Making lemonade

After sifting through several series of photos I'd made over the past week or two, I was going to post some cheerful spring photos, made while the sky was blue, the sun was shining, and temperatures were approaching the high 70s F (mid 20s C). Today we woke up to a different season - gray overcast skies, a howling north wind driving the rain horizontally, and a temperature of 39F (4C).

Our grandson is staying for the weekend while his parents enjoy a quick getaway. Plans for outdoor time had to be shelved, but the weather certainly doesn't put a damper on a 3-year old's ability to have fun. And what better fun than to see what's in the toy box and get down to some serious playing ...

Snake birds and pirates

You might well wonder how these could possibly be connected. Well ...

It continues to be unseasonably cold down here in Florida, so the pool is not in high demand by our guests, although our grandson did briefly consider it today. Instead we made our way down to a local park this afternoon so he could release a little pent-up energy. Graydon had a lot of fun on the swings and slides, while I had fun capturing some of his antics. He continued clambering over the playground equipment when I left him with his parents for a few minutes, while I stole over to a nearby lagoon for a look around. That's where I discovered this snake bird (or anhinga), presumably after a successful afternoon of fishing since he was now drying his wings.

I'm still gaining experience trying to photograph a very active 3-year old (aren't all 3-year olds very active ?). It's a bit like trying to nail jello to the wall. My best success came when I caught him in those rare instances when he stood still. So here he is with a pirate's headdress (fashioned by his father), followed by a shot of him with a handful of playground mulch that he was scheming to stuff down his father's shirt. [my shutter's had a great workout during their stay with us so far. I'm trying to squeeze in a few visits to blogland when I'm not on call as grandpa or family chronicler].

One man band

I believe I saw one of the most co-ordinated, even if not superstar-level musically talented, performers today busking for a pretty decent crowd near the beach. I mean, this guy could play the guitar, several cymbals, a couple of drums, and a few other instruments while singing, and keep everything in good rhythm. And when he wasn't singing, he could also play the kazoo. Didn't look like there was an ounce of extra weight on him either, what with all the hopping around he had to do to produce sound from his collection of instruments.

(10-22mm  f5.6  1/1600 sec  ISO200)

click on photo to enlarge

(70-200mm  f7.1  1/640 sec  ISO200)

Just foolin' around

We've had intermittent internet issues (practising my alliteration) over the past 24 hours and I wasn't sure if I'd get access tonight since it had been dead since before 3:30 pm. Thunderstorms set in early in the evening, and got a little intense around 8:00 pm. That's when we had one extremely bright flash of lightning followed immediately by a tremendous crash of thunder. The lights went off for 2 seconds and it was eerie to be in pitch darkness after such an intense flash of light. Everything came back on, and lo and behold, I had internet access ! It was as though God had pushed the reset button !

I got the camera out and started doing a little experimenting, something I hadn't done indoors in a while. And it's not even Phriday yet.

(60mm  f6.3  5 sec  ISO200)

(Day 363) Winter fun !

All good things must come to an end, and so today we said goodbye to family with whom we'd spent the Christmas holidays. We had a wonderful time, and as is always the case the time went too quickly. But before we packed things to prepare for our drive home, there was still time to go sledding with our granddaughters. We walked to a nearby hill which was fairly steep - they didn't seem that steep when I was a kid, though. Some dare-devil youngsters had fashioned a ramp out of snow, which was to be my wife's undoing - on her first run downhill, having thrown caution to the wind, she and one of our granddaughters literally flew through the air after being launched off the ramp, and came to a rather abrupt halt. We're sure her bruises will heal over the next week - my granddaughter had none as she made a 'softer' landing on top of my wife.

After that experience, the following runs were made from just above the ramp, with much better, although less spectacular, results.

(18-55mm  f22  1/100 sec  ISO800)

Lilly

(50mm  f2  1/4000 sec  ISO200)

Hailey

(50mm  f16  1/200 sec  ISO800)

(50mm  f2  1/3200 sec  ISO200)

an unidentified brave person fully utilizing the ramp

 

(Day 218) Outta this world!

I personally don't know any astronauts. From what I've seen on TV, and read, astronauts are a pretty tough, stoic bunch who aren't easily rattled. Do you suppose though, that at some point, perhaps in anticipation of a launch, or during a space flight, or perhaps even afterward, when no one is looking, they might punch a fist in the air and break into a wide grin just because of the thrill involved ?

Well, today we took our daughter and 2 granddaughters to a nearby water park with all kinds of water slides and a lazy river you can raft down, and all sorts of fun stuff for kids - and 'grown-up kids' - to do. Judging by their expressions and laughter, I think they were just as thrilled as I'm sure some of the astronauts must be. Today's photo reminded me a bit of the international space station, which provided a segue to the thrills of space travel. And yes, we were all very thrilled to experience this one ... many times!

(18-55mm  f8  1/640 sec  ISO200)