Thing of Purpose

The driver who raised the dust must have thought I was a maniac as I ducked down and pressed into the bush on the left to get into the shadows and stop lens flare obliterating any picture potential. Trying to make something photograpic, or cinematographic, look the way you want it to takes work and skill: how that was achieved by Michael [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Slovis on 'Breaking Bad' may be of interest if that sort of thing interests you. The example above is just half-assed happenstance. The sign that went up last week has already become cobwebbed, which is an actual adjective. The local silk trees flowered late this year, but nevertheless gave unstintingly of their blossoms. Now pods are forming—tree is a member of the pea family (Fabaceae)—and drying ready for reseeding. Also known as silky acacia or mimosa tree, the plant was introduced into the USA from Asia in 1745 but is still considered an invasive species by the National Park Service (NPS), which suggests  Serviceberry (Ame...

The 'golden hour' before the sun sets makes for interesting viewing. We had all kinds of high white cloud all the live long day. The previous post shows the morning sky and at the end of the day the show went on right through until darkness. It's still shirt-sleeve weather and there was a freshness about the air of the sort that makes horses kick up their hind legs and thubber-lip their pleasure. I would do so, too, but there needs to be a little caution until I am more sure of my continued progress. The thubber-lip thing seems safe enough: "Pwwwhhhbbb. Pwwwhhhbbb." There, wasn't that fun?

This picture is a repeat of an earlier picture, except the 'tide' has come in when the irrigation water was released. I do not claim to know anything about irrigation, however, it seems to me that in a desert climate flooding the fields may be a great way to grow rice, but is perhaps not the best way to water fruit trees and ley crops. Another repeat—we regret this is starting to resemble the summer TV schedules—but capturing the shimmering leaves on the trees requires moving pictures. There is a tree—not shown in the picture—that has been delightfully named the ' Quaking Aspen ' ( Populus tremuloides ). Surprisingly, it is the most widely distributed tree in North America.  Seeing stands of them quake under a clear blue sky in mountain country is one of nature's greatest visual delights and if you get close enough there is a soundtrack, too. The Forest Service offers a video on the decline of the Aspen. You may take an unmanned flight  at Rabbit Ears Pass, Col...

Carole Hersee is the most televised person in history. She has clocked up an estimated 70,000 hours, often to be seen when there was a break in TV transmission. There is an interview on YouTube: Extract from a 2011 programme segment called 'Questions, Questions', presented by Stuart Henderson. He tracks down the 'Test Card Girl' from 1967. The Test Card Girl was a picture which was shown the the end of the day's broadcast on BBC1 for about 30 years, making her image the most broadcast image in history. This clip interviews one of her biggest fans, Keith Hamer, and then Carole herself, as she tells her story. The caption "Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible" could never provide the same reassurance as one of those calm, controlled, mellifluously modulated BBC voices intoning the same phrase on the wireless.

I asked the photographer from the post yesterday, who took the picture of the pink, fluffy cloud in Colorado, to let me have some clouds for my walk this evening. I thought 'pink & fluffy' was assumed, but apparently not. What you see is what I got. As I walked, I took three dozen pictures of this cloud formation: old habits do die hard, because that is the same number of frames as a roll of 35mm film, aka a thirty six cassette back in the day. Hands up those who remember the pre-digital days, when film was a significant cost… waiting… and waiting… only to realize that the decisive moment had passed? The scene before me was constantly changing, so it was hard to know from one moment to the next which one was decisive. Even Cartier-Bresson , who liked the idea so much he wrote a book  with the English title 'The Decisive Moment',  would probably have shot off a full roll. His book was entitled 'Images à la sauvette' in French—'Images on the sly' wou...

This video appeared on YouTube, presented by TFO a Canadian TV broadcasting company, bilingually entitled 'Le piano vivant / Living Piano'. Apparently translations into English do not merit the inclusion of the definite article. So far so not very informative. My friend Percy Veere, a man of almost superhuman persistence and relentlessness in pursuit of information—more like a dog with a bone really, come to think of it—followed the link and after much digging and rooting around discovered that: " TFO is the French-language public cultural and educational television network of the Canadian province of Ontario. TFO offers multiplatform media content for Francophone and Francophile audiences. TFO’s educational content is designed for children attending French schools and French immersion schools. " You may have thought mention of "definite article" was a weak attempt at nerdy humor. Think what you will. Howerever, the Macintosh OSX system dictionary says: ...

You are looking at every cloud in the sky this evening: hardly worth switching on the camera. On the other side of the hill in Telluride, Colorado, the sky was festooned with clouds!

Are the clouds trying to avoid me? These crept over the western horizon just as darkness fell. Many foods are better on the second day. Fresh salad, of course! The cook for the Danish-based Saxo-Tinkoff pro bicycle racing team, Hannah Grant , recommends planning leftovers. We need a better name than 'leftovers'. How about 'carefully aged food'? I am trying to catch up with the Vuelta a España  race that finished a week ago, but I still have a week and a bit to watch—hence, I am posting Hannah's Daily Stews blog blind, just in case she announces that they celebrated victory with some gargantuan slap-up feed. Racing cyclists require good grub and plenty of it.

This is for the person who asked if we didn't get bored eating the same things all the time. No.

This irrigation outlet reminded me of the estuary shoreline where I lived in a previous life.   ♫ You'd be so nice to come home to…  ♬ Wikipedia says: ' You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To ' is a popular song written by Cole Porter for the 1943 film 'Something to Shout About', where it was introduced by Janet Blair and Don Ameche. Dinah Shore had a major hit with the song at the time of its introduction. Diane Keaton performed the song in Woody Allen's movie 'Radio Days'. 

Always welcome visitors, but this praying mantis was a little shy and didn't want to interact. There seems to be a shortage of clouds for the evening meteorology picture. No tricks or filters. This street only has a number, but is begging to be called 'Long & Weary Road'. No tricks or filters. Out of state clouds came over the hill looking for the ' Edward Scissor Hands ' movie set. Perhaps if the choice had been pink or white they would not have fought that nasty, brutish war. Winter food for the birds coming along nicely.

None of that fancy foreign  contre jour nonsense we used last evening: this is good old traditional 'sun over the right shoulder' photography. The plot of the movie ' Bird on a Wire ' is easy enough to understand: man in witness protection program meets Goldie Hawn. Simples. The computer game ' Bird on the Ground ' is incomprehensible to anybody over forty years of age. Long shadows at sunset. Making up for the missing butterflies in the Buddleja post last evening. Perhaps as the light fades butterflies become less active.

"SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness! Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;" ~ John Keats (1795-1821) 'To Autumn'  Oh well, close apart from the mist, which is not a frequent meteorological occurrence hereabouts. The routine evening cloud picture: it was blue from horizon to horizon and 360° around. Pomegranates ripening on a vacant property: a moral dilemma in the making. You have my word that there were three butterflies on this Buddleja as I went to take the picture. Some eye popping contre jour lighting effects this evening, but not many photographic subjects. I almost had groin strain straddling an irrigation flume to get this picture. One has to suffer for one's art. Well it might be waste ground and weeds to you, but to me it's dramatic pictorial lighting. Most often, these hill sides are baked brown—especially in 'fire season'— but the late monsoon rains have produced a green sheen in many places; anywhere there is a litt...

It is worth reminding ourselves with a definition :  A meme is "an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate, and respond to selective pressures. Can meme popularity be measured? How many Facebook pages does it take for a gag to transmogrify into a meme? When does a meme become so passé that only the ironically cool can get away with a rerun? When will the first Professorial Chair in the Department of Memes be endowed? Is it possible  that Jonathan Goldsmith (aka 'The Most Interesting Man in the World' from the Dos Equis beer brand advertisements ) will join James Gillray in the Meme Hall of Fame? The original lines associated with the ...

Video trailer: Route profile: Route map: More information: Road.cc website: executive summary ; planning  details ; page for gear heads; rider home page. Two part video record of the achievement: