Monday February 21, 2011

Spring has SPRUNG in the back yard..so beware.....here is the current set:



















hope you all enjoy!

Early Spring 2011

Well, these past two days have been focused on the yard. All the sprinklers are working, AGAIN. The trees are all set and ready to bloom (too late to trim em now if you wanted to anyway) and the spring flowers are already in bloom. Here are three from the Spring 2011 back yard edition.







Maybe I will be able to take more later in the year!

The mind of the Blind

"Blind fools"....I love that line from Jesus Christ Superstar...OK, that dates me, but what you have in the above image is a fools circle. If you have faith, you don't need a "Bible" and just having a "Bible" does not create faith. IF "god" is all powerful, all knowing and all loving, why does this "god" need a published document? Why does this "god" demand from inferiors such worship and groveling in fear and awe? Why does this "god" worry about sexual acts amongst it's created beings? Why would this "god" send its own creation to an eternal fiery place of pain and suffering because they don't believe? Substitute the word Koran for Bible in the above diagram and you are a Muslim Fundamentalist, aka terrorist. Are they going to the fiery place of pain and suffering because they follow their word of "god"?

Do you start to see the silliness in this yet? If you believe, and I do believe, in a "god", then what type of "god" is it? What all powerful being, who controls all life in its mind, NEEDS to be worshiped and praised? Does not this "god" know itself to be what it is? Is not self knowledge the first step in real knowledge? Why does "god" have to create creatures to bow before itself? Does an ALL POWERFUL "god" have to have minions (and in some cases millions of dollars) to tell others about itself and its power and might? What "god" do you believe in?

I am sorry if I offend you. If I offend you...move on..it's my blog, my ideas.

Oh, why do I use the word "god" in quotes and lower case, because I am using it as a noun, not as a proper name, so that it is applicable to any god you may believe, even if it is the god of absence. For anything that you place belief in, that becomes your god. Your life starts to center around the belief system and your behavior becomes your worship and ritual. By the way, I am writing a book, it is infallible because I say so, and well...you get the idea..I hope.

August 6-7, 2010

We left Friday Morning and were home Sunday afternoon. It was a nice break from the summer and made for a good photo event as well. So Let's get on with the photos!
This is where we stayed on Moonlight Drive in Cambria.

Our walk to the beech included some time for me to take some pictures of waves..yea..real creative! :)

Then on to art studios,


then off to Morro Bay,



Over to Paso Robles for....what are they??? OH yeah...WINERIES! A good friend of mine works here, and they do have some good wines too!



and of course some flowers!

August in the yard

Well August has arrived, even though I wished it to stay away...it means school (work) is starting soon! ANYWAY, here are a few pics of what is happening in the yard. To begin with, the peaches are ripening nicely this year. Due to the mellow summer, they are taking their time and getting some very pretty color to them!



As usual the smaller flowers are doing well, from Verbena to Zenias:



And my favorites, the Naked Ladies...yeap that is what they are called... really...




I love the back lighting on these, it was so pretty to see in the garden and I am glad that it showed through in the final photo as well. Well let it begin, only 6 more years left after this year...unless the Lottery helps me out REAL SOON!

Film!! YES FILM!!!!

OK. So I am old school (skool for those in that generation) and I LOVE using film over digital. Somehow to me the colors are a bit deeper and the whole concept of photography (the writing of light, photography photo-light, graph-to write)of light marring and engraving itself of various solutions of chemicals and then manipulated to reproduce an image is so much more magical to me than digital. I know, the idea that an image can be created from a series of Zeros and Ones is just as magical,the idea of the physical is lost to me. But I do like digital music over vinyl! lol

ONTO THE PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!!
I actually stole the idea of this picture. I have no idea of where I saw this, but I loved it, and the the opportunity arose with the wind blowing and the flags flying...SNAP!


Do you realize that the White House was the LARGEST HOUSE in the USA until the Golden Age in the 1880's! It is impressive!


The view is from the World War II Memorial, looking west across the reflecting pool...and yes it does reflect!


Closer.....


CLOSEST!


And these words speak for themselves! I an honored to have known some of these brave men and women. My father is one of them.

Washington DC

I was in Washington this past week to lobby for the Education Jobs Bill. This year over 200,000 teachers were laid off nation wide. Over 17,000 in California alone. While there, I brought both the film camera and the digital. Here are some pics from the Digital. The film I should have by the end of this week.

The Supreme Court Building. Being a Con Law Major, this was an awesome event for me!


Me pressing the case at the Court! OK, so I was just standing there...


Looking from the WWII War Memorial towards the Lincoln Memorial:


Mr. Lincoln himself, with Morning light shining into the memorial.


Inside the Library of Congress:


The Washington Monument with the early sun rising behind it. I like this one! :)



And looking back at the Washington Monument from the Lincoln Memorial:


And a view from the street of the US Capitol Building. (detail shot)

St. Paul's Outside the Walls

Though looking old, it is very new. the church burnt to the ground in the late 1800's and was rebuilt. The mosaics were picked from the rubble (mind you that is one tiny chip of stone) and reset anew in the Sanctuary of the Church, as well as all the portraits of the popes that surround the Nave of the structure. The outside is beautiful and the monastery attached to the rear of the church survived the fire and does date back to the middle ages. It is often refereed to as the "Forest of Columns" due to the number of columns in the nave. The windows are actually alabaster, sliced very thinly to allow the passage of light and give an aura of wonderful earth tones to the inside. Let the show begin!
Walking up to the Front of the Church:


The Statue of St. Paul that sets in the center of the court yard. In Rome you can tell statues by the symbols they carry. St. Peter has keys, St. Andrew the X cross and St. Paul by the Sword. Tradition has Paul be decapitated outside the city walls (thus this church at the supposed spot of his death being located outside the city walls) since he was a Roman Citizen, he could not be crucified.



the facade of the Church in the next two shots:



the entry doors to the Church:


the Nave:



the main Sanctuary Moasic

Detail:


and the wonderful windows!




Hope you enjoy these!