Winter Solstice

It's all of 10 degrees or so, but with only about one-half inch of snow on the ground, it hardly feels like the the middle of winter. This was about as good as I could do at 9:15 tonight which was about 15 minutes early. One can only hope that the next half of the the winter is as easy as this half--I have heard that it will be lighter.

It has been so long...

It has been so long that I can hardly remember how to do this. I will correct this over break, but you know how it is this time of the academic year. And then there is that life stuff. I know, no context or good cutlines, but here are few shots from the past month.

More soon

Foggy morning...

It was foggy on my way to work, and photogenic enough to tromp through the snow to find these pictures. A new camera but a lens that is 45 years old, and one with very shallow depth of field... You can still buy a version of the lens but the new one is $1700. I bought this Nikkor 55mm 1.2 for less than a $100 when I was in Bellingham. I have taken a few photos with it already (check out my Lake George photos from this summer) but I am just learning about all its capabilities and quirks. I suppose if I had to name a photographer who inspired these, I would say Harry Callahan, though I have a ways to reach his level!

Changing seasons

It seems that is no longer fall, as we have snow, snow, and a bit more snow. Certainly not a blizzard, but we should end up with 4-6 inches. While there are a lot negative things to say about it, it also is very scenic and worth at least a photo or two. I will go out more this weekend for more, but this is the blog's first taste of winter.

A great November day

It is the eve of a long weekend. Thank heavens. Though it has been a short week, it has been a very long week, too, if you can follow that. Yes, I am glad I have a job. I am not always sure that I completely love the job I have, but I think that most people feel that at one time or another. It is just so busy that to find time to work it requires time beyond those 40 hours. I mean beyond those 50 or 55 hours. I am pretty much OK with that, but sometimes it makes for long days/weeks. I need a vacation.

What I know I need to do is take more photos. Here are a few from my way home tonight. Hopefully more from a long weekend will follow.

It is still fall, thankfully

It has dipped into the 20s several times these past few weeks, signaling the end of fall-like weather if not the actual end of fall. It is hard to imagine that it is already November. Brrr.

I looked back in the almost 400 posts on this blog and though it covers almost three and a half years, it seems that this is the year for fall colors--certainly the yellows and oranges and reds of the season have populated more posts this year. I am not sure why--availability, probably. Last year I was in Italy for much of fall leaf season, and I guess that does trump pretty leaves.

But not by much. We have had an exceptional fall for weather and for colors. And these colors have lingered. Though I lament that fall is, well, failing, in reality it has hanging on far longer than it usually does. A few days of (fall) wind and rain with end their tenure, but until then, it has been nice to drive around and see splotches of blaze orange that aren't armed with high- powered rifles.

First light

Several times a week I do my work at St Cloud State University, our neighbor and partner in many things.  I even have an office for those visits.  An amazing office, actually.  With a huge window and a beautiful tree just outside and in full view as I sit in my chair and ponder life's little and big questions.  Or while I think of what those questions might actually be.

I have taken pictures of this tree before, but these are with a different camera.  It seems to work, and successfully captured its first light.

Late, late fall...

I am taking a break from doing spring schedules--I suspect that in no way is this constructive in any way, but the photos aren't bad.  All in all, it has been a very nice fall, and my photos have not done it justice.  It is in the news that it snowed in the NE, so it is not a wild stretch of one's imagination that perhaps the next photos that I post will have snow.

I'm still alive...

It is interesting sometimes that I get comments that I don't post a few photos/words, but I rarely get comments when I do...   I think that it is sort of a good thing, but for those who wondered, I am still alive, and I still take an occasional picture.  These are some recent late fall photos.

Hey, drop me a note because I did write...

Roadwork...

It has been an amazing fall--today was the worst day we have had in the past 10 days and it was still in the 70s with only a little rain.  Road construction crews have to be loving this, and they are working hard to finish up projects.  On some mornings I drive by this construction site, and had to take a picture as the traffic slowed.

I am fighting my first cold of the season, and it is a significant one.  I had to miss part of a conference and had to miss a day of work, since I could not really work all that well with a Kleenex permanently attached to my face.  Hopefully I am on the mend, but this is but the first cold, I am sure.  Too many people come into my office hacking and wheezing to avoid a few of them.

More so...

I still don't have a lot to say, other than that it was a beautiful day to feed the ducks and show some attitude on the model runway.  It was 85 today, and "threatens" to be just as nice through the weekend.  Many are feeling that we will pay for this exceptional spell of weather--no doubt it will snow next week.  But until then, it is pretty nice.

So...

I have absolutely nothing to say, but I did enjoy my walk across SCSU's campus this afternoon.

The cost of music

Music has changed a great deal in the last few years as we all have noticed.  I bought a friend a pile of LPs the other day, and realized the last time I had bought an LP was probably 1979.  The last time I bought a cassette was around 1985.  I rarely buy CD's but instead just click "Buy it now" in i-Tunes.

This weekend I experienced music in another way with real actual live music--it wasn't even that hard to arrange and make happen.  We had a party built around a local trio made up of a lounge singer Frank Sinatra wannabe, a bass player and a drummer.  Yes, there was a cost to it--perhaps more than a CD or even an LP.  But the benefits were far far greater than any costs.  This music was a catalyst to do something that I have never done before, and that was to have 10 or more unrelated people in my space.  And actually, we had almost two dozen people who used the music as part of the reasons to spend a few hours together.  That made the cost, any cost, well worth it.  The party was a success by multiple definitions--the food and the spirits were enjoyed, and the spirit of the party was great, too.  And it was even better because of the music.