Monday, December 31, 2007

An Unusual Nativity

Read the nativity stories in Matthew and Luke and you'll see about the animals who were present at the manger during the birth of Jesus. Sheep, yes; cattle, presumably; goats, maybe.

But dinosaurs? And a pack of Godzillas?

Our neighbor up the street seems to think so, and has an unusual twist on the manger scene that he sets up in his front yard each year. This year, I had to get some pictures before he took it down.

At least he seems to have the plant eaters positioned closest to the child. This is one of the funnier sights each Christmas in our neighborhood.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

A Mountain Drive

I took A. and the girls to visit my sister in Blacksburg today, and after a wonderful afternoon I decided to take a really rural road back to the in-laws' house in Roanoke (instead of relying on the interstate). This was one of the views that we saw as we were driving along -- it's incredible to realize, even after having been raised in this part of the state, that places like this still exist. Living in the D.C. area, you don't get to see this too often!

Friday, November 23, 2007

A Son of the South

My father-in-law and I took a drive to Lexington, Virginia today and among other stops visited the gravesite of one of Virginia's favorite sons, Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. Lexington is a beautiful, well-preserved southern town and has countless places to take some beautiful photographs. My time was limited, but I wanted to include these two.


Friday, November 16, 2007

New York City - Part 4

A memorial to the firefighters of Engine Company 10 who lost their lives on 9-11, located at the station -- right across the street from Ground Zero.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

New York City - Part 2

Trinity Church, Wall Street.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

The Spot Where the World Changed

A. and I just spent several days in New York on business, and while there I took several pictures that will make up a series for this week. Here is the first one; I don't think any description is necessary.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Yesteryear

The Old State Theater, Culpeper, Virginia.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Rooftops

A. and I took the girls on a Halloween river cruise on the Potomac today, and for a few minutes I was able to get out on the top deck and take some photographs. This is one of my favorites -- a series of rooflines and steeples in Old Town Alexandria. For some reason, the borders are crooked after I adjusted the angle of the photo on the computer.....

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Back for More

Now that I've started carrying my camera in my briefcase everywhere I go, I decided to give the photo blog another shot (pardon the pun). Today was a great way to get started -- this was the view in front of my house this morning as the sun was coming up.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Hiatus

Regretfully, I'm going to have to end this photo blog, at least temporarily. With the demands of an ongoing job hunt and of two young daughters, along with everything else in which my wife and I are involved, I just haven't had the time or motivation to try and take photographs every day and keep up with this blog as a true 365 project. At the rate I'm currently going, it will take 10 years to accumulate 365 photos.

I may pick this up again at some point down the road, but for the time being my energies will be directed at my real life and at my main blog.

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Some severe thunderstorms that moved through the area this afternoon and early-evening prevented us from getting out to the city's fireworks display, but it didn't keep us from watching the show put on by our neighbors. It's the first time I've used the fireworks setting, and since there weren't many sky displays I had to practice on the "lawn lights."

Regardless of the size of the display, though, MB was thrilled with what I think were the first fireworks she had seen live.

Sunday, July 1, 2007

More Rain, More Blooms

After a long spell of not much rain, we've gotten a bit more lately -- and in celebration, the hostas are blooming once again.

Saturday, June 30, 2007

Double-Dribbling the Harvest Moon

The fact that I don't own a tripod for my camera -- and my strong inability to hold the camera steady -- lead to some very unusual shots. This is the harvest moon that had just come up over the horizon across the street from our house tonight; gives new meaning to the phrase "moon bounce."

Sunday, June 17, 2007

A Two Post Day

I thought the picture above really captures the spirit of our parish retreat at Shrine Mont: a circle of fellowship.

On our way home this afternoon, we stopped by a very old church (constructed in 1825) in Mount Jackson, Virginia. My wife pulled the car off the road so that I could get out and take some pictures, including this one of an amazing gravestone crafted in the late 19th century.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Candlelight Prayer Service

This evening, nearly everyone who was attending our parish retreat went to a candlelight Compline service at the outdoor chapel of Shrine Mont. While everyone was being seated, I snapped this picture; initially, I thought I would be disappointed in how it turned out, but now that I've seen it on the computer I don't think I would change a thing.

Friday, June 15, 2007

An Odd Color Photo

I was trying to capture some good shots of my wife and daughter dancing at the sock hop at our parish retreat tonight, and surprisingly came up with this one that I think is really cool. You see the double strand of the moving rope, and the doubled-up images of the folks dancing in the background.

Friday, June 8, 2007

A First-Time Convertible Ride

We were having some difficulties with the car we normally use to pick up our oldest at pre-school, so today she had the big thrill of riding in our Mustang convertible. Someone looks really happy in this picture!

Thursday, June 7, 2007

A Helping Hand

Today was the first day of cereal for our youngest, and big sister really wanted to help with this first feeding. Looks pretty intent about the whole thing, don't you think?

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Monday, May 14, 2007

Virginia Tech Vaults

The family visited Virginia Tech today with my youngest sister, but rather than post something about the memorials on campus (which I'll do in my other blog) I'll post an example of why I love the architecture. Another experiment with black-and-white.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Groovin' on a Sunday Afternoon

My in-laws' cat certainly had the right idea on how to spend this Sunday afternoon.

Sunday, May 6, 2007

A Trip to Northwest D.C.

I made a trip up to the Cathedral today to pick up some gifts for the godparents of our youngest child, and as always carried my camera with me. I'm still having some difficulty with interior shots of the nave and stained glass...

... but am having no trouble whatsoever with the exterior shots. It was an absolutely gorgeous day to visit.

Saturday, May 5, 2007

One of My Hobbies

One of my favorite hobbies is collecting signed books and author autographs, particularly from well-known writers. I've found that authors are often agreeable to honoring requests for signed books or bookplates, particularly if you send a polite, commendatory, and short letter to them. The two Updike signatures arrived in today's mail, the Irving in the past week. The Vonnegut and Styron, of course, were signed long before now. It's a very enjoyable hobby, and I look forward to passing my collection on to my girls one day.

Now if I could just get Salinger or Pynchon to write me back!!

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Through a Child's Eye(s)

I spent the better part of the afternoon taking pictures of MB and watching how she used her hands during the day: to play with little rocks, to find caterpillars, to look for ants on their little mounds, to look at flowers in the yard. And then I took this one, and the rest didn't seem quite so important anymore.....

Friday, April 27, 2007

Hostas

I think hostas are the prettiest when it's early in their annual life. And a touch of rain adds a nice bit to the imagery. We have two types growing in our yard; these two are among the many that got a nice shower overnight.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

A Day Out With the Family

A. and I had promised our oldest that we would take her to the zoo today, and so we enjoyed a nice visit of a few hours to what I think is one of the better sites in D.C. Took a lot of great pictures, although many of the animals MB wanted to see weren't out.

I love especially this picture above; the one on the right looks like he's contemplating either what to do next, or what to make of all of us.

And the big toothy grin from this fellow/gal (I'm not sure which).....

A Lot Can Change in 24 Hours

Monday, April 23, 2007

... and In With the New

Everything in our neighborhood is in full spring blossom, from the bushes in our front yard above to the cherry trees across the street at our neighbors' house below.

Out with the Old.....

This eyesore has been sitting across the street from us since we moved in -- it didn't look quite this bad, but add a bit of old, old siding and a few windows and you'll know EXACTLY how it looked. The new owners have finally decided to tear it down...

...with the chimney starting to be pulled away from the house above...

... and being captured on film a moment before it hits the ground. I've got to give the demolition crew credit; it only took them five or six tries before they figured out how to tie a knot at the end of the rope (attached to the tractor) which wouldn't snap off when they tugged at the chimney.

Now we'll have to see what the new owners put in place of this house!

Friday, April 20, 2007

Any Guesses?

I'll have to come up with a prize for whoever can figure out what this is. I didn't intend for this picture to come out this way, but it looks pretty cool and conjures up all sorts of images of fairies and magical creatures. Start your guessing!

Visitors

These two chums paid a visit to my backyard this afternoon, and seemed to be pretty bored with the whole thing -- even after I startled them.

I wonder if maybe there was some courtin' goin' on???