snowfall in Bloomington

It's been awhile since I've posted here. When I first started this I thought I'd do it once a day, and for a while thinking about that daily post helped me get through the day. Then life sped up and I became too busy to think about it at all. In the last three months of 2009, I bought a condo in Indiana, my company was acquired, I left my job of 25 years and started work for a new very small company, I traveled to California once and Indiana 3 times.

So here we are about to start a new year and a new decade. My new job keeps me pretty occupied so I doubt I'll go back to a once a day posting, but perhaps I'll try for once a week.

This photo was taken yesterday in Indiana at the new condo, these lions adorn the gates to the courtyard. The snowfall was so spectacular as snowflakes clumped together in the air, making giant snowflakes. It was even better because we had nowhere we had to go, so we built a fire in the fireplace and simply enjoyed the fire, the snow, and the day.

magical yellow world

I took this photo last week but have been so busy all week I haven't had a chance to post it. I don't have words to describe what it's like to be walking along and all of the sudden you are in the middle of all this incredible yellow beauty. It just envelops you. Everything else in the world just disappears and there you are, yellow all around, the rustling of leaves falling from the trees to make not only the air but also the ground yellow. It's incredibly powerful.

Fall Flower

I love the way the light was shining through this flower, and also the two bees busy with the job of pollinating. This photo was taken at Oliver Winery just outside of Bloomington, Indiana last weekend.

Since then I've been busy working during the day, stripping wallpaper at night, making it a little hard to find time to take photos or blog. I'm heading back to Chicago soon so I expect to get back to more regular posts, at least until the next trip back here to finish up - I'm not quite through with bathroom number 1, and number 2 is yet to be started!

another sunset at a very special place

I took this photo last week on one of the last days that my son was staying at the home of two very special people. They provided him with a place to live during a month while we waited to close on the condo he just moved into.  


The closing was Wednesday and ever since we've been working morning till night on moving, unpacking, cleaning, etc. This also explains my absence from posting here - by the end of each day I was too tired to do anything more than fall into bed.

silver linings

This photo was taken yesterday in Bloomington, Indiana, not long before sunset. The drama and mystrey of the dark landscape and clouds constrasted with the bright light making its way through seems so appropriate for my life right now. The darkness of my son's illness is contrasted with the brilliant light that comes from the care and concern of so very many incredible people around us. And behind that cloud is the even brighter light that will be shining on us as soon as we find ways to treat his symptoms and allow him to regain a more normal life.

freezing a hard drive

The previous post didn't actually go the way I expected - I searched for that photo because I was thinking about how relative time is, how it can seem so short and so long simultaneously... and that made me start thinking about the clock from Prague. But when I saw the photo I also saw the skeleton figure, which I had forgotten about... and it sort of shocked me all over again.

Anyway, tonight's post is about something I'm very thankful for. But first you need the back story. Last week I was in the middle of typing on my Mac and all the sudden everything froze. Practically in mid-word. Wouldn't respond to the mouse or keyboard. So I shut it down, waited awhile, and turned it back on... nothing. Wouldn't boot at all. Tried booting from an external hard drive, still nothing. By now I'm getting the idea this isn't going to be easy; something is seriously wrong with the computer. I went in search of paperwork and found it is still covered under AppleCare (whew!). BUT... it's been awhile since I've backed anything up. A long while. And I have lots and lots and lots of photos stored on this machine.

So off to the Apple store I go, and sure enough, the hard drive is not responding. They replace it and last weekend I went to pick it back up. I asked if I could take the old hard drive just on the off chance that I can get something out of it. First they said no, we gave you a new one so we need to keep the old one. I asked if they were just going to throw it away. They said yes, but it might cost you thousands of dollars to get someone to restore it. I said I was going to try myself, and finally they said "OK, here it is."

Now back to the title of this post which involves my freezer. Turns out that if you put a hard drive in the freezer, it *might* fix it long enough for you to copy files off of it. I found this out at work a few years ago when my laptop's hard drive crashed. They put it in the freezer and the next day I was able to copy everything I needed off of it.

So I put my drive in the freezer overnight, and sure enough, when I tried tonight it came up right away. I recovered about half the photos on the drive before it stopped working. So now it's back in the freezer, I'll try the other half tomorrow.

No photo tonight (I'd take one of the drive but it's back in the freezer) but I am very thankful that I've recovered as much as I have of my hard drive. Oh, and by the way, I am now going to leave Time Machine running to keep more regular backups. I've learned my lesson.

another clock from Prague

This clock is in the old town square in Prague. As with many of the sights of Prague, this clock both fascinates and disgusts me. It was built in the early 1400's. There are four figures shown on the clock represents four attributes to despise and fear: Vanity, (a man looking at himself in a mirror), Greed ( a Jew holding a moneybag ), Death (the skeleton ), and an Infidel (figure wearing a turban). The beginning of the Jewish Quarter is just steps away from this clock.

You can just see the feet of the two figures for Vanity and Greed in this photo To be honest, at the time i took the photo I was concentrating more on the face and only later found out the significance of the figures.

I'm fascinated by the artistic beauty of the face of this clock as well as the intricacy of it and the various ways it measures time. The inner astronomical clock moves around based on the sun's position during the year. The outer 24 hours measure what we typically think of as hours of the day. The curved lines measure the unequal "hours" that divide the day and night - 12 periods of night and 12 periods of day, where the amount of time in each period varies during the year depending on the length of a day. It shows the path of the sun, of the moon, and many other things that are just at the edge of my comprehension and beyond my understanding.

But what I really don't understand how someone can make something so beautiful, how they can be so advanced and knowledgeable in order to be able to build this, and at the same time be so fearful and hateful of people living just steps away.

more about time

This clock runs backwards - see the Alef, 1:00 at the position that 11:00 would be. This photo was taken in the Jewish Quarter in Prague a little over two years ago. My son and I were there for a few days of vacation after a conference. We were talking about this trip today, so I thought i'd find a photo from the trip for tonight's post.

What you don't see in this photo is another clock, high above this one, that uses roman numerals and runs forward. They are both run from the same single clock mechanism. So does that mean time is going both backwards and forwards? Wouldn't that make it stand still?

I find it a little ironic that I'm now contemplating time, but as it is after midnight and I have to go to work tomorrow, it's too late; I have no more time to follow this thought.

orange and purple flower

I love the colors of this little flower - I don't know exactly what knd of flower it is but I found it earlier this summer and planted it in my garden. And it's been in bloom most of the summer.

Well - this time there's a really good reason I didn't post for a few days. The teapot in the previous post is a big hint. I spent the next few days mostly sleeping, sucking cough drops and drinking tea. Got better just in time for Rosh Hashanah services last night. This morning I chanted the V'ahavta during the morning service. I was a little afraid my voice wouldn't hold up, but it was fine. It's been bouncing back and forth all day - I can talk, then I can't, then I can again. But I feel like myself again.

tea

I started the day with a little bit of a sore throat and ended with a full blown cold. So tonight's photo is something I am right this moment very thankful for - steam and tea. I stood in front of this teapot for quite a while breathing in the steam, then made a big thermos full of tea. I'm also sucking down the cough drops like they are going out of style but I figured the teapot would make a better photo. And I must say that standing in front of that teapot and inhaling the steam is the best I've felt all day - if I could figure out how to sleep like that I would try it.

a new year

Rosh Hashanah is just a few days away. A new year, new beginnings, possibly new hope?

time

Time is on my mind these days so I thought this photo would be appropriate for tonight's post. How is it possible that time can simultaneously move so quickly and so incredibly slowly?

This is a photo of the Wrigley Building clock. For the first 7 or 8 years of working at SPSS, my office window looked directly out onto this clock. It took me years to get out of the habit of looking out of the window to see what time it was!

apple picking

Today I went apple picking - so I had to post a photo of one of the apple trees tonight. I picked a big bag of apples today - many different varieties. And of course I had to try one of each different variety to decide if I wanted to pick some of those. So now I have lots of really wonderful apples and a bit of a stomach ache.

sunset on the tracks

While tonight's sunset wasn't quite as vibrant as last night's, I was coming off the train just as the setting sun hit the tracks. After last night, I decided that I'd bring my camera with me to work so I just happened to have it ready to record the moment.

red sky

OK, I know it's been a few days since I've posted. Life has been pretty hectic, what can I say?  A few long long days have left me too exhausted by the end of the day.  But I'm back now.

Tonight's post isn't from a 'real' camera, it's from my iPhone.

I've been noticing the days getting shorter - this photo was taken as I got off the el at 7:30 tonight. Not that long ago, it would have still be completely light, but now as you can see the sun was almost gone. In fact, I first noticed tonight's incredibly vibrant red sky while I was still on the train - by the time I got to my stop, it was almost over.

What's the saying  - "red sky at night, sailor's delight."  I think that means good weather tomorrow.

bumble bee

It's not often you get to actually look at a bumble bee - usually they are buzzing around too fast to see. This photo was taken in Nashville a few years ago. There were a whole swarm of bees buzzing around and eating the basil and I just stood there with the camera pointed on a spot waiting for one to stop there.

hummingbird

Two summers ago this hummingbird took up residence in the tree in my backyard. We saw him all the time, swooping down to drink at the feeder, then retreating to a higher branch in the tree. He chased away other hummingbirds and even large birds. It was easy to get photos of him because he was around all the time. Sadly, he hasn't returned although we keep hoping another hummingbird will recognize what a perfect tree this is and move in.

morning city sky

Ok, first let's just get this over with - I didn't post anything yesterday.  It's the first day I've missed since I started this.  I worked at home all day which generally means I start working the minute I wake up and quit the minute before I go to sleep.  Yesterday I managed to take a break and have lunch with a friend, but other than that if I was awake I was working.

Now on to today.  On mornings when I have early meetings, I sometimes get a ride, quite a luxury.  It shaves about 20-30 minutes off my normal 45 minute commute, which means a lot when I have to be at an 8:00 am meeting.  It also gives me great views of the city on the drive in -  especially of the building where I work.  I live almost exactly 8 miles directly west of my building, formerly known as the Sears Tower, now rebranded as the Willis Tower.  This morning it was so hazy you couldn't even see downtown until we were pretty close.  For those of you who know Chicago, we were past Rush on the Eisenhower before you could really see much of anything.  But as you can see the sun was making a valiant effort to shine through the haze.

skiing in the clouds

I can't believe it's been almost 10 years since that fateful day, January 1, 2000 when I broke my leg skiing. When I look at this photo, and the one I posted a few days ago, it seems like it just happened. Look at how incredibly beautiful the mountains are, how the cloud has settled into the ski hill, how tiny the people are compared to the mountain. I look at this photo and think that I just have to get back to Chamonix someday. I am pretty sure I won't ski down that same run though.

bird lineup

This photo reminds me of that song, I think it was on Sesame Street - "one of these things is not like the other, one of these things does not belong." If you look closely you'll see that all the other birds seem to be turned away from the white one. Is it just a coincidence that they look like they're all talking about him and wondering what in the world he's doing on THEIR lamppost? And right in the middle of it too, how dare he?

the beach at night

There's something magical about the beach - the softness of the sand, the rhythmic roar of the waves. And on a clear dark night with a full moon, the magic intensifies.

My grandmother had a house a half a block from the beach and hated sand - whenever we took a walk at night she's always ask if we went up to the beach. If the answer was yes, we'd have to take a shower outside before coming into the house - so the answer was always "no." This photo was taken in July, a few weeks after she passed away; but had it been any other summer it would have been on one of those walks when we "didn't go to the beach."

a tree falls in the forest

I don't know if anyone heard the sound when they fell, and I don't know just when it happened, but you can't escape the fact that these are some pretty awesome trees. This photo is from Vancouver, taken during the same trip when I took the cloud photo I posted a few days ago.

mountains and clouds

And now for some clouds in the mountains! This photo was taken on January 1, 2000 at Chamonix, France. The clouds were just spectacular and I stopped to take this photo. Then I put my camera away, grabbed my ski poles, and skied down that slope right into the clouds. I wish I could say I came out in one piece, but what I'll say instead is that when you ski on steep hills with moguls, it's really better if you can see well. At least I like to think that's what caused my fall. What I do know is that if you have to break your leg and need surgery on New Year's Day, Chamonix is a good place to do it - excellent doctors put me together almost as good as new. The week stay in the hospital would have been a little better had I taken French rather than Spanish in school. But all's well that ends well - I can still ski.

hills - something you don't see in Chicago

I take lots of photos from the car... here's another one, taken a few years ago on our way to see friends in North Carolina.

This photo was taken somewhere around the North Carolina/Virginia border. Another foggy morning, you can see it just starting to lift off the hills.

Don't get me wrong - I love living in the midwest, and especially love Chicago.  I've lived here almost exactly half of my life now.  But the FIRST half of my life was spend growing up in the mountains of West Virginia, then the hills of western Virginia. And no matter how long I live in the midwest, I don't think I'll ever be completely used to how unnaturally flat it is here.

sunset

Our latest trip to Indiana started before sunrise on Monday, and ended after sunset on Tuesday - this photo was also taken from the car window (again, while I was a passenger, not while I was driving).

sunrise

This is really yesterday's posting - I was too wiped out last night to post it.  This photo is from Monday morning's drive to IU; taken from the car window while driving down 65. (It's ok, I wasn't driving, photo taken from the passenger seat!)

I'm really not a morning person so when I'm forced to be up early I see all sorts of sights I'm not used to - like sunrises and spider webs in the early morning dew.  It's *almost* enough to make me want to wake up earlier, but maybe not quite.

more spider webs

Today has been a very long day - woke up at 4:30, on the road by 5:20 to come back to Bloomington. But the early start paid off - we stopped at Fair Oak Farms, a wonderful dairy on Route 65, and got there about 10 minutes before they opened. So we wandered around the grounds while waiting and found a few pretty incredible spider webs. Unlike the one last week in the woods at IU, this one was pretty easy to spot - it was glistening from the morning dew and fog which were just lifting.

I could have stayed all day taking photos - I got a few good ones but none that were quite as spectacular as what I saw when I was taking the photo.

rainy nights

I've noticed that so far all my posts are about nature. So I figured it was time to expand out to the man-made world, which also has some pretty incredible sights to behold. I walk past this plaza every night on my way home, that little blue sign just barely visible to the left of the statue is the entrance to my train. This was taken on a rainy grey day - but just as it was starting to get dark, the plaza came alive in the lights reflected by the wet pavement.

tree knot

I've always been fascinated with the knots in trees. Today while walking in the woods I saw this one which is in a dead tree branch. I particularly like the holes in it letting you see little bits of greenery from the forest behind.

it's clouds illusions i recall

In keeping with yesterday's theme (and because I still have the song in my head) here's a photo I took a few years ago in Vancouver of clouds reflected in a building.  What I love about this photo is how different the color of the sky is behind the building, how it shows off the blue sky peeking through the clouds on the face of the building.

What I also love about this photo is that it make me think of my friends in Vancouver.   Joanne and your wonderful family -  this photo makes me realize we haven't talked for too long.  And Jerome - I'm thinking about you as I look at this photo and hoping things are starting to turn around for you.

i've looked at clouds from three sides now...

Lately, I've been doing a lot of driving back and forth from Chicago to Bloomington Indiana. This particular drive, a few weeks ago, the clouds were big and puffy and filled the sky. And I noticed that I could see reflections of clouds in the mirror, in the window in the mirror, and in the sky all at the same time

ornamental grass

In the last few years I've been noticing more and more use of ornamental grasses in landscapes here in the midwest. You might think this photo was taken last week when I was on the prairie, but actually, no. I found these grasses in a planter at the Indiana University campus.

What incredible colors. Not only beautiful, this grass is also so soft to the touch. When I walk by I feel like I have to let it run through my fingers.

grapes

Every time we drive to Bloomington we stop at the Oliver Winery just outside of town. Besides having great wine they also have beautiful grounds. And this time of year, there's the added bonus of seeing the ripe grapes on the vines. I especially love the way the green grapes glow in the sunlight.

I have a confession - as I was walking away from the vines after taking this photo, I looked down on the ground and there was a whole bunch of grapes on the ground. I though it would be awful wasteful to leave them there. They were delicious.

butterflies

Butterflies are one of those great surprises - you're already enjoying a beautiful flower and then all of a sudden a butterfly flutters by and lands on the very flower you've been admiring. And how is it possible that something as thin and fragile as a butterfly wing can actually allow them to fly?

spider webs

I'm not such a big fan of spiders but I an totally in awe of their webs. How it it possible for them to be so intricate? Found this web in the woods on the Indiana University campus this morning. As I was standing there trying to figure out how I could get a photo, the sun hit it in just the perfect way to light it up.

flowers

It's one thing to stop and notice the beauty of a flower. But have you ever noticed how beautiful a flower can be even as it's losing its petals?  

This photo was taken this morning at the Wolf Road Prairie.   Trying to select just one photo to talk about was really difficult, the prairie is filled with such beauty. 

If these flowers were in a vase on your table, you'd be ready to throw them out.  But sitting there in the prairie I found them every bit as special as all those flowers still in bloom.  

baby bird

I first noticed this little guy while I was sitting on my patio. The first thing I saw was there was a LARGE amount of bird poop all over the chair next to me and on the ground. Also on the ground was a part of a bird's nest. Then I looked at the back of the chair, and there he was standing there, a little shaky and obviously scared to death. (the term scared sh*tless comes to mind.) I went inside so as not to scare him more. For the next few days, he managed to fly short distances but not high enough to get back into the tree. I kept the dog away from the backyard to try to give him some space. About two days later he was gone, hopefully back up to a new nest in my tree.

About this blog

The idea for starting this blog came from many places.

This blog is not about my son's illness, but his illness is certainly one of the reasons I started the blog.

This blog isn't about religion, although the idea of blessings is obviously a religious theme, and last week's discussion at a Shabbat morning service was one of the sparks that started me thinking about this.

Finally, this blog isn't about photography, although my current plan is to use photos as part of each post.

During many times in my life, I've keenly felt how incredibly blessed I am, how much I have, and how important it is to not take that for granted. And more recently I've unfortunately experienced many times when it's much harder to remember that.

Last week in Shabbat morning services, we discussed this theme in the weekly Torah portion, Eikev (Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25) - About how much we have, how easy it is to take it for granted, to feel entiteled to all that we have. My cantor remarked on one of her favorite phrases in the portion: "Remember, do not forget..." Deuteronomy 7:7.

This blog is my attempt to remember, to not forget, on a daily basis that even during the dark scary days, there is still so much to be thankful for, so many blessings. This blog is my way of pushing myself to search for at least one blessing each day.

And how, you might ask, does that relate at all to photography? Well, when I take a photograph, I see the subject of the photo differently. When I stop to frame a photo, it makes me think more about what I'm photographing, and makes me appreciate it in a more complete way. So my daily search for something to be thankful for will be done by either taking a photo or selecting a photo I've previously taken.

Finally, this blog isn't just for me. It's for all of you who read it as well - a chance for you to remember, to not forget, all the many many blessings in your lives. I hope you'll find inspiration in some of mine - if you do please leave me comments. And I hope you'll be motivated to start looking for the blessings in your life as well.