Posts Tagged ‘reflection’
Energy Fade
Today is one month away from my 67th birthday in June. Everyone ages differently, but my experience is that my level of energy has dropped noticeably in my mid-sixties. That’s not necessarily problematic for me. I really enjoy lounging around. I had a wonderfully luxurious day in the most fabulous lake weather yesterday, enhanced by some great conversation with Steve’s guests from Sweden, Eva and her daughter, Matilde. I also checked in on Cyndie, who was threading beads to create Morse coded bracelets.
Looking at some of the shiny beads in her collection, I was fascinated by the reflection of the red umbrella overhead. She was working at the table on the deck. When I leaned over to take a photo, my phone camera obscured the view of the umbrella, but that added some mystery about what was going on in the image.
As the afternoon advanced and people with weekday responsibilities departed for their homes, I rallied my resources and hopped on the bike to do some light-effort pedaling. I’d spent much of the day recovering from my extended workout on the bicycle the day before, but in the hope of building more stamina using the same muscle groups, I thought it pertinent to ride again on consecutive days.
It took me a long time to warm up my legs, and just when I started to feel myself hitting stride, I noticed the residual fatigue was making sure I was still aware of it. It wasn’t going to be a long-distance outing even if I’d wanted it to be. Luckily, I was within a few miles of Wildwood when all this was happening. I had been using the electric assist the whole time to baby my rubbery legs, and the thing that became clear to me was that the effort to ride at my usual pace of around 12 mph without the electronics helping ends up being remarkably similar to the effort to keep the pedals spinning at a battery-assisted 18 mph.
It’s a function of being a high-cadence rider. The motor helps, but it is no cure for not having the strength to spin the pedals.
The hour-long cruise on the paved country roads was perfect for my goals and left me with plenty of time to resume luxuriating afterward in the cool breeze off the lake on a warm, sunny day. Then, I stayed up too late watching another overtime hockey game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
I think spectator sports are going to become more entertaining for me as my advancing age continues to reduce my energy resources. Tensing my muscles as the action in the game gets exciting and then relaxing when the whistle blows provides an added bonus of processing the lactic acid buildup in my legs. For now, I’m getting benefits from both participating in a sport and watching professional athletes ply their trades.
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Busy Image
Cyndie is a frequent contributor of images for my use, to which I am forever grateful. Most of the time, she offers them without my asking. I’m probably too quick to turn down as many as I do but it feels a bit like cheating sometimes to rely on her efforts too often in place of my own.
I’ve gladly accepted this crazy image she captured of a wolf spider in a bucket of water.
There is so much going on here that catches my eye. The spider is the least mysterious, except for the three bubbles on the feet, however that is happening. Light does interesting things.
The alien-looking creature at the bottom is wonderful. I wouldn’t think to draw that if I needed to come up with a strange-looking alien, but that hint of a face and the outstretched arm are perfect.
It’s hard to tell what is providing the shadows that are the darker blue shapes. I believe the lighter blue is a reflection of the sky.
The hairy-looking sock puppet of a rat’s face on the right appears to be looking at the ripples in the shadow above it. What is making those ripples, anyway?
Cyndie suggested I create a “Words on Images” feature from the picture but there is already so much going on in that photo that I think words would do it a disservice.
The best thing about this picture for me is that I wish I had taken it. That is often what crosses my mind when I see a photo that I thoroughly admire. I wish I had been there to see that.
I’m glad Cyndie captured it and has shared it for all to see. I think it’s a fabulous photo.
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Unplanned Solution
I thought it would be so simple. Just drop my camera off at the shop to be sent out for cleaning. However, my plan was dashed the very moment I removed the trusty old Nikon from my pocket. Without a hint of hesitation, the clerk informed me there was no repairing this model. In today’s economy, it is cheaper to simply replace it.
This means that my Nikon is basically a disposable camera. That’s just wrong.
Of course, I won’t throw it away. There must be some use for it, even in a world where cell phones are more often used as cameras than for calls.
Admittedly, I tend to rely on my pocket camera more than my phone out of a sense of protection for the phone. I’m more willing to risk the camera to the harsh elements and risky handholds many situations present than I am my phone.
What could I do? I bought a new pocket camera built to withstand the abuse to which I expose them. This go-round I have chosen the Olympus Tough TG-6.
I’m looking forward to the macro mode feature it offers. After I charged the battery last night, the first picture taken was of the reflection of our old Hays family lamp I saw on the surface of the granite countertop below.
I was intrigued that the “auto” mode chose to focus on the image being reflected and not on the actual counter surface.
I look forward to getting to know this camera better and using it to capture a new level of filled-frame images, among the myriad other visuals that tend to catch my attention.
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Lake Art
On a partly sunny day, between rain showers that rolled over us at regular intervals, I wandered down to the dock to soak up some sun. I thought maybe I could collect enough rays to lightly toast the inside of my arm to dry out what is now a pretty fierce poison ivy rash.
I don’t think it did anything for the rash, but I pulled out my camera and played around with the speckled pattern of puffy white clouds reflected on the surface of the water.
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For landlubbers, I’ll garnish these with an image from the forest to bring us back to solid ground…
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Seeing Things
Sitting on the deck for lunch during one of the brief moments of sunshine over the weekend, I glanced at the window on the house and noticed a psychedelic distortion in the reflection.
I had a moment of wondering if it was me or the window that was responsible for the weird image. Others confirmed what I was seeing, so I pulled out my camera and snapped a photo.
Groovy, man.
No software filters were used in the making of this image.
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Leaping Day
Does it feel like February seems longer than usual this year? Not to me. Everything still happens faster than I can comprehend. Happy Leap Day!
It’s like I need to come up with an extra post or something. Well, I have just the thing for today. After an outstanding weekend away at the lake with our friends Barb and Mike, we made it home to a wild reception from Delilah. The place was well taken care of, but it is always nice to reclaim our usual routine and let all our animals know we are back.
We checked out the trails, finding an incredible loss of snow over the weekend, and tidied up the paddocks while milling with the horses. A blink later, Sunday ended and the work week launched.
Our time at the lake is now just a memory.
One particular memory that I already treasure is a photograph that Mike captured. I was standing in front of him, looking out at the lake through one of the big picture windows. Suddenly, he told me not to move. He went behind me, came forward, then back again. At first, it wouldn’t focus for him. He was trying to catch the reflection he was seeing.
Finally, he got it.
I love it. Thanks, Mike!
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Photo Fun
When I was shoveling snow off the deck, I spotted my reflection in the mirror in our bedroom and decided to try a self-portrait. It doesn’t adequately capture what it looked like in person, but I like how it turned out anyway.
I finally got around to plowing the area around the barn and hay shed yesterday, after the storm last Tuesday. When I got up early on Wednesday to plow before going to work, I only did the main run of driveway, from the house to the road. After a prolonged exercise of back and forth on the ATV, I parked it and picked up the snow shovel to finish and clean up edges by hand.
While I was running the ATV, the horses watched me from a distance. Once that ruckus was over, and the only sound being made was the repetitive scrape of my shovel, they no longer showed a need to keep an eye on me. The sun was winning the battle of breaking through the clouds and it seemed wonderfully cozy for a winter day.
I glanced up toward the horses and they had all disappeared to the ground. In the time I fumbled to get my camera out of a deep pocket, where it was staying warm next to my body, Dezirea had finished a thorough snow-bath and returned to her feet. The others weren’t down much longer than her, but they all had a nice few moments of total relaxation, sunning themselves in the fresh blanket of powdery snow.
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Marco’s Pictures
I can’t say enough about what a wonderful fit our two families are, the Morales family from Guatemala and Cyndie and me. We are having a blast together. Also, I am particularly pleased to have access to pictures Marco has been taking. He zoomed in close on Legacy’s eye and captured a reflection of himself, and Dunia and me.
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We are up at the lake place this morning, after driving up yesterday. When we arrived and pulled into the driveway, Cyndie and I decided to give them a tour of the community property before pulling up to our home. As we arrived near the tennis court, I was about to point out the huge pine tree towering over the court where the eagle nest has been in years past. I was cut short by my own exclamation, “There’s an eagle!”
The sun had just set and the light was low, but Marco hopped out of the truck with his camera and attempted to get a picture. Later, as we were reviewing his shots on the computer, we learned the eagle wasn’t facing away from us like we had all 
believed. Though almost out of range, and behind some branches that claimed the actual focus, there was a surprising reflection of two eyes and a hint of the color of his beak.
He had been staring at us the whole time, when all the while we thought he was looking the other way.
Thank you to Marco Morales for sharing these fun images with me for use in the blog!
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Relative Something 