circadianreflections

Unhappy folks on shore now! -The Sailor’s Consolation

September 14, 2015September 14, 2015Posted in PhotographyTagged Cruising, Navigator of the Seas, Royal Caribbean, Travel, Western Caribbean13 Comments

He-Man had a big Decade BIRTHDAY (60) this year; very early in the year he asked me to plan a trip for only him and I for this birthday. He didn’t want to drive…much, if at all, or have to think about what or where to eat, or go to be entertained, and he wanted to be in the place on his actual birthday. I knew straight away he was talking about a Cruise. He adores cruising precisely because he doesn’t have to do any of the above mentioned things while on-board. I’m not that crazy about the “at sea days”. There are 4 on a 7 day cruise, and two, TWO formal nights! I tried, OH. SO. HARD. To get him to change his mind and do something else, but none of my suggestions swayed him.

So, being the good wife, and friend I ~~hope I am~~ I try to be; I booked a 7 day cruise on the Navigator of the Seas in the Western Caribbean for his Big Birthday. We sailed on his Birthday. We sailed from a port new to us; Galveston, TX, and of the 3 ports of call it was going to one port/island was new to us. Here’s He-Man enjoying our view from our balcony on Deck 7 on his birthday.

This was our 4th cruise and 2nd time sailing on the Navigator of the Seas. Our very first cruise back in 2008 was on the Navigator. She’s a grand ole’ ship. (He-Man and my Brother-in-Law on the dock in Cozumel, MX 2008). In port that day was also the Carnival Legend. She sailed fairly close to us that trip.

The Navigator of the Seas was built in 2002 in Finland. At that time she was the Fifth largest passenger ship at sea. She is part of Royal Caribbean’s “Voyager Class” of ships; at the time of her debut she was one of the first ships to have an ice skating rink, and the Royal Promanade which features, indoor pubs, lots of stores, cafes, and the Ships “Guest Services” desk where one can book excursions, and get answers to anything pertaining to the ship. There’s Mini Golf up on the 14th floor, a rock climbing wall, and back in 08 there was an incline skating track, but that has been replaced with the “FlowRider” which is a surf simulator. Here’s an employee of Royal Caribbean riding it in between passengers. He was amazing at it, and made it look so easy! It’s NOT! No, I didn’t try it. 🙂

On Day 2 a “sea day” we had a storm which kept us indoors, but when the rain stopped we went up to Deck 11 and discovered a rainbow just off the Starboard side of the ship. (Hot Tubs)

I couldn’t resist going up to Deck 12 at night to photograph the Pool Deck-

Deck 12

to get another sense of her size here’s the Aft end docked in Roatan, Honduras with the Tourist vans out on the street waiting for tourists off the boat.

and one last image…a quick look at the Bridge before we sailed. Not quite as many gauges as an airplane in this view, but there are a lot of them not in the frame!

Nikon Df, and Panasonic Lumix FZ200| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film, and Lexar Professional Digital Film| CS6| Hand-held

More to come…

The Harvesters

September 13, 2015September 13, 2015Posted in Fruits, Insects, LensBaby Composer Pro, Macro Photography, PlantsTagged Ants, Grapes, Insects, LensBaby Composer Pro, Macro photography6 Comments

On the trail I take to get to the Steep Hill are a few grape vines growing along a fence. Only the birds, and ants are harvesting the grapes this season.

Nikon Df| LensBaby Composer Pro w/Soft Focus Optic and Macro Converters

More to come…

P52 37/52 Acorn Caps and Oak Leaves

September 12, 2015Posted in Acorns, Hiking, LensBaby Composer Pro, Macro Photography, Oak Leaves, Project 52Tagged Acorns, Dried, hiking, Macro photography, Oak Leaves, Project 527 Comments

Gleaned from the trail while on my “stretch my legs” hike up the Steep Hill and beyond.

This week has been a “red letter” one for me hiking up the Steep Hill. I made it to the top without stopping both times I hiked up the hill this week! It’s an 11% grade up to the top where my Lonely Tree is growing. See some trail images of the Steep hill here.

I think going up all those stairs last week while on the cruise ship paid off. 🙂

Nikon Df| LensBaby Composer Pro w/Soft Focus Optic & Macro Converters| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| CS6 & On1 Perfect Effects 9

More to come…

Monochrome Madness 2 26/52 Urban

September 11, 2015September 12, 2015Posted in Black and White Photography, Domes, Monochrome Madness2, San Jose California, UrbanTagged Black and White Photography, City Hall, Domes, Monochrome Madness2, San Jose California USA, Theme Challenges, Urban2 Comments

Last week was our Themed Week over at Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness 2, but I didn’t post my image because I was out of the country without internet. So, here’s my contribution a little late.

The Theme was Urban so I pulled an image I taken earlier in the year of my cities somewhat new City Hall Dome with some of our other city buildings in the background.

For the History buffs-

“City Hall of San Jose at 200 East Santa Clara Street is the center of the government of the city of San Jose, California. The building was designed by Richard Meier, and opened to the public on 15 October 2005, replacing the former City Hall complex civic center located on North First Street, which was used from 1958 until 2005. From 1889 to 1958 the city hall was located in what is now Plaza de Cesar Chavez in downtown San José.

The architect was Richard Meier, designer of the Getty Center in Los Angeles, the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona, Spain and numerous other buildings around the world. The architectural style is most influenced by that of Le Corbusier. The US382 million facility has been somewhat controversial,^{[citation needed]} however the building was designed to be environmentally friendly, making use of natural light, and providing shading with brise soleils on the tower.

The complex is large, with the 18 story tower totaling 550,000 sq ft (51,000 m²) . The mayor’s office is located in the top floor of the tower, with the rotunda serving as an entrance and council chambers located in the third building.

The city hall tower is home to a peregrine falcon named Clara, and her current tiercel, named “Esteban Colbert” afterStephen Colbert, of whom San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed is said to be a fan.^[4] The original falcons, named Jose and Clara after the city and Santa Clara County produced three offspring, named Spirit, Hiko, and Esperanza. In 2008, Clara and her then-mate Carlos had three chicks, Cielo and Meyye, both girls,and Mercury, a boy.^{[4]” ~WIKI-PEDIA}

The Dome reminds me of Lick Observatory which stands atop Mount Hamilton in East San Jose, CA.

Our hostess is on holiday so we’re taking a break from MM2, but we’ll resume on Oct. 7th. In the meantime if you have time click on over to Leanne’s MM2/26 page HERE to see what else was contributed last week.

Nikon Df| AF-D Nikkor 16mm FishEye lens| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| CS6 & Silver Efex Pro

More to come…

P52 36/52 Cannonball Flower

September 9, 2015September 9, 2015Posted in Flowers, Honduras, Lonely Trees, Photography, Plants, Project 52, Roatan, TravelTagged Cannonball Flower, Cannonball Tree, Couroupita guianensis, Plants and Flowers, Project 52, Roatan Honduras, Travel11 Comments

I’m back from a great vacation. He-Man and I went on a Western Caribbean Cruise for his 60th Birthday.

One of the Ports of Call was Roatan, Honduras. We visited Gimbalimba Park while there and that’s where I was introduced to this amazing flower and tree.

The tree grows to be 50-70ft tall, and produces fruit that are about the size and shape of cannonballs-hence it’s common name. Its proper name is Couroupita guianensis.

The fruit is edible but, is smelly which puts people off of eating it, and after the fruit comes the flower. The fruit grows directly from the trunk which is unusual. Unlike the fruit, the flowers smell wonderful, and are used to make perfume, and cosmetics. The Hard shell of the fruit is sometimes used for containers.

Nikon Df| AF-D Nikkor 28-105mm micro lens| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| Hand-held

More to come…

P52 35/52 What’s my Name?

August 27, 2015August 28, 2015Posted in LensBaby Composer Pro, Macro Photography, Plants, Project 52Tagged Flowers, Garden, Garden Volunteers, LensBaby Composer Pro, Macro photography, Plants, Project 5223 Comments

This plant started growing in my yard next to my Dahlia this Spring. I have no idea what it is, and assume the wind, a bee, or a bird brought the seed which took root. It has broad leafy branches and these tiny little flowers grow on stalks.

It’s quite bushy.

Anyone know what it is?

Nikon Df| LensBaby Composer Pro w/Soft Focus Optic & macro converters| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film; CS6

More to come…

UPDATE: Thank you so much Andy of Christian Grandfather, Honoring Grandfather’s Blog for Identifying this plant as Pokeweed.

It’s not native to my area/region. I’m going to have yank it since it’s poisonous, and I have a toddler, and dog who will find its berries too tempting I fear.

MM2 25/52: Chasing Ligthning

August 26, 2015August 26, 2015Posted in Black and White Photography, Lassen National Park, Lightning, Monochrome Madness2, US National ParksTagged Black and White Photography, Lassen National Park, Lightning, Monochrome Madness2, Night Photography, Summit Lake Lassen National Park, US National Parks15 Comments

Several weeks back several photographer friends and I spent the week-end in Lassen National Park hoping to making images of the Night Sky. Unfortunately, as the shadows of the day grew longer the clouds got thicker. They made the sunset lovely, but foiled are hopes of night imaging.

We photographed the Sunset at Lake Helen image here then we walked back to the car and on the way we saw Lightning! That’s a BIG DEAL for me and my friends because, we rarely see lightning where we live in the San Francisco Bay Area. It wasn’t bolt to the ground, or is it ground to sky lightning bolts? It was the type Eric our mid-westerner in the group called “cloud to cloud” lightning.

It was behind the mountains and lighting up the clouds so, instead of packing up we set up to photograph the lightning.

After 10 minutes or so shooting it we decided to get higher to see if we could see Bolts and try to capture that.

It was quite dark by now, and we still hadn’t seen any Bolts, just the sky lighting up. This image is one image I made of the sky being lit up by a strike of Lightning.

While we were shooting the rain started, so we packed up and moved to the other side of the lake hoping to get in a few more images since it was only sprinkling.

I had just got set up to start shooting when the sky opened up and the rain started pouring down. I managed to get this one image of the sky lighting up from lightning then we packed up and raced to the car all of us and our gear wet, but thrilled to have seen lightning.

Heads-up!

Next week my MM2 image will be posted on Leanne’s page, but not on my own until the following week. I’ll be offline next week.

I’ll be back online Sept. 6th, and catching up with all I missed while offline.

If you have time please click over to Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness2 post here to see all the images that were shared this week.

More to come…

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