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.