After the Floods----

the water is finally beginning to go down, nearly a week after the last rain drops stopped falling.  That kind of indicates how much like a sponge the earth really was with 24 of 31 days of rain. Still, there are areas where acres of standing water exist, but the lakes are being opened to anxious boaters and their wakes will not rush water into someones living room like before. There was plenty of that as it was.

With so much rain, it has given me plenty of time to play with camera settings and  the mastery of what I have learned is paying off. Every thing in life is a trade off, however. Officially, Texas is out of a five year drought in less than four weeks, but now, with the rediscovered sunshine, temperatures are filling the next seven days with low 90 degree readings. It is June already for sure. Temperatures in the low 90s happen this time of year down here. Here's hoping that the evaporation, which does cool the air, will keep the temperatures out of the triple digits during July and August! 

Who would think that a cactus could be so pretty.

This is a beautiful bud just ready to open.

The blooms are awesome!

So, since I have worked so hard to refine the macro of shooting, I did fine some subjects that were a test  and some came out well, others came out alright. I'll show you the alright ones here.

Make sure you click on one of the images to get the HD version.

No Rain Today!

Cathay Pacific's 747 rescheduled to San Francisco now, then on the Anchorage.

The weathermen have been all over the fact that it rained 24 of the last 31 days. So that is how we got the Trinity River to 42 feet when flood stage is 30 feet. Or: so that is how we got the lakes full  when they have been negative 24 feet or negative 18 feet and so on and so on! The old adage has always been, "it takes a flood to get out of a drought".  At any rate, it was just nice to be out in the sunshine and have the humidity below 40 percent, well, at least 53 percent.

Looking back and forward:

The Mighty Trinity River. 2000 feet of water from bank to bank. So much for the new Toll Road the politicians are trying to shove down the voters throats.

The new Sylvan Avenue Bridge will not open to Trammel Crow Park until the water goes down from the exit ramp!

Drought Buster

Downtown with water from east levee to west levee, about 2000 feet.

Over the past three years, I've heard people laugh when the saw the Mighty Trinity for the first time. Least we all forget that the past five years have been drought years--albeit severe drought conditions for a large part of those five years.

Here are a few images from this afternoon.

The old Sylvan Ave. bridge below the new Sylvan Ave. Bridge

The new Margaret McDermott Bridge over the Trinity on I-30

A Time To Remember

Veteran's Section in a local Cemetery

This time of year--especially, this time of year-- I think about my dad telling of his experiences during the war when I was growing up. My grandmother called Memorial Day, Decoration Day. It was the one time each year when families went to the cemetery, cut grass, pulled weeds, planted flowers and put decorations on the markers. Over the years, each Memorial Day I usually attend a memorial service at one of the large cemeteries. Sometimes I stay for the full service. Sometimes, I wander the cemetery reading marker epitaphs. Most of the markers carry the Private or PFC inscription.

Both my dad and his brother served in World War II. Dad was part of the liberation of Paris. I can still see the old crinkled cut images of him in Paris with his buddy. After leaving the cemetery my uncle always got on the old upright piano in my grandmother's living room and played, "Under The Double Eagle". He played it in the USO facilities where ever he could find one. People liked to hear it played in those days.

Dad has his place of honor at the National Cemetery in Little Rock. As I see all the volunteers placing the American flags one foot in front of the headstones, I know that dad would be proud.
The Greater Dallas Veteran's Council do an excellent job in remembering and paying tribute to American Heroes as does all the volunteers in all the National Cemeteries. It really hits you when you see 4x4x4 parts baskets and/or containers filled with those American flags.

More than 6,800 American flags representing lives lost in Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn.

 

New York Times Opinion

When you are young, you dream about things that sometimes stays with you for a lifetime. Some would say that is because no goals are set. To them, they know not what they say. They, as I call them, are the naysayers of social media and i-phones today. To them, I say: Shut up!

My goals that were set as a young boy, a teen, a college student, a young married have all been meet ten times over. I have no complaints. I have only praise.

 The difference between then and now is youth vs. old age.

 For the bible says in Ecclesiastes 3:1,

 "For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born,and a time to die;

a time to plant,and a time to pluck up what is planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time  to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to rend, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace."

From what I gather from this is that I have had my time  to be silent. Now, it is my time to speak. There were times after my divorce that I would say to my mom that she had escaped the 60's worries that moms had then with protesting kids. I was to busy working and going to school to be bothered with that stuff. "But, now--" I said, "I'm not gonna shut up!" We had a good laugh about that many times, but she knew what I meant. We had all weep together at one time and we had mourned. And now it was a time to dance. We would mourn again for my son and then laugh and dance together for the memories each of us had of him while he was with us. 

This morning, I read the most inspiring essay that I have read in a long time. It brought back many memories about dreams somewhat fulfilled but never achieved; dreams that were never meant to be fulfilled. As my uncle, The Reverend W.T. (True) Watson,would say, paraphrasing:"God will speak his wishes for your life if you will shut up long enough for HIM to tell you. Just listen to people over talk others today, from CNN reporters to their interviewees and many other media newscasters. Quickly, you see how no one is really listening anymore. 

This brings me to the topic about that essay. The essay appeared in the The New York Times Opinion Page. The essay is entitled: In Flight: Enroute from London to Tokyo, a pilot's-eyeview of life in the sky by Mark VanHoenacker, a senior first-officer of a 747 for British Airways.

Mark has published his first book: Skyfaring: A Journey with a Pilot" and you can link to his webpage at:                                               http:www.skyfaring.com

especially if you want to purchase the book direct. I would highly recommend reading the essay from the book that is published in The New York Times. The graphics are fantastic, the essay allows you to visualize on your own much of what he is experiencing as a pilot.

Anyone still young and dreaming of aviation as a career should read this essay and the book! If the good Lord wants you to fly as an aviator, He's telling you to check it out if you shut up and listen long enough (laughing).

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/05/14/opinion/14-in-flight-mark-vanhoenacker.html?_r=0

Unique Image Appears

Can you see the image in the wood?

The little bone was found in the cavity of the trunk of the tree. It appears to be a small rodent, which would imply that it had been carried there by a hawk, falcon or owl as food for either chicks or a nesting female.  The more interesting aspect of the wood, I think, is the "tiger head that appears to be coming out of the wood" just to the left and looking downward from the small while animal bone.

Quantum Mechanics and Other Topics

I am not a quantum physicist. Nor, do I ever claim to be one. But, it is a topic that has interested me since my college days and during the course of time since, actually, I have begun to understand a tiny bit (pardon that pun) of the Theory.  Not until I read an article in Quanta Magazine did it hit me just how much interest that I had in the topic and how the very laws of Quantum Mechanics have changed my life, my world, my total thinking. That is a heavy statement. It is, without reservation, true.

Yesterday, was another one of those  dark, gloomy and dingy days that I use to shoot textures and backgrounds. I don't do as much of those as I should. But somehow, I do manage to squeeze in four or five days every six months to do just that. Usually, those days fall into the dreary bin.

A few weeks back, I ran across a dumping pile for old trees and logs  that had been removed from somewhere else. A tree is good for two textures--the grain from the cut and the bark. Both make interesting backgrounds for graphic artist and web designers. Some are even becoming a focal point for the cutting-edge interior designers. So, the thinking was that if I could make one stop and get two separate backgrounds, the cost per mile would drop against any future sale.

When I got to the site, I was somewhat relieved to see them all still there. I parked the car and got out, camera in hand. As I approached the favorite piece that I had half-way chosen to be the best of the lot for texture shots, it was obvious that someone else had chosen it as well, as a pile of fresh sawdust lay on the ground and a fresh face cut was obvious that a slice had been taken away already.
Actually, the person who had come and gone with the cut, had aided me more than they knew.

When, I had the shots that I wanted, I walked over to the car and went into the little wood wine box that I carry little props and tools in for the tripod. Don't you see the entanglements and tensor networks going on here? It's quantum physics at work people!  Quantum entanglements--the glue that holds things together, including those tensor networks of the universe. They are all working together. That's why there are 1,000 parts on an Airbus A-380 that are made with a digital 3-D printer. Think glue baby, think glue! 

Now, think about how many years this tree was alive and of the history that passed over it; below it; through it, or within it. Time and Space. That tree is time and space. Somewhere in another dimension, that sawdust on the ground is still on that tree trunk. That's what Dr. Stephen Hawkins believes. Who am I to disagree?

54-inches side-to-side cut

The lesser diameter trunks and limbs