Photo Blogging

Good morning everyone,

Sorry about Wednesday and Thursday.  I screwed up the Wed post and fell asleep listening to trial stuff Wednesday night. All in all, a poor showing indeed.

Have a great weekend, all!

More from Newfoundland — L’Anse aux Meadows, on the Great Northern Peninsula, is the site of the only confirmed Viking site in North America outside of Greenland. There are remains of eight buildings, from approximately a thousand years ago, though the artifacts suggest it was probably not a permanent settlement and may just have been a base to repair boats.

NewfoundlandAugust 25, 2019

This is the view from L’Anse aux Meadows. It happened to be a sunny day, but the enthusiastic winds would have made Leif Erikson feel right at home. You can just see Labrador as a blue smudge near the horizon.

On The Road – arrieve – Newfoundland — The Viking RoadPost + Comments (22)

Good morning everyone,

And so it begins. When it comes to big conflicts, even necessary ones, I’m quite cautious if given a chance to reflect beforehand. The events today may be a brief surge against a dark tide of history, or the beginning of change culminating in a Democratic administration empowered, and desirous of holding the guilty accountable. There are so many rotten, corrupted apples that need to be identified in public, charged and tried if evidence supports. The task is so large, I’m not sure we’re up to it – we are much more likely to sweep these uncomfortable things under the rug of history and carry on, ever looking forward. But even those limited victories are superior to the status quo.

No matter the immediate results of this trial,  I fear that today we cross the Rubicon and things will never be close to the same again. We’re unleashing a bunch of bad ideas and things that can and will be used to thwart future governments; sometimes it’s better to have things undefined because they will be less-used.

It will take some time for that new form and shape to solidify into view. New powers will be found, no matter what happens, to encourage those whose cry is “rule or ruin!”

On that not-so-positive note, I hope every moment is utter agony for Herr Trump and increases his blood pressure, perhaps encouraging him to rage-eat more burgers and chicken. Not that I can talk! :)

So, let’s jump away from the politics and history to view the world through someone else’s eyes. The rest of the week will be politics-free, as is the goal with this feature.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Everybody!

Inspired by HinTN’s submission, here are some snapshots of one of my favorite places, the isle of Manhattan.

First, we have the usual Christmas Holiday decorations (forgot about the War on Christmas there for a moment).

[CD1 and CD02 (2)]

Next, we have a gold ATM (for those times when you leave home and forget your gold bars in your other purse) and a bunch of ugly apartment towers (shrouded in mist to avoid offending your sensibilities).

[GATM (2) and 3BO]

Moving on, we have Columbus Circle, with the statue, the mall stars, and the odd ads.

[CC12 and CCstars2 and CCad]

Last, but not least, we have neighborhood denizen Mr. B.

[Mr. B]

57th STREET

On The Road – ema – On the IslePost + Comments (13)

Good morning everyone,

Let’s start this week out right!

These are from early 2005. I waited for a snow day as that seemed most appropriate. I pretty much had the place to myself, only say one other small group.

Korean War Memorial, Washington, D.C.

My approach was from the north, with the Vietnam Memorial on the left and Lincoln Memorial on the right.

On The Road – emrys – Korean War Memorial, Washington, D.C.Post + Comments (17)

Good morning, everybody,

Today we return to DAW’s fantastic trip. I so want to hit these places. I need to spend some serious time in South America before I get too much older!

Next we went to Montevideo and then Buenos Aires. They’re close together. Both of them are on the same river with BA farther inland.

Montevideo was my favorite stop on this trip. I had no expectations. I’m not even sure I could have said it was in Uruguay, but it was charming. For one thing, it was easy. You walked off the ship, straight into town, whereas the other cities all had big, working ports that were far from anything.

In Buenos Aires, as in Montevideo, the guide talked a lot about soccer. I gather the first FIFA World Cup took place in Montevideo, though the guide moaned about how many games they’ve lost since then.

Montevideo, UruguayDecember 2, 2019

This is the Legislative Council building. The Uruguayan flag is the one on the left.

On The Road – Dorothy A. Winsor – Montevideo, Uruguay and Buenos Aires, ArgentinaPost + Comments (34)

Good Morning, everyone,

Let’s get this week started!

We recently went on a three-month tour of a few places in Europe – Budapest (where we have lodgings with my wife’s father and use as a base camp for travels quite often), Ireland (a month of driving and airbnbs), Denmark and Sweden (public transit all the way, and again airbnbs). Economy travel, as much as travel can be – gained lots of insights into various countries’ grocery stores and did a lot of cooking and lunch-packing.

Ireland is one of my favorite places. The people are warm, friendly, and eager to be helpful. An example: we were on a typical countryside one-lane two-way road, and passed a scene I wanted to photograph. I pulled off to make a U turn, and the car behind me also pulled off – “Are you OK, need any help?” Told him thanks but we were OK. Made the U turn, and a walker on the road signaled me to roll down the window – “Take it slow, I’ll walk ahead and let you know when it’s clear around the bend.” We got back to the scene, and I turned into a driveway on the other side of the road. The home owner came out – “Pull up in here next to my car, you don’t want to stop that near the road”. I explained what we were up to – “That’s fine then, but take care and you might want to be be quick, from the look of the clouds it’s going to be bucketing soon”.

These pics are from Sligo, a cool and quirky town in the north of the Republic. A rainy day stroll.

Sligo, IrelandJune 17, 2019

On The Road – tomtofa – Rainy day in SligoPost + Comments (18)

One of the benefits of living in flyover country is that lots of interesting birds fly over as well. And some even spend time here. The most prominent winter visitors are hawks, specifically Red-tailed Hawks, which come in an astonishing variety of plumages. Here are a few, from last winter and this winter, to give you a taste of what you could see in Kansas or Oklahoma during the winter months.

And if you like these images, several more like them can be found in my 2020 calendar, The other is Hawks and Owls of Kansas at http://bit.ly/2OHjJVF. If raptors aren’t your cup of tea, you might like Iconic Birds of the World, with birds from Tanzania, Ecuador, Brazil, New Zealand & the good ol’ USA. at http://bit.ly/2qXi3i5

And if you want to see a bird image every day in your twitter feed, just follow me, Albatrossity, at https://twitter.com/DaveRintoul01

Near Manhattan KSDecember 3, 2019

One of the keys to deciphering the plumages of Red-tailed Hawks is to first determine if the bird is an adult, or a youngster hatched last summer. Best clue is the yellow iris, seen well on this young bird of the eastern (borealis) subspecies.

On The Road – Albatrossity – Winter HawksPost + Comments (43)

Once my August tour left London, we visited various places in southern England. I’ve always been fascinated by the country homes and castles of England, and this set of pictures focuses on Windsor and Blenheim.

Windsor castleAugust 25, 2019

William the Conqueror chose the site of Windsor Castle, high above the river Thames and on the edge of a Saxon hunting ground. It was a day’s march from the Tower of London and intended to guard the western approaches to the capital.

You can take a virtual tour of the castle at

https://www.royal.uk/virtual-tours-windsor-castle

On The Road – Auntie Anne – Southern England – Windsor and BlenheimPost + Comments (17)

On a quite rainy night, a couple hundred people showed up in little Hillsborough, NC to rally for impeachment and removal of Donald Trump. We stood on the main thoroughfare, and hundreds of cars passed by and saw their fellow citizens standing up for the rule of law. A good number of honks in solidarity. It was good for my psyche to feel a bit of uplift and solidarity after so mush frustration and despair.

On The Road – AM in NC – Impeachment Rally: Hillsborough, NCPost + Comments (6)

Good Morning Everybody,

I hope this finds you well. Bad shit’s about, take care.

On a more positive note, let’s go –

A few months ago, I shared a few pictures of West Franklin Street here in Evansville and since they seemed to go over well, here’s an album with comments about each picture. Feel free to choose the best ones to share or just link the entire album.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/G3gUrQzihQsrQr3G6

On The Road – Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman) – Evansville’s West Franklin StreetPost + Comments (21)

Good morning and Happy New Year!

We start with a special Wednesday submission from you-know-who!

And this where I break All The Rules…

As we started off in my last submission with my trip to Leo Carrillio State Park to photograph the Milky Way 3 years ago. While the photo was pleasing in many respects, it was a complete failure at capturing the Milky Way(you can see a bit of the galactic core, but that’s about it). Over the past couple of years I’ve searched for better locations and been mindful of the mistakes I made in the the photo that led my last submission to “On The Road”. I’ve been to the desert, the mountains and dark places along the coast to find the best place to capture the Milky Way on my cameras.

As the opportunity to capture the galactic core began to fade as Fall began, I headed again to Leo Carrillio State Park. Most of my journeys there that resulted in the photos here where not primarily to capture the Milky Way on my camera’s sensor, but for other photo ideas(sunsets, moon rises…). Yet, I did take my tripod and I did take pictures of the Milky Way before it made it’s early departure into the Pacific. Being that my primary motivation for the journey was not astrophotography, these shots sometimes violated “the rules” for shooting the Milky Way that I violated 3 years ago. I’ve included shots of the Milky Way with the Moon in the shot, the Milky Way in the full Moon, and the Milky Way at twilight. While many of these shots are drained of the color that you the viewer has seen in some of my other photos, I think they have a beauty in other ways.

As always, the photos for all of my submission to “On The Road” are available for purchase on my website: https://www.billinglendaleca.com/
I hear they make excellent holiday gifts!
If you like my work and want to support it on an ongoing basis I’ve set up a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/billinglendaleca

I’m not sure if Alain is going to post “On The Road” for Christmas Day or New Year’s Day, so I’ll take this opportunity to thank you all for your support this year.

Leo Carrillio State Park, Malibu, CASeptember 21, 2019

Just after sunset at Leo Carillio State Park.

The sun has just set behind Santa Cruz Island and casts a warm glow over Sequit Point.

On The Road – ?BillinGlendaleCA – Fall Milky WayPost + Comments (27)