Spring . . . maybe

Individual blossoms (5/8" or 1.5 cm) on a viburnum snowball shrub

Crab apple blossoms

Crap apple blossoms

Sea pink thrift (armeria maritima)

FMTSO: Senses

Graffiti Wisdom

This week's theme for Friday My Town Shoot-Out is graffiti. Whenever it's my turn to choose the photo(s) to spotlight, I think it's only fair that I suffer agonize writhe in pain find out how difficult it is to capture the theme.

The biggest obstacle I encountered was a lack of material. Portsmouth has a quite a few pieces of commissioned artwork on many buildings, but very little raw graffiti. This railway trestle seems to be the real estate most taggers like to hit because of its visibility. The other side is so over-tagged that no one tag stood out. The biggest challenge to photographing this was finding a decent angle to shoot from without getting crushed by oncoming traffic.

I found a few other examples of good graffiti on nearby abandoned brick buildings. Good tagging deserves to be well-photographed. I tried to shoot a few from interesting angles, but I couldn't seem to find a way to do them justice.

Because this was such a busy area creating a busy photo, I made everything except the graffiti black & white using PicMonkey.

I think this was a tough theme for those of us who don't live in big cities. The link over at FMTSO stays open until 11:59 p.m. Eastern on Sunday. If you've got time, hop on over and join in the fun.

Happy Birthday Kevin! Being Uncool got cool in 2013!

I'm feeling nostalgic and unfocused this morning so please bear with me.

When I started this blog, I had no idea what I was doing and never dreamed I'd find kindred souls out there, most of whom I still haven't met. I didn't know there were already 3 gazillion blogs on the interwebs, I just knew my cousin had a 'blog' and her stories made me laugh. Over time, I started clicking on titles listed under her caption: "Blogs Worth Your Time." I found and fell in love with the writing of a guy who calls himself TwoBusy. The more I explored, the more connections I made. From TwoBusy, who also writes for a group blog, DadCentric, it was a short leap to Always Home and Uncool.

When I started venturing out further into the sphere, I noticed pictures of babies on blogger's sidebars with pleas to make donations to help. I remember sending an email to a blogger asking her if she knew the parents of the baby and if this 'donation' thing was legitimate. She told me it was because she'd heard from another blogger who'd read about this baby on another blog whose author knew another blogger who'd been a long-time reader of the blog of the parent of the baby who had some health issue that was devastating this whole group of bloggers.

I was skeptical and, to this day, shy away from these types of donation requests.

Enter Kevin McKeever, the man behind Always Home and Uncool. Kevin is a dandy writer and a helluva funny guy. He's also the father of a teenage daughter who has Juvenile Dermatomyositis, a form of Juvenile Myositis. JM is a rare, devastating, and incurable autoimmune disease affecting approximately 5,000 children in the United States.

In 2010, I relentlessly and shamelessly badgered you to vote for the Cure JM Foundation in The Pepsi Refresh Challenge. Because of you and so many others just like you, Cure JM won a $250,000 grant.

In 2011, I had written a silly post for Kevin's birthday. When I went over to his blog to grab a link I learned that Megan had a flare-up and was in Chicago undergoing a battery of tests to determine the cause. What began as a bit of fun at Kevin's expense and another more subtle call to action turned into something quite different. It was the day when the full weight of this disease settled over me. Yes, I'd wept for the children who'd died from this disease but I'd never had my world turned upside-down in a heartbeat because an internet friend's child was in trouble. Again.

That's this disease and the uncertainty the families and friends of these children live with every day.

Last year I wrote about JM, how you could help, and most importantly, I poked fun of Kevin again. The all-volunteer Cure JM Foundation uses the weekend of its annual meeting to host its biggest fundraiser. Traditionally, this event has been a road race. Last year, Rhonda, the runner in the family, was out of commission so Kevin stepped up to run his first race. He whined about training; he kvetched about his lack of coordination, and he actually had me worried that he was going to end up splattered on a busy road somewhere in Baltimore.

He's almost at the finish line and while he does look like he's ready to collapse, he finished!

This year, if everyone stays healthy, the entire family will be running in the Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon & Mini Marathon on July 21st. Rhonda's got the half marathon covered while Kevin, Megan, and Calvin will shuffle through the 3-mile race.

Megan and Kevin are definitely mentally prepared for this year's race.

Like most of you, I was raised to give back. Because we were poor, that meant giving our time. When I reached adulthood and had a measure of financial security, I was able make small donations as well as volunteer. As I've gotten older and my energy has waned, I now tend to only make donations. In a lifetime of giving, I've never once taken the time to think about what any of it means to me. Like many of you, it's just something I've always done. Before last year's Cure JM event, I sat down and did some pondering. We support a lot of charities with American or National in their names. We also support local organizations because we can see the need. On some level, I'm passionate about all of them.

What I realized late last summer was this: not one of them captures my enthusiasm or heart in a way that makes me feel as though I've done something of real value. Except Cure JM. I've written more posts about juvenile myositis than any other subject (photos of birds don't count as writing). Even my post about my fantasy lunch with Jeff Gordon was really all about trying to convince him to have his foundation adopt Cure JM to give it greater visibility.

Happy birthday, Kevin. Thank you for making that leap into your blog one of the most meaningful things I've ever done in the blogosphere.

Want to help this 'orphan' disease and these kids? Kevin's written his own birthday post which is far less strange than mine. You can also whip out your credit card and hop over to the secure McKeever family fundraising page.

The best way to ensure your donation doesn't cost Cure JM 3% in credit card fees is to mail your donation to their main address (please write McKeever Family in the memo section):

The Cure JM Foundation

Attn: 2013 Chicago Fundraiser

836 Lynwood Drive

Encinitas, CA 92024

Thank you.

April Photography Challenge: Transportation

I wasn't going to wait until the last minute to put this together but, alas and alack, I'm a procrastinator so I did. I had grand visions of posting photos of odd means of transporting oneself from point A to point B. I have a dandy photo of a surfer and an artsy shot of a 102-year old man's running legs. I'm not including those here because, quite frankly, I couldn't make them look any better than awful.

Fishing boat heading out to sea for the day in the early morning fog.

Pleasure Island Sea Turtle Patrol making its morning rounds in search of sea turtles in need of rescue. I think.

This little girl is going to find out just how hazardous walking can be if she doesn't start paying attention.

The hood ornament of a Jaguar ~ a car I'll never be able to afford.

The headlight of another vehicle I'll never own ~ a vintage Morris Estate Wagon.

To see what my fellow travelers did for this challenge, head on over to P.J.'s place.

Hey dufus! No, not you guys, the other dufus. Happy Birthday, buddy!

Last August 1st, I had the pleasure of meeting the infamous Canadian blogger who calls himself Nonamedufus. He and his beautiful wife, Mrs. D. were vacationing in Ogunquit, Maine, and took the time to join me for lunch. After spending a few minutes with them, I was completely smitten. I was so head-over-heels in love with them I finally got my passport—RM can't wait to thank them in person.

Aren't they adorable? Don't you just want to pinch their cheeks? I did but I managed to exercise a modicum of self-restraint. Besides, for all I know cheek-pinching in Canada could mean something completely different from what it means in the States. I sure as hell didn't want to appear to be too forward.

Dufus, I wish I could be there to help you and Mrs. D. celebrate your birthday and the end of this incredibly long winter. It's still too damn cold in Canada for me to head north, so I'm sending a few pictures of Spring in my little corner of the world. While we have plenty of gawd-awful pollen, there isn't anywhere near as much color as we had last April.

I saw my first American Black Duck. Yes I know it's not black. It's probably not American either.

These Snowy Egrets were paying no attention to me until THIS bastid flew in . . .

. . . and all hell broke loose. I love how they're completely oblivious to the duck.

Dufus, if I could, I'd send you the moon and the ocean. Since I can't, I'm sending these instead. The Atlantic misses you and Mrs. D almost as much as I do.

On my way down to the ocean to watch the moon rise, I stopped to watch the sun setting over this inlet at low tide.

The Full Pink Moon actually looked pink-tinged when it was rising through the clouds.

Up above the cloud line, it was no less spectacular, but it was a little less magical.

Yesterday I went down to the beach to try to get this sun burst right. I'm happy now.
If you click on this photo, it'll get huge. That's the Isles of Shoals in the distance.

This jonquil hasn't blossomed for 13 years ~ I'm choosing to believe it bloomed for you.

The only other thing in bloom right now is our rhododendron. And one dandelion RM hasn't killed yet.

Since there's so little color on our little plot of land, I took a road trip to find more. A stone wall jumped up behind my car and smacked the crap out of my bumper and taillight. After that I decided it was probably best if I sent you a couple of different gifts—ones that didn't require driving.

I love it when the DJ plays this when I'm driving to work. I'm sure you've heard it but I honestly don't think this can be overplayed.

A friend from the UK sent this to me a year or so ago. Every so often I go here just because I can. It's obvious that there's a Dutch website designer who has waaaaaay too much time on his/her hands. Just click here then sit back, relax, and don't touch any more buttons. The magic will start in a few seconds. It seems like it takes forever but that's probably just my American impatience.

Have a wonderful birthday, Dufus. Please give Mrs. D. a hug for me. I hope she makes crepes for breakfast. (RM and I are looking forward to having some of those when we visit you later this year.)

Wishing you a year filled with peace, love, happiness, joy, moments of true awe, and good health.

Oh, by the way, I invited a few of our blogger friends to join me in celebrating your birthday. (Boom Boom actually believed me when I said there would be cake. Ha!)

Star bursts and other weird stuff

This week's challenge over at Friday My Town Shoot Out was to create star bursts. Since it's my turn to choose the Spotlight photos, I decided to find out if I was even capable of shooting one before passing judgment on the others making my choices.

I'm not sure why I've got purple sunbeams but I like 'em.

Shooting star bursts wasn't difficult. What was challenging was trying to keep pollen off my lenses. It was a windy morning and pollen kept finding its way onto the lenses of both cameras. Any little speck of dust, pollen, or lint on the lens caused the light to diffract and create wild colored orbs in places they didn't belong. I spent more time cleaning my lenses than it took to snap the shots.

The other thing I encountered was achieving bokeh effects along with the star bursts. Bokeh requires a wide open aperture; star bursts need a very small aperture. I'm not sure how I managed to get both in one shot but I think it might have to do with shutter speed. If some of you professional folks know how I managed to capture the image below, please holler at me. I'd really like to know how to avoid this effect.

Dancing pentagon bokeh disrupting my nifty star burst over the ocean.

A plea from northeast of Boston and Newtown

For the love of whatever you hold most dear, I beg you, the well-meaning people of the internet, to exercise a measure of self-restraint. Please don't do to the victims of the bombings at the Boston Marathon what you did to the victims of Newtown. Think, feel, look into your heart, then do it all again and again until you can put yourself in their shoes. If you can't get there, then try to honestly answer one simple question.

If you were a victim or you had a friend or family member who'd been hurt or killed in the horror show in Boston, how would you want to be treated?

Please stop shouting at each other and filling the airwaves with speculation and bullshit. Stop talking the talk of hatred and violence and start walking the walk of the goodness you profess to believe in by taking some action in your own corner of the world.

When and if the survivors or the city of Boston need your help, sure as day turns to night, you'll find out how you're needed on some social media site.

We had many friends running and cheering at the Boston Marathon yesterday. As of this morning, we know they're all safe and physically unharmed. For that, I am profoundly grateful.