Monday Phoebe Blogging

Been a while since we've seen a phoebe on the blog.

Photo: Phoebe—Marin County, 2010

Snow-Covered Branches

It snowed a lot in December. Nothing much to speak of in January.

Photos: Snow-Covered Branches, Drift─Sierra Nevada, 2010; Snow-Covered Branches─Sierra Nevada, 2010

Snow

Taken in the town of Arnold where we stayed for a few days just after Christmas. Arnold is located at an elevation where winter storms are just as likely to bring rain instead of snow. Luckily for us it had just snowed so we were able to go for a neighborhood walk in the frosty landscape.

Photo: Shoveling Snow—Sierra Nevada, 2010

Snowshoes

For a late-December snow excursion I rented these MSR snowshoes from REI. Actually worked quite well! We sank into deeper snow, but the expert at REI said that "All snowshoes sink into deep snow."

Photo: Snowshoes−Sierra Nevada, 2010

Water Tower

In Atlanta, waiting to take off, I stared out the airplane window: the water tower in the distance kept disappearing behind torrential downpours, then reappearing as the sky kept getting progressively darker. Takeoff was delayed multiple times; when we finally took off the evening was upon us—we arrived in San Francisco just before midnight.

Staring out at the darkness beyond the window during the flight I was struck by how ubiquitous the lights of civilization were—the only place where I couldn't see any electric lights was on the Utah-Nevada border area.

Photo: Water Tower (From Plane)—Atlanta, 2010

Laundromat, Rain

I was underneath an adjacent gas station overhang trying to keep dry. I used the rotating LCD on the Canon G12 to compose the shot.

Photo: Laundromat, Rain—Atlanta, 2010

Banner Photo Issue . . .

. . . is now fixed!

North Carolina Route

Our route took us going north from Georgia through a corner of North Carolina. Needless to say, we stopped frequently to view the autumn foliage. This photo was taken from one side of the road looking across to the other side.

Photo: Trees, Sunlight—North Carolina, 2010

Monday Horse Blogging

A nice-looking Friesian horse, in fact. Interesting Wikipedia article here.

Photo: Friesian Horse—Marin County, 2010

Banner Photo Update

Others have been having the same issue: "My header image has been working fine and I just removed it and re-uploaded the same exact image and now it's blurry."


Response: "This has now been escalated to Google Engineering."

Knoxville Sunrise

. . . taken during an early-morning walk in search of Starbucks.

Click to enlarge, study and ponder.

Photo: Sunrise—Knoxville, 2010

Banner Photo Technical Glitch

Hmmm . . . something's not right. Banner pix are coming out blurry & indistinct. Will have to work on it.

Crosswalk

Crosswalk at Santa Monica & Formosa. Taken with the Olympus E-510, discovered fairly recently when I was going through some old files. (Not that a photo from 2009 is necessarily old, mind you.)

Photo: Crosswalk—Los Angeles, 2009

Self-Portraits, Georgia & Tennessee

. . . taken in Georgia and Tennessee (Decatur and Knoxville) last year.

Photos: Table & Self-Portrait—Georgia, 2010; Children, Self-Portrait—Tennessee, 2010

Abrams Creek #2

OK, so the upper photo was arranged. The waterfall at the end of the hike was nice enough, but unfortunately divided into sun and shade. There's a nice photo here.

Photos: Red Leaves—Tennessee, 2010; Roots, Leaves, Creek—Tennessee, 2010

Abrams Creek #1

Taken on a day hike that followed Abrams Creek to Abrams Waterfall. There was a little too much sunlight for Mike's taste; sunlight coming through the forest created high-contrast areas.

Photo: Leaves & Creek−Tennessee, 2010

Pigeon Forge

Very surreal, although I'm not sure that "surreal" is the correct term.

Block after block of cheesy interesting attractions. Block after block after block.

The traffic coming into town was staggering. Probably in order to truly appreciate Pigeon Forge you need to spend some quality time there. Trouble is, I'm booked up for the foreseeable future.

Photos: Dollywood—Tennessee, 2010; Bears—Tennessee, 2010; Traffic—Tennessee, 2010

Monday Yellow-Rumped Warbler Blogging

Warbler - Marin County  2010

On our fence in the back yard. Photo taken with a Nikon D90.

You'd think that if there were warblers hanging around, you'd be able to walk outside and hear, you know, a bunch of warbling.

But no.

Waffle House

Finally . . . after missing out on Waffle House opportunities in Georgia, a Waffle House appeared as if by magic next to our hotel in Knoxville. We had dinner there along with the regulars!

And of course, we ordered our hashbrowns "scattered, smothered and covered."

Photos: Waffle House (exterior)—Knoxville, 2010; Waffle House (interior)—Knoxville, 2010; Waffle House Menu—Knoxville, 2010

Lookout Mountain—Chattanooga

The Battle of Lookout Mountain was fought November 24, 1863, as part of the Chattanooga Campaign of the American Civil War. Union forces under Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker assaulted Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and defeated Confederate forces commanded by Maj. Gen. Carter L. Stevenson. Lookout Mountain was one engagement in the Chattanooga battles between Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Military Division of the Mississippi and the Confederate Army of Tennessee, commanded by Gen. Braxton Bragg. It drove in the Confederate left flank and allowed Hooker's men to assist in the Battle of Missionary Ridge the following day, which routed Bragg's army, lifting the siege of Union forces in Chattanooga, and opened the gateway into the Deep South.

Wikipedia

The afternoon we were there was blustery and windy. Later that day: heavy rain and a tornado.

Photos: Cannon Overlooking Chattanooga—Tennessee, 2010; Stone Ledge, Lookout Mountain—Tennessee, 2010