Window light
What? I am meditating!
Is there anything better than window light? Of course, Hobbs using my meditation mat and re-tasking it for his purpose.
I’ve seen many flash photos taken by those who are exceptionally good with them, but I think that window light beats them every time. I think that it might have to do with the imperfections of the light, perhaps dirt on the window, blinds in the way, whatever. There’s just something special about that light.
And here is Tony on the same day making use of the entire couch. Both shots, Leica M6, Fuji Neopan 400, developed in Rodinal.
Hobbs, you’re all wet!
To say that Hobbs has an slight aversion to water would be, shall we say, a huge understatement. He accepts it as something to drink. He will stay still long enough to take a short bath, but doesn’t like it, but other than that, water has absolutely no use for him.
On our morning walks, people usually have their sprinkler systems going. Hobbs walks on my left; we always walk the opposite direction of traffic, with him safely away from any traffic, but close to the medians where the sprinklers are. Fortunately for him, most of the sprinklers point inwardly towards the lawns, with the occasional errant sprinkler spraying a bit of water into the street.
Whenever Hobbs spies such an errant sprinkler, he immediate starts a slight slant to the right, wanting nothing to do with that sprinkler. This morning, around 7:25, we were finishing up our walk. We were on the side walk, Hobbs on the left, me on the right, the median to the left. Suddenly, the sprinklers on the median came on. There were 5 of them directly in our path, streams crossing the sidewalk.
At first, I thought that I would go out in the street, avoiding the water, but it was warm and humid and I was sweating. I thought that a nice spray of water would feel pretty good. The streams were starting out at about mid-calf height and shooting upwards. Mind you, this put them right about even with Hobbs’ side. 
Figuring that he might be a bit hot and bothered, I took us through the stream. LOL! He tried to fight it, but had to take it.
To my credit, I only took him through two of them and let him avoid the other three. It’s just the kind of guy that I am. Well, to add insult to injury, I made him sit and took his picture!
I guess that the title of the post is 1/2 accurate because his right side was still dry; however, all is not loss, the sprinklers come on at 7:25 AM tomorrow … maybe we’ll just happen to be walking by in the other direction! Haha!
Winter: It’s a wrap
Though I did not brave the icy streets in my car, like my friend Earl did on his Winter Tour; I don’t have a four-wheel drive. I did go for a walk this morning with Hobbs, of course. The temperature was about 15° F, but the sun was shining brightly. I did have fun watching Hobbs slip and slide on the ice. I saw him take several nose-first dives to the ice. He’s short, so not to far to go from head to ground.
Today’s forecast called for clear skies, abundant sunshine, and rapidly rising temperatures. They indicated that the temperature would reach into the mid 30′s by about 2:00 PM. It is now 12:05 and the temperature has increased some 21 degrees. It is now 36 degrees outside and rising. I would imagine that it might hit 40.
The neighborhood kids are trying to get their last rides on the sleds. They can go down the street for a while, then they hit the slush and have to push themselves. I would imagine that they have about 30 more minutes. The snow is no longer crunchy, but is glistening a bit.
Hobbs, as usual, is doing his bit to welcome the sun back. He can enjoy himself in any type of weather … except rain! As far as winter goes in these parts, that’s probably a wrap, though old man Winter could drop by for a surprise visit, but who knows.
Photographic Prognostication
The other day, I was thinking that it was almost time for our annual snowfall. I went back through my photos of the last few years, looked at the dates of the snowfalls, and determined that the snow would fall sometime between 1/20 and 2/1.
I promptly forgot about it. Yesterday, I looked at the forecast for Charlotte and saw that they were calling for a “Wintery Mix”. In general, this means snow and sleet. As I was riding along the highway yesterday morning, the electronic signage above the highway read: Anti-Icing operations underway. Slow moving traffic possible.
Usually, for whatever reason, the snow seems to skip us, but I was pretty sure that it was coming. After all, I do have four years of photographic data to back my assertion! How’s that for scientific?! I have proof!
And, so it started yesterday around 5:00. Snowflakes so light, so small that you needed a dark background to see them. My wife suggested that I had over to Blockbuster and grab a few movies. I liked the idea, but groaned to myself because I know this area and we all get the same idea at the same time. As I guessed, the line at Blockbuster was pretty darn long. Usually, I end up 2nd or 3rd in line, even if we go by there on a Friday night. Not yesterday. The aisles were crowded and I was number 12 in line. Sigh.
Having successfully secured the movies, making a quick stop at CVS, I headed back home. It was now snowing in earnest and was a little bit disorienting. It has been a while since I’d driven in snow. It wasn’t sticking to the ground, but it was coming down rather fast and blowing directly towards the car. All those little flakes flying towards the windshield were distracting. Rookie!
The wife and I popped in one of the movies and settled down to watch it. Outside, it continued to snow, some of which was now sticking to the grass. In short order, Vera was asleep. I was left watching one of the worst movies that I’d seen in some time! The name of the movie is Fragments, staring Forrest Whitaker. Do yourself a favor … skip it!
So, off to bed we went. At about 3:00 AM this morning, I heard what sounded like an insistent tapping on the window. At first, in the fogginess of my sleep, I couldn’t figure out what it was. Then it came to me, sleet. I got up, looked out of the window and everything was covered in white. Nice, I thought. Hobbs will enjoy that tomorrow morning.
When I awoke at 7:45 this morning, the first thing that we did, Hobbs and I, was to go outside and have a look. It’s hard to say what his favorite things are, as he enjoys so many things that involve running freely. There were no birds to chase, nor salt water to sample, but there was plenty of room to run. As a matter of fact, he took off on one of his adventures and went down the street and around the corner, but he was easy enough to find. Foot prints! So, I quickly forgave him this ‘adventure’.
Now, as I write this, he’s lying on my lap, snoring softly. Too bad I can’t take a picture of it, but I’ll just have to enjoy the moment.
Keeping a promise
Heading east for a short while!
Though he probably doesn’t remember it, I made Hobbs a promise. I promised that the next time that he visited, I would take him to the beach. Vera, Tony, and Hobbs are with me over the New Year’s weekend.
Yesterday morning, Hobbs and I decided to go to the beach. When we walked out of the door, we were greeted with an icy blast of wind and treated to a bit of art left on the grass and clover by Jack Frost, but we decided to go anyway.
During the ride to the beach, about 40 minutes, Hobbs was his usual, excited self. Hopping from front seat to back seat, staring out of the window, and barking at strangers when we were at a stoplight.
When we got to the beach, it was just about 8:30 AM. I paused to read the rules of the beach. Isle of Palms has an ordinance that says that dogs can only be off-leash from 5:00 AM – 8:00 AM. 3 hours. That’s it. I was not expecting to see many people, and I didn’t. As I said, it was 8:30 AM and it was cold, about 35 degrees F.
When we got to the beach, it was abandoned, save for a few stragglers, all with dogs off-leash, here and there. I turned the wild man loose! Of course, when he’s off leash, there is no such thing as a straight line. He zigged and he zagged, up a dune, down a dune, north, south, west … not east, though. That’s where the water is and Hobbs doesn’t do water, except for drinking!
Finally, he spotted the seagulls and with quick look back at me to see if it was OK, a confirming ‘Go!’ from me was all that he needed. I’m happy to say that no seagulls were harmed. All that they needed to do was fly out over the water for the briefest of flights and that was it.
During the 45 minutes or so that we stayed at the beach, he never got his paws wet, though he did ‘wet’ several plants! Hobbs just turned 10 years old in October of 2009. An all-out jaunt of 45 minutes is enough for him, then he was ready to return to the car.
On the trip back home, he lay on the front seat, head lolling, hanging over the edge of the seat, no longer interested in strangers, no longer interested in looking out of the window, no longer considering anything except for sleep. It was a quiet ride back. He was at peace. I was at peace. I was very glad that I had kept my promise to him. It was a great way to start the year!
Oh, BTW, I know that’s a crazy crooked horizon, but it just seemed to fit the atmosphere of the chase.
I do enjoy this time of year.
Officially, it will be winter in 13 days. Then, the days will start getting longer. I do, however, really like this time of year. When I can get back to the park, the trees are all without leaves and the forest, as it were, is a jumble of shapes, light, and shadows that absolutely defies organization. It is an interesting challenge.
The other day while taking my favorite critter, Hobbs, for a walk, I took my camera along. At this time of year, there is rarely anyone in the park, so I can let Hobbs run to his content. He loves to run through the trails and mostly off of the trails burying his nose in the leaves and seeking out every possible smell that he can find. It’s truly a joy to see him explore.
While he’s out exploring, never going too far way, I try to make sense of the jumble that I see. After a while, I just give up and start to “paint”. As I was walking the trail, I spotted a large tree with quite a bit of moss growing on it and thought that it would make a good painting study, so I stopped down my camera, reduced the ISO to 100, shot at a very slow shutter speed to get this effect. It took quite a number of exposures to get one that I liked … advantage digital! No guess work and no extra expense.
Anyway, it was a fun outing and Hobbs was quite pleased with the hour or so that we spent in the woods. He hopped into the car, we drove our 5 minutes to home, he drank heartily, assumed the position on the stairs in the sunshine, and promptly went to sleep. I could not have asked for a better thank you. I think that this is his favorite time of year, too. As you can see here, he’s found another victim to ‘mark’.
A dogs life
Pedro and Hobbs
“A really companionable and indispensable dog is an accident of nature. You can’t get it by breeding for it, and you can’t buy it with money. It just happens along.” – E B White, The Care and Training of a Dog
It’s a tough life, but someone has to live it. Hobbs had a number of cute poses this weekend, so with my faltering D300, I just had to capture one or two. My camera will be shipping out for repair early this week. 
I’ll be headed to NY and it will be headed to Illinois!