G is for Gravestone

Playing the photo memes today. This one is for PhotoBlog Challenges: Begins with G. This headstone was for a woman who died in 1790 at the age of 27. The graveyard is in Cape Cod, details of the town somewhat forgotten at the moment. The image looks better large. Oops, that was last week's challenge. I'll leave the post up since I like the shot anyhow. Guess I should have eaten breakfast first. Especially since it is 1:30 almost.

Day's End

I took this photo a bit over two years ago while visiting with friends in Cape Cod. The sunset was so wonderful I took 56 pictures. I'm still trying to figure out which ones are worth posting to Flickr. I like most of them but it is still sunset overdose. Sorting through these photos makes me realize how behind I am in reviewing old pictures. I guess I am not as dedicated as I used to be. Unfortunately it means I also forget some of the details of the shots. This one is for PhotoSunday--Sunny. Happily it remains sunny here in Chicago. Yesterday I biked to the lake and appreciated the weather greatly. As they say in Game of Thrones--Winter is Coming!

Clocked

Posting photos on Flickr can be dangerous for the closet hoarder because it lends to collections (and sets and galleries). Since the collections are virtual they are less hazardous to the housekeeper which is a good thing in my case. My obsessions with photos of clocks (mostly attached to buildings) began with my noticing all the photogenic clock towers there are around the world. It turns out that clocks frequently get placed on banks, funeral parlors (a morbid preoccupation with the rapid passage of time?), official buildings, churches, barber shops, diners and other various and sundry small businesses. My Flickr set of clocks has 113 photos at present (with a few duplicates) representing clocks in Chicago, France, Spain, California, Wisconsin, New York City, Edinburgh, Portugal and St. Croix. I may have missed a spot or two as well. I aim to keep on collecting and my family have learned to tolerate my demanding a stop here and there to photograph an entirely unprepossessing building merely for the sake of growing my "collection." What can I say? It's a hobby.

Domke Lake

August 16, 2007. Domke Lake fire on Lake Chelan as seen from west end of the lake. We returned to this area last month for a brief (4 night) stay and hiked, bicycled, ate and played board games. This is a wonderful part of the world. No cell phone access and only limited access to other electronic amenities such as TV and internet. This is quite liberating, at least on the short term. I am posting here a comparative shot from nearly the same location, minus the fire effect. There were other fires burning in the region while we were there and a number in the intervening years, almost certainly a negative consequences of global warming. August 27, 2013 For more photos of the Domke Lake fire, look at my set on Flickr.

Stacks within Stacks

Photo Sunday's theme is Beach. This shot was taken while backpacking in Washington State last summer. Sea stacks are remnants of harder rock left behind after erosion and wear by the ocean. They make for wonderful photos especially around sunset. Last summer I finally got the family to backpack. My husband has done so in the past but neither of my two sons. We were joined by one of my son's friends and my brother. We all had a good time but only one of my sons got the bug to do it again. Since he just moved to Seattle he will have ample opportunity. I'm jealous. Backpacking from Chicago is not quite so geographically easy. Even though this particular hike was incredibly easy--the only complication was needing to carry all our water the first day--barely 4 miles a day and flat, my 51 year old joints protested mightily. If I ever dream of doing any "serious" hiking, and I do, I will need to get into much better shape. It isn't that I can't "walk the walk"--it is that I need to build up some serious muscle around the major load bearing joints, especially my knees which are feeling their age. Time to get in training.