circadianreflections

P52 12/52: Hum

March 22, 2015March 22, 2015Posted in Bees, Butte County, California, Mary Oliver Poems, Poetry, WildflowersTagged Bees, California Poppies, Hum, Lupine, Mary Oliver Poetry, Spring, Wildflowers10 Comments

It’s officially Spring! The Wildflowers are popping up all over, and the bees are busy at work.
I made this image yesterday while on a Wildflower Hike on Table Mountain in Butte County, CA.

Here’s one of my favorite poems about Bees by Mary Oliver. My favorite Nature Poet.

Hum
What is this dark hum among the roses?
The bees have gone simple, sipping,
that’s all. What did you expect? Sophistication?
They’re small creatures and they are
filling their bodies with sweetness, how could they not
moan in happiness? The little
worker bee lives, I have read, about three weeks.
Is that long? Long enough, I suppose, to understand
that life is a blessing. I have found them — haven’t you? —
stopped in the very cups of the flowers, their wings
a little tattered — so much flying about, to the hive,
then out into the world, then back, and perhaps dancing,
should the task be to be a scout-sweet, dancing bee.
I think there isn’t anything in this world I don’t
admire. If there is, I don’t know what it is. I
haven’t met it yet. Nor expect to. The bee is small,
and since I wear glasses, so I can see the traffic and
read books, I have to
take them off and bend close to study and
understand what is happening. It’s not hard, it’s in fact
as instructive as anything I have ever studied. Plus, too,
it’s love almost too fierce to endure, the bee
nuzzling like that into the blouse
of the rose. And the fragrance, and the honey, and of course
the sun, the purely pure sun, shining, all the while, over
all of us.~Mary Oliver, Sacred Poems

Nikon Df| AF-D Nikkor 105mm f2.8 Micro lens| Hand-held| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film

More to come…

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

March 17, 2015March 17, 2015Posted in Cakes, Food Photography, Holidays and Observances, Off Camera Flash, St Patrick's DayTagged Food Photography, Holidays and Observances, Irish Tea Cake, Off camera flash, Royal Kent Bone China, St Patrick's Day, Teacups and Saucer2 Comments

I made an Irish Tea Cake as a nod to the Irish today. We’re all Irish today right? 🙂 So, here’s a slice of Irish Tea Cake,

I’m having Chamomile tea with mine, what would you like?

I used a recipe I found on allrecipes. com It’s delicious and super simple to make. You probably have all the ingredients

in your pantry already!

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time 30 to 40 minutes

Ready in 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings: 10

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract- (I used Madagascar vanilla bean paste.)

1 3/4 all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk ( I used whole milk)

1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar for dusting

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9-inch round pan.

2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing until

fully incorporated; stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir into the batter alternately with the milk. If the batter is too stiff a tablespoon or two of milk may be added. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.

3. Bake for 30-35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack, then turn out onto a serving plate. Dust with confectioner’s sugar right before serving.

Nikon Df| AF-D Nikkor 85mm f1.4| SB910 camera left high bounced off ceiling @1/4 pwr| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| Hand-held

More to come…

Our remodel finally begins!

March 16, 2015Posted in Photography4 Comments

In Sept. 2014 we started looking for a contractor to add an additional bedroom to our house. We finally narrowed the field and chose a well regarded contractor in our area. We’ve been in the planning, drawing, back to the drawing board phase since then. Finally we’ve reached Phase 1 of the building phase! I didn’t realize how long it takes to get this point.

Phase 1: Hall Bathroom Demolition Day! Our hall bathroom will be redone/updated with new fixtures, shower walls, tiles, and a new floor.

Here’s what it looked like yesterday:

Some of you may remember that I spent a week-end repainting the cabinet, and mirror, changed the light fixture, and decorations in early September 2014. I’ve been ready for an update for awhile.

Here’s how it looked at the end of business today.

We’re keeping the tub as it’s cast iron and in really good shape, but all the other fixtures are being

replaced. So far they’ve found no water damage. I hope that holds true when they get under the house.

We’ll be a one bathroom family until the end of March. We can handle that I hope!

In this phase we’re also having a slotted partition that separates our Living and Family rooms replaced with a real wall and a pocket door. That work begins in a few days.

One surprise and disappointment today- we need to have a new attic space entry since we’ll be adding new ceiling and covering up the existing entry. Where we wanted to put it for easier access isn’t going to work. When they cut open the ceiling they discovered our house was built with Trusses and the truss runs through the space we wanted to use. So, it’s plan B, and a big patch job in the ceiling no one expected.

As we go on the additional bedroom will be added, and our entry hall and Master bedroom are being enlarged to be able to access the new bedroom. We’re also enlarging the Master bathroom a little bit.

It sounds like a lot, but in reality as far as additions and remodels go…ours is puny. 🙂 At least around our neighborhood where most folks are super-sizing their homes when they remodel.

It’s going to be chaos around here all Spring, and I imagine there will be one or two more surprises along the way, but it will all be worth it in the end.

I’ll be documenting the work and progress as we go.

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

More to come…

Monochrome Madness2:2 Anchor Tie

March 16, 2015Posted in Photography7 Comments

For Week 2 of Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness is an image I made Saturday evening in Kirby Cove, Sausalito, CA.

This Anchor tie is part of an old pier that probably washed up on the beach. San Francisco, CA, Fort Point, and the Golden Gate Bridge South Tower are in the background.

Nikon Df| AF-S Nikkor 17-35mm| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| Tripod| developed in CS6 and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2

More to come…

P52 11/52 Truing a Wheel

March 12, 2015March 12, 2015Posted in Bicycle maintenance, Bicycles, Macro Photography, Off Camera Flash, Project 52, StrobistTagged Bicycle maintenance, Bicycles, Macro photography, Off camera flash, Project 52, Spoke wrench, Strobist, Truing a wheel, Truing stand3 Comments

Playing in a Rain Puddle

March 11, 2015March 11, 2015Posted in Boys, California Drought, Puddles, Rainy Day Fun, Rainy days, Reflections, VideosTagged Boys, California Drought, Finally some rain, Rain Puddles, Rainboots, Rainy day fun, Reflections, Toddlers19 Comments

I woke up to light rain and started planning to take 2 yrs 3 month old #1 Grandson out as soon after breakfast as I could get him fed, dressed and in his new raincoat, and boots. It was finally time to break them in dancing in some rain puddles while on our walk. We didn’t get too far from the house before we found a huge puddle.

He-Man came out to watch and made an iPhone video. Here’s a 15 second look at how much fun he was having.

He was having so much fun! Despite all the rain gear he was soaked to the skin when we finished. I was soaked from the knees down. I dumped about a cup of water from each of his boots when taking them off. We got cleaned up, and dressed in warm dry clothes then he had a second cup of warm cocoa and I a cup of tea and soon he fell fast asleep. Dreaming of running through rain puddles no doubt.

Nikon Df| AF-S Nikkor 50mm f1.8g| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| Hand-held

MM2-1 “Whenever you wear your hat, your day will be special”~Margo Nickel

March 8, 2015Posted in Black and White Photography, Historic Buildings, Intentional Camera Movement, Monochrome Madness2, National Register of Historic Places, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Women in HatsTagged All rights reserved, Black and White Photography, Candids, Intentional Camera Movement, Monochrome Madness2, National Register of Historic Places, Street Photography, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Woman in a Straw Hat11 Comments

I’m going to participate in Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness 52 project this year. I’m a little apprehensive, and unsure if I’ll be able to complete all 52 weeks, and produce good work, but I’m going to try!

Yesterday a photographer friend of mine Dali, a colleague of his, and myself went up north to San Rafael, CAto photograph the last Frank Lloyd Wright commissioned building before heading to San Francisco for the Chinese New Year Parade.

The building is the Marin County Civic Center building. I was shooting the escalator when this woman came down the stairs so, I quickly recomposed to make this image.

Need to work on: I wish I had slowed the shutter speed down just a touch slower though. I wanted her to have a bit more motion blur showing movement. I’ll have to practice more street photography to get better at ICM and people blur.

I have a few more images from the Marin County Civic Center Building, and lots from the Chinese New Year Parade I’ll be sharing soon.

Nikon Df| AF-S Nikkor 17-35mm| Hoodman STEEL Ultra Fast Speed Digital Film| Hand-held| developed in CS6 and Nik Suite’s Silver Efex Pro 2

More to come…

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