August Ends...Autumn Begins

As the hazy, hot and humid days of summer come to a close, the autumnal winds blew in on this last day of August.

31 August 2009 Photo: Old McDonald Had A Farm

Today has been absolutely crazy as I get ready to head back on the road tomorrow. I haven't had a lot of time to take pictures today so this little cow magnet caught my eye as I was cleaning off the table. Hey everyone need their 15 minutes of fame!

30 August 2009 Photo: Barely There

The Japanese beetles have been going to town on my grape leaves. Here is a mere shell of a leaf after they had a lovely dinner out.

29 August 2009 Photo: X Rated Mosquitoes

It was kind of a dreary day out...rain, cold, lazy. I didn't venture outside much except to see District 9. It was Bill's turn to pick the movie...let's just say that he enjoyed it more than I did. These mosquitoes sort of reminded me of the aliens. I am not sure what they are doing but it certainly looks intimate.

28 August 2009 Photo(s): Alternate Universe

Bill thinks the first one looks like a star field. I just like playing with fire!

27 August 2009 Photo: Fall Is Coming

The humidity is finally gone and the fall seems to have arrived - at least temporarily. I woke up this morning with a chill in the air and mist coming off the water. I am eager for the fall as it is my favorite time of the year but sad to see the long days of summer come to end.

26 August 2009 Photo: Fly Away Home

If you have ever read the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach, you will understand why this photo reminds me of that story. It is one of my favorite stories about finding greater meaning in life. If you have not read it, check it out.

25 August 2009 Photo: Le Petit Moo

My Mini Moo Cards arrived and they are super cute. I took a selecion of my photos and put them on the moo cards with my info on the back because everyone keeps telling me I should think about doing photography on the side. So I figure this is a relatively inexpensive way to do it and see if I have any takers. If you want your own Moo Cards, check out there website here: http://us.moo.com/en/ They are great quality and you can get, mini cards, regular business cards, post cards and other things. They were started in England but the US store is based in RI - what could be better than that!

24 August 2009 Photo: Bendy Wendy House

Travel season is about to start and I am feeling like Wendy in Wonderland. I am about to slip down the rabbit hole to Road Warrior World. I will be sure to keep my eye out for the March Hare, the Mad Hatter and of course the Chesire Cat grinning at me as I make my way to the Study Abroad Tea Parties. Gotta go...I'm late...I'm late for a very important date!

23 August 2009 Photo: Blowing In The Wind

Wind chimes hang all over our yard much to Bill's dismay. It is not that he doesn't like them, it is just sometimes when it is very windy, they will wake him up. I love them in all sizes, sounds and designs! Here is the website of an amazing windchime artist: http://www.coastchimes.com/index.html

22 August 2009 Photo: To Infinity And Beyond

One of members in the Syracuse Photographers Association took a picture like this a few weeks ago and I really liked the image. When I was at the farmers' market this morning, I remembered it and took a few of my own. It was nice because I was there early enough that there were not very many people around. I love the infinite feeling of the lines. So thanks to Chris for scouting out an interesting photo op!

21 August 2009 Photo: Distorted Memories

So I today I found out that one of my photos had been accepted and won (something) for the NY State Fair. I am just thrilled. I don't know yet what it has won as it could be anything from honorable mention to first place. Whatever it is, I am so excited as there are many people that enter the fair contest. I remember the only other photography contest that I entered was in high school at our local library and I got an honorable mention for a photo titled Beach Fronds. It is ironic because the picture that was chosen and won for this contest is also taken at a beach. I guess the beach is truly a magical place for me both in reality and in photographs.

The photo chosen is actually a former "photo of the day" from back in January - it is the second picture here: http://wide-angle-lens.blogspot.com/2009/01/27-january-2009-photos-serinity-by-sea.html It has been this blog that has really gotten me back into photography and has pushed me to really think about how I can make this hobby a more integral part of my life again. It also led me to joining the Syracuse Photography Association which is filled with amazingly talented people who share great feedback and advice.

So if you are in the area of central NY, come to the fair and check out the photo exhibit!

20 August 2009 Photo: Lazy Lady

Here is a ladybug haiku:

Little ladybug
taking a nap on the leaf
wind comes, she flies off

19 August 2009 Photo: Bless This Garden

The garden has been overrun by weeds. Maybe we if pray, they will stop growing. Probably not but Bill put this Celtic cross in the garden before the weeds came. Perhaps the clover is growing more because of the cross. I guess I just have to go out there and pull them!

18 August 2009 Photo: The Last Of The Lilies

Between this extended heat and the end of their season...my daylilies are just about spent. Here is one last one before they succumb to their end of days.

17 August 2009 Photo(s): Katy Or Charlie

So those of you who check out the blog regularly may recall when I was "Chasing Charlie" a couple weeks ago. I thought that Charlie was a grasshopper but I think I am guilty of mis-labeling this insect. After stalking these bright green creatures all summer (http://wide-angle-lens.blogspot.com/search/label/grasshopper) I finally did a litte research because this latest one was making this strange clicking sound (singing) when Bill found it. Apparently it is related to the grasshopper so I wasn't completely wrong, but it is a katydid.

Anyway, Katy became my model and found herself on assignment in our yard. So do you think this is the same katydid whose picture I first took in early July and late July? I think I see the same sparkle in her/his eye. :)

To find out more about the katydid, check this out http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/true_katydid.htm.

Oh and the coolest thing...there are bright pink katydids. They look like flamingodids. http://scienceblogs.com/zooillogix/2009/02/rare_pink_katydids.php. I hope I find one of those someday!

16 August 2009 Photo(s): Fields Of Gold

I went to the sunflower fields in Camillus again this year. I went several times last year when they had the sunflower maze. This year, since there has been so much rain and less sun, the flowers did not get as tall so I think they decided just to have these amazing fields of gold. They were still gorgeous but not quite as tall as last year and no maze. But if you are looking for a cool place to see thousands of sunflowers, the Veterans Memorial Park in Camillus is the place to go. It is free to park and walk around and the flowers are at their peak right now.

15 August 2009 Photo(s): Photo Group Outing

Today I went on my first outing with the the Syracuse Photographers Association, a group I joined last month on www.meetup.com. It is a very active group of local photographers (some pros and some hobby photogs). The online connections were great but it was wonderful to meet people who are also obsessed with photography.

Today we went to the Seward House in Auburn, NY. It is a great museum of a house built in 1816 (just around the time our house was built). It is like stepping back in time to see the antique furniture and collections. You can check out more info here: http://www.sewardhouse.org/house/

The first 2 images are from the house and the last one is from an old abandoned factory I passed on the way home.

14 August 2009 Photo: Stars And Stripes

Metal flags make a lot of noise when it is windy!

13 August 2009 Photo: Hard & Soft & Fuzzy

Hard wood...soft colors...fuzzy weed!

12 August 2009 Photo: Nearly Salsa

So I planted a whole bunch of tomato plants this year so I can continue to make my own salsa. They are finally getting red. Here is the first specimen!

11 August 2009 Photo: Geronimo!

This phone made me think of people yell Geronimo when they jump from high places, which then got me thinking about where did that come from. So I did a quick search on line and found the following:

"The 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment's motto and slogan was named after Geronimo. In 1940, the night before their first mass jump, U.S. paratroopers at Fort Benning watched the 1939 film Geronimo, in which the actor playing Geronimo yells his name as he leaps from a high cliff into a river, depicting a real-life escape Geronimo successfully attempted in which he jumped off Medicine Bluff into the Medicine Creek with his Cadillac horse. Private Aubrey Eberhardt announced he would shout the name when he jumped from the airplane to prove he was not scared. The trend has since caught on elsewhere, becoming widely associated with any sort of high jump in popular culture."

10 August 2009 Photo: "Beach" Blanket Bingo

I have my niece for a couple of days and today we went to the "beach" since it was the hottest day of the summer. Beach is in quotations marks because as someone who grew up at the ocean, I still can't seem to buy that water and sand at a lake or reservoir is truly a beach. I mean really...where are the waves, seaweed, saltwater? There are seagulls but they are just looking for dumb people who leave food open on their blankets so they can steal it.

9 August 2009 Photo: Prickly But Pretty And Purple

We have a fair amount of thistle growing in our yard so in staying with yesterday theme of Scotland, I decided ot make the national flower of this country the subject of today's photo of the day.

8 August 2009 Photo(s): The Scottish/Redneck Games

So today we went to the Scottish Games/Celtic Festival and the Redneck Games. Separated by only a few miles, I am not sure I can tell the difference between the two games.

It seemed like there were a lot of men throwing things that probably shouldn't have been thrown (heavy weights by the Scots and hubcaps by the Rednecks). They both had music, food (with long lines) and beer. Both groups where wearing unusual clothes by main stream standards. I must say that the music at the Scottish Games was better and the humor factor at the Redneck Games was slightly higher. All in all, there were different cultures experience today.

7 August 2009 Photo: Polka Dots & Stripes

I just liked the different patterns on the pots.

6 August 2009 Photo(s): Old School Brownies

I decided to take a few cameras from my collection outside for a photo shoot today. Here are a couple of images that I liked. I have over 20 old school cameras that I have collected over the years. I would love to find a way to take some pictures with them. It is crazy to think that this was the technology back in the day compared to what we have today. Who knows what the future will bring?

5 August 2009 Photo: Roaming Gnomes

As I was walking through my yard, I found this little gnome hiding in the greens. Perhaps with the bad economy, Travelocity had to let him go. Is no one safe???

4 August 2009 Photo: Sailors Take Warning

Is the saying true?

In order to understand why “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning” can predict the weather, we must understand more about weather and the colors in the sky.

Usually, weather moves from west to east, blown by the westerly trade winds. This means storm systems generally move in from the West.

The colors we see in the sky are due to the rays of sunlight being split into colors of the spectrum as they pass through the atmosphere and ricochet off the water vapor and particles in the atmosphere. The amounts of water vapor and dust particles in the atmosphere are good indicators of weather conditions. They also determine which colors we will see in the sky.

During sunrise and sunset the sun is low in the sky, and it transmits light through the thickest part of the atmosphere. A red sky suggests an atmosphere loaded with dust and moisture particles. We see the red, because red wavelengths (the longest in the color spectrum) are breaking through the atmosphere. The shorter wavelengths, such as blue, are scattered and broken up.

Red sky at night, sailors delight.When we see a red sky at night, this means that the setting sun is sending its light through a high concentration of dust particles. This usually indicates high pressure and stable air coming in from the west. Basically good weather will follow.

Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning. A red sunrise reflects the dust particles of a system that has just passed from the west. This indicates that a storm system may be moving to the east. If the morning sky is a deep fiery red, it means a high water content in the atmosphere. So, rain is on its way.

The above is from http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/weather-sailor.html

3 August 2009 Photo: That's Corny

Corn season in central NY...there is nothing like fresh picked sweet corn!

2 August 2009 Photo: The Itsy Bitsy Spider

...went up the water spout. He lost his grip and fell in the flower pollen.

1 August 2009 Photo: Ithaca IS Gorges

I ventured down to Ithaca today with my friend Patty. She and I worked at Cornell together and she was in the area visiting for the weekend. We headed down to some of our old haunts on campus and in Ithaca, including Treman State Park (which has some of the best waterfalls in Central NY). It is days like this that I miss Ithaca more than ever. The gorges are just amazing and I have so many fond memories of hiking and swimming there with friends. It truly is gorges!