Birthday Party: Part II

I've got a few more pics from the birthday party. It occurred to me, and not for the first time, that as we get older and slower the photographer at one of these shindigs has to work a lot harder for photo ops. When there were a dozen or so pre-teens racing around and the adults were more or less obstacles in the family room obstacle course, the photographer had it really EASY. Ah, well. The energy level may have plummeted but the participants still enjoy themselves and everyone leaves happy.

Of course, it doesn't make it any easier to get the "great shot" when the photographer spends his time at anchor in a recliner; maybe I ought to wander around a little. Perhaps next time. In the meanwhile, maybe we'll just content ourselves with snapshots of the family relaxing and visiting. David (above) is at the calm center of what, in the old days, would have been a maelstrom. Mary (below) is catching up on family news and no doubt marveling that her Horned Frog, Paul, is ready to graduate when he was seemingly a high school freshman at Anderson just a few days ago.

Allison is explaining to Aunt Mary the meaning of "Mercury is in Retrograde". I thought I knew; hell, I once had a course in Celestial Navigation. It was taught by Dr Broucke, who worked at JPL before he started teaching at Texas, so he covered the meaning from a Physics/Astronomical point of view. Allison's tee shirt, on the other hand, makes reference to the statement's supposed astrological implications. Mercury rules communications, transportation, and technology. If any of those things are temporarily chaotic and disrupting your life, you can lay it off on Mercury, which is probably in retrograde.

I think Stephen, in these two pics, was engaged in a fairly lively discussion of basketball. Golden State was playing New Orleans, but the subject here was the Spurs outstanding performance the night before. Now half the fun of watching (and discussing) a game is being able to Google something to refresh your memory or prove a point. Then, you can resume the discussion with panache and the appropriate level of enthusiasm.

And, having winnowed out all the poorly lit, blurry shots, and other assorted misfires here's another shot of young Daniel. Yeah, gyrocopters. . .

Birthday Party in San Antonio

I've been planning a couple of different road trips to test my new camera but we needed a family birthday party in San Antonio first. . . priorities, don'cha know. Allison's birthday was Friday (20) and Paul's was Sunday (22) so we split the difference and Ellen and Stan hosted the party on Saturday. Of course, I took the opportunity to work with that new Canon I was telling you about. I'm a bit surprised that I'm struggling with it. I can only assume I'll be happier with it as I get more experience using it.

This is Andrew, with Bella on his lap. His birthday (22) will be on us in June so maybe I'll have figured all this out by then. I've been concentrating on focus and depth of field problems for a couple weeks and, though I like this image, I just realized that on Saturday I had put my focus/DoF problems on hold and was just shooting. This image was in natural light with no flash and Bella was jumping around enough that she's a bit blurred.

This is Allison - Happy Birthday, kiddo! She walked in with a big floppy straw hat and some new Foster Grants and I thought I'm just that far from loosing another fine model. My sisters, my daughter, my nieces... they keep growing up and getting on with their own lives. Maybe I ought to just worry about my road trips and stick to landscapes.

Well, Paul could have been a part of all this, but he's graduating from TCU in a couple of weeks and I guess he's got his priorities too. No Paul, so this is Stephen on arrival in the kitchen. The Margaritas are in the freezer behind you. Take off your "sunnies" (as David would say), and stay awhile.

Allison talking to Karen with Daniel in the background talking to an unidentified... wait! Hold the presses! I checked the large  number of shots that didn't make the grade (my fault, not the subjects) and deduced that Daniel's talking to his cousin Joey... or his uncle David. Both wore black tee shirts, a problem I hadn't foreseen.

Here's Daniel again, looking deep in thought... probably trying to work out a question for me about aerospace engineering. He's spent a lot of time over the years with these questions, ever since he started talking, I think. I don't know if he's trying to stump me or just asks about things that interest him that he figures I ought to be able to answer. Today's question was about gyrocopters and, heavens to Murgatroyd, I was actually able to come up with a satisfactory answer.

I like these last two images as well as any I took Saturday... or as well as any I took that turned out like I expected. I like the afternoon sun in this part of the house... warm light, even if it is a bit tricky to shoot here. These two are Michael and Ellen, my San Antonio siblings. I wonder what they're plotting...

This is Stan, with Andrew in the background watching Golden State take care of the New Orleans - handily. Note the plate of barbeque Stan's protecting there. It really was excellent and I couldn't help going back for more, sneaking a mouthful on each trip through the kitchen and, in the end, taking some home with me as well. Stan picked up the barbeque from a restaurant just up the road that they just recently tried for the first time. He says the owner's from New York... reminding me of the disdain the Pace Picante Sauce ad used to heap on Salza made in New York. Well, this guy may be from New York, but he got it right.

It's April in Texas and Yes, I've Been Chasing Bluebonnets Again This Year

I picked up my brother, Stephen, from the airport Saturday morning when his flight to California was cancelled, then took him back for his rescheduled flight later that afternoon. I was pleased on both occasions to confirm the arrival of Spring in the form of newgrowth foliage, bluebonnets, and other wildflowers. And the rain was of little concern because out of necessity we here in Texas we have come to celebrate precipitation in any form. We just work around it. Sunday was still wet, so I made my plans to take to the Bluebonnet Trail on Monday morning, leaving Austin to be at Buchanan Dam at sunrise. Well, it was just a plan. . . I ended up leaving home about 9:15 and quickly found out the weather couldn't be better and the wildflowers had not disappeared just because I started out three hours late.

I bought a new camera about six weeks ago but, busy with other things , I had spent virtually no time familiarizing myself with the new gear. I know, it's my own fault. So, these pictures aren't my best work, but by the end of the day I was pretty comfortable with the new Canon and the pictures will show you what a fine day I had to play outside. It was simply beautiful. This route was the same one I described after my 2012 bluebonnet trek and, in fact, the mesquite tree in the picture above is the very same as that in the third picture of the 11 April 2012 post. . . though it's apparently lost a few branches on the starboard side in the last three years.

If you're interested in my route, I described it in the 2012 posts, but I'm running on empty here so I won't repeat myself. I'll try to keep it short. Besides the flowers, I kept my eyes peeled for wildlife and, by the time I passed this scene, I'd spotted cattle, horses and goats on the hoof as well as a very lucky fox that darted across the road in front the Sierra, a less fortunate raccoon on the edge of the road and what used to be an armadillo that was nowhere near as fast as he thought he was. We used to see dead armadillos all over the place when we moved here in the '60s, but it's a little surprising to see them now.

Also surprising were the large numbers of  Indian Paintbrush on the roadside. I'm used to seeing them scattered among the bluebonnets or in much smaller patches than I saw Monday all along the route. But the Paintbrush didn't win the surprise prize. Passing an exotic ranch - extra high fences to keep the antelope and gazelles at home - I passed some cattle (black Angus?) milling smartly about their water tank and, off by himself/herself, a zebra - not a horse in a referee's shirt, a real zebra. Another clue that the ranch was for exotics.

Now, somewhere before getting to the creek at the bottom of this hill, I got a shock when a whitetail deer nearly committed suicide by running into the side of the truck. It seems we saw each other about the same time and he/she was able to come to a screeching halt before impacting my passenger door. I'm glad.

The surprise for the next segment was the creek itself, or I should say the amount of water flowing by, this being Texas and all. The weather guessers are saying we'll have two or three more days of perfection before a front arrives late Friday night. Texas or not, your creeks ought to have water in 'em. You heard it here first. Same shot, three years ago (top picture).

This vista is looking south towards Fredricksburg, but just a few miles down the road you can see the pink granite pluton batholiths (yeah, look it up) that make up Enchanted Rock State Natural Area.

And, finally, There's TX-1323, a new road (for me) that I used to cut east from TX-16 to US-281. Along much of the road, the bluebonnets were generally darker blue, more dense and in much larger patches than I saw anywhere else during the drive. But this highlight is what Crayola would refer to as Red Violet. I couldn't tell what kind of flowers they are: they didn't appear to be lupines (like the bluebonnets), but they sure were pretty.