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Signs of times gone by.
By Silver Blue
The Big Bad Wolf.
My second-most all-time favourite rollercoaster in the world. (The most favourite? “Gemini” at Cedar Point, Upper Sandusky, Ohio).
Howl I miss this coaster. Oh, sorry for the misplaced pun. 🙂 I’ve heard differing stories as to why Busch Gardens, Williamsburg removed the Wolf. Ridership was down. (Huh?) The ride had reached the end of its serviceable life. (Possibly, but Nessie is older and still running). The ride was one of three remaining in the US of its type (where you were suspended UNDER the tracks entirely enclosed in the car), and the company who made it (and produced maintenance parts) went out of business, therefore they couldn’t keep it running. (Probably.)
It’s taken then a few years, but the new coaster, Verbolten (also a trek through the Black Forest) opened on May 18. Haven’t ventured yet. Will do so, though, on my next trip to the Gardens.
[audio:https://www.eyesofsilverblue.com/dd-hltw.mp3]Silver Blue, who does enjoy a good thrill ride every now and then. 🙂
Knock Knock!
By Silver Blue
Sorry, Gnome-one’s home!
Came upon this tree in February. I thought it looked like there was once a Gnome door here, but they went south for the winter and boarded it over. Maybe they were tired of being harassed by myriad squirrel. Regardless, it made me smile to think about, and still does. It’s a neat tree.
[audio:https://www.eyesofsilverblue.com/jw-sb.mp3]Silver Blue… who is looking forward to his birthday on Monday!
Milking it.
By Silver Blue
Years and years (and years) ago, when I was growing up, my Grandmother bought an old milk can. It was restored by mom and her sisters. Sanded down, repainted black, and an applique decal from Root’s Lumber applied:
From that point forward, it always sat near the doorway between my Grandmother’s living room and the “middle” room (formerly a dining room). It was still sitting there when she passed in 2008.
Strange how some things just seems to have been around forever. Sort of like a pair of teacups that had been on a shelf in her kitchen for as long as I can remember:
They’d hold her rings when she’d do the dishes… and sometimes, they’d hold change or her watch.
The restaurant is long gone, and I’ll have to question my parents about the significance of it, as I’m sure there was one.
Silver Blue, over and… out.
No laying down on the job!
By Silver Blue
Look, I know you’re tired. *I* am tired. But that’s no excuse. Look at you:
This is an amusement park. NOT the ruins of Rome.
Oh wait. It WAS over by the “Escape form Pompeii”. Maybe there’s something to be said about this.
(In an interesting side note, this was taken in March 2011. By the end of the season 2011, and in 2012, the statue is back on its pedestal.)
[audio:https://www.eyesofsilverblue.com/rome.mp3]Silver Blue, who’s feeling rundown, much like that statue. It’s going to be an early night. TTFN.
Fountain of…
By Silver Blue
….well, not youth. I was doing a function far, far too early one morning in Newport News City Center when the opportunity to capture the fountain on the square presented itself.
Something about the play of clouds, the rising sun, and the … feeling of “spring” in the air made me decide that this was the one shot that captured it all. (It doesn’t hurt that I know the credit union on the right, either. LOL)
One of these days I’m going to have to go back up and capture some shots at sunset. Of course, Mother Nature would have to cooperate, something she’s not wanting to do here recently.
[audio:https://www.eyesofsilverblue.com/sb-tse1.mp3]Silver Blue, who has always had an affinity for water…the second element.
Pushing fluids.
By Silver Blue
Have a nasty, non-productive cough. Myriad bizarre nightmarish dreams overnight. Ergo, rest, and lots of fluids have been the order of the day.
So, drink up, and rest. Yes. I think I shall. Have to be on my game tomorrow because Dad and I are taking mom for crab legs at Capt. George’s for Mother’s Day. That will make her happy! (Yes, she already knows of the plan.)
Silver Blue… who has decided that Ginger Peach tea with orange blossom honey is something that is HIGHLY underrated.
Correcting a mistake.
By Silver Blue
You can tell I’m an amateur. I was photographing an event indoors in bad lighting on Wednesday night. Today, I went out shooting in broad daylight.
Ahem. I forgot to reset the ISO on my camera, ergo, I shot everything, in bright daylight, AT 6400 ISO. Now, if you don’t know what that does, allow me to demonstrate:
Severely overexposed. Basically useless. Thank the stars I was shooting in dual mode: RAW + JPG. Using RAW, I was able to recapture some of the detail and using a saturation on the sky, I was able to come up with this:
Not perfect my any stretch of the imagination. Fortunately, this church is local (New Mount Olive Church in Hampton), so I’ll be able to get by later this summer and take some CORRECT photos of it. Sigh.
Maybe I should have just stayed in bed this morning.
Silver Blue, signing out.
And so begins…
By Silver Blue
…the pattern of me taking Fridays off during the summer. Fridays will be designated as “Silver Blue’s Photography Days”. Yay!
After working exceedingly late last night, I’m exhausted tonight. Ergo….
A moment of Zen.
Candles are really good for bringing one back to centre.
[audio:https://www.eyesofsilverblue.com/sbw.mp3]Silver Blue, who really does need to slow down and come back to centre.
I spy with my little eye….
By Silver Blue
….my state bird, the one I’m closest affiliated with, the Cardinal.
He was sitting up in the birch tree at the Botanical Gardens, attempting to play coy. 🙂
Since I’m going to be working later than normal tonight, this is as much of a blog entry as my brain can create.
Silver Blue, who will see everyone soon!
Look, up in the sky!
By Silver Blue | 1 comment
1It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No….it’s Super Moon!
It…doesn’t look so super does it? Maybe some music?
By the light of the silvery moon…
And the sun’s turned off.
When the moon is high,
And the sun’s turned off.
[“That’s one small step for man,
one giant leap for mankind”]
Sous les nuages de la nuit (Under the clouds of the night,)
je marche vers la clairière. (I walk towards the clearing.)
D’un éclat argenté je la vois, (In a silver burst, I see her,)
la lune. (the moon.)
Elle porte les voiles de l’éternité, (She wears the veils of eternity,)
son auréole embrasse les étoiles, ma lune. (her halo embraces the stars, my moon.)
(Sarah Brightman, “La Lune”)
Come on, Moon. Don’t be shy.
May 5, 2012 brought the perigee of the Moon – the time when it is full, and at its closest orbit to the earth…a phenomenon known as the “Super Moon” – it looks larger and brighter than normal.
The super moon doesn’t always happen at the same time each year. The last one occurred in March, 2011.
So, since it was rainy and cloud covered on Saturday, I missed the super moon. 🙁 But… last night, the night after, the clouds broke for 8 minutes between 10:23 and 10:31. Sure, the moon was no longer Full, but Waning Gibbous. It didn’t matter. I wanted to try for the photo I’d been dreaming of. Doing my best, with a 600-1300mm lens, I snapped and snapped, and PRAYED I had the manual focus set right.
Each photo came in clearer… until…
MY MOON!!!!! My SUPER MOON!!!!! I had my shot! Moments later, clouds covered the moon; however, my photo had been achieved. I was able to head back indoors, put the tripod and telephoto lens away, and go to bed, knowing that one more thing on my bucket list had been crossed off.
[audio:https://www.eyesofsilverblue.com/sb-ll.mp3]Silver Blue, who remembers on April 9, when I first took an intense interest in photographing the moon…and how far I’ve come in such a short time.
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