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| Friday, 30-Apr-2004 00:00 |
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Trees, If You Please
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The first of two posts of interesting (yes, I said interesting) trees we observed during our ramblings.
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| Thursday, 29-Apr-2004 00:00 |
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Shifting Gears
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Here's some of the baseball shots I collected this year. A few good ones in the batch.
Most of these are Phillies. I'm not a Phillie Phanatic. They happened to be playing the Reds and I took them. The two of catcher Mike Leiberthal are my favorites, though the ones of the Reds and Philly players joking around before the game do a good job of displaying the lighter mood of Spring Training games.
Ken, these are for you.
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| Monday, 26-Apr-2004 00:00 |
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Light Play - Shadows, Reflections, Color, and Contrast
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Overall I was happy with the way the light was captured in these photos. The shadows on some of the tree pictures are interesting. I think the colors of the water, especially in the reflections, turned out much as they looked to us as we walked along. A couple of the shots show how much the dappled reflections in the water look like oil-paintings, which was an effect I wasn't sure would translate to film. The shot with the palm tree hanging out over the water best shows this. I'm probably most happy with the very last shot in this series (you'll have to view the entire series to see it, sorry...).
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| Friday, 23-Apr-2004 00:00 |
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Canopy Walk and Lookout
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We hiked a trail back through the "tropical forest", hoping to see some of the wild boars that roam the park. That didn't happen. Apparently a local jogger had been chased by a pack of boar at one point recently, and it was obvious where they had been (they had rutted up a lot of the ground) but we never saw any. It was a nice walk anyway. I took some B&W photos of trees and such, but those will have to wait for another day.
Partway through the trail is a "canopy walk" which is suspended up in the tops (canopy) of the trees. It allows you to walk at tree-top height (maybe 40 feet up) for 150 feet or so, then at the other end is a tower with a top level 100 feet in the air. It gives a good overview of the area.
In the first pic you see an eagle (perhaps a hawk, but I believe it was an eagle). There are several families of bald eagle in the park, one of which we watched and even photographed (the photos turned up blurry). The second pic shows you an overhead view of one of the low-land ponds like the one where we photographed the baby aligators. The day was a little hazy, so there wasn't the far-distance clarity I would have liked to really show off the view from above...
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| Thursday, 22-Apr-2004 00:00 |
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Birds and Babies
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Spotted this bird family (two adults and two chicks) as we were driving along the road of the State Park. We pulled off to the side and followed them for a while. I was using a 125mm lens which pulled them in pretty close.
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| Wednesday, 21-Apr-2004 00:00 |
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Lots of Birds
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The trip produced lots of bird photos. These are the first three. Great Blue Heron, I believe, striding along the shore. Also, a small, Snowy Egret (I think, I'm not the _best_ at remembering the birds)...
Lots more to come...
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| Tuesday, 20-Apr-2004 00:00 |
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Baby 'Gatorville
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The baby aligators live in small ponds until they are older. The mom watches over them. The babies can be seen if you look for their big eyes and the yellow, parallel stripes on their backs. They hide in the floating mucky muck of the pond pretty well. Most of these were around two feet long. The one slightly older one (no yellow stripes) was probably three to four feet long. The first picture is what they eventually grow into. The turtle was sitting up on dry land, not far from the 'gators.
More coming in the next few days.
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| Friday, 16-Apr-2004 00:00 |
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Saying Goodbye
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On April 10, my family lost our matriarch, my great-grandmother, Mamie Oglesby Walton. Grandma Walton was born on May 13, 1910. She died in Lexington on Saturday, not long after my ailing grandmother visited her for the last time. She was burried on Tuesday, next to Grandpa Bert, in the shadow of the mountain popularly called Walton's Mountain, not far from the little red house overlooking the crooked creek.
It is impossible to imagine the life Grandma lived. Born into an era, and area, where farm labor was a sun-up to sun-down endeavor, just to have enough food to feed the four daughters she and Grandpa Bert had. She suffered the hardships of that life, much beyond what any of us "whippersnappers" could probably endure. She loved her four daughters (and all of their offspring), but always pondered the life of her infant son who died so young. She saw Grandpa Bert pass away long before she did, and continued on with a different, yet still rich, life.
She was brilliant without much formal education. She was an artisan in arts long neglected or forgotten. Her kindness and simple faith molded all that she did. And, as her granddaughter Detra mentioned in her eulogy, Grandma Walton posessed a beauty beyond the physical qualities we now associate with "beauty queens."
One side effect of a life lived into her 90th year is that she left behind five generations of offspring. And because she remained so vibrant for so many years, all of those offspring are left not only with great memories of her, but we are also left with a void. So say a prayer for those of us left behind. For her daughters. For her grandchildren. Her great-grandchildren. Her great-great grandchildren, and, yes, even her great-great-great grandchildren. We'll all miss her.
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| Friday, 2-Apr-2004 00:00 |
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Second State Park
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Gator city!!! But no Gator pics until the 35mm film gets developed. When that happens, I'll tell you our story of swiming with the Gators. It is sure to be a big hit with all the kids!!!
Last of the "first fruits" digi pics...hope to have the 35mm done soon.
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| Thursday, 1-Apr-2004 00:00 |
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Speaking of Baseball
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First few digital pics of the two Reds games we attended. My 35mm was acting up during the second game (which is the only one I took it to) so I'm not at all sure how many pics from that will come out...we'll see.
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no recent pics..
