Red-eared Sliders

You may know your turtles better than me, but I believe these to be Red-eared Sliders. It was a nice day for sunning at Mercer Arboretum.

Sam Houston

This statue of Sam Houston is located at the entrance to Hermann Park.

The city of Houston was named after Sam Houston (of course). Old Sam was born in 1793 near Lexington, Virginia. To say the least, his early life was interesting and he lived with the Cherokees, became a war hero in the War of 1812, was a lawyer, a congressman and governor of Tennessee, a heavy drinker and a discredited politician who beat a adversary with a cane on Pennsylvannia Avenue.

Obviously, this was a man destined to move to Texas and he did so in 1832 as the Texas revolution was coming to a boil. As every school child in Texas knows, he eventually led a small Texas army to defeat Santa Anna at San Jacinto. Eventually Houston was elected President of the new republic (twice), and served as a governor and senator after it became a state.

The city of Houston was founded in August 1836 by two brothers, J.K. Allen and A.C. Allen in Houston's honor. Houston died in 1863 with wife Margaret by his side. His last recorded words were "Texas. Texas. Margaret".

State Bird of Texas

The mocking bird is the State Bird of Texas and probably my favorite song bird in the area. They are relatively fearless and sometimes curious like this one in Hermann Park on a bench. The mocker is a loud and vocal singer that mimics other birds. Mocking birds will aggressively defend their nests against cats, dogs, and if necessary paper boys as I can attest.

Little Train in Hermann Park

Hermann Park is located near the medical center in Houston and was named for it's donor, George Hermann, who donated the property in 1914. Hermann traded a team of horses and a buggy for a tract of land in northern Harris County. By chance, it was located in the center of the Humble oil field that was discovered in 1904 and he became a wealthy man.

The miniature train has been there a long time, although I think the track has changed since when I was a kid. I believe there is more than one train because I remember one that looked like a diesel, although this is the one that was running today.

Happy Valentine's Day

These are Teresa's tulips. Why tulips? Because tulips aren't roses and everyone gets roses. Why purplish? Because purple is the color of royalty (and everyone else gets red or pink). I'm doing my part to be different. Teresa already is ;-)

I like the light in this photograph (believe me, I went to some effort to get it that way). I could have gone into Photoshop and cleaned up the leaves, taken out the ragged spots, and removed the imperfections from the petals. But that is how the stalks and blossoms look. So I left them like they are. You shouldn't look for perfection in a valentine - that is impossible to find (very, very good is OK, just not perfection :-)

Gator!

OK, back in Texas again... We went looking for gators at Brazos Bend State Park and found them. Male American Aligators can grow to 15 feet or more and over 1000 pounds while full grown females are smaller at around 10 feet.

This one, trying to gather a little sun on a large tree log, was 4 to 5 feet long and we saw some I estimated to be well over 10 feet. They have five toes but if you click on the picture to enlarge it you will see this fellow has lost one and has four on the front right.

For comparison, an Australian saltwater crocodile can get to 22 feet or so and 2500 pounds.

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White Ibis

The North American White Ibis is quite a bit better looking than the Australian one I think. This one is looking for a meal in the Brazos Bend State Park. They are abundant there year round, and this one was part of a pair.

Real Cowboy

The chief is a real cowboy, and what character in his face... I don't think he was all that impressed with my fancy camera.

Huli Warriors

This is me with a couple of warriors and the chief. They weren't a real talkative bunch but they gave me a drum to hold for the picture.

People of PNG

At one of the villages, they gave us coconuts as a gift. This lady was using her knife to open them up. When I asked to take her picture, she put it behind her back but I asked her to show it.

I've posted more pictures of people I met on this trip in the slide show. Click on it or follow this link to see a larger version.

Houston Marathon

This is the start to the Houston Marathon. Teresa ran the half but I sat it out, I mean photographed it. The big guy in fair focus near the middle and closest to the camera with a white singlet came in third. The guy just behind him was first, and the 4th guy behind just visible in the green singlet was second place.

Later on, when the sun came up, I got some better shots at least technically but not as interesting in my opinion. I had the wrong lens here - should have had the fast 50mm instead of the wide angle.

Teresa did well. Check out the results here: Marathon

Williams Tower

The Williams Tower used to be known as Transco Tower and is located just outside the loop on the west side of Houston. I took the picture at an ultra-wide 14mm focal length on my D3. I really like the way the reflections turned out. Very futuristic...

Muscovy Ducks

I didn't know it, but Muscovy Ducks are native to South America, Central America, and Mexico. There is a small native population in far South Texas. Of course you also spot them in parks and what not. These live in a small pond not too far from Williams Tower.

Pencil Sketch #1

I have been fooling around with Photoshop lately imitating pencil sketches. Some of the photos look better to me after the treatment. Some can't take it at all. I have been playing around with different borders lately too just for something different. Anyway, it is interesting...

Pencil Sketch #2

I like the way this one came out. It really does look like a pencil sketch. I do these by turning them into a contrasty B&W photo and then using the "find edges" filter. There is usually some more manipulation needed but it still pretty easy.

Pencil Sketch #3

I seem to have less luck converting pictures of people to B&W sketches. Most look better to me in color. I do these slightly different using the cleverly titled "colored pencil" filter.

Buying a Car

I have been thinking about buying another car lately. Because I don't have family in the business any more, this means a lot of research on my part and getting ready to go do "business" with a car salesman. These days though, you have to almost feel sorry for them. In fact, given that they really haven't made money for quite some time as an industry, maybe I should have felt sorry in the past.

Actually, the same applies to a lot of business. When the oil and gas industry shed all those jobs in the 1980s and early 90s and companies went under there wasn't anybody outside the industry feeling sorry about it. A lot of other jobs were "outsourced" over the last 20 years or so too. Most of the work I do for an American company is with companies in other countries.

What to buy? I am torn between a Corvette and a hybrid Escape. You can get a heck of a deal on a full sized pickup truck. I guess I am not ready to buy yet.

Buggy Ride

We went to see David and the San Antonio Symphony last night. You weren't supposed to take pictures inside the concert, but outside no problem.

San Antonio River Walk

The river walk in San Antonio is unique and gives it something that is entirely missing in most US cities. I like it.

The Alamo

If you are in San Antonio, it is mandatory that you take a photo of the Alamo.

Happy New Year from San Antonio

Here is wishing you a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2009

Santa Spotted in Switzerland

Why is Santa peeping through a window in Wilderswil, Switzerland on Christmas Eve? I can only guess that he was making a last check on who was naughty and who was nice because he wouldn't respond when I yelled at him.

Switzerland was very nice and we enjoyed it a lot. As usual, I took a lot of pictures and now I am having to sort through them.

Some of you remember when we used to take slides during vacation and then make everyone sit through a slide show. Friends and relatives dreaded the family vacation because they knew they were going to have to sit through 6 rolls of poorly exposed film why others yammered on about how wonderful it was. I wouldn't do that to you though.

I have pulled out some of the best and posted them in the slide show window though. Now you can look through them and call me over if you want for the commentary that goes with it....

Swans

Swans, seagulls, and mallards in Switzerland.

The Seagull Says It All

Noisy Miner Bird on a Canna

Noisy Miner Birds are almost always willing to pose for a picture. There has been a lot of rain in Brisbane recently and everything is green.

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Street Performers of Brisbane: Rope Man

Today I am in Brisbane and was down to Queen Street of course, it being the weekend and all. There were the usual street performers including Balloon Man and the Little Tramp. This guy was climbing ropes and doing some pretty amazing stuff. At one point he was horizontal on the rope and at another he rolled himself up then down it. There was a new magician over on South Bank but he was really pretty bad and didn't even warrant a picture...

Street Performers of Brisbane: Balancing Woman

Balancing Woman is part of the same group as Rope Man. See the chalk board with "How Many Sleeps?" written on it? Sleeps is Aussie for nights. So altogether now, how many nights until Christmas? 18!

BTW, I saw a good looking Santa in the Decatur mall in Illinois and I was going to take a picture of him but being a nice guy I asked permission and they said NO! Of course it is a public place and I could have taken a photo anyway but I didn't. These street performers don't mind you taking pictures at all, although most would like a donation.

Street Performers of Brisbane: Copper Girl

Copper Girl was doing her act down by a band that was playing Stevie Ray Vaughan tunes. Why did Copper Girl paint her body copper and then wrap a torn sheet around herself? I don't know, but she was getting a lot of looks. Her act consisted of slumping and holding still like a statue until someone put money in front of her. Then she chased them around and acted kind of like a scantily clad demented mime - scared the #@!* out of most of her potential audience.... There used to be an Asian guy that painted himself gold with a similar act but he didn't try to frighten people afterwards :-)

Little Girl Feeding Koi

This little girl was feeding the koi at Atagoyama Shrine with her father. I have visited it many times and it is one of my favorites in the Tokyo area. You buy the fish food as a donation and the koi go crazy. Usually, there are only a few people there, but on this day there were a fair number. It was warm and sunny - everyone was out just enjoying the weather I think....

Shinagawa

Today I am in Tokyo, having spent yesterday in meetings, and am preparing to catch a plane to Brisbane. This is a shot from the Strings Hotel in Shinagawa towards downtown Tokyo. I have noticed that my camera has dust on the sensor that I'm going to have to clean off. It does that at times when you change the lens. New cameras vibrate to shake it off.

Three pairs of hawks are circling outside the hotel window on the 31st floor. I don't know what their prey is but will get a picture and try to identify them later....