We helped Bay move into his new place in Houston today. He’ll be living off-campus, which we think will be safer than living in the residential college. His roomies are all architecture students as well, so they will be living in the same small circle. Also, there are only about 25 total sophomores in the Architecture program so it will not be difficult to social-distance. I like the precautions that Rice is taking for the Fall semester and fingers are crossed that everyone will remain safe. What a time we’re living in.
Today’s photo is of a cool pine tree outside of Bay’s new place. It looks like a Japanese painting!
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/250 sec, ISO2500 “Sunset Panorama” Cedar Park, 2020
This evening, we were relaxing as usual when Bay said that the sky was really orange. I took a peek out the window and decided that I needed to get a photo, so I grabbed my camera, hopped on my bike, and sped over to the wide-open space that offers a good view of the sunset.
To my surprise, there were about 10 people there, all watching the sunset. One lady even had her camp chair set up so she could watch in comfort. Since I had never seen people stop to actually watch the sunset at that location, I wondered if there was some other special event that was about to happen, such as a space station flyover. I think it was just a beautiful sunset that drew everyone out of their homes, though, but of course that’s plenty of reason! And Bay was right, the sky was glowing orange! 😊
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/70 sec, ISO3200 “Gyoza and Salad” Cedar Park, 2020
Tonight we had gyoza (from frozen) and three kinds of salad. It’s funny to call them salads, though. They are more like side dishes. I’m not even sure what qualities a side dish needs to be considered a “salad”. I guess I could look it up, but that’s one of those things where I find it more fun not to know the answer to.
Anyways, the side dish salads were gobo & carrot, pickled carrot, and a broccoli & egg. I felt like these were the main courses, and the gyoza was the side dish! They were delicious, all with a unique flavor.
Photo info: motorola moto g(6), 3.95mm, f/1.8, 1/220 sec, ISO100 “Lawn Sign” Cedar Park, 2020
While I was out running, I was thinking of the different modes of travel and how you see different things with each.
For instance, in a car, your vision is framed by the glass viewport, and are very disconnected from where you are at (especially if you are listening to music).
On a motorcycle, the glass viewport is essentially removed, the music is gone (unless you use earbuds), and now you are exposed to smells and temperature, the noise of the engine, and also the vibrations and leaning angles.
On a bicycle, you add the audio of the environment you are in, but more importantly, traveling at the slow speed, you can look in all directions and observe things more closely without fear of crashing. And stopping quickly to take a photo is now an option.
Lastly, walking/running allows a extra bit of mobility in that it is easy to stop instantly, or hop on the sidewalk. On a bike, you may have to turn around and backtrack a few yards, or dismount to get a better viewing angle. This is actually significant to me. For instance, I’ve seen the sign in the photo above while riding my bike, and thought that I wanted to take a photo, but then I am already past it and would have to turn around. Add to that my laziness, and I pass on it. But while running, I will just stop for a few seconds, snap a photo with my phone, and then be on my way.
But even not taking photos, while biking or running, it’s fun to wave at other people, stop and watch the birds when you hear them chirping, or admire a bunch of wildflowers. I guess this is the appeal of the “slow life”. 🙂
Speaking of the photo, I am encouraged by the sign in front of the house. I’ve seen several other signs, some homemade, which have similar messages of support. It’s wonderful.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO1000 “Webinar” Cedar Park, 2020
Normally I try to take my work breaks away from the computer/office, but there was an birding webinar happening at noon, so I decided to just cut down my work to 10% and give 90% of my attention to the webinar. Just kidding. If it were only that easy! What actually happened is that I worked when the webinar wasn’t as interesting, and then switched over when it got better.
All-in-all, it was a nice birding webinar, with a several nuggets of good and interesting information. For instance, when using binoculars, first look at the bird and then without moving your gaze, bring the binoculars up to your eyes. The idea being that you are just putting the binoculars between your eyes and the bird, rather that looking into the binoculars. It’s a subtle difference, but very helpful! And that bit of info took all of 10 seconds of explanation. Amazing!
I hope you had a nice day. 😊
Like this:
LikeLoading...
My camera & photos
I use a Fujifilm X-series camera for most of the photos on this site and my Instagram. Why not pick one up for yourself?
