Look Around You

  One of the fringe benefits of taking pictures for other people is that you end up in situations and places that you never expect. Don't think I would have opted to go to the W Hotel and hang out by the pool on my own, but a little coaxing with a check book and look where I spent my evening. Some times the best pictures have nothing at all to do with what you are getting paid to do. 

  Tonight was one of those instances. I looked away from the crowd in front of me for an instant and completely unnoticed is a gorgeous sunset over West Dallas reflected in the pool on the W Hotel's rooftop. Textured clouds with a wonderful mix of pinks, yellows and reds with an inky blue background for contrast.   

   It made a great view with the reflection in the pool of the colors and most of the people at the function thought the cloths were the main attraction. Just one more example that we should all look around a bit more and notice the little things that surround us every day. 

Simple Things

   I finally downloaded a camera card that had been hanging around a while, almost like those old film canisters you find by accident. Been in a drawer for years, have no idea where it came from. Not a clue what is on the film or even which camera it came out of. Just been hanging around, waiting for some Sherlock Holmes wannabe to try and figure out the novel.

   Then the anticipation while you wait for processing, you imagine what is on there. Hoping it isnt some nudie pics form when you were a kid, or something just as embarassing from a more recent party.  You think back if you really wore a lamp shade at New Years or maybe those stories about a streaking escapade were actually true.

   With the new digital age I guess those multi year waits are over but even a couple of months can cloud the memory and you really have no idea what you've got. Pleasant surprise to see old Kimo grinning at me from a field of Indian Paintbrushes. Now tell me that look doesn't say I know something you don't. It is those simple things that really give life all its pleasure. 

Pink is Not Just For Girls

   Pink is one of those colors that looks feminine. When none other than the Dallas Cowboys tried to increase their jersey sales they came up with a star emblazoned pink jersey to market to women. Makes you think that only a girl could appreciate the blooms in the garden that sport the color.

    Add a vivid orange center and a few tattered ends of leaves and it is feminine no more. The massive size and vibrant colors of the echinacia bloom catch anyones eye. The closer you look the more intricate it becomes. The centers of bright orange/yellow spines that look more like a sea urchin than a delicate flower has tiny yellow blooms on the ends of them. This creates a pleasing flower in flower juxtaposition. 

   Not only are they gorgeous blooms, they even make an herbal remedy that is claimed to cure the common cold among other things. Maybe the complexity of the flower is what makes it so diverse in uses. none the less, I think they are beautiful.

   

Doing Good

   I remember as a kid getting excited when it rained. Growing up in Texas it did not happen that often so when it started, you just went outside anyway and played all the same games but in the rain. 

   Yesterday was one of those days where it just started out raining and just wasn't any avoiding it. The Lifegift Fun Run was schedule to happen and of course the rain just wouldn't cooperate. After having tents blown into the Trinity River and a deluge of water at more than 2 inches an hour making mud puddles all over the place, Deborah could do nothing but make faces and have fun anyway.

   So the runners came and they ran thru Trinity Park anyway. Had a great time playing like 10 year olds in the rain and all for a good cause, to raise awareness of Organ Donation, www.donatelife.net. 

   Hope smiling thru the middle of a storm will get a few more people to consider alternative ways of helping someone else out, even if you don't know them directly.

Learning to relax

   One more example that dogs know more than we people do. My dog Kimo has perfected the art of relaxing. Does not matter where; in the front seat of the car, on the couch, in a grassy field with a beautiful view, or in the middle of the living room floor. He can sleep soundly in all of those positions.

   It is not just where he sleeps, but how. Some of the most contorted positions that just could not be comfortable, and he is out like a light. Head propped up on an armrest, neck bent at a crazy angle. He hangs his head off the couch, if we humans did it there would be permanent cricks in necks and blood rushes with disorientation, but not Kimo the lounging dog. 

   Completely comatose, with a smile on his lips, probably dreaming of chasing a squirrel thru the trees. Im sure in these dreams he can climb trees like a cat and fly from limb to limb with the best of them. Not a single furry critter able to escape his stealthy abilities. 

   Is it that a dogs life is so simple and ours so complex that gives them the ability to completely relax or is it just that they really are a more advanced culture? One of those difficult conundrums that science has no answers for. 

Mind enhancement

   As I walk into the yard on a rather gloomy and overcast Mother's Day Sunday morning, I am greeted by a truly appropriate site. The first of hopefully many blooms tops a datura plant growing in the back.

   An all white flower with four very delicate little curls on the corners of the bloom, the deep horn shape is open for only one night and they wilt as soon as the sun shines on them. The foliage is an olive green which is a nice enough ground cover but when the white blooms appear the plant just comes alive. 

  The first time I noticed one of the drought hardy plants was on my first visit to the Grand Canyon where they grow in the ravines and washes, taking advantage of the little moisture that flows thru periodically. 

  I was told a story by a kayaking buddy, that the anasazi indians used the blooms as dream enhancers by placing  them over their nose as they drifted off to sleep. By inhaling the pollen their dreams became vivid and surreal. With the fear of having to kayak down some crazy rapid in a semi-comatose state the next morning, I never tried the stunt but apparently some others have with rather mixed results.

  Just looking at the gorgeous shape of the flower makes one wonder if the Adam and the apple temptation is not at work here. Some day maybe, but for the moment I can just view the beauty and create dreams on my own, they seem weird enough as they are.  

   Nothing like working for your supper, so I spent Sunday afternoon getting a little smoke in my eyes next to the smoker. Lou Lambert and his crew at Lambert's in Fort Worth (www.lambertsfortworth.com) cooked a mess of chicken, ribs and brisket for the volunteers for the AIDS Outreach Center.

   It must be a guy thing but cooking meat on open flames makes it all taste better. Add a little of Lou's seasoning mixes and whatever you are cooking is gonna be that much better. The chicken got a little salt, paprika, cummin, ground coffee, and a few other special flavors to create a stunningly complex crust. 

   Best thing about shooting these assignments are that you don't go home hungry and scrounging thru the 'fridge.