June 23

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On my way in to work, I picked up a couple of locust leaves.

Here you see them, in my fancy-schmancy photo setup. (A piece of printer paper, lying on my desk.)

The 23rd was another nice open-window kind of day.  Not too hot, not too cold, not too wet.....

It rained, from time to time, but the direction was wrong for it to come in my window.

Here's a mystery for you.  Any guesses?  I like the textures and layers.......

Yep, you're right.  Cranking out some paper towel, in the office ladies' room, resulted in a skinny strip of towel, with a lettuce-leafy ripped edge.

Hmmm.

I knew this wasn't going to correct itself.  I opened it up, and wound off the ripped-on-one-side strip.

Then I couldn't figure out how to get the towel to come out properly, so I just left it open.

Someone else had fixed it, by the end of the day.  I opened it up and looked, and now I think I know how to fix it, should I ever encounter this again........




At the time I left the office, it was raining right down.

I have one of those $2 plastic ponchos, waiting in a drawer.   I put the camera and phone in a ziplock, donned the poncho, and headed out.  It wasn't stormy (not windy, no lightning).  It wasn't raining tooooo hard.

It was a perfect day for walking in the rain.  It made me happy, getting nice warm rain on my face and in my hair............

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just like in Tangled....

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I watched Tangled over the weekend.

I liked it. Intelligent, resourceful heroine. Good supporting characters. Reasonable plot, for a fairy tale.

It's a musical. I thought of my friend, Suzie B. , back in high school, saying "I feel a song coming on!" You just know this is going to become a high-school musical staple.........

Anyway -- fun, recommended, I'd watch it again..........


This video looks exactly like part of a scene from the movie. (but is NOT a spoiler)



Very cool, yes? Definitely a fire hazard, but cool.........

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June 22, walking home

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The serviceberries enhancing the Huron/Ashley/Washington/First parking lot are ready to eat. They are seedy, and not particularly tasty, but I always eat some when I go by. The purple color is probably good for me, and who knows what else I may be lacking that serviceberries will remedy.  (They don't taste nasty; they are just sort of blah.)

This woman grows lilies the way some people grow tulips.  Hooray.

I turned away from the lilies, and spotted something.

Something very small.  Something ... hopping.

Not hopping the way a bug would hop.

No.

Hopping the way ... the way a FROG would hop!

HOORAY!!!!!!!

A teeny weeny little amphibian!!!

This baby was about half an inch from nose to rump.  All I could see with my bare eyes was gray. 

The light was difficult, and the wet shiny sidewalk didn't help.  I have lightened and darkened and cropped significantly.

I bet this is a toad, but I don't know.   (as always, click on any pic for a bigger version of the image)

As I tried to get its pic, it hopped closer to the grass.  The shadows here are grass blade shadows.....

There was another one in the grass.  Hooray!  I haven't seen any amphibians outside a zoo in years.  I was very glad to see them!  I surely wish them good luck!  They are so vulnerable.......

I spotted them along 7th Street, just outside West Park.  I had heard that the new pond in the park (with the board walk -- we've seen it many times) had frogs and toads (though the last time I walked on the board walk, a couple of weeks ago, I saw no evidence of life in that pond).  More frogs and toads has to be good!

The 22nd was an EXCELLENT day for spotting neighborhood wildlife!  That evening my better half saw a hummingbird over our patio.  That was only my second sighting, ever.  There wasn't a camera at hand.  I chose to stay and watch rather than run for a camera (especially as the family room windows are so dirty that all I could capture is a blob, anyway).  Happy sigh.

On the 22nd, a robin began a nest over the patio.  We watched it work.......

On the 22nd, I saw my first lightning bug of 2011.

A very good day for watching our little neighbors.  I am so glad we haven't totally crowded them out!



Ok, back to walking home.

Wet oak leaves.

The wind blew rain out of the trees, from time to time, and it looked really cool in the sunlight.  This is a failed attempt to capture that sunshiny rain.  I decided I liked the light and shadows, even if there is no rain to be seen.

My trusty never-cared-for front-yard rose.  Love the color!

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not an entirely bad place, the future........

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I read on someone's blog a lament about the problems facing indie book-sellers in today's world.

Thinking about that led me to a bunch of thoughts................

1) Borders is my local bookstore (it was born and raised right here in Ann Arbor). I know it doesn't really belong to us any more, but I've always been conflicted about considering it part of the "big-business bad guys" group......

Very sad that it is in so much trouble these days.................

And sadder yet that my still-local, still-indie bookstore is apparently in almost as much trouble. They used to have a pretty good craft section. (Not as good as Borders used to have, but still.) Now they've got ... not much at all. I stop in there from time to time and buy a bunch of art/craft magazines, mostly to help them out.......

I think the days of hard-copy print media are numbered. The aging population is going to need to adjust the print size, I think.......... I can't read magazines at night any more. Even with relatively good light, the print is just too small..........

2) When you think about it, the span of time that ordinary people have had multitudes of books in their homes is very short. 150 years ago, people might have a bible and a few other books....... (Thinking about Laura Ingalls Wilder and her LIttle House books.....) Only very recently have all of us been able to have dozens or hundreds of books...... I suspect that once the ereaders get the whole color thing down, and the price of "buying" books/mags comes down a bit more, that will be the death knell for paper books/mags.........

3) I think it's sad, but then I don't have an ereader. Maybe once I get one, I won't be sad any more; maybe they are so excellent that I won't mind.

I know that when I was packing guidebooks for my trip to France last year, I wouldn't have minded having all of that info in one ereader instead having to carry multiple (fat, heavy) books............

I love books. LOVE books. But will I mind if (when) those books are in my ereader rather than on paper? I don't know yet. I know I'll be glad to be able to make the print be any size (font!) I like. I know I'll be glad to embiggen the pics (just as I often can on the web). I know I'll be thrilled to take a dozen books on vacation for the weight/size of one (or less than one).

The other day I saw something that talked about the possibilities for embedding sound and/or video in books/mags. Whoa. Obvious. but I never thought of it. Embedded tutorials (/interviews/music/whatever!), right in my magazines (or books)???

Excellent...................

Not a totally bad thing, the future............

:-)

If you love books, and love your ereader, please tell me about it in the comments. I would love to hear your perspective.

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June 22

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Linden tree seedpods.

I think this is an ailanthus leaflet.

The 22nd was another excellent day for clouds.

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June 21

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Linden tree flowers.

This reminded me of France.

I'd seen fancy daylilies blooming, before the 21st, but this is the first "regular daylily" I saw in 2011.

What's not to love about these?  They come back, year after year after year, with no help, and they are gorgeous.

Linden tree flowers, going to seed.  Love the fuzzy pods and the shapes of the dried stamens.

Redbud tree seedpods.

Spirea.

I don't like these whole-plant shots nearly as well as looking more closely at the flowers, but sometimes I think to put them in for ... completeness.

Mmmm.  I don't know whose spotted feather this is, but I love it.

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June 18

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Recognize this? (the tuft on his head is a clue)

Now you know. :-)

Baby cardinal: "FEED ME!"
Daddy cardinal: "Working on it."

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June 16

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The 16th was a day of excellent clouds.  From my office window.

Laptops, getting ready for a class.

Clouds, at lunch time.

Look at this!

Rose, with tattered petal.

Another tattered rose, with green zebra bee (my name, not a real name for this gal).

Clouds, from my office window.

More clouds, walking home after work.

Catalpa tree.  Huge leaves, huge clusters of big(ish) flowers.  Note flowers that have rained down to the ground.

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