Beach Party

  Proof that sand between your toes gets everyone in the mood for a party. Our pups Alfie and Rosie met a dog on the beach in Frankfort, Michigan
along the shores of Lake Michigan and instantly started to play. In no time at all they were making Conga lines and rolling in the sand. Instant party even without the beach umbrella drinks.

Doggie line dancing.

Road Tripping

  Well guess where we went on our summer vacation? Since it was Alfie's first he had to do something easier to learn the rhythms of the road. Rosie started by drinking from the fountain in the middle of Belle Isle in Detroit. She forgot her passport so she could not visit Windsor. Then the road took them to the shores of Lake Michigan and Alfie carried stick that he claimed were logs felled by Paul Bunyan and Rosie tried to raise the water level. All in all a great trip and the adults even survived.

Furry Critters

  Met a pair of furry friends, one a rather large and very docile German Shepherd named Darcy and the other a really cute and small Prairie Dog named Prince. They have bonded and are now best friends but owner Taylor Williams has to treat them a little different when they go on walks since Prince the Prairie Dog just can''t keep up. He gets his own ventilated back pack so he gets to tag along,

Best buddies.

Prince gets an adapted cat carrier. 

Prince wears a leash when out and about. 

Little Alfie

  There is just something about puppies that makes them adorably cute. It may have something to do with their unbridled energy or uninhibited sense of adventure, but this little guy is starting to work his way into our family. A twelve week old Yorkshire Terrier that is enamored with the old dog Rosie and has taken only a week to decide that the entire house is his personal romper room. Each space has a different purpose and type of game, now he just needs to learn the outside is bathroom space trick.

Alfie sporting his warming shirt.

Benny's Cafe

  A new breakfast and lunch spot opened along a stretch of Highway 26 that is known for nothing but large corporate chain restaurants. With the friendly atmosphere and piles of great food that are served at Benny's Cafe it is sure to find a place amongst the larger chains.

The Berry Berry pancakes.

The No Guilt Salad.

Simple but cozy ambiance.

The avocado toast with smoked salmon.

The namesake Benny.

Tennis Face

  The Texas Christian University Women played a match against the Texas Tech University Tennis Team on Saturday afternoon. I Love the faces you get from athletes in those unguarded moments of ultimate concentration and exertion.  Tennis players can be some of the best at showing the concentration and effort that it takes to hit a little fuzzy ball. It is what I call "Tennis Face".

Latte Da Dairy

  When you spend a little time at a goat farm that has some of the best goat milk and cheeses in the area you expect the goats to be really cute. But when the guinea hens try to out strut the peacock you know they are all putting on a good show.\, but nothing is cuter than a new born, wobbly legged goat.

The day old goat pen.

Everybody is showing off.

He just thought he was the cutest.

Birds of Spring

  The feeder is filling with arriving guests, The cars are covered with black berry excrement and the drumming on the hard wood trunks of trees is incessant. All of it is just a joy to me however since it means the return of the migrating birds and with it comes spring.

A pair of Pine Warblers share the sunflower seeds at the feeder.

A cedar waxwing looks for more ammunition to bomb the car.

A snowy Woodpecker gets a treat after banging the trunk all day.

Blooming Blooms

  Indications of an impending spring appearance abound whenever you step outside. The red Quince has turned into a glowing bush of flame amidst the neutrals of bare trees and flower beds. The first vibrant scenes of the soon to be outbreak of color.

The first blankets of color.

A Rush of Spring Flight

   The latest indication of the approaching spring thaw is the rush of flittering in the trees over ones head. Flashes of color and chirps, twitters and tappings abound all around. The noises of a fresh rush of birds returning from their southerly migrations has started to fill the branches of the elms, pecans and maples that abound around the house. Myself, I find it a very pleasant sound indeed.

A cedar wax wing takes a leap of faith that spring will be here shortly.

A palliated woodpecker taps for insects.

Trails thru the Woods

Looking at the pine trees surrounding me I was sure that I was in the forest of Rip Van Winkle. The branches were covered with Grandpas Beard Lichen creating a waving curtain all around. I was looking for a different kind of dance after skinning uphill for a couple of hours. The wind was still rather brisk and chilled even after the exertion so I quickly peeled the skins from my skis and took off on a decent thru the forest. Deep, fresh powder covered everything giving a little cushion over the downed logs and rocks but as tightly spaced as the trunks were the timing had to be perfect. After a couple of rolls thru tight pines, the hillside opened into a gorgeous glade of aspen which gave a little wider spacing , letting me bump the speed a bit and feeling that euphoric flow of fresh powder skiing.  Thanks again to the mountains of New Mexico.

Ski tracks thru fresh snow and pines.

Oldmans Beard Lichen.

Trout Fishing in the Trinity

What surmounts to rapids on the river.

Fort Worth's version of a scenic fishing spot.

  With the release of 1200 Rainbow Trout in the Trinity River by the Tarrant Regional Water District on a partly sunny December 13th, population of fishermen skyrocketed as they attempted their hand at recreating the film "A River Runs Through It" sans fly rods and the scenic mountains. But a few of the fish were caught and people had a great time with the outdoor experience.

A mess of fish pump though a plastic tube. 

An end to a quick bout of freedom for this Rainbos.

No wading necessary in the Trinity.

All About Light

  In any visual endeavor it is all about the light. How it falls on a scene, the intensity, how it models and shapes an object. Everything that we see is only exposed by the light that is falling on that specific object. In photography that effect is what creates the mood and style of the image that we capture. The changes in the direction, the intensity and the shape of that light completely alters the moods that we see. With these fall leaves, one is rimmed with an intense late afternoon sun and the other is under a porch light in the midst of an approaching thunderstorm. The same tree and the same leaves but the look and feel with differing illumination changes the effect completely.

Vibrant colors of a fall afternoon.

blurred leaves blowing in a storm.

Beliz Brother Installation

  Seattle artist Beliz Brother has created a sculpture that stands in front of Fort Worth's Bob Bolen Security Complex that pays tribute to the Fire and Police Departments that are housed in the building which is a converted factory complex. By cutting the shapes of department patches for each of those services from departments around the country in huge slabs of core-10 steel she has created a tribute that will change constantly, with the position of the sun and the shadows it creates and the oxidizing effects of the weather on the material. The two sides of the chevron are specific to each service creating a tribute to those individuals that serve their communities.

Family Tree

One half of the family comes from a small town in Rhine valley of Switzerland, in an area where there is lots of agricultural production. Vineyards, apple and pear trees, corn, potatoes and wheat are all part of the staples, but

Grandmothe's house at Mühlenerstrasse 13, Rebstein. 

Looking over the dorm of Rebstein from the Hübe.

Cows in the alps around the Tiger Nord Wand.

Grapes that mom, grandmother and even great grandmother tended.

of course there are cows. Not nearly as pretty as the cows in the alps but they still produce milk that is used for the appenzeller cheese. To see my grandmothers house and be around the source of all the stories my mother used to tell gives a feeling of a place of home and I realize that the family everyone else celebrates close by actually exists for us as well. It is just a little more distant.

Behind the Lines

Taking photos of things that we all take for granted and how complex those items can actually be to  manufacture really floors me. The painstaking attention to detail, the quality control that goes into making pharmaceuticals never dawned on me till I photographed the process. Would never imagine how tedious the process to make a few capsules really is and all the really wild safety gear involved to protect the technician as well as the patient.

The complete concentration of the Pharmacy Technician.

Think about uniformly filling 100 capsules.

You never want to expose yourself to what you make. 

The end results of a very long and tedious process.

Sweet Changes

  It is the little things that bring on big changes and usually in small increments. On Monday it rained in North Texas, which in and of itself is not that big a deal other than summers in Texas are usually really dry. But on Tuesday I got to take pictures of a Cornish Apple Pie, and just like that, despite all the latent heat still hanging around and the fields still being green, it is already fall in my mind. Like I said, it is the little things that turn into big things later on.

Cornish double crusted Apple Pie. 

Perfect 1960 MGA

  Graham Brizendine unwittingly found the perfect way to have his pride and joy, a 1960 MGA restored and for much less money and headache than doing it yourself. You sell it to someone else and buy it back 20 years later. He bought the car when he was twelve as a project to restore but ended up selling in partially complete when he was sixteen. Tweety years later he runs across an add on the website bringatrailer.com that looked very familiar. After a round about attempt of purchasing the car he brought it back to Texas from Ontario, Canada. Same serial number as the original plates he still had in his possession, but now it is back to the original light blue and is painstakingly restored to its original lustre. A wonderful coming home story for any car enthusiast.

Beautifully restored 1960 MGA

The 1600 cc engine sports twin Solex Carbs.

Graham with his wayward classic.