D is for . . .deer . . .deerhound

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Image and definition 'sampled' from: 
Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language; copyright 1989.


Back to the animals . . .a 'two-fer' this time...

deer, n., pl,  deer, (occasionally) deers. 1. any
 of several ruminants of the family Cervidae, most of
 the males of which have solid, deciduous horns or
 antlers. ...

...and

deer-hound, n, one of a Scottish breed of large dogs
 having a shaggy, gray, or brindled coat.


A mention of deer (or "occasionally deers") seems appropriate at this time of year as the species Rangifer tarandus, reindeer, comes easily to mind now.

While deerhound reminds me of an old British mystery tale, featuring the mysterious moors surrounding a medieval castle.


Next up . . .the letter 'E ... e '..!!



...tom...

Colors of the fruits...

...
And the sleeping blog in the heartland awakens again...


Had the camera with me ...wifey stopped at the grocery store ...killing some time...

All unedited, 'natural' grocery-store light.

Big fun.

...tom...

Portraits ... by Steve McCurry

...
We have all probably seen her picture. First published in June 1985 as the cover photograph for National Geographic magazine, her beautiful—yet haunting—eyes fix on us. Disheveled hair frames her life-weary face. Cloth wraps round her, covering her head and upper body, ragged holes worn through, telling us these eyes have seen too much. No smile, no frown, no emotion visible. Just ...those ...eyes.

--snip--

In the 200-plus photographs that fill this book, it is the portraits of the children that catch my eye, my emotions. Many of the photos of the adults are richly ornate, decorated for some purpose in their life, either by garb, by possessions, by tattoos, or by the way they have learned to pose their body.

But the children are, for the most part, pure and unadorned. Some are obviously loved and protected. Others appear to be more vulnerable. But all share the exuberance of youth, the joy of the moment, the anticipation of the future that youth brings to the soul.


This is not a book of glamour, though some pictures are of costumed and bejeweled individuals. This is not a book of portraits of rich and famous white people. (Although there is one famous, elegant white guy.) This is a book of portraits of 'people of color', the citizens of the Third World. People surviving. The few pictures of young white people here in the US are almost all portraits of individuals screaming for attention with their tattoos, animals, and hair styles. It is almost embarrassing.

--snip--


See my Epinions.com post here, Portraits / A journey into the soul, to read my complete review of this wonderful book of Steve McCurry's photographs.



...tom...

Random Pics 2011

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Random pics taken in fall/winter 2010 and 2011

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A white moth resting on a window screen, strongly backlit with outdoor light.

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A bee gets his pollen on at a flower in our yard.

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A barbed wire fence at a local farm.

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A pre-storm evening shortly before sunset.

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A praying mantis found in our front yard while mowing. Luckily I saw him before I ran over him..!!

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I will leave this one for you to 'figger out' what it is and how it was taken...



...tom...
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China: Portrait of a People

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Her people number over 1.3 billion ...one of every five humans lives here. Fifty-six distinct ethnic groups are spread patchwork-like across the thirty-three provinces of the fourth-largest country in the world. From subtropical jungles to seemingly endless deserts, from Mount Everest to the border of frozen Russian Siberia, the people of China are as diverse as its landscapes and climates.

After two years of living in China, on the Yellow River Delta and in the capital of Beijing, photojournalist Tom Carter felt he was missing "a connection with its people." So he challenged himself to journey through all the provinces of China and "find out all (he) could about the Chinese themselves."

Photo credit: Blacksmith Books @ blacksmithbooks.com

"Tramping" across China by any means of transportation available, including walking, Carter claims to have "(visited) more than one third of China's cities and villages." That seems a bit exaggerated ...but perhaps there are far fewer villages and small cities than I realize.



Read the rest of my thoughts about China: Portrait of a People
at Epinions dot com.



...tom...
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Bird ... Power, grace, beauty...

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It is said that if birds knew what they were doing ...they would fall from the sky like rocks. That they do not is a tribute to the efficiency of intelligent design or evolution ...take your pick.

Photo credit: gaetanlee via Wikimedia Commons

...

Continuing in the vein of 'capturing nature' comes Andrew Zuckerman with his signature white backgrounds, and his skill in capturing the beauty and essence of his subjects. While Audubon seemed to want to educate his viewers about lands and animals previously unseen, Zuckerman seems to want to wow today's jaded viewer with the power and beauty of the animals alone.


Bird is a coffee-table book featuring his artistic photographs of dozens of bird species. While Zuckerman has tackled other subjects in other books, his topic here is the beauty and diversity of birds.


Read the rest of my review at Epinions dot com. (...and trust me, you will find no 'rubber duckies' in this excellent coffee-table book..!!)



...tom...

Going to space..!!

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Technology today continues to amaze.

I mean, when you or I or any group can (with enough planning and preparation) send a video camera into space and return it safely (hopefully..!!) to Earth ...well, what is not possible..?!?


Too cool.

Homemade Spacecraft from Luke Geissbuhler on Vimeo.

Make sure you check the perpetrators homepage at Brooklyn Space Program dot org for more information and views of the flight.


Too cool . . .wait; I already said that.


...tom...

So close ...so far.

...

Photo credit: The Big Picture, boston.com, June 30, 2010

A young woman lies on the grave of an American soldier killed in Afghanistan.

Sister, girlfriend, fiance, wife, stranger..?? Who knows.


Perhaps only in sleep, in the darkness of a daydream with eyes closed, perhaps only there does the sun really shine.


Incredible picture, incredibly sad.


Faces of the Fallen, The Washington Post
Lance Cpl. Noah M. Pier


...tom...
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I am bored...

...
I am bored...

So I downloaded some recent photos and will share.

I know, I know: how exciting...

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Let's roll..!!

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Oooooh..!! Shiny..!!

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Too bright, my eyes hurt..!!

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...round and round and round we go.

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The big yellow ball 'shadows' the big red ball...

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You surely have figured out where we were early that morning...


...tom...

Route 66 Backroads || journeys from 'the Mother Road'

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'Route 66'

The name conjures an icon of the American way of life: always on the road seeking the next grand vista ...the next travel adventure, breaking through all obstacles of geography, climate, and native populations unfortunate enough to stand in the way of manifest destiny.

As the Old West and the frontier vanished and the automobile became a fixture in American life, Route 66 became the 'Mother Road' of the American dream. "From Chicago to Santa Monica, Route 66 Backroads takes you on a tour of the Main Street of America and beyond."

Image source: kbeeg at flickr.com

... snip ...

The Bottom Line
So how does Backroads work, as a total package..??

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...Read the rest of the review at my Epinions dot com review page.


...tom...
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Zeus' thunderbolts

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The Greek god Zeus is considered the king of all the gods. Zeus rules Mount Olympus and bears the thunderbolt as but one symbol of his power and glory.


When Mother Nature looses her thunderbolts on us I am always reminded of Zeus and the ancient Greek gods.





The pic above is from The Big Picture, a 'photo blog' found at Boston.com, the website presence of The Boston Globe newspaper. Once again they excel at collecting and presenting a number of photographs capturing a single subject or topic.


This time they turn their attention to the force of nature we know as lightning. The results are stunning. You really need to take a look if you appreciate the beauty of nature, particularly as expressed by the beauty, power, and portent of terror found in lightning.


...tom...
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OMG ... I have...

...
Oh my gawd..!!

Three straight 'picture posts'..!!

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I have turned into a . . .gasp ...'photoblog'..!!


For someone who likes to think he can turn a phrase (even if laboured to do so) or recognize a good phrase elsewhere . . .this is almost embarrassing to me.


. . . ...sigh...


...tom...
' and no..!! No dang photos this post..!!'
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Nine on the ninth__June

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OK, OK. I am trying to catch up. I may even get July's nine on the ninth done in the correct month. But first, to make short order of June's late entry...


Once again, in the tradition that is 'nine on the ninth' ...lets 'git 'r done'.





Prepping our son's old bedroom walls before repainting. We painted over old paneling years ago. Yeah, we hand-painted those stripes, the grooves in the paneling that was in place ...on two walls. Luckily the closet and built-in dresser (shown here) and the doorway took up much of the walls. I just remember it being a pain in the arse ...what were we thinking..?!?

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A summer meal for friends and family: grilled bacon-wrapped steaks and stuffed jalapeno peppers, fruit salad, vegetable salad, pasta salad ...and, of course, a nice bottle of red wine. Yummy ...as I remember anyway. (And I forget what was for dessert ...if anything.)

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An interesting pattern of lines, curves, light and dark on a curtain strongly lit from behind by the setting sun. The color is slightly off ...but still interesting to me.

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What is up with these larger 'puffy Cheetos' that are out there now..?? Why are the bags not marked to indicate they hold the larger size..??

By the way, the Cheetos dot com site is real slow loading for my DSL connection ...I finally gave up. Might be a good test of your connection speed.

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Chopped onions and knife.

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Interesting parallel lines in the center frame of a sliding glass window.

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Two photos of 'stuff on the kitchen floor'. Hmmm, given the usual 'state' of our kitchen maybe I should make that a formal tag.


Top is a bag of spilled 'waffle pretzels'. What you get when you pull the bag out of the cupboard upside down ... with no clip in place. Yeah, my bad.


The other is a single frozen pea that fell on the floor. Once again, the patterns and colors caught my attention.

---

So there we have it, yet again. About a month late, but hey, it is about 'git 'r done', even if much later than planned.


...tom...
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Nine on the Ninth__May

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OK, OK. It is a blog, not like it is national defense surveillance or your computer's virus checker. So it is a little late. Better than other things that can be late..!!


In the tradition that is 'nine on the ninth' ...lets 'git 'r done'.





Some early flowers that are planted alongside our main driveway. Always a bright way to arrive at or depart from the homestead...

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While red and yellow seem to dominate this particular garden bed (if only because they are the youngest daughter's school colors...) there are some other colors mixed in there.

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This crabapple tree and its flowers were featured in last year's Crabapple Glory Days post.

These pics were captured after an early evening rain with the sun coming out later to highlight the water drops and colors. As I said last year, our two crabapple trees are gloriously colorful about two days each spring. ...sigh...

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These were after another early evening rainsquall passed through. As the sun sank low in the west I knew there must be a potentially good rainbow in the east. Voilà..!! I did not even see the second rainbow, trying to form, until I downloaded the pics later.

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A local barn and house now form the anchor of a city park in a nearby community. Maintained by the Johnston Historical Society in Johnston, Iowa, the buildings, the windmill captured here, and a small pond/lake make a great inner-city retreat. Of course, inner-city means something much different in Johnston, Iowa than it does elsewhere..!!

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...and number nine: a flag flapping gently in the breeze on Memorial Day, 2009.

This flag is one we purchased from a 9/11 memorial event in our area several years ago. There are more pictures here and an essay on my Epinions page that explains more about the event and its meaning to me.


So there we have it ...a month late, but hey, it is about 'git 'r done', even if much later than planned.


...tom...
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Nine on the Ninth__April

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Nine on the ninth . . .just a few days late.

Lets get started..!!



Bottles of wine, on the shelf, waiting to be drank... Yes, I have told the wifey they should probably be on their sides, ..no..??

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Chocolate Easter eggs in the bag. Family and friends got rid of most of the 'junk food' that day and the rest went to workplaces to be shared the next day. Certainly do not need it in the house..!!

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Three shots follow of a spider found in our basement. He was dropping on a thread from the rafter. But about a foot from the floor he began a long climb back up. Not sure what the white stuff he is carrying with him is. I assume it is the 'silk' that he was stringing out, dropping on, and then climbing back up.

The last shot is of him 'resting' on the rafter after climbing back up.

The middle shot is probably the best 'real life colors' pic of him.

Spiders creep me out ...yet fascinate me at the same time.

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My favorite t-shirt. An old softball fundraiser shirt bought from a team in Georgia, as I remember. Baggy, full of holes, a worn-out rag my wife threatens to throw away every time it is in the laundry.

She would not do that to my favorite shirt . . .would she..?!?

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Springtime cometh..!! Perennials (irises..??) ..sprout along the fenceline of our property...

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I just love the colors of this one. Have no idea what the plant is, but it looks great with the blue pots.

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One more reminder that time stops for no one. As evidenced by the slight blur of the pendulum as it swings back and forth, back and forth, back and ....

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Anyway. That is it. Nine for the ninth ...late in the evening of the 14th. Better than last month ... and not bad considering my daughter had our camera (for some reason) for too long the past month.

Until next month..!!



...tom...
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