Road Trip: OHIO 2012

The last time I managed a trip to Ohio was in May 1999. Lockheed sent me to Pittsburgh to coordinate a demonstration we were putting on at US Airways. It would have been a one day trip but I took advantage of the Memorial Day weekend to visit a couple of days in Malvern before flying back to Atlanta. It was a low-key visit since I was traveling alone, but it is fondly remembered. This trip was a much larger production, but it too is fondly remembered. Cathie and I drove Mom up to Malvern for the Furey family reunion and had a wonderful visit.

Trips to Ohio for us were always "trips to the farm".  After so many years away it's no surprise that things have changed, but there are some constants. This is Don letting his four (?) year old granddaughter "drive" the tractor. (Note the ATV near the trees near the far end of the pasture.) For me, it was Uncle Arthur letting me drive his John Deer on the farm.

A carload of kids making circuits of the pasture is another constant. The driver here is Teddy. Lisa is holding Janie in her lap. Amy and her friend Shawn are in the back. I heard someone asking Shawn how he would explain breaking an arm or something on his vacation from Alaska. I can hear it now: "I was in a car crash -  the driver was 7 years old and. . ."                (Note Joe on the ATV in the background.)

These two are the second-oldest and second-youngest attendees at the reunion. Mom lost out to Aunt Mary, and Janie lost out to Milo. They're probably commiserating over their bad luck. Mom is Janie's great-great aunt.

After the kid-games came the prizes. Liz was a fine Game-Master. I failed to ascertain whether this is a perennial function for her or the job rotates among her siblings and/or cousins. I did ask Diane about her job, however; she is regularly in charge of the Furey Trivia game, which ended in its first tie this year.

Then there was the tug o' war. I'm not sure whether Ann actually ran that or was simply a booster. The team on the left won, which shouldn't have surprised anyone. My zoom lens couldn't catch everyone in one shot but, unless I botched the team shots, the gang on the left had 11 and the one on the right had 9. That nobody questioned either the set-up or the result is a tribute to the renowned Furey equilibrium.

Don had the Official Reunion Photograph all planned out and well in hand, so I just took a few shots of the family getting ready for it. I trust Don or Marilyn will disseminate the Official Reunion Photograph in the near future - hint, hint.

But, when all is said and done, I venture to say that Nick (above) and Zeke (below) will probably remember making circuits in the pasture from the time they could reach the pedals. Anyway, these kids are HAPPY.

The reunion brings to mind many of our childhood memories but, beyond that, there's real history on hand. The reunion winding down, Don is putting things in order. I understand Uncle Louis bought the Brockway tractor in 1949 and at some stage during its 63 years it merited this beautiful Furey restoration. The wagon was retrieved from the Wernet farm before it was sold and, likewise, it underwent a similarly fine restoration. The bill of sale for the wagon was found and showed that Austin bought it in Malvern in ____.

The reunion was great fun and visiting cousins and in-laws for the first time in over a decade (and meeting many of them for the first time ever) was just what I needed. I'll post a few more pictures in the next couple of days.

HDR On The Guadalupe

Well, I found the photographs I'd taken on the Guadalupe in late December 2005. Gillian and I were driving down to San Antonio for Ellen's and Stan's New Year celebration and we took a detour to Guadalupe River State Park. Several of my siblings had camped out there recently and I'd never been. It seemed like a good time to check it out.

Late December would be considered off-season in any universe so I didn't know what to expect. The park itself was different enough that, even after spending a couple hours taking pictures, I wasn't sure I'd have any pictures to get excited about. Eventually, after I got home and reviewed the pics on the computer, I was more than happy. Now, six and a half years later, I'm really happy I decided to stop enroute to SA.

I took this one straight-on to the near vertical wall across the river. The reflection is interesting but, except for the river surface, the two-dimensional quality of the image is what does it for me.

These two (above and below) are among my favorite all-time efforts. The serpentine roots of these cypress trees provide such intricate detail, an observer can easily lose himself in the image. The reflection of the sky by the river made for a surprising blue-green hue which perfectly complements the warm tones of cypress needles.

I like being able to study the textural detail "close-up" in this last one. The color of the submerged rocks somehow brought out the rusty tones late December in Texas take on, again, working so well with the blue-green highlights in the water.

In case you're wondering, I'm really liking this HDR stuff. . .

I Haven't Given Up. . .

It's been an interesting month or so. My cataract surgery was a great success - my two running lights match now. I can drive without glasses; my reading/computer glasses are standard (i.e., I don't have to remove one lens anymore). I had a minor medical problem that required daily visits to the doctor for a month. That was the result of ignoring the problem while I attended to the cataract. The 8:00 AM visits are finally over with; that's a good thing since I never managed to shift my bedtime when I started getting up with the sun. The sleep deficit was killing me. Clearing all that from my calendar will let me give the dentist his turn.

I'm still enamored with High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography and I have been practicing. Yesterday Mom and I went to Mayfield Park, down by the river near Laguna Gloria. We'd been there before to be entertained by the peacocks, which are still the main attraction. Of course, since they have the run of the place, you have to track them down when you get there. But that's not as difficult as you might imagine. If they're already performing for other park visitors, chances are one or more of the "screamers" will give away their location. I knew they could be loud, but apparently one has become a mime as well. In this case, the screams suggested suggested Freddie Kruger was working mayhem right here in River City. That they were interspersed with very convincing cries for "HELP" might well have had the APD Tactical Squad fanning out across the park landscape had they been paying attention.

Then, of course, when we came upon the scene of the supposed massacre, we found library-quiet fowl - butter wouldn't melt in their mouths. No forensic evidence within miles of this idyll and none of these birds were inclined to be stool pigeons.

I was pleased, however, to be drawn by the birds to a corner of the park I'd missed on previous visits - and three very pleasant lilly ponds. These first three HDR efforts were effected from three single pictures, the under and over exposures necessary for HDR created on the computer rather than being shot under and over exposed on site. This method's not as satisfactory as 3 to 5 shots per HDR image, but it allows me to practice. . . and I can go back later and re-shoot in the accustomed manner.

You can compare the shot above with my "cover photo" on Facebook to see the difference between "normal" shots and HDR images.

If this one looks familiar, it's because I posted a version of it earlier and I've been practicing on it ever since. The scene is Cow Creek and the escarpment in the background is one of the limestone "balconies" which give the Balcones Canyonlands its name. The sun here is behind the ridge and in a normal picture most of the scene would be shrouded in shadow and the sky would be blown out (overexposed). With HDR, all the detail lost in a typical photo is enhanced.

Taken a minute or two later with a slightly different camera angle this is still Cow Creek. Every attempt at an HDR image doesn't yield a satisfactory image. Practice is required to get consistent results. These pics of Cow Creek remind me of some shots I took of the Guadalupe River several years ago. Ah, something else to practice on. . .