Warrior River Webs

I've been a meteorologist for over 40 years, but I don't recall any weather folklore about spiders or webs.  But I have noticed around my house and on this river trip with Dr. Tim Coleman the large and prolific number of spider webs.  There is one between my trees and my neighbors house that must be ten feet across.  I cannot remember a year with so many of them.  It will be interesting to see how the winter shapes up.

This photo is actually two webs, one on each side of the dock handrail.  The early morning fog which was quite dense for a short period of time has condensed on the webs leaving fine water droplets that sparkled in the early morning sun.

-Brian-

Boat Dock in Fog

After the beautiful sunset on the Warrior River on Thursday, October 2, which you can see in the post below, we awoke to a foggy morning with visibility close to zero.  As I emerged from the river house owned by Tim Coleman, I saw the boat dock somewhat obscured in fog and thought it made a nice picture.  A boat could have been 100 feet away and I would never have seen it.

There is something mighty comforting on a warm Fall morning when you are shrouded in fog listening to nature come awake.

-Brian-

Warrior River October Sunset

On a recent trip with Dr. Tim Coleman on the Warrior River west of Birmingham, AL, we took a quick spin on the river to chase a tug - and some fish.  We caught the tug - see the post below - but no fish, not even a nibble.

But we did catch a beautiful sunset.  This is looking generally west-northwest along the Warrior River not far from the Tim's river house.

-Brian-

Warrior River Tugboat

I recently had an opportunity to go with a friend, Dr. Tim Coleman, to his river house on the Warrior River.  It was my third trip, and we often try to go in the afternoon, stay overnight, and come home the following afternoon.  It makes for a more interesting trip than just driving down for a quick trip on the river.

To get to the house, however, you have to travel by boat.  It is a short distance, so we usually load up the small boat kept at a boathouse near the road, motor over to the house, unload our provisions, and then sit around or take a short boat trip.  We sat around on this trip, but decided as the the sun was setting to see if the fish were nibbling.  They weren't, so when a tugboat went by, we took off on a tug chase and caught it about a mile from the house.  I had no tripod, so I managed to get this handheld shot at about a tenth of a second.

I love the deepness of the colors and the reflection in the water.  The photo has not been re-touched in anyway.

-Brian-

Mushroom Condo

This photo was made at Cheaha State Park on Mt. Cheaha in early August.  When I saw this cluster of mushrooms, it immediately brought to mind a cluster of high rise condos, hence the title of this post and picture.  It was actually located on the campsite next to the one where we were located.  And I got creative with the camera putting it nearly on the ground, letting it auto-focus, and snapping the picture.  I then looked to see how it was composed and this one came out well.

The mushrooms were growing out of an old stump which is very hard to see since there were so many mushrooms.  Unfortunately the cluster did not last long and was completely wilted just a day or so later.

-Brian-

Nature Unleashed

One of the main objectives of my recent Chicago trip besides seeing my daughter was to see the "Nature Unleashed" exhibit at the Field Museum.  My daughter is a photo-holic and just loves using my Nikon D70S, so I loaned her the camera to take a few shots to prove that I was there.  Of course, in today's digital age, I could do this with Photoshop, but I didn't.

"Nature Unleashed" is a tremendous exhibit developed by the Field Museum with a focus on natural disasters and educating people about them.  They tackle topics like tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, and tornadoes.  Naturally my interest was with the hurricane and tornado portions of the exhibit.  And there was one aspect to the tornado portion of the exhibit that blew me away - sorry for the pun.  Professional storm chaser Tim Samaras designed a cone with seven cameras pointing in all directions that he was able to place in front of an oncoming tornado.  So you step into the middle of seven screens and watch the tornado come right at you.  The center of the tornado passed within feet of the cone, so it is about as close as you can get to going through a tornado.  We were so taken with it we went through the video presentation about nine times - it only lasts about 3 minutes.  Unfortunately I cannot show you any photos of the exhibit since they asked that no photos be taken inside the exhibit.

The exhibit is supposed to go on the road in 2009 and might come to Atlanta, but that has not been firmed up.

-Brian-

Chicago Air Show

During my visit to Chicago over the weekend of August 16 and 17, a big event going on was the Chicago Air and Water Show.  The Air Show featured the Navy's Blue Angels from Pensacola, FL.  I did not actually attend the show, that is, I did not go to the Air Show viewing area along Lakeshore Drive.  But an Air Show like this one takes up lots of sky, so as my daughter and I were doing our site seeing, we could often catch glimpses of the various planes.

Just after getting off the 'L' at the Sheridan stop, we heard the planes, so we stayed on the elevated platform and watched them come overhead.  The main action, naturally, was along the lake front, but it was pretty exciting for us to see them come right over us as they made their turns on the northern side of the Air Show main stage area.

I captured several shots of them flying in formation, and yes, I enhanced this one just a tad to bring out the colors in the airplanes.  If you want to get some great information on the Blue Angels, their web site is www.blueangels.navy.mil.  It was such a treat to get to seem them and without braving the huge crowds along Lakeshore.

-Brian-

Chicago Skyline

My good friend, Leigh Bratina, has made a very nice post about me and my photo blog on her Blog site, so I'm going to try to get back into the groove posting some of my amateur photos.  I saw Leigh during the municipal election yesterday, and her posting has kicked me into action.

The shot above was taken on my recent visit to Chicago to visit my daughter, Rebecca.  When I visit, we usually do the touristy thing and really cram a lot of visiting and activities into a few days.  More about the visit to the Field Museum in another post.

The shot above is from the Sears Tower in Chicago which at the time of my visit was still the tallest building in Chicago.  That will probably be changing in the near future with a new taller building under construction.  The observation floor is 103 which is about 1300 feet or so above the streets of Chicago.  The view is commanding and the visibility was great the afternoon we were there.  In this photo you are looking over the city and out over Lake Michigan.

So let's hope I can stick to posting a few more pictures.

-Brian-

Pinhoti Trail

Cheaha State Park is one of my favorite spots with all of its natural beauty.  Last weekend, March 16, 2008, there was a dedication of the connection of the Pinhoti Trail to the Appalachian Trail.  Hikers can make the trek all the way from Alabama to northern Maine.  I took this picture as I was leaving the ceremony marking the connection with a big marker which shows the blaze and the trail marker if you ever want to hike the Pinhoti Trail.

It always amazes me to see how things change.  I had not been to Cheaha during the winter season since the weather is not nearly as good, but it was fun to see things without the leaves.  Each season has its own beauty and the lack of leaves meant that I could see landmarks that are not normally visible during other times of the year.

The Alabama Hiking Trail Society conference was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed being with the group talking about hiking and weather.  I hope to go again.

-Brian-

Buck Creek Festival

This is a picture I took at the last Buck Creek Festival in 2007 looking over the entrance to the event.  The event for 2008 is a little over two months away and will be held May 9th and 10th.  It is a completely free event that the Buck Creek Festival Committee works on all year long.  Behind the trees in the background is the Helena Amphitheater where the music plays.  And we have a great diversity of music for everyone.

We are not a big festival, but it sure is nice to come to the park and stroll around, listen to some great music, chat with friends and neighbors, and just have a generally swell time.

Hope to see you there.

-Brian-