Dallas Scores another 81° F in less than a week. This time, we tied a record from 1951.

 Some days bring an avalanche of items that are available to photograph while others leave you scratching your head as to where did all the neat stuff in the 16-county Metroplex go? Well, today was one of those days when the pickings were slim. Outside of a couple of good fall color shots of leaves that are peaking now in the Metroplex, that ended the day. However, I did crack 5051 steps today. The calorie burn from that was 198.2calories; 2.17 miles in 51:48 minutes of actual walking at 2.5 MPH. WOW. Those stats even surprised me. After dinner tonight, I donated 140 calories of that 198.2 calorie burn to myself as a reward. Gee, it felt pretty good to spend those 140 calories on 2 Keebler Fudge Stripe cookies with my coffee. 

Yes, I got a new step app for my phone. Been wanting to see how much walking I really have been doing. Now, I see that to get the tagged number of steps of 10,000 per day requires me to start earlier and stay out longer to log those 10,000 steps. Right now though, I'm happy with what I got today. This spring and next fall should be awesome. 

Animals of the National Cemetery at Dallas/Ft.Worth

 Common, but the setting of where they were was the focal point on the early Sunday Morning in July,2018. The beautiful steeple is at Baptist University adjacent to the cemetery. When evening taps is played and Baptist Baseball team is playing, the game is stopped until the last echo of taps is heard. What a beautiful moment in sports for our veterans. 

It was 81°F Yesterday. Running Errands Before the Big Chill Hit today.

 In someways, we are lucky in North Texas. While in other ways its just pure old fashioned  luck. Still, I really can't think of anyplace else I'd want to spend my retirement years. While I got enough flying in during my normal job, I'm content in riding the trains here in the Metroplex's 4 counties. If I see something worth photography I can get off at the next stop and hop a bus back to within walking distance. When I was still driving, I'd drive past something and turn around and go back to photograph a bird or some unusual object or just something unique as all-get-out. So basically, the routine is still the same without the car insurance, the gas, the registration fees, maintenance, tires, batteries etc.,etc. 

Today, however, its ordering in groceries, doing the little things that I keep putting off and cooking. I love the smell of bread and rolls when the yeast fills the air throughout the house.It's just one of those smells from my childhood that I got from both grandmothers early on. Each one with their unique spin.

One was banana pudding with that thick layer of beat egg whites that had browned just right in the oven. The other was the super big and I mean super big cookies and those fried pies of chocolate and sugar in a half-moon folded over crust browned as well. Oh, my. For years it was always a  mystery how my maternal grandmother made those super big cookies. She never let you see her cut them out of the rolled dough. Then, the last time I visited with her (she passed in her mid 90s)  I was in the air pretty much over where she lived on my way from Dallas to Detroit. It was mom's oldest sister that let the cat out of the bag by accident. 

In those days, the little diners got super big jars of mayo, big enough for a hand to go into the jar. That meant there had to be a big metal lid to screw onto the jars. I found one at a garage sale one day and it actually matched what my grandmother had used to cut out those whopper sized cookies. Some were sugar. Some were chocolate chips. It made no difference to me. Grandma just gave me the biggest cookie that I had ever seen and I loved her and her cookies.

Yes, I still like banana pudding that my paternal grandmother made and had a big hutch cupboard in her kitchen where she let pies and puddings cool and on big holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving, there were always those big fluffy biscuits left over from breakfast that you could sneak one in between meals. That's where I got the love of yeast rising in the oven and floating out from the oven and throughout the house.  

This time of year,I don't mind being in the house when the days are cold or threat of rain. I don't mind those things, but I am at the point now where you can call me a 'fair-weather' type of guy. Hey, it helps me stay off the computer, too. There have been some days when I have been on the computer way to much. Of course, indexing images will do that when you have heavy shoot days. Those are days when when you shoot at least 250 or more shots. 

Right now, with colors peaking, its hard to not run up that many shots in an outing. With the drought conditions previously I was afraid that the colors would be rather bleak. But,no. They are outstanding. The 70's are in the forecast a couple more times in the next week so I'm trying to get the chores done so that I can hit the road and the rails just right. 

The Christmas Tree Farm is the biggest one and the best one that I have seen in the area this year. I had an outdoor lunch at Dickey's BBQ yesterday and got the Christmas tree display from the sidewalk table as I ate lunch. You can see the trees color change  that is next to the tree farm display.

 

Not Rushing It. In fact, I'm behind already.

The last of the super full moons for this year

           

         <Saw one of these on a car top yesterday.    

 

 

decorations are popping up all over the place and I just finished the last of the turkey up.`

Plano has their tree up in Haggard Park Already. This is one of several spots in Dallas that have full size trees.

Christmas Around the Metroplex in Christmas Past.

I first noticed how I was falling behind on posting with the tides when I was at the Zoo on the 19th of October. Christmas was already happening there and the workers were like busy little bees getting things set for the light shows and the rest of the holiday happenings there.

Last week I was at Addison Circle Park and it was just a nice Autumn Day. Then, last night on one of the TV stations, they ran a story showing the massive decorations of lights that is billed as the largest 'free' light show in the Metroplex, I didn't even see any signs of the decorations going up, but it's a massive light show walking in the test run and it is absolutely awesome. How and when all that got done had to be holiday magic 'cause I sure didn't seen anything happening there when I was last there.

Then, there is the ICE SHOW Carvings at the Gaylord Texan in a chilly 9-degrees where the carving are displayed. No worry, I have big jackets. Not to mention the outdoor lights at Fair Park, or Frisco. Talk about feeling unplugged, looking back over the past month and what has taken shape, from what I have seen, being unplugged is an understatement. I can't even find the extension cord to plug into where ever all this stuff got the 'show time' signal from some fictional text or something. 

However, not all is lost. I have started my annual review of the archives and uncovered a lot of missed images. This review isn't all about top shelf techniques in every image. It's based on subject matter and some of the not so clear shots can be explained away in full honor, but it is the ones that I missed that are top shelf that got overlooked because of the ones that didn't turn out so well initially. And---bow your heads and put your palms together for a photography confession about to be unmask. I even checked the last date that I got new glasses and I am still within the time frame of regular check-ups but I have noticed that I have to take off my glasses sometimes to see the computer screen. I get frustrated when I have to fight with my trifocals lens and take my line of site up or down two floors on my shoulder of lens view adjustment to read at times. (After 40 years of successfully wearing hard contacts, I don't hate glasses but I do hate trifocals.) But, like most things worthy of eating a bit of pride, came the discovery that I couldn't see something I was trying to focus on in the view finder of the camera. So I pulled the glasses off and looked into the camera's view finder to a perfectly clear image. Then, it hit me like a brick. I was trying to focus through my natural lens through my trifocals and the camera's lens. Something had to give and I continued to try this technique again with just my normal lens looking through the  camera's lens with 100% clarity. What a Bozo I was to not even think about that in the first place. In short, I have better lenses in my cameras than I have on my face. Imagine that!

I used to listen to my car when it was trying to tell me something. I listen to my body to help manage my health, so I guess my camera just got tired to trying to tell me to take off my glasses when I wanted to really get a super sharp focus. I've always had good technique. I was taught by my mom and one of the best wire service photographers in the industry and have had a life time of practice. I just could not see the problem and the camera must have gotten tired of hearing me say, "OH, GEES!" So, I have seen the technical light---don't try to focus through two sets of powerful lens. You just need one!

So, I will continue to practice taking off my grasses when I shoot. It's a hard pill to swallow but sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do. You know what I mean Vern? You know what I mean,Vern.-------Vern, knows what I mean! Good Night!

 

Echo's of Carl Sagen

 "If the dinosaurs had a space programme, they'd still be around." ~~Carl Sagan

Carl, was a pioneer in the field of exobiology, the study of the possibility of extraterrestrial life. 

 Carl, never said "billions and billions". That came about from his appearance on the Johnny Carson television show when Carson--not Carl-- said "billions and billions"in a quip but as we say today, 'it went viral'.

All this came about from our present space capsule that is circling the moon that took a picture and sent back to earth of that amazing little "blue dot" we call home like the one earlier astronauts took. Carl had some interesting thoughts about that "The Blue Dot" that came about. Now, after all those years, the image is raising some very interesting questions that Sagan had written about. The man was religious and believed that God did exist but maybe had been under or over estimated in early writings thousands of years ago--- not disbelieving that God created the Earth, but a question pro and con on maybe not the 400 billion starts in the galaxy beyond our own. Something to that nature. The point is---There is so much we do not know about the universe and through exploration some of those questions can still be answered. Most recently, Harvard Physicist Lisa Randall's new book "Knocking on Heavens Door" says she thinks an extra dimension may exist close to our familiar reality, hidden except for a bizarre sapping of the strength of gravity as we see it. That article in greater detail is from the Smithsonian Magazine, December 2011 by Robert Irion. 

So, as we work on how to change the course of a space rock big enough to house the Empire State Building from not hitting us, those space programs that Carl referred to was 'right on critical thinking' and maybe, we won't be wiped out like the dinosaurs demise because they didn't have one of those space programmes where as, we do today.

Sometimes the grimlins sneak back into the camera.

 It was a bit chilly when I headed out today, but given the 5-day weather forecast, the better of the days before Thanksgiving was going to be today.Soooo, grabbed the bag and headed out the door to the bus stop and then on to the train station. Once at City Line, the options were available for many different directions and/or events to update and shoot. So, there again, I choose the shuttle bus to check on the University of Texas--Dallas since it has been a wee bit since last there. 

The usually neat sidewalks were covered in construction mud and even a drilling truck. I started out on the opposite end of where I finished up beforehand and worked my way down to the water tower and then back toward the shuttle bus stop. There, I meet an amazing young man out for a walk, it seemed, and I ask him if he would like a picture or two for his social media page. Long story short, he agreed and while we were discussing how he would like to have the images taken, I forgot to switch my settings from landscape to portrait setting. Of the three or so shots, they were okay for using in social media but I prefer to have them as clean and clear as possible. Still, they came out rather well for that use and I have explained to the young man what happened---even giving him two examples of what difference there is between the two settings so he can see the difference. 

All-in-all, it was a very good day just to be out in the elements, even when the clouds started to move in. Scattered showers tomorrow and then better weather and warmer temps come our way during Thanksgiving and the weekend. 

Going To The World Cup?

 

Dallas might be worth checking with for connecting flights if not direct.

 Dallas/Ft.Worth International Airport had two Middle Eastern Airlines direct. It might be worth some time and connections to check with before booking anything. It has been a little bit since I've been to DFW International Flights so,if you didn't know, it's worth a shot to check before you book.

British Airways, American,Qantas,Qatar, had flight connecting if not direct now from DFW. Just a thought. Better to have checked than have regrets later.