Sand pipers and friend

Sand pipers and friend, a photo by alumroot on Flickr.

If you are not interested in birds before you go to Costa Rica, you will be by the time you return. It is not just the flashy macaws and toucans, it is the small, less conspicuous ones. They are so abundant and still amazing to watch.

balancing needs

ferry and the opera house, a photo by alumroot on Flickr.

Another shot that I love; the stationary iconic building of Sydney with the color fast moving ferry. Getting the shot right (especially with a p&s camera) was a challenge, but worth the effort. It took patience and a willing the experiment, but I like the results, and more over, I am eager to go back and try again. Circle Quay, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

How not to lecture

How not to lecture, a photo by alumroot on Flickr.

This entertaining presentation opened with a demonstration of some of the poorer practices in lecturing and moved rapidly (before people fell asleep) to improved classroom practices that make the classroom activities engaging.

Columbia ground squirrel

Columbia ground squirrel, a photo by alumroot on Flickr.

Not only was this squirrel in an area where the sign warn you to stay off the grass, but it taking grass as well. See the price of illiteracy, lawlessness and crime.

Sanctuary

Sanctuary, a photo by alumroot on Flickr.

I seem to find arthropods hiding out in flowers. Here is another one from quite awhile ago. A couple small green bees are hiding in the bloom of an evening primrose. Cant you just hear them saying, "There's nobody here but us stamens."

Waiting for summer

Summer seems to be finally arriving and I can't wait to get out. I found this photo from a trip to Governor Dodge State Park. I love the scene, but oddly it was too green. By dropping the saturation of green and boosting the saturation of other parts of the color spectrum. It pulled out some colors that had be subdued, the blue of the sky is in the stream, red in the stones and the purple in the fallen leaves. It is not unlike what happens in the fall, the chlorophyll disappears and all the other colors come out.

Four Little Swallows

We watched these adolescent swallows for a long time. They were able to fly, but they were still being feed by their parents, and watching intently for their parents to swoop in and feed them. It was fun to watch, though less fun if you were a bee which seemed to be what was on the menu.

I have been printing 3d objects for more than six years, but I am in the process of transferring my printer to a group that is investing in more fabrication technologies. I'll miss being able to make objects like this, but it is better for campus and I am negotiating access for myself and projects into the future.

Forgotten past

I have been doing some housekeeping. I've been looking through my photo libraries and finding photos that I forgot that I had taken. This was taken at the request of a friend and I finally, several years later, found it and passed it on to her. It's a fascinating little house in the old part of Alexandria, Virginia. I have been finding many of these surprises, and lately photos in my flickr stream are from, at least, a couple years ago. There is some good stuff in there.

How I wish this was the way it looks.

We were at the Audubon Zoo where this little girl was out with her mother. I captured this shot of her unintentionally making this thumbs-up. It sure looks like she is tell me everything is going to be OK, and that is what I prefer to believe that she is signaling.