Tag Archives: Life

Costa Rican Zipline

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Dave on a Costa Rican Zipline

Dave on a Costa Rican Zipline

The photo with this post is courtesy of Dave. It’s from the vacation trip to Costa Rica that he took this last month. Dave posted this and a couple hundred more pictures from this trip to Facebook this week. Most of the photographs show a kaleidoscope of tropical fauna. There are a plethora of birds, bugs, reptiles and more, including one rather creepy looking crab found poolside.

Earlier this year, Dave took his income taxes to H & R Block and got a healthy return. This new-found wealth combined with the excuse that one of his old Rochester roommates had graduated from medical school was all that was needed to book the trip. The package that Dave bought was one of those that includes everything, seven nights, each in a different locale, covering both coasts and the mountains in between. The one thing that Dave had told me that wasn’t included in the package was a zipline tour through the tropical rainforest canopy. The tour company did not want to include it in the tour package, due to liability concerns. There had been accidental fatalities in the past. I just assumed that Dave wouldn’t be doing it, silly me.

Wormhole

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The Sparrow

The Sparrow

I came home for lunch one day this week and found this little guy on the front doorstep. He must have stunned himself, by flying into the storm door window. Anne was standing guard over him and had set up some food and water. The light from my camera’s range finder triggered his reaction. I think that he expected to be fed by me. Anne got a box and lid, scooped him up and then took him around back to be released back into the wild. I had to get back to work, but she emailed be the end of this story:

I found a nice shady spot at the edge of the ivy. I sort of tipped the bird out, and it immediately hopped on top of the ivy, then it hopped onto a day lily leaf. Then it flew up towards my shoulder, surprising me. But instead of landing on my shoulder, it kept on flying and flew over the peak of the garage. I couldn’t see where it landed, but it clearly had more chops at flying then it was showing on the porch. Glad the Alpha Predator is gone.

The Alpha Predator was a neighbor’s cat. The owner himself dubbed him that. He was the death of more than a few birds in our yard and I took every opportunity to scare it back home, across the street. That neighbor moved on and took the cat with him, where it is surely terrorizing its new neighborhood. I doubt this baby sparrow would have survived if that cat was still around.

Ghosts of Mister Bill

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Ghosts of Mister Bill

Ghosts of Mister Bill

This painting with light exercise was a joint collaboration, between me and Mister Bill last summer at the cabin. That’s Bill in the photo. It’s after dark on the beach. Bill has a too bright LED flashlight that he flicked on for a second or less. He would stop, illuminate himself, walk a few steps and repeat. Like most of my Canon 5D photography experiments last summer, this one wasn’t as successful as I had hoped it would be. The combination of long exposure photography and the motion of the subject led to a blurry photo. It makes Bill appear like an apparition. The summer season is rolling around again and with it another trip to the cabin and with that more chances to play with photography.

Empire Flight

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Empire Flight

Empire Flight

Empire Flight, 2013 by Bernard Williams is a mixed media installation at Laumeier Sculpture Park. It is part of the exhibition, The River Between Us. According to the artist, “the work speaks to a multitude of adventures around the Mississippi River and the great risks undertaken by so many.” In Empire, Williams takes on the sweep of American history. The work symbolizes risk, adventure, technological development and the pursuit of power. With the addition of the corporate logo inspired graphic decals painted on the surface, the sculpture acts as a receptacle for complex visual references to history and culture around the Mississippi River, alluding to important dates, locations and people. Applied to this sculpture, the year 1927 is an important date, referring to Charles Lindbergh’s success in completing the first non-stop transatlantic flight in his plane the Spirit of St. Louis, arriving safely in Paris on May 21, 1927.