Edinburgh Under Siege.

The image isn't at its best at this small size so feel free to click on it and see it in Flickr. This was taken during the Festival fireworks show but the red glow makes the castle look on fire. It's positively medieval.

For See It Sunday:  Darkness

Just Plain Tired

I came across this abandoned car near Lake Shore Drive in Chicago last fall.  It has a certain pathos but also the tire has a certain sculptural air to it.  Or maybe beauty is just in the eye of the beholder.

For PhotoSunday:  Accident

Taking the Sun in Edinburgh

No I'm not there now. Besides from what I hear there isn't much sun in Edinbugh around this time of the year.
Here in Chicago we have around two inches of snow. This is our second winter of not much snow which makes us all wonder about global warming. Of course the East Coast is getting hit hard in places. Our last really big snow was two years ago this month when we had nearly 2 feet of snow in one day. Digging out took a while.
This photo was taken from the top of the Scott Monument in Edinburgh. I love how the people are soaking up the sun. Growing up in Seattle I can relate to how folks from rainy climates really appreciate the rare sunny days. The Scott Monument is quite a sight but climbing up it gave me a bit of acrophobia. It wasn't so much the height as it was the extremely narrow and well worn stairs with no handrails. It was like climbing up the inside of a corkscrew.
For See-It-Sunday: People.

Do Not Disturb (emphatically)

The thematic photograph theme of the week is soft.  It may be a bit of a cliche but I think this picture amply demostrates photographic softness.  Don't get a hairball.  Rub her tummy at your own risk though.

Multiples

For another photography meme I am posting photos of items with multiples of something in them.  Here are (in my mind) two rather contrasting takes on multiples which both come from my winter break to Arizona (Phoenix and Tucson). 



The first is a photo of the Biosphere 2 which we toured.  It is a self-contained environment supposed to test the ability of humans to live within strict, space-station-like parameters.  The experiment was not an unmitigated success.  Currently the place functions as a tourist venue with some science going on.  The multitude of geometric shapes here takes me back to high school math.



Next I share a photo of Saguaro cacti from the desert near Tucson.  We took a lovely but challenging (for out of shape, 51 year old me) hike to a creek in the desert.  During this trip I definitely fell in love with the Saguaro.  It is a grand plant, comparable in its own way to a stand of redwood trees for its age and seeming timelessness.

Eye Can't See You

This week's See It Sunday theme is "Eye." I decided to go with something that is not an eye but can fool a predator into staying away. This "eye" is on a tomato hookworm that was unfortunately eating last summer's tomatoes. Unfortunate for me, since I had a great crop of tomatoes going--not a given in my shady back yard--and not for it since I took it inside to watch for a while and it quickly died.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Nurses' Rally in Chicago.

For Thematic Photographic 228, I am posting a few of my favorite photos of 2012. I can't post them all and if they are favorites, I likely have posted them before but here is a smattering.


Weird Window Display in London


Cactus in Phoenix


Annoyed Box Turtle