all this time, I made it with Everclear, 151 proof grain alcohol. I think it stays good forever…or at least it pickles the liver of whomever samples it!

A slice from my precious cache of Meyer lemons seemed like a good subject. And, when I looked at my Flickr group, the latest challenge is “natural colors.” What could be a more natural color than lemon yellow?

. . .Take a photograph of them! I visited my friend Barbara in Vacaville Sunday and we had lunch and shopped amid the frenzy of all the other crazy people at the Vacaville Outlet Stores doing last minute Christmas shopping. The highlight of my day was the huge bag of Meyer lemons Barbara presented me before we left on our shopping adventure. Barbara has a green thumb and she grows lots of citrus in her yard. In the past, I have made wonderful things using Barbara’s Meyer lemons, including lemon curd, lemon meringue pie, vinaigrettes, even limoncello. These fragrant and succulent lemons are my favorite kind of lemon and I hope to create something wonderfully delicious from them.

I experienced some sort of digital malfunction when I created today’s post and for anyone who views my blog only via e-mail and doesn’t visit the site directly, the last photo was corrupt and did not show up in the post. I replaced it with an uncorrupt copy on In Focus Daily. If you missed the third shot, here it is looking much like the others, only with some bokeh.

Friday’s theme in my Flickr daily challenge group was ‘glass.’ This French canning jar (made in China, I’m certain) was setting on my kitchen counter and I thought it would work for the challenge. The first shots were a bit lackluster even after I changed it to black and white. Because I didn’t add any artificial light and had only some window light from an overcast sky, I decided to add Xmas lights for a little sparkle. I took one shot using a very small aperture to get the starburst effect and one shot with the lens wide open for more of a bokeh effect. You be the judge. Here are all three.

When my friend Susan, who has been one of my best friends since the seventh grade, sends me a gift I always rip it open immediately when it arrives, whether it is the appropriate date to do so. I never can wait until my birthday or Christmas if a gift beckons me. I decided to be good this year (I know Santa is watching) and when the gift arrived, I set it on the mantle along with the pathetic few Xmas cards I received…and that pathetic number (fewer than six) includes the card from my paperboy, my accountant, and my investment guy. When I couldn’t stand it anymore, I ripped open the package to find a mug with the inscription “Our hearts are very old friends” over a drawing of a couple of goofy looking birds. It was time for a latte so I made myself one, poured the frothed milk into the new mug and tried to carefully pour in the espresso so that I could create a Christmas tree in the foam. While my latte skills have improved significantly, my foam art (if that’s what it’s called) leaves a lot to be desired. This is more of a Charlie Brown Christmas tree than what I hoped to create. And to make matters worse, as I futzed around to take the photo, the foam started to dissipate making the tree even more pathetic. But, Susan, the sentiment is there. Our hearts ARE very old friends. Thank you. The latte tasted great in my new mug!

This morning when I put a couple of pieces of leftover mat board to block some of the light coming in over the window seat so I could take some photos, Bobo became very interested in the mat board. Despite my camera, and Xmas lights, and various other things that I was photographing, Bobo was riveted on the small space between the two boards and began to chew on one of the pieces. Paper flakes were suddenly everywhere and some of them began to appear in the macro shots I was trying to take. I shouted “Bobo, no!” when she was distracted by the Xmas lights and was about to chomp one. That caused her to take flight and plummet to the floor but she quickly regained her composure, climbed back up the side of her cage, and returned to her task of chewing on the mat board. By this time I gave up taking my intended photos but decided Bobo would make a good subject for today. Her brief flight caused one of the red wing feathers to twist and is slightly out of place on top of the wing. It doesn’t normally show.

I think this is nesting behavior but fortunately, once I clean up the mess, she’ll forget about it (I hope). She’s almost 30; I hope she doesn’t decide to lay an egg at this stage of her life.

When the battery on my Skil cordless drill/driver stopped recharging, I discovered that a replacement battery would cost half again as much as I paid for it. It was a super deal at a new Lowe’s twelve years ago and cost me $24.50, plus tax. The cheapest replacement battery, which I could find only on-line, was $32 plus tax and shipping. A no-brainer, then, was this brand new Ryobi I found at Home Depot for $49. I need one of these to attach the hanging hardware to the frames which house my photos. I have damaged too many frames trying to use a screwdriver, even a ratcheting one, and when I finally realized my cordless drill driver would do the job, I have come to rely on it. I’ve been without it for more than a month and the time has come to do some framing, so, Merry Xmas to me!

In my second in-a-row slothful day where I was dressed to go to the gym but never made it (perhaps this could be termed preparation for my trip to Costa Rica where ‘thar be sloths’) I spent my usual gym time reviewing my European photos to find some candidates for printing and reviewing my Fickr daily challenge topics for photographic inspiration. I found some shots to print and I was inspired to take a photo for one of the Flickr challenges.

The topic that caught my eye was “triangular.” I had just come across a worn triangular guitar pick discarded last year at Famous Mo’s by a guitarist of whom I have no recollection. The name on the pick is the manufacturer, not the name of the band. When I decided to use it as my subject because it met the challenge, I still had every intention of going to the gym. However, I remembered that I had two other guitar picks both with the band’s or the artist’s names so I thought they would make the shot more personal and three picks might be more interesting than one. An unsuccessful search ensued. I’m annoyed that I have somehow misplaced the picks. One was from Jennifer Batten, one of the more famous artists who performed at Mo’s. She accompanied Michael Jackson on some of his tours, including his last, and performed on stage with him at the Superbowl. And she was phenomenal at Mo’s. The other pick I misplaced is from Mo’s “house band,” Foxtrot Mary but since I know everyone from Foxtrot Mary, I am certain to be able to get another pick. I spent so much time tearing things apart looking for those tiny triangular pieces of plastic that I finally realized I wouldn’t make it to the gym. And tomorrow I have a dentist appointment. Hmmm. But I digress.

I took this macro shot in my now favorite place, Bobo’s window seat. The musical background is a page from “The Girl from Ipanema” by Antonio Carlos Jobim in the Key of F.

Nikon D7100, Focal Length 105mm, ISO 100, f/36, 1.3s

The year is drawing to a close and tonight is my camera club’s last meeting of the year. We’ve been asked to create photographic slide shows to present, reflecting a related theme, not just random shots. The slideshows are purely for entertainment and will not be judged. However, I really struggled with this because I have enough trouble selecting three shots to enter into competition let alone an entire group of related photos. I went through several possibilities and discarded them all and considered not submitting a slide show at all tonight. But, I awoke in the middle of the night and my brain wouldn’t shut off. The first couple of lines from “What A Wonderful World” went through my head and I knew I had some shots of green trees and thought I had some shots of red roses—turns out I didn’t but red and pink tinged roses work here. Also, I have been privileged to photograph many of the world’s wonders, from tiny hummingbirds to majestic mountains and decided my theme would be “what a wonderful world” made up of photographs I’ve taken in 2014. Since I already had Louis Armstrong’s version of “What a Wonderful World,” the music to accompany my slide show would be short and sweet. Only slightly more than two minutes.

Most, if not all, of these photos have appeared in my blog during the year so if they seem familiar, they probably are.

I grilled chicken for dinner Sunday evening and took a shot of the coals as they glowed red, quite seasonally festive, and perfect for cooking. These lumps of coal won’t show up in anybody’s Christmas stocking this year.

One of the most remarkable experiences one can have in Barcelona is La Sagrada Família, a Roman Catholic church of astronomical proportions that has been under construction for more than a century beginning with its Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí. The impact that this organic structure has on those who are privileged to experience its awe is really quite indescribable. I was astonished by every aspect of the structure both inside and out. The light flowing through the stained glass windows makes the interior seem to come alive. And, the light reflected on one of the huge pipe organs inside was mesmerizing to me.

In my version of “Where’s Waldo” you must locate the small bug hiding among the whorls in each of the three images of this Romanesco broccoli. Romanesco is one of the most interesting-looking vegetables because of the fractal-like patterns on its surface. Given the time of year, one can imagine an alien Christmas tree farm complete with little aliens.

Romanesco broccoli falls somewhere between cauliflower and broccoli in taste and yet it is unlike either in appearance. I thought a macro shot would be interesting but it proved to be almost impossible, given its intricate and uneven surfaces. My attempts at focus stacking were marginal (the third shot is a focus-stacked image) and, because it was “organic,” the little creatures that came home with it appeared and disappeared among the whorls leaving little ghost-like images in many of the photos. It was late in the afternoon and the window light was fading so I’m not certain what the actual color green of this vegetable is. I made some white balance adjustments to modify the color and it no longer looks real to me. And, after spending an hour or so photographing this vegetable and seeing how many little creatures came home with it, I opted to use it only as a photographic subject and decided not to eat it. Good luck locating the bugs.