Pixture of the Month 1216

From our post Christmas trip to visit Wendy and family.

A pixture taken from Coopers Green.... the destination for each mornings walk.

It is beautiful here.... but you have to be ok with wet and grey to call it hat.

Pixture of the Month 1116

So here it is, the maiden pixture and I am sure the 1st of many more.... from the my new iPhone 7+.

Not just a new phone/camera but a new app too, which so far, I really like.... ProCamera.

The native camera program takes great pixtures.... perhaps even better than the app.

But to get RAW, which is the way I prefer to shoot now.... I need an app.

This is not the most touted one.... Manual and Obscura got much more buzz from the experts. But for me this one works much better and even better than Camera+ which I had been using.

Shot on a walk around Margaret's Pond at almost the "golden hour".

Pixture of the Month 1016

It's fall.

You can feel it in the air.

You can hear it underfoot.

You can see it in the quality of the light.... and in the flowers and trees.

Pixture of the Month 0916

Yesterday we went on photo safari to Ft Collins.

Lydia, has for some time now, wanted to do a thing where we and the grandkids, armed only with the cameras in our cellphones.... pick a place and go hunting for pixtures.

Yesterday she, I and Jaedyn did just that.... heading to the pioneer village (Old Town) in Ft. Collins.

It was a lot of fun.... and an outing that I bet gets repeated in the future.

From what we shot, we each picked our favorite and submitted it to the judges.... Jason and Kristin at dinner that evening.

Her is my entry.... it did not win.

Lydia had the right subject (Jaedyn), an artful idea, for the pose and a great story about stepping in dog poop to get the shot.

Pixture of the Month 0816

From the restaurant at El Cid La Cieba.

The canvas onto which Mother Nature painted different colors for each sunset.

Pixture of the Month 0716.1

This gnarly old dude stands on the cliffs.... above Carlsbad Beach, north of San Diego.

Who knows how long he has stood here.... keeping watch over the beach below.

But I bet it has been a very, very long time.

My current favorite place to get fish and chips is in Carlsbad.... Harbor Fish Cafe.

I drive up there every time I spend a weekend in the San Diego area.

Gnarly Dude is a mile or so, south of the restaurant.... but saying hi to him makes a great excuse for a long along the beach path, before and after lunch.

Pixture of the Month_0716

This was the week that JJ stayed with us.... to go to computer coding camp.

It was part of the deal that he and I made early this year.... when he was disenchanted with school.

Do, well, the job that all kids have.... go to school.

And I would help him find things to do with the rest of his life that were of interest to him and fun.

Computers punch both those tickets for him.... and that is how he ended up at coding camp.

We also found some time one afternoon to go to.... the robotics exhibit at the DMNS.

Here is JJ.... driving a robot in one of the many interactive displays.

Pixture of the Month 0616

This might well be the pixture that we look back upon.... years from now.

The one that we use to prove that.... we always knew Tristan would grow up to be an aviator.

An adventure flight with Specialty Flight Training.... is the gift that Lydia got him for his 11th birthday.

Well that and the helmet and the goggles.

Pixture of the Month 0516

It's a sad thing when my first "photo safari" of the year.... is in May.

But a late safari.... is better than no safari at all.

Lots of construction happening at the Zoo right now.

And, some building going on within the exhibits too.... says this guy.

Pixture of the Month 0416

I know.... there are clearly a disproportionate number of sunset pixtures in my posts.

But you have to love the simple beauty of them.

Just showing up in the right place and the right time.... guarantees a good pixture easily made.

And.... I really like this time of the day.

Pixture of the Month 0316

We celebrated Danielle's 21st in Las Vegas this month.

There were many highlights.... not the least of which were the "epic walks" that Lydia and I took each day.

In fact on this day.... we took two.

We had seen the dancing waters in front of the Bellagio by day.... and wanted the night version too.

Pixture of the Month 0216.1

The haunting tree skeletons.... of Botany Bay SC.

Pixture of the Month 0216

JJ and I made a trip to San Diego and visited the USS Midway.... for his birthday.

I have to say that I found it interesting beyond my expectations.

Mostly  because it is about life at sea.... not the war and patriotism I had anticipated.

I am not normally a "dogs of war" kind of guy.... but this gun mounted on a Huey gunship did catch my attention.

A fine piece of machinery with the kind of detail that I always find photographically interesting.

Pixture of the Month 0116

Every birthday for every kid.... Grammy creates a treasure hunt.

The number of clues in the hunt is equal to the number of years in the birthday.

I like to think that my birthday is a big deal.... because on Gramps birthday, kids get gifts.

But the truth is theirs is still a bigger deal.... and Grammy's hunts have a lot to do with that.

JJ has the 1st birthday each year.... here he is at the end of his hunt.

As you can see.... he is pleased.

Pixture of the Week 2015.48

It was an "almost".

The intention was to take a pixture a week for all of 2015.

In the end, I came up 4 short.... but had a great time doing it.

So.... I'm going to do it again for 2016.

The last submission for 2015 is out of the same vase of flowers as last weeks.... and that's just cool when they last this long.