(Day 222) Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Tuesday Aug. 10, 2010

Yesterday was a travel day so I thought I'd better make a few photos prior to our flights, just in case ... I had already picked one out to post. When we fly I'm usually the one in the window seat - I like to look out at the scenery and I always have my camera handy. We had some turbulence on the first segment and I could soon see why - we were passing close to some thunderstorms, which usually means interesting cloud formations (and you know I like those), and sometimes a rainbow.

Well, I saw my first rainbow from 35,000 feet, and I managed to get a few shots before it disappeared. Oh, and since I was shooting some cloud formations, I figured I'd post one of those too.

Both photos were made with a 60mm lens, aperture f8, ISO200; shutter speed 1/800 sec and 1/400 sec)

(Day 221) Odds and ends

Today was our last day to go to a beach since tomorrow is a travel day. No, we didn't return to the one that the weather evicted us from yesterday. Instead we went to one nearby that we'd also visited a couple of times earlier. I had already walked around the area before and posted some photos from it. One of the 'pressures' of doing a 365-day photo project is to come up with at least one post-able photo each day, and to try to make it somewhat unique and interesting. I was really wondering what else I could get here.

Then, my wife and daughter spotted some dolphins cavorting only a hundred yards or so off-shore. I followed my wife and daughter, camera ready, as they took up the pursuit, and we ended up on the pier under which we'd last seen them swim. They were too far out in the water to get a decent shot by the time we arrived, so I remained loitering on the pier, while the others went back to the beach.

Before long, this fellow joined me and I thought he'd make a nice subject:

(70-200mm  f8  1/160 sec  ISO200)

After making a few photos of him, I too sauntered back to the beach, relieved in the knowledge I had a photo for the day.

We've become much more attentive to the weather and I've developed a better eye for interesting cloud formations. I was watching a pretty impressive rainstorm dumping on a community across the bay - you could actually see where the rain started and stopped. I thought I saw something developing out of the rather dark clouds, and sure enough, as I kept watching, a whitish funnel appeared to be forming. I'd never seen a real live waterspout before, but there it was, right before us (well, likely still about 2 miles away). So I figured I'd add it to the blog too:

(70-200mm  f8  1/1000 sec  ISO200)

We never saw it touch down, but we did see confirmation on the news tonight that it was a waterspout. It only lasted a few minutes before it retracted into the clouds.









Later that afternoon I decided to take a walk to an area near the beach where I had spotted some large yellow flowers, on a previous excursion. My daughter and granddaughters decided to come along for the walk. As we approached the large bushes with flowers, a quick movement caught our eyes, and there was a larger specimen of the fleet-footed 'lizards'. This little guy appeared to be friendly - he ran along branches and up and down the fence, pausing occasionally to allow a photo to be made of him. When I moved in closer for a better look, he flashed his colourful 'kerchief' at me. We all thought this little fellow was worthy of some exposure, so I've posted him below:

(70-200mm  f8  1/50 sec  ISO200)

This evening I did some research on him and discovered that he's a brown Cuban anole - I'll have to take someone's word for that since he wasn't carrying a passport. If you're interested in reading a humorous piece on these little creatures, check this out.


So I went from wondering what I was going to shoot today to having an assortment of subjects.



Note: tomorrow is a travel day; I'll likely make some photos but will likely not post, or visit anyone, till the day after.

(Day 220 A cloud over our heads

We decided we should go back to the same beach we went to a few days ago. That's where we had fun all day jumping around in the waves, and where I obtained my toasty skin (which is feeling much better, thank you). The sky looked a little ominous when we headed out but appeared much clearer in the direction we were going. Besides, the forecast indicated only a 30% chance of rain.

Well, when we arrived after a 75-minute drive, the sun was doing its best to break through the clouds, and into the water we all went. The sky to the north still looked rather nasty but we determined that it was headed away from us. Not so.

Before long, it looked like this:

(18-55mm  f14  1/1250 sec  ISO800)

We debated whether we should leave the beach area, but that decision was made for us, and most of the beach goers, with the first thunderclap. The clouds quickly moved away to the east and we took up our place again on the beach and back in the water. It looked like we might escape it yet:

(18-55mm  f5.6  1/200 sec  ISO200)

Although we heard the occasional faraway rumble, the weather held up nicely and we resumed our water fun for the next hour. However, the sky didn't clear, and in fact, the rain we could see falling to the north appeared to be coming our way. We ignored it as long as we could, thinking wishfully that it would bypass us. We wished for about 5 minutes longer than we should have. We suddenly noticed that the black clouds had gathered right over our heads and were about to burst open on us. We scrambled to gather all the beach paraphernalia and scurried across the beach, over the road, and into the parking lot. Too late - the torrential downpour pelted us before we made it. However, since we were wet anyway, it didn't really matter, and we drove back in our soggy bathing suits. We'll try to clean all the beach sand out of the rental car tomorrow (and hopefully the seats are dry by then too).

I quickly made this photo as everyone was gathering everything - these were the clouds we had ignored just before the downpour:

(18-55mm  f8  1/200 sec  ISO200)

(Day 219) A discovery

Back at home in Ontario, Canada, I'm fairly certain which plants I'd consider weeds and therefore undesirables in either the flower or veggie garden. Here in the subtropics I'm not so sure at all. I can spot the (non-ornamental) grass and try to remove it from the flower beds, but there are other plants that look like something you might actually buy and grow.

I've removed some 'viney' things that appear to be crawling over legitimate garden inhabitants, but last week there was a larger one that I wasn't sure about, but which I left. Today I walked around again and now I'm glad I left it alone - it's flowering nicely. I googled it and I discovered that it's actually a bougainvillea! I also discovered that its sap can cause skin rashes similar to what poison ivy and poison oak cause, and I'm familiar with those. Glad I made this discovery the easy way by reading about it and not by experiencing it !

(60mm  f16  1/30 sec  ISO800)

(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)