When in Napa

Mom and I went to Napa awhile back. What a beautiful place. I love being among all the rolling hills and rows of vines. Being in the wine country makes you really appreciate all the hard work and beauty that has gone into a bottle of wine. It also makes you want to move out there and start a winery (my never ending dream).

Well, one evening, after mom and I had done all the wine tasting we could handle we went into one of the towns, I think Calistoga, to find a nice restaurant for the evening. After dinner as the sun was starting to go down and we were headed back to the main road we spotted this "home-grown" winery. Wineries are everywhere in the valley, big and very small. The small ones are very humble looking. Well we stopped at this one because the vines were pretty and I snapped away. I love the one point perspective of the vines trailing off into the distance.

Once we got home I decided this photo called for a sepia tone; I think it helps the photo express the character of the wine country.

Fasten seat belt while seated

I have done a fair amount of traveling lately to Birmingham, Alabama for work. What a great city, really it is. And the plane ride there is relatively short. As you might expect, this is the typical view on the ride there (unless you get a window seat, of course.) I find it amusing that these seats have been the same for as long as I can remember. They have always proudly announced to you all flight long to "fasten seat belt while seated." There's nothing like being told what to do by a chair, a chair on a dirty plane at that!

Cheers to flying coach!

Starting a journey

This photo is from Costa Rica. Several times while in Arenal we saw this little fellow riding his horse up and down the main road. Very calmly he would coast up the road on his daily journey somewhere. He seemed to know where he was going, at least from our perspective. He didn't rush, he knew he would get there in good time. I don't know if you can see it, but the back of his t-shirt says "lost". I bit of irony there I think.

I love journeys. All journeys, big and small. But, what I really love about some of life's grander journeys is they start with fire and determination, are fulfilled with strength and discipline and finish with accomplishment and reflection. Journeys aren't always clear either, sometimes we have to find our way through them. I think a fortune cookie I got yesterday said it best, "You don't have to know where you are going to be headed in the right direction."

The exploration may very well be the best part of the journey. You're never lost. Just en route.

Zumi, the plant

I name my plants. I take better care of them that way. It helps my brown thumb care just a little better for them when they have been personified. This guys name is Zumi, always has been, I think because his plant name is something along those lines. Don't ask me, I don't remember. I just remember his name is Zumi. I've probably had Zumi for a couple years now. Maybe closer to three years. He's very resillient. I water him every now and then and he just keeps living on. In fact, when I went to Seattle for the summer, on the way out of College Station I watered him till he was swimming and said, good luck buddy. (I know, you all think I'm a horrible plant mother, but I believed he could do it). So after three months I came back and Zumi was looking strong. Thirsty, but strong.

This is Zumi in my new apartment in Dallas. He looks good there, particularly in front of the light brown drapes. They suit him.

I've been iphoned

My life has changed. It is amazing. The iphone is pure wonderfulness. I have internet at the touch of a finger, all of my email accounts instantly accessible, all my photos, and my music in my pocket at all times. And get this, I can rent movies to my iphone. This is particularly awesome for plane rides. The last few trips to Birmingham I have been ridiculously bored on the airplane. Skymall and American Way can only entertain you so much.

Apple, I think you've done it, I'm a believer.

Counter Weight

Here's more from the office stairwell. This is the old elevator car's counter weight. Those weights are probably 5 feet wide or so. Quite substantial. I really enjoy the brick in-fill wall behind as well. I dream for the day I have a home where I have old exposed brick walls. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll have a elevator shaft stairwell too.

Sometime soon I'd like to start drawing my house, as it is in my mind that is. Although my ideas for it are continually growing. Particularly when I find architectural elements like this that expand my thoughts on what I'd like. I ought to put them on paper and record the progression.

Who knew a counter weight could be so inspirational?

Jukebox shopping

I went rug shopping a while back with my friend Preston. In fact I even posted a photo of him and his chosen rug right after we went. Well, while we were there I also took this one, which I really enjoy. It reminds me of a jukebox the way the rugs hang and flip on the racks.

Isn't it always a little bit more fun to shop when the items you are shopping for hang from flipping racks? Remember looking at posters when you were little at Target or Walmart? You'd flip away at the posters, possibly not even looking at them, just having fun swinging the racks. So, it seems to me that rug racks are the adult form of poster racks.

Cheers to jukebox shopping.

Pulley, Pulley

This was taken from the fire stairs in our office at work that I am very close to obsessed with. The stairs were a modern addition to the building's old elevator shaft. What's beautiful about this shaft is you can see the counter weights and pullies from the elevator car. I can't help but admire them when I go up and down the stairs.

There is so much about the building similar to this. It is wonderful when an old building is put to new use, particularly when the old still shines through!

Phelps Phenomenon

So I clearly just took a photo of my television screen here. But, this view is the view that many people have had all weekend, watching Michael Phelps swim towards Olympic history; to become the most decorated athlete in Olympic history. I'm not a huge swimming fan, but I have been mesmerized by the Phelps Phenomenon.

He strolled casually to his first gold on Saturday in the 400m Individual Medley. But, last night was the real heart stopper race. Phelps' teammate Lezak pulled out the Gold for the 400m free relay team at the very last second (or rather 800th of a second) to beat France. Quite a wonderful win considering the trash talk that had been coming from the French team.

I sure hope Phelps pulls it off to become the most decorated Olympian. From what I can tell is he is a very humble and kind person who is obviously extremely talented. A combo that deserves the title of Best Olympian Ever.

We're rooting for you, Phelps.

Sonogram sky

This is the original star trails shot, my first true attempt. I took this one at Enchanted Rock State Park outside Fredericksberg, TX. Unfortunately I didn't wait for the moon to set and I got a lot of light pollution in the shot, making it seriously overexposed. So, once I got back home I played with the contrast of the image in photoshop to reduce the overexposed light; which ended up creating an interesting sonogram effect.

I think I left the shutter open for 25 or 30 minutes on this one. It looks like some satelittes went across the sky during the shot (look close for the subtle diagonal lines). I learned a lot from this one, and I like it even though it needed a little photoshop love.

If you'd like to see a successful star trails shot that turned out great without needing any photoshopping see my former post "The middle of nowhere is somewhere". I plan to continue taking star trails photographs. Maybe Grand Teton or Grand Canyon next. I'll keep you posted.

Moulin Rouge

It's almost the fall semester. When all the students (of which I am finally not one) go back to school, and some lucky ones go abroad. In 2005 I went to Barcelona. While in Barcelona we made the obligatory trips to Paris, Rome, Florence and such. Our group had a blast in Paris. While we were there they had a huge snow storm. Imagine a handful of college backpackers trekking across the blizzard covered city just trying to make it from Norte Dame to the Louvre. It was an adventure to say the least.

One night after dinner we decided to stroll through the Red Light District. At this point the snow had died off, but wouldn't that have been a good photograph, snow atop the sign letters. But, instead I got the classic Moulin Rouge shot. I remember standing in the middle of a roundabout on top of a concrete bench to get this shot. I actually took this one with my old Canon point-and-shoot.

This photograph makes me want to travel. Surprise, surprise. Don't I always.

Simple mechanics

This is a Bell & Howell projector from way back when. Way back being when projectors actually projected film images. Andrea gave this little guy to me for my birthday. His motor works and eventually I'd like to get the lens cleaned up and project something from him.

You know the crazy thing, two weeks ago I made the decision to start collecting old film equipment. So, Mr. Projector here has started my collection. He's a beauty. Old machines and mechanics are pieces of art in themselves because of how wonderfully they are put together. New electronics are cool too, don't get me wrong, but you don't see the way they work like the old stuff. In fact, it's probably not fair to call the old stuff "simple mechanics". They are often very complex and intricate pieces of machinary.

So, let the collection begin.