Another Storm Day

Here we are at home being "socked in" by a lesser storm than in the past weeks, but still giving us additional accumulation we may not really need at this point! I made this image this morning out the second floor, where we can still see through the windows as they are above the level of the snow. The bay looks as though it is just going out across to the end of the earth!

To New Goucester in the Storm

This past weekend was an adventure as we headed south in the middle of a snowstorm, which is no new thing as we have done much more precarious things in the past. I had rested some from the concussion and am starting to feel slightly like myself again. It was a good weekend with the family and we always enjoy the boys, especially with Emerson becoming so much more interactive and personable!

The first shot here is a macro of one of Jackson's "binkys". I started calling them "chew toys" and Jackson would correct me every time, never succuming to referring to them as I did. He would say "It's called a binky, Grampie!" Here's the shot, you decide.

I was amazed by this second shot, which was a "no look", grab the iPhone from the armrest in the car, flick it on, and hit the shutter button while holding it against the window of the car. Jen pointed out the beauty of it and I was so lucky to get it on such quick notice! It is right after the Penobscot Narrows Bridge headed toward Searsport.

Juno Sunset

All that snow in the air and the blustering that accompanies it made for a remarkable sunset over the Sorrento Golf Course tonight. Looking across the bay, the sun was an unusually glowing ball as it sank slowly down to the horizon. I didn't really have time to set up a tripod for these shots, and it was still snowing quite a bit, but I was able to shoot at a fairly fast shutter speed, so they worked OK, just OK.

Juno, Really?

The removal of snow from our fairly extensive driveway is always a hassle, but almost two feet, bare in spots and drifted to four feet in others makes it even more "hassle some"!

Here are a couple of pictures of David using the snowblower. I always like the way the snow and its field of white draws attention to the subject of snow shots.

Jackson's Birthday

We celebrated today with a few people at Torrey and Katie's. I was a great time, Katie did an amazing job with all the preparation and decoration and I took 120+ pictures! Here's one of my favorites with Torrey playing with Jackson on the sofa.

What a Day For the New Year!

It's a beautiful morning from one of the living room windows!

Morning Plants

I really need to get out of this "macro" mode, but I am finding out so much about the possibilities of it that I hate to just move on to something else just to feel like I am moving on to something else. The philosophy of moving forward to things new seems empty when that which one is moving away from is not fully understood.

With that said, here are four shots from the many I took of the plants in the living room under the morning sun.

Takin' Down the Christmas Tree

So I took a ton of pictures while still in macro mode. Jen and I were getting ready to take down the tree and I had shot the ornaments the other night with the lights on, so figured I would try with sunlight coming in through the windows. I put the 75-300mm lens on my Sony Alpha and screwed a 2+ filter on the front of it, and then played with focal lengths (focus by camera movement) on the zoom as I looked for pictures.

I'm not really happy with the sharpness of the images, but they look alright and give me some good compositions, so I can't complain!

The other thing I did right from iPhoto, was to post them to my Flickr account. I haven't done this all that much, but with a bunch of photos like that (10) I thought they might do better in an album rather than in this scroll down blog. The link is: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chartlie/sets/72157647691348704/
and I will post one shot here so you can get the idea of what they are.

At the End of the Day, At the End of the Year

I know, I know... sunsets tend to be a cliche no matter how cool they are, but I took this one in very little light, with my phone, through a living room window and still got a great sky and the coolness factor of the lights of Bar Harbor under the shadow of Cadillac Mountain!

As the Year Ends...

So does the life of a lowly fly. I got "buzzed" by this creature in Jackson's room Friday, and without thinking I reached out and grabbed it. I've always been quick enough to "catch" flies, but this one I crushed in my hand as I moved to the bathroom to toss it in the trash. I remember so distinctly thinking that showing a disregard for any life form was not the best thing to teach my grandson, but after all, it was "only a fly", so I wasn't too concerned with it.

I am now, I  truly think I shall remain so, although the battle with ants and wasps that has taken place around the "kid's house" may teat that resolve over the summer.