What I Miss About Band

Photo Information

Taken:	5 September 2008 17:41 Avery Ranch, Texas
Camera:	Canon PowerShot A550
Exposure:	ISO 200
	5.8mm, 0 EV
	f/2.6
	1/60

Backstory

This is what I miss most about the kids graduating from high school: band trips. Just look at all those faces: happy, confident, shy…Declan wanting everyone to look up his nostrils.

This is what irritates me when Republicans say we don’t need band or music programs in our public schools. This is a diverse group of kids from different ethnic and economic backgrounds (diversity) that learned to work together (team work) and work hard (work ethic) on their own time (dedication) for a long period of time (persistence) to accomplish a difficult goal. Seems to me that is exactly what we should expect our schools to teach if we want our economy to survive and thrive. I say we can’t afford not to teach these lessons.

In the four years I served as a bus parent, I learned to love each of these kids for who they are. Today they are all young adults. Most of them are in college learning how to run our world when we’re gone. They made me proud to know them then and continue to make me proud.

Really! It’s just allergies making my eyes so moist.

–12 October 2012

I Wanna Be Elected

Photo Information

Taken:	4 September 2008 10:59 Yorktown, Texas
Camera:	Canon PowerShot A550
Exposure:	ISO 80
	13.7mm, 0 EV
	f/10
	1/250

Backstory

This picture says a lot about life in Small Town, Texas: the election apathy (the flags are part of a gas station promotion), the percentage of trucks in front of the lumber yard, the lack of traffic….

I wonder if the producers of The Daily Show ever figured out that one of their own was running for county commissioner in DeWitt County.

–11 October 2012

Attitude Dancing

Photo Information

Taken:	2 August 2008 19:30 The Meadows at Brushy Creek
Camera:	Canon PowerShot A550
Exposure:	ISO 200
	5.8mm, 0 EV
	f/2.6
	1/60

Backstory

Dec sure has that rock ’n’ roll attitude. Except for the small detail of his left hand, he looks like he just picked up his brother’s starter mando and is wailing away.

But that’s OK. Attitude has always been a big part of rock music. After all, it carried Dec to the point where he’s now a much better guitarist and all-around musician than I ever had the patience (practice ethic) to become. Now if he could just land some gigs…

–10 October 2012

Madam Butterfly

Photo Information

Taken:	30 June 2008 13:06 The Meadows at Brushy Creek
Camera:	Canon PowerShot A550
Exposure:	ISO 80
	5.8mm, 0 EV
	f/2.6
	1/500

Backstory

I haven’t posted a picture of Suna in a long time. Coming across this one gave me the excuse. Isn’t she (and her hand knitted shawl) lovely?

–9 October 2012

Cicada Killer

Photo Information

Taken:	30 June 2008 13:08 in The Meadows at Brushy Creek, Texas
Camera:	Canon PowerShot A550
Exposure:	ISO 100
	23.2mm, 0 EV
	f/5.5
	1/160

Backstory

Suna and I originally though this beastie was a hornet and we were afraid to get close enough to it to get a good close-up with the trusty point-and-shoot Cannon. Turns out that it is a cicada killer wasp, which is somewhat aggressive but unlikely to sting large animals like humans. The males are unable to sting at all.

Cicada killers only come out when local cicadas are active. They live in the ground, like cicada, and have been known to decapitate the chirpier insects. It seems a lot of things find cicadas annoying.

From accounts on the Web, I’m guessing they lay their eggs in the cicada’s body.

Looking at this picture, I wish I had one of my more powerful cameras and lenses then. Since one person said cicada killers are active about every four years, I may have missed my opportunity for a reshoot, but I’ll keep my eyes open.

–4 October 2012

New Guinea Impatiens

Photo Information

Taken:	26 June 2008 12:07 The Meadows at Brushy Creek
Camera:	Canon PowerShot A550
Exposure:	ISO 80
	5.8mm, 0 EV
	f/2.6
	1/100

Backstory

OK. This isn’t a really great picture. I just wanted to talk about the subject matter.

I’ve always loved New Guinea impatiens. Their foliage is almost as pretty as their flower, and they stand up to Central Texas summer a little better than other varieties. Then there is the bonus (especially to the vendors) that they are not invasive since they do not reproduce here and must be repurchased every year. Must be lacking a crucial pollinator or something.

When I first expanded the bed in our front garden, they were one of the anchor annuals. You can see old barrier just behind the NGI. Today added soil and annual automatic leaf mulch has raised the soil level behind the stone wall and completely buried the steel barrier that never kept anything in or out of the area it supposedly defined. Because I added soil slowly, it did no damage to the other perennials, including the big oak tree, that also live in that part of the garden.

–8 October 2012

Bisons and Rust

Photo Information

Taken:	15 June 2008 11:14 Lake Limestone Texas
Camera:	Canon PowerShot A550
Exposure:	ISO 80
	11.8mm, 0 EV
	f/9
	1/160

Backstory

We were looking for “a place on the lake” and wandered up to Lake Limestone, which is near Groesbeck, Texas. We didn’t find what we were looking for, but we did find these bison.

Nothing says “Texas” like bison.<eyeroll/>

I love the way their hides have the same colors as the rusty fence posts, and the barbed wire almost disappears against them.

–3 October 2012