Many pictures

As you avid followers of this website know (all two or three of you), I got a new Canon A2100is camera in May, thanks to my family. While it does have a shortcoming or two (or perhaps a comprise or two), most notably, it has no viewfinder (in exchange for a large LCD display) and still keeping a quite small size (about 4 by 2.5 by 1.25 inches). It has 4000x3000 resolution (what Canon refers to as 12.1 megapixels??), 6x optical zoom plus 4x digital zoom, and the "is" referring to image stabilization. It's GREAT!!! So, anyway, I've taken quite a few pictures (at least, I thought I had, until I saw Evan lately, and he certainly puts my numbers to shame), and the problem then becomes one of pruning. Still got the problem, but I have a good size hard disk so I'm not in trouble yet. Bigger problem is finding the one one is thinking of some weeks, months, or years later. Still working that one.

Note: in case you might wonder, the pictures are numbered in the sequence taken. the prefix "u" is for this camera, the appended letters mean various things: "m" is modified size (to near 800x600, usually), "c" is cropped, "l" is modified lighting, "r" is red-eye fix. Haven't thought of any others.

What I'm working up to is that I finally went through my first nearly 700 pictures (taken from May through July) and picked out a lot that I like for one reason or another. In order to simplify looking at pictures of a particular kind, I've sorted them into categories, with the links to the categories given below.

Approximate dates the pictures were taken can be determined from the following list;
number up to 110 - first half of May
number from 111-183 - second half of May
number from 184-268 - first half of June
number from 269-378 - second half of June
number from 379-599 - first half of July
number from 591-647 - second half of July
number beyond 647 - August

People, posted 8-24-09
Animals, posted 8-25-09
Birds plus, posted 8-25-09
Sky, cloud, land, posted 8-30-09
Plants, posted 8-30-09
Other, posted 8-30-09

People

For Mother's day, Hailey took us to the Winchester House for brunch. Here's Amelia and I in the gazebo. Here's the three of us. We were joined by our friends MaryKay and Dick. Afterward I got this picture of Hailey downtown. The last weekend of May Mark and Darla came down from Eugene. This isn't really a picture of a person, but a picture of a drawing of a person. Our friend Sandy from Green Valley drew this portrait of Sulwen from a picture taken when Sulwen visited her house in March. I think it's wonderful (I'm talking portrait here, obviously not the picture). Mid-June we went to Prospect to see our friends Richard and Ina and prospect for a few lava rocks for the yard. Here we are relaxing on one of their decks by the creek. On Saturday before Father's Day, Hailey, Tate, and I hiked to Mt. Ashland and around it. It was very foggy and I missed the view from the top, but got this favorite picture of Hailey and Tate and a ghostly tree. As a reward (I guess), Hailey took us to Harper's for brunch the next day, and a friendly passerby took our picture. In early Amelia and I took a trip to California, stopping by to see Tanna and Sulwen for a few days (see earlier report). I got several nice pictures of Sulwen. Here she is riding the rocking boat I built about 1968 for her Uncle Evan. Sulwen loves to swing (but no sissy swings, please). Sulwen walks in determined fashion across the Ft. Ross School playground.

Animals

This is one of the first few pictures I took with the A2100. It is the neighbor's "rescue horse", who looks considerably better than earlier. This was taken at 6x and I was amazed at the detail in the grass. Thanks, "is". This one isn't an animal shot, per se, but it is evidence of a large animal, bear, I reckon, within a hundred feet or so of the house. I made a bird feeder with a spring loaded perch to keep big birds from getting food. It sort of works, but as many know, squirrels are persistent. We've had numerous deer around the property, here are eight in front of the house. One of our frequent visitors is Tate, head of our Chocolate Lab Division. Tate dearly loves seeing the Jack Rabbits, as do we, but so far he has never caught one (gives up quicky, in fact). Here's a closer look than Tate ever gets. I don't know what these are, but they apparently hard at work. Another visit from the deer, with a couple of newcomers, having some fun gamboling around the field. When we were in Timber Cove on a walk at Gerstle Cove I got this shot of seals lazing on the rocks.

Birds plus

We generally have at least one family of Bluebirds in our bluebird house (sometimes Tree Swallows), but this year we had at least two. Hummingbirds are pretty numerous (yeh, sort of missed part of him, but the part I got is good). This is certainly one of my favorite early shots: Two of four Red-tailed Hawks orbiting above. We have a second duplex bird house on the fence, and this bird, that may be a Flycatcher, nested on one side of it. The finches (Lesser and American Goldfinch) love thistle seed and regularly empty the feeder. One bird I really enjoy seeing (and we frequently do) is the Red-tailed Hawk. This Acorn Woodpecker was taking a drink at the Rogue Valley Country Club (where I was having a drink, and eats). Here's a nice close-up of an American Goldfinch at the thistle feeder, while another awaits his turn in the tree. Here's a Barn Swallow north of Klamath Lake. In the same area I took this picture of an Osprey by its nest (one offspring can be seen peeking over the edge of the nest). Down near Agency Lake we saw this Yellowheaded Blackbird. I finally caught one of the baby Bluebirds awaiting his meal in our bluebird house. Our birdbath is popular - here's a Canyon Towhee enjoying it. This is "not quite a bird", a butterfly on a bush at Richard's and Ina's place in Prospect. One of the joys of kayaking at Howard Prairie Lake is seeing the Bald Eagles that nest there. Here's a little closer shot of one, and here's one I apparently shot at 24x showing the nest and an Eaglet, too. Turkey Buzzards float around over us regularly. Ah, here's another shot of a Bluebird, I think a juvenile who has flown the nest, but returned to perch (or wait for Mom or Dad to come back with a morsel - not likely). In July I saw this Shag at Gerstle Cove when visiting Tanna and Sulwen. Also caught a Turkey Buzzard returning to the rest of the flock. One day I looked out the window to see these two Acorn Woodpeckers on the post below the bird feeder. One flew off, but the other one posed. One morning when going to get the paper, there seemed to be a fuss at the nearby power pole. Two walkers apparently thought a Western Meadowlark was trying to "get" these babies, but I think that was a parent. They had flown the nest a few days later. Here's another Red-tailed Hawk, not as good as some other shots. The Canyon Towhee dries out after taking a bath. This one may be some kind of Sparrow, but I don't seem to be able to identify it. The juvenile Bluebirds are back and enjoying the birdbath.

Sky, cloud, land

I like cloud pictures, so if you care to look, you'll be seeing some here. This one just looks like a little stretched thin cotton wool. This one looks a little angrier, but not threatening. Nothing nicer than fluffy ones on the horizon out toward Grizzly Peak. OK, OK, we get to one a little more interesting with this one. Enough clouds for a little bit. We wenting kayaking on Klamath Lake, Pelican Bay to be exact. It was very quiet, with water smooth as glass, as they say. This made for wonderful reflection pictures. Well, there's a cloud in this one, and its reflection in front of the hill. No reflection is this one since there are too many water lilies on the Bay, but Mt. McLoughlin is OK without a reflection. Have to sneak in another cloud picture, this one with the sun behind it. Still playing around with the 24x zoom, I took this one of Baldy Peak that has the antennae from which we access the internet. Another prominent nearby peak is Roxy Ann, also shot at 24x. Both these were hand-held. Some of you know that I also love sunrise and sunset pictures. Here's a particularly nice sunset we had around the middle of June. We sometimes go kayaking on Howard Prairie Lake. It is sometimes windy, but was particularly smooth on this trip. The day before Father's Day, Hailey, Tate, and I hiked up Grizzly Peak in the fog. Someone had made Grizzly Peak a few feet higher (reminds me, a little, of The Man Who Went up A Hill and Came Down a Mountain). Futher along the way we saw this multi-legged "creature". The fog made these trees killed by fire several years ago look a bit ghostly. Another sunset picture, this one looking over toward east Medford, with the closer lights being in Phoenix (OR). This house is across a little valley from us, and is reminescent of a building in a painting we have, so I walked over a little closer to it and took this picture. Nice looking house, neighbor, whoever you are. Back to more sunset pictures, with this very red one, and another looking a little to the left, and this one a bit to the right. I like big fluffy clouds (did I already mention that?). That one was sort of north, and to the west it looked like this. Every year there is a parasailing competition starting at Woodrat Mountain, and usually one of there courses goes right over our house. I usually try to get a few good pictures. Here's one that is OK. A little further away. There's a pair. Another comes by pretty low. They didn't seem to be threatened by this dark looking cloud. There are at least four going by here. Here's something completely different, a shot of the ocean off the Big Sur coast. Here's a real favorite of mine, a shot of the Bixby Creek Bridge from the Old Coast Highway. Back home here's another cloud shot out to the west. A little later the sun had set, but there was a wonderful display of the shadow of the cloud into the sky.

Plants

Lots of pictures of plants, mostly flowers, of course. Purple iris, just off our deck. I planted a Bosc pear some years ago and it had several hundred tiny pears on it, but by this time may had dropped many. (A a good thing). The waterfall is still going, and the ginger on both sides seems to like it. After Sulwen was born we got a Dogwood in her honor and it bloomed nicely this year. Amelia's Alpine garden is doing well, and Mr. Frog seems to like it. We had other iris, this one a gift from Chris. This is one of the Yellow water lillies we saw at Pelican Bay while kayaking. Amelia planted a lot of Dutch iris and they bloomed nicely. I got a Korean Dogwood for my birthday a few years ago, and it is doing well; it blooms much later than Sulwen's. We like California poppies and these are in our front yard, picture taken from the front porch. These Oleanders are at Richard's and Ina's house in Prospect. They also had this wooden alligator in the stream off their deck, but it subsequently washed away. OK, maybe mushrooms aren't plants, but where else would I put them? - could have been in Misc, I guess, but they are not. This Columbine was on Grizzly Peak. So were these flowers, and many to come. Looks like Daisies to me. This is a very interesting flower and I have no idea what it is. Likewise this one I don't know. Here's more of them and some Indian paintbrush. Here's another unknown, and yes, it's foggy on Grizzly Peak. Some of these we've seen before, but there are also yellow flowers. That was the last of the Grizzly Peak pictures. Back home, we see the bank of St. John's wort in front of the house. I can make you feel better. Our "not that well cared for" Magnolia gave us many short-lived blossoms again this year. The wildflowers were out when we visited Gerstel Park in California. Here are Yellow Lupine. This one I don't know, maybe some kind of lily. These may be wild iris. A sea of grass looking toward the sea (Pacific Ocean). Got me on these, too, as also this one. I was quite a distance from these interesting blooms that I shot at 24x. Back home and a few weeks later, some shots from our yard. The "not necessarily well taken care of" magnolia did it's magic again with many short-lived blossoms. Amelia's alpine garden has taken on a little different look, but Mr. Frog gets a better chance to hide. After some pest problems in the rose garden, most of the roses brought forth a good crop of blossoms: here's white, here's pink, here's red, here's yellow, here's more white, also in closeup, and finally, another yellow. The Day Lillies also put on a nice show, as did the Butterfly bush. Finally, a few garden shots. The zucchini always do well, both green and yellow. The tomatoes promised a great deal more than they have delivered. Don't know if the weather was too hot, or whether I've just been treating them too well.

Other

A few pictures didn't seem to fit into the above categories (one could argue some of the above didn't fit the category, either, I suppose), so here are a few I couldn't seem to squeeze in above. Here's a shot of a fireplace mantel at the DeYoung Museum, followed by a detail closeup. Also at the DeYoung was this wonderful bench. I'm thinking I would like to make one in the same vein, if I can just figure out how to incorporate a LazyBoy into it, since that one doesn't look all that comfortable. And now for something completely different. One day we made a stir-fry and the vegetables looked so colorful I couldn't resist taking a picture of them (nor putting it here).