Not your Mama!

This baby bird is not the bird you would think at first glance. The larger bird, a (House or Purple) Finch, is actually being fed by the smaller, a Chipping Sparrow. I think the Sparrow felt sorry for the baby Finch and became either an adopted parent or a babysitter. If the Sparrow hopped one way the Finch would follow, all over the yard.

Little snake

I saw this little one hanging outside the back door. I put the camera down to its level and it began to "check" the lens out. It is hard to tell from this image, but it is sitting in some pebbles about an inch or so in diameter, and it, itself, was about as big as a pencil. After I got a good shot of it I shooed it away so it would not get trampled.

Intergrade Admiral (Limenitis arthemis)

A not so unusual guest stopped by for dinner yesterday. There are many flying guests for dinner, but this was a welcomed sight. This butterfly is an intergraded between a White Admiral (Limenitis arthemis arthemis) and a Red-Spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis astyanax).

Day of Blogs Wordie

All these words had something to do with the posts I wrote for this year's Day of Blogs ("alterna-thon" to the Blogathon). So far I raised $80 for the Sera Je (Buddhist) Monastery's food fund; $10 feeds a monk for a day.

White Rose of Sharon

Veins popping like well worn hands, sturdy, yet to the touch, silk. Bursting with life today only to wither and fall tomorrow. Another one ready to take its place.

My Backyard

Even though today is the Day of Blogs and I have been posting every half hour since 09:00 EST, I managed to go outside and make 36 photographs.

train

I do not know what it is about trains, but I love hearing them roll by. This train is taking coal to a nearby power plant and is on the track that runs close to my house. I usually can hear the whistle blow through the forest behind my house.

Donkeys and A Horse

Driving to my brother's house I have to pass the Green Acres Farm, where there is always a variety of animals milling about. I did not even notice the babies in the mix until they spread out a bit.

Abandoned on Transit Road

There are a series of houses on Transit Road in Amherst, New York and this one is by far my favourite. This house reminds me of The Amityville Horror (1979) house, without the creepy double windows near the roof line. I still want to get a few more shots since this one does not show the "lack of" roof well enough.

Electric Lines

Some crazy storms offered a gloomy, yet dramatic shot out a car window while riding in a car at 50 mph. Behind the tower and poles is a quarry, but it is a bit far in the distance. I take my camera just about everywhere, and try not to miss an opportunity.

Charity Event

It is that time of year again, but the official Blogathon will not be held. Instead a group of us have joined together creating a low tech event called the Day of Blogs happening this Saturday, July 26 from 09:00 EST until 09:00 EST Sunday, July 27 (24 hours posting every half an hour). Low tech means there will not be a sign up page for sponsors like previous years, but there is an official event website, http://www.dayofblogs.org/.

This year I will be blogging for donations to the
Sera Je Food Fund.

"At present, the food fund provides three meals daily for all 2,600 monks living at Sera Je Monastery. As more monks arrive, the need for nutritious meals increases daily." Source

Donations, at the end of the event, can be made through my event blog, Feed A Monk, at the link to the right titled Make A Donation. If you are planning to make a donation please email your name or a name to be displayed and the total dollar amount to jprintup@gmail.com (or reply to this post), so your donation can appear in the Supporters section [ASAP - please]. Even if you do not wish to or cannot contribute financially, but have a minute to stop by my event blog Saturday, leave a comment.

Thank you very much.

Baby Rabbit

The influx of baby critters is increasing. This baby rabbit is hopefully the last remaining baby from a nest I found in my front yard. I had to bury 3 of 4 from that nest, but I never found the last one. This baby is right about the correct size, adjusting for a bit of growth. The larger rabbit is a regular visitor and based on the observation, could be a parent. That rabbit chases away any other rabbits except this baby.

Baby

Every year we have Northern Cardinals take up residence in our Pine trees and raise a family. This photo is one of two babies I spotted today. It appears to be holding a Black Oil Sunflower seed in its mouth. Two days a go the babies were having a flying lesson near the feeder. I suppose they are now big enough to become regulars like their parents.

From this image I cannot tell if this bird will be a male or female, but as soon as it is mature enough it will be easy to tell.

Bewley Building, Market Street

Riding in the car with my Mom, coming home from the library, we were stopped at a traffic light next to the Bewley building. This shot is just above the street level shops. [I am obsessed with patterns and repetition.]

Noodles

I absolutely love noodles, especially サッポロ一番のきつねうどん (Sapporo Ichiban's Kitsune); even if they are instant. I do not know what it is about the noodle I find so fascinating, besides taste. Maybe it is securing the slippery noodles in chopsticks or slurping the noodles themselves.

Radiohead - "House of Cards"

Directed by James Frost
From the album IN RAINBOWS


"House of Cards" is an example of the direction I hope to branch off into: Computer Art, Visualization, Processing. Basically it means using code to create visuals.

Dusty Innards

My first experience with internal computer hardware went successfully. Pictured is the, then dusty, inner configurations of my younger brother's computer with a broken CD R/RW drive. After a good dusting, the new drive is happy in it's new environment. Now figuring out the new software and burning a disk is the next challenge.

Adjacent Series

Some proofs for a new series involving images captured one after the other. These are screenshots taken from my iPhoto Gallery and are not resized or retouched. I am intrigued by how my thought process is captured as I figure how to compose an image or if I cannot make up my mind I will make each photograph.

Discarded

These flowers cast off from their stems, fell in a row, remind me of vertebrae with the straw wildly mimicking ribs. Ants and other insects have been eating this Yucca plant before it had a chance to fully bloom this year.


Then while checking on a newly planted tree, I found a hole an animal dug revealing a section of fish vertebrae. After loading my photos I found an eerie similarity.

Drying

It poured yesterday for quite a while in the morning -- great for the garden. I found strange patterns in the street while retrieving the newspaper. The pavement was drying from the cracks outward or so it seemed.

The First Radish

I was weeding the garden yesterday and also pulled a radish. After it stops pouring today I should go pick some more as there are more ready. I do not think I ever grew radishes before (it would have had to be a long time ago), but these grew awesome. I cannot wait until the rest of the vegetables are ready: tomatoes, zucchini, and potatoes.

The Blue Ring

The Blue Ring (2008) is a silent film revealing the joys of a well loved birthday present. Quickly shot with a digital camera and edited with iMovie, this film has a run time of 2:11:09 minutes.

The Hopper and The Sunflower

I was intrigued about the colour composition and repeating shapes of this sunflower blowing in the wind. This ended up being a testament to colour and shape than to the crisp, clear image most would desire. Blur has a way of invoking the dreamy, surreal nature behind the immediate world and forces the viewer to cast aside what should be, for what truly is.

DSCN8843 [7.6.8]

This is a Northern Leopard Frog
(Rana pipiens) who has been living in my garden or at least visiting everyday that I am outside. It is under the same tomato plant in the shade -- probably waiting for me to water the garden with a cool shower. It does not seem afraid of this big human getting fairly close with the camera. Maybe this is because I take a photo of it every time I see it, just because I can.

Play time

My kids, Rocky (top) and Squeaky (bottom), turned 6 on May 28. PetSmart send birthday cards with coupons for a free toy each. After a bag of food, and I am talking the 18 lb. bag, and the ring toy (featured), I got a whole bag of toys free. (I saved the bag for later.) These two cannot get enough of the ring toy, and they will even play together -- normally the only "togetherness" is Rocky trying to wrestle with his sister, who screams because she does not like to wrestle. I even have some video of them playing so "nicely" together. When the games were, they both took naps.

Dusting off an Old Blog

I have started and stopped many projects over the years at various blog sites across the web. Now I am about to embark on another such adventure, and plan to revamp this space into a daily, yes I said daily, project. I already have a daily photo project (Project 365) going strong in its almost 4 months of existence.

Maybe I will talk about a photo taken for the Project 365, write a poem or flash fiction, post a vegan recipe, document the weather, or whatever happens to pop in my head at the moment I sit to write.