sidewalk tourism: magnolias...

The magnolias had a decent run this year. Usually they bloom and then it immediately snows...

Enjoy your spring!

Sidewalk Tourism: Redbuds

While I continue to attempt to finish up some projects — here are some more pictures I took this spring when it wasn't raining like cats and dogs and a plague of locusts. This time around: redbuds.

They're pretty, aren't they? Yeah, they are.

Have a Happy Memorial Day!

Sidewalk Tourism: cherry plum blossoms

The weather is getting warmer which means it's sidewalk tourism time. So, this is someone else's tree. After consulting Google I think this is a plum cherry tree. But I could be wrong about that. It's not my tree — I just drive by it in the spring and think "man, that is a pretty tree."

merry cherry


cherry wonder


cherry affection


(not yet titled)


cherry impression

I think I stood there for about 20 minutes photographing this tree, it was just that damned cool. I so have tree envy. You can find some of them in my Artfire shop: SunshineSight

Anyway, Mother's Day is on Sunday — so everyone have a Happy Mother's Day!

Sidewalk tourism: heirloom pumpkins again

This post is a sequel to my previous post about the heirloom pumpkin pile (which can be found here).
I took a lot of pictures of those pumpkins & squashes... I mean a lot. And then I went back and took some more photos a couple weeks later. And eventually I went back and dropped off some prints of some of the pics I had taken.

Anyway, since I do all of my wandering around in town where there are sidewalks (on which people presumably wander) - well, it's in town. There are a lot of two story houses with fancy architecture and tiny manicured lawns. So, when I saw this pile of pumpkins & squashes one of the things that I wondered was where they came from. There's actually a chain of grocery stores in the area that had been selling heirloom pumpkins and squashes, but those things were like $5.99 a piece (scroll down to the last picture and do the pumpkin math - eek!). That would have been a hell of an expensive decorative seasonal yard display...

As it turns out, the homeowner actually grew them on a friend's farm out in the country (like where I live; where we lack the city amenities such as sidewalks, city water, and street sweepers).

So, there was a lot of effort & care that went into this tremendous display.

Have a lovely weekend!

Sidewalk tourism: my favorite maple

Of all the trees I photographed this fall — this was my favorite maple. It's somewhere in Saline, MI. Of course, I don't live in Saline, and I'm one of those people who is terrible with street names, so, I know where it is, and yet I have no idea where it is...

Anyhow, I was mesmerized by this tree. Standing under it and photographing it was a sublime experience, even if it did happen to be really really cold that day.

I would like to thank Hilary at The Smitten Image : )
for being featured on her blog post: Three Photos and the Posts of the Week
http://thesmittenimage.blogspot.com/2010/11/three-photos-and-posts-of-week.html

Thanks!

Please excuse me if it takes me a day to make rounds with comments. I've been working on a time consuming project this week, complete with a number of "5 hours of sleep" days. I am exhausted. Fortunately, it should be done today (I hope). So, take a nap for me : )

Autumn Leaves: carpet of leaves

I've been super busy with projects this week... I look forward to being able to just sit down and relax, preferably in front of some episodes of CSI:NY or Fringe or Bones.

Anyway, autumn is omnipresent, and we've had our first frost recently. This first shot with the carpet of ginkgo leaves — they were actually covered with frost when I took the picture.

It's always interesting when the leaves appear to represent all the colors of the rainbow.

Sidewalk compositions are just artful sometimes : )

Hopefully you're enjoying your autumn & keeping warm.

Sidewalk tourism: jack-o-lanterns

A few years ago I went out and bought fake pumpkins. While I like the end result of carving pumpkins, the actual work part is not a favorite of mine... well, that and I carved my fake pumpkins to have the faces of Frank Zappa and Jerry Garcia, so re-carving the same design every year just didn't seem terribly efficient. Plus I don't like touching pumpkin goop.

Anyway, other people are still industrious and carve them fresh — so here are some of the pumpkins I happened past while out on some of my many treks of sidewalk tourism this fall.
Yeah, I know, this would have been more appropriate on Halloween, but well, there just wasn't any time, and that's the way it turns out every year. It's Tuesday now, so I've recovered... although there still is leftover candy hanging around.

Hopefully, your Halloween hangover has subsided.

Sidewalk tourism: heirloom pumpkins

I rarely plan whether or not I'm going to go out and take pictures. Usually, it just happens. So, the following pictures came from an instance of serendipity. I had a package to ship, and just decided to park the car and go wander around and take pictures. There's actually a ginkgo tree in town, which is like the only ginkgo tree in town, so I like to wander past it. I suppose, technically, I am stalking this tree — waiting for the leaves to turn from green to yellow... it's getting there. Don't worry, once it's leafless I promise to stop wandering past it with my camera until next fall...

Anyway, when I was done with the ginkgo I decided to walk down a side street I usually avoid given that someone owns a really lonely / angry barky dog. It's awkward to stand there on the sidewalk and photograph trees while someone's dog is howling murder at you from behind a fence or a screen door...

So, anyway, there was a yard with some flowers, and I had just gotten done taking some shots of one of their pine trees, and I kept wandering down the sidewalk, and all of a sudden there appeared a pile of heirloom pumpkins, squashes, and gourds. Now, I don't mean like 1 or 2 or 10 pumpkins, I mean upwards of 25. Yeah, I didn't count them, but my lands, there was a pile of pumpkins of all types and colors. It was magnificent.

I took at least 70 photos. Yes, it was that damned cool.

"pure pumpkin" on Artfire

"sublime autumn" on Artfire


"autumn joy" on Artfire

I invite you to stop by my Artfire shop: SunshineSight to check out some of the rest of the shots from my awestruck moment with someone's decorative pile of heirloom pumpkins.

Have a Happy Halloween!

Outside: colors of autumn

A bit of a break from just leaves & trees... although technically, there are still autumn leaves here. It's somehow amazing how there are still flowers blooming, but then it has been like Indian summer presently. So, on with the color:

It was serendipitous that there happened to be a ladybug puttering around on the sweet gum. And that bird taking off to flight as I was taking my shot was a bit of a delight...

This last one is for sheer gluttony. I have now made my first pumpkin pie. Of course, being of the slacker generation, I did not hand mash a pumpkin or something exotic or earthy like that. Yeah, it's Libby's "Easy Pumpkin pie mix" - yeah, not "pure pumpkin" — I mean the stuff that you just add eggs and concentrated milk. Of course, I did dress it up with top layer of cream cheese with sugar, garnished with walnuts and cinnamon, and made a graham cracker crust.
It's delicious; and I'm not exactly a fan on pumpkin pie. I'm generally that person at Thanksgiving who buries the pumpkin pie under a heaping helping of whipped cream...