Day 4 - The Water Tower and the Sky

We are camped in a county park in Texas, just about a 1/4 mile or so from the Rio Grande with Mexico on the other side. The evenings here are so beautiful - shorts and shirt sleeve weather and clear skies with gorgeous sunsets.

There is a water tower on the property just west of us and it caught my eye against that beautiful deep blue twilight. We will not soon forget this place!

And the sprouts - they're growing gangbusters now. Should be ready to eat in a couple of days, maybe three...

Day 3 - Half a Pupil Clearer

I have an eye shade headband that I sleep with to keep the light out so I can sleep better (you’d be surprised how bright our van bedroom can be at night under a moon or a yard light or whatever, because of our plastic vent fan cover - it’s pretty translucent).

Anyway, I have a wide-band eye shade that covers the ears to purportedly keep the noise down as well, but it doesn’t help with noise at all. It’s wide enough that it has an inverted V-shaped cutout on the bottom edge in front, to accommodate my nose. It’s very comfortable and I sleep with it every night, and sometimes nap with it during the day.

Anyway, I awoke in the night not long ago and got up to use the bathroom and was surprised at how clearly I could read the numbers on the LED clock without my glasses on! OMG they were so clear and not much blurring at all. I thought I was dreaming at first. (really!)

Turns out, my eye shade headband was all twisted and out of place, (think: Uncle Tim Hair) and the edge of the V-shaped cutout was covering half of my eye (the other eye was covered completely). When I pulled the eye shade off, the numbers went full-blur again.

But now I know a neat trick - When I’m in bed or somewhere and my glasses are not easy to reach, if I need to read something I’ll hold my fingertip just in front of one eye, covering half of my pupil and voila - I can read things I otherwise wouldn’t be able to.

How cool is that?

I think it’s because of physics or optics or something.

And photo number 2 as expected shows the sprouts starting to sprout!

 

Day 2 - The Road Less Travelled

One thing we’ve discovered about ourselves is that we prefer taking the long way around, the lesser used side roads and backroads. 

This is the only way to see the real America. Small towns have so much more character than you will ever find on an interstate highway. 

Today’s photo is one such road in Texas, very near the Rio Grande and the Mexico border. You won’t see me getting a shot like this on a freeway. 

Also, here is Day 2 of the Alfalfa Sprouts. They’ve been rinsed and drained and should be sprouting soon. Check back tomorrow and maybe we’ll see some white poking out of them!

Day 1 - New Year, New 365 Project

And just like that, 2020 is in the past. A year that for many was the worst year they could remember. For Shannon and me it was definitely interesting but I think we were very fortunate regarding the pandemic in a number of ways:

1. It was our first full year of van life so social distancing was pretty easy. 

2. We were not affected by income problems from lack of work. 

3. And no one in our immediate family was stricken by it (knocking on wood this continues).

But now it’s time for a new year and a fresh start. So today’s post symbolizes new beginnings and new growth. We’re starting a batch of alfalfa sprouts! And it’s a bonus post too because there are two photos: the first one shows what all is needed to grow them and the second shows Step One being completed. 

Actually the first few blog posts of the year will show a bonus photo so we can watch the daily progress as the sprouts grow. The first step is to measure 2 tablespoons of alfalfa seeds into a mason jar and cover with water. 

That’s it - Tune in tomorrow to see what’s next. 

Click on the photo to see it full-size.

Fall in the Forest

At one point this was a daily photo blog. A 365. Now it's not quite once a year based on recent posts...
Anyway, this was shot the other day when we went for a hike at Mitchell Hill, one of our favorite places. We usually do mountain biking but this time we hiked. Beautiful place.

Click on the photo to see it full-size.

Mirror Calm

Wow it's been almost a year since I've posted on here. Been pretty busy with the San Juan Update I guess. Anyway, I thought I'd put something up. This is Little Sucia Island, as viewed from Fox Cove on Sucia Island. I woke up on the boat and all bleary eyed before coffee I went up on deck and shot a bunch of photos of the glass calm water. What a gorgeous morning!

A little while later as I was paddling my kayak around Little Sucia, cutting through that beautiful blue liquid, I was shouting in my head: "First tracks! I'm making first tracks!"

You probably had to be there, or be a skier to get it. But what a great morning it was. Mirror-calm water like this is my favorite.

Click on the photo to see it full-size.

First Crossing

I got the honor of shooting the album cover photo for my friend Tom Henry's new CD. This guy is an amazing guitar player and I jumped at the opportunity to work with him on this (although, I use the term "jumped" loosely - it took us a while to get our schedules aligned so that we could actually do it). But once we did, we met at his place where he has a beautiful pond in the front yard, with a little dock and rowboat... what a perfect setting for an album called "First Crossing".
Shot in nearly direct sunlight (above and right), there were a few wispy clouds, but the light was rather harsh with a couple of speedlights side by side on full power just out of view on the left.

Click on the photo to see it full-size.