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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 58 mm — 1/1000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
George
in Anthony's Tree
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/500 sec, f/3.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Anthony and George
in front of Anthony's Tree, which is growing faster than either of them
Last year I apparently neglected to get a picture of Anthony in front of the tree he planted when he was one year old, or if I did, I neglected to post it. This year, almost six years after planting, I was thankfully reminded by kind readers (not only once, but twice) not to miss the chance.
And then we were done, and he drove away to play...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/500 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Makin' Tracks
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
See You Next Year
Bags are packed... heading back home to Kyoto first thing in the morning, after having spent a month here in Ohio. Door-to-door will take 22 hours.
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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 135 mm — 1/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos
Jogging with Grandpa
2009 Edition
Anthony went jogging with Grandpa a couple of times last year, finishing one lap around the lake the first time, and three laps the second time.
Yesterday Anthony said that he was going to run six laps with Grandpa today, and to encourage him I told him that if he could, I'd give him a toy on the first leg of our flight back to Kyoto tomorrow. (I already have the toy and had planned to give it to him... it's just that now he thinks he's earning it 🙂.)
It had finally let up after having rained all morning, and they went out, and I followed for a few pictures....
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Lookin' Good
( the writing on his arm are some watch faces he wrote with a pen )
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
( Despite a Touch of a Cramp )
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 3200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Heading into Lap Two
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1/320 sec, f/6.3, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Chuggin' Away
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1/320 sec, f/6.3, ISO 3600 — map & image data — nearby photos
High Five!
I went inside after three laps, but Anthony stayed running with Grandpa the whole time, though it turns out that Grandpa does only five laps at a time these days, so Anthony got away with five as well.
Anthony apparently kept some energy in reserve, because the first thing he told me when he came in was that he beat Grandpa. The first thing Grandpa said when he came in was that it would be rude to talk about winners or losers, as he winked at Anthony.
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I've posted before about my admiration for Bill Bryson's writing, in both “Renewing my Visa with Bill Bryson” and “Good Photographers, Bad Writers”. My favorite all-time book – the one I'd want if I could have only one – is A Short History of Nearly Everything. One clue that he's a great writer is that the subject matter of the book can be completely uninteresting – the very essence of boring – but he makes it enthralling. I cite as example his books on hiking the Appalachian trail (A Walk in the Woods) and on growing up in the 50s (Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid).
I've also read his books on traveling in Australia (In a Sunburned Country) and on the history of the English language (The Mother Tongue), both excellent! His compilation of short magazine articles, I'm a Stranger Here Myself, written for a British audience after having returned to The States after 20 years in England, is perfect for when you don't have a lot of time, because each article is just a few pages.
My enthusiasm, sadly, has taken a downturn with the book I just finished, The Lost Continent. This book, subtitled “Travels in Small-Town America”, recounts a long trip by car on the back roads of America.
Here's an excerpt, from page 52...
I was headed for Cairo, which is pronounced “Kay-ro.” I don't know why. They do this a lot in the South and Midwest. In Kentucky, Athens is pronounced “AY-thens” and Versailles is pronounced “Vur-SAYLES.” Bolivar, Missouri, is “BAW-liv-er.” Madrid, Iowa, is “MAD-rid.” I don't know whether the people in these towns pronounce them that way because they are backward, undereducated shitkickers who don't know any better or whether they know better but don't care that everybody thinks they are backward undereducated shitkickers. It's not really the sort of question you can ask them, is it? At Cairo I stopped for gas and in fact I did ask the old guy who doddered out to fill my tank why they pronounced Cairo as they did.
“Because that's its name,” he explained as if I were kind of stupid.
“But the one in Egypt is pronounced 'Ki-ro.'”
“So I've heard,” agreed the man.
“And so most people, when they see the name, think 'Ki-ro,' don't they?”
“Not in Kay-ro they don't,” he said, a little hotly.
There didn't see to be much to be gained by pursuing the point, so I let it rest there, and I still don't know why the people call it “Kay-ro.” Nor do I know why any citizen of a free country would choose to live in such a dump, however you pronounce it.
A few pages later, he's getting into Mississippi and “The South”, after a stretch of boring road....
Maybe things were picking up. Maybe now I would see chain gangs toiling in the sun and a prisoner in heavy irons legging it across fields and sloshing through creeks while pursued by bloodhounds, and lynch mobs roaming the streets and crosses burning on lawns. The prospect enlivened me, but I had to calm down because a state trooper pulled up alongside me at a traffic light and began looking me over with that sort of casual disdain you often get when you give a dangerously stupid person a gun and a squad car. He was descended from the apes like all the rest of us, but clearly in his case it had been a fairly gentle slope. I stared straight ahead with a look that I hoped conveyed seriousness of purpose mingled with a warm heart and innocent demeanor. I could feel him looking at me. At the very least I expected him to gob a wad of tobacco juice down the side of my head. Instead, he said, “How yew doin'?”
This so surprised me that I answered, in a cracking voice, “Pardon?”
“I said, how yew doin'?”
“I'm fine,” I said. And then added, having lived some years in England, “Thank you.”
“Y'on vacation?”
“Yup.”
“Hah doo lack Miss Hippy?”
“Pardon?”
“I say, Hah doo lack Miss Hippy?”
I was quietly distressed. The man was armed and Southern and I couldn't understand a word he was saying to me. “I'm sorry,” I said, “I'm kind of slow, and I don't understand what you're saying.”
“I say” — and he repeated it more carefully — “how do yew lack Mississippi?”
It dawned on me. “Oh! I like it fine! I like it heaps! I think it's wonderful. The people are so friendly and helpful.” I wanted to add that I had been there for an hour and hadn't been shot at once, but the light changed and he was gone, and I sighed and thought, “Thank you, Jesus.”
Of course, we all know it's great fun to ridicule people who speak differently than you, or look differently than you, or are in any way not “you”.
At least, it seems that Bill Bryson thought that, because the book is 300 pages of pure, unadulterated arrogance (expressed in a witty prose of otherwise excellent caliber). At first I thought that he was just racist, because the early part of the book covers The South and his observations of Blacks. But it quickly became apparent that anyone who had the same color skin, or different, more wealth than him or less, more education or less.... or the same... anyone that wasn't him... was a complete moron, in his opinion, worthy of the most florid disdain.
Starting this book having been a huge fan of his writing, I grew more and more distressed and disappointed as I went. Eventually I noticed that the copyright was 1989, a full decade earlier than what I had already read from him, and I realized that the Bill Bryson that I had come to know prior to this book was one whose youthful self-righteous had already been tempered by the wisdom of maturity.
Disappointing.
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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm, cropped — 1/160 sec, f/4.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Almost
A certain kind of trees around here (cottonwoods, I think) have seeds that float lazily in big white puffy puffs. When I was a kid, we called these “Santa Clauses”, and if you caught one, you made a wish then sent it back on its way. I taught this to Anthony.
They're fairly common, so whenever I was out with Anthony and he tried for one, I tried to photographic the sequence. This gave me much-needed practice with quick-response manual focus, and after a bunch of tries, an okay result with what should be in focus almost in focus....
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/160 sec, f/4.5, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Just... One... More... Moment...
They're very light, and often merely the approach in an attempt to grab one causes it to fluff away, so Anthony had to make several lunges...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/160 sec, f/4.5, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
Waiting for Attempt #2
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/160 sec, f/4.5, ISO 220 — map & image data — nearby photos
Lunge!
unsuccessful
Eventually he caught it, pinched between his hands...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm, cropped — 1/250 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Looks Empty, But It's There
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/200 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Making a Wish
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 48 mm — 1/400 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Sending It On Its Way
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 48 mm — 1/250 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Helping Hand
so to speak
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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 125 mm — 1/1250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Mike and Chickee
Luke and Grace
After we had washed out the boat and I had taken a boat ride with Josh and Anthony, it was time for Mike and his family to go out....
Canon PowerShot SD870 IS — 1/80 sec, f/8, ISO 80 — map & image data — nearby photos
Launch Prep
Photo by Phyllis Friedl
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1/800 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Launch
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1/500 sec, f/3.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Navigation
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 125 mm — 1/1000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Shallow Draft
Anthony, having been allowed to steer the little tractor if I'm on it with him, wanted to spend every waking moment doing so. So, I had him drive me around the lake while Mike was out there, so I could jump off and take pictures from various angles.
Here's a picture my sister took just about the time I was taking the photo that leads this post...
Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 70 mm — 1/80 sec, f/7.1, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Reverse-Angle View
Photo by Marci Kreta
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1/1250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Ripples
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1/1000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Heading to the Other End
Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 90 mm — 1/80 sec, f/10, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Another Reverse-Angle View
Photo by Marci Kreta
Sometimes I shot from the tractor, like some kind of hillbilly paparazzi. 🙂
Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 60 mm — 1/300 sec, f/6.3, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Photo by Marci Kreta