Well, once again an entire month has passed and I haven't written anything about anything and yet I have a wealth of material to write all sorts of pieces. It's a good thing P.J. puts out his monthly challenge, otherwise I wouldn't be posting anything here.
The month of June has closed and last month's challenge was vehicles. In reality, I wasn't sure if I'd see 5 different kinds of vehicles over the course of the month, but I figured I'd give this a go. Many times, I'll not even think about the theme and then when it comes time to put the post together, the photos just jump out at me. That's pretty much what happened this month. Dictionary.com identifies the word vehicle as
"any means in or by which someone travels or something is carried or conveyed; a means of conveyance or transport: a motor vehicle; space vehicles."
I decided to take this literally, which means you're going to see some traditional kinds of vehicles and some non-traditional vehicles as well. So, without further ado, here's my contribution to the theme of vehicle.
1. Train show
Nearing the end of the school year, I was approached by one of my students who gave me some tickets to a model train show which was held at the Ontario Convention Center, just south of our school. Model train owners take their vehicles very seriously as they strive to make realistic layouts in which to run their trains around. This engine was being run on a modular layout, which means each module had to conform to certain standards so they would all connect together to form one large layout.
2. In flight
I will be the first one to admit, that I just got plain lucky on this shot. There are times when I want to believe that I'm a great photographer, but I know my craft and skill pale in comparison to many other photographers I've seen on Flicker and elsewhere. The wings of the bee are the vehicle in this shot and I've been hoping ever since I took this shot several years ago, to replicate it. I have had varying degrees of success over the years and I finally was able to get this bee hovering near the flowers.
The trick is your depth of field and a fast shutter speed. You need a fairly large depth of field to make sure everything stays in focus and you also need a fast shutter speed to slow down the beating of the bee's wings. I felt, with this shot, that focus was more important and so the wings are just a blur, but I got the bee hovering near the flowers, so I'll count that as a victory.
3. 30s era Packard
I love old cars. If I had an unlimited supply of funds, I think I'd own several different cars from various time periods. But I'd own them so I could drive them around. Nothing's more depressing, I think, than to know that people own classic cars like this and then they just keep them housed in warehouses or in their garages for only themselves or a few select friends to enjoy.
I think half the enjoyment of vehicles like this is the stares you can get as you drive around town in a car like this. I know I'm very guilty of doing that exact same thing. I've pulled out my camera from time to time to take photos and I've had people actually slow down so I could get a good shot of their car.
A couple of years ago, when my son and I were camping in Zion National Park, there was a group of car aficionados who belonged to a Franklin car club. They would drive their cars around to promote the club and to enjoy their cars and for others to enjoy them as well. That particular year, they were doing a circle tour of southern Utah and northern Arizona.
I spotted this 30s era Packard in the parking lot at out local community center when I went to vote in early June. I didn't have my camera with me when I went to vote, so I voted, went home, then came back and it was fortunately still there.
4. Abandoned truck
In early June, I helped a friend with his trek on the John Muir Trail. I'm not in shape to hike 211 miles in 14 days, but I was willing to help him shuttle his truck up to the exit point for the hike and then take him around to the starting point in Yosemite National Park.
After we dropped off his truck at Whitney Portal which is at the base of Mt. Whitney, we then worked our way up the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada, camping near Mammoth Lakes, CA and Lee Vining, before camping the last night in Tuolumne Meadows, in Yosemite.
One of the days was devoted to geocaching and sightseeing. One of the places I'd never been before was Bodie, CA, which is the official historic ghost town of California. It's located out in the middle of nowhere off of Highway 395, close to the California/Nevada state line. The ghost town is kept in "arrested decay" meaning they don't let things get too bad that they collapse.
As I look at this shot, you can't help but wonder what kinds of stories this old truck could tell. It's not conveying anything today, cargo-wise, but it probably helped someone out in the town of Bodie many years ago.
5. Friendship
The vehicle for this shot is the Internet. This is my friend Steve on the left and that grizzled old fart on the right is me. Steve and I met in the fall of 1984 when I started teaching at Cucamonga Middle School, so we've now known each other for 30 years.
About 14 years ago, Steve left the school and moved to Visalia, California to pursue teaching at the community college level. Had this happened 100 years ago, the friendship would have probably ended. Postal service might have conveyed some letters back and forth, but we probably would never have seen each other again.
Because of instant communication now available to us, friendships like this can continue on. Through my travels around the state, mostly while camping, I've been through or near Visalia enough times that we've been able to see each other several times. I can count four times for sure: once when my son and I were camping in Sequoia National Park, once when I was taking my daughter up to school in Stockton, CA, once when my wife and I were coming home from Stockton after visiting my daughter and this weekend after I finished helping my son move into his new place in Merced, California.
Steve and I have maintained our friendship via email, and will continue to do so in the future. I spent an hour and a half with him and his lovely wife Joan Monday afternoon having lunch while we caught up on what all of our kids were doing. It might have been longer, except that Steve had a class to teach at his school, but I'm sure there will be other opportunities for us to get together again in the future.
And that's my addition to P.J.'s photo blogging theme of vehicles this month. Please stop by his blog page and see how others interpreted the theme vehicles.
I have been challenged by my blogger friend P.J. to a post of randomness. 11 random thoughts about me, 11 questions from P.J. Then I'm supposed to challenge 11 other bloggers to do the same thing. That's the tough part, which won't get done, and you'll see why in the randomness below. I hope not to repeat any randomness that P.J. might have already stated, but that's the randomness I guess.
So here goes.
1. There are 58 National Parks in the United States. I have been to 24 of them. I will not list them all here as that would be tedious. At one time I had a goal of seeing them all. Whether that will happen all depends now upon how healthy I can stay over the next 20 to 30 years.
2. I think most people who read this blog don't realize that I am happily married. I post a lot of photos of my kids, but very few of my wife. I've been married for 26 years and they have been the most fulfilling years of my life. I would not be the person I am with her. Therefore, every photo in this blog will feature her.
3. I have had two concussions that I know of, but it could be more. Perhaps the dain bramage associated with concussions has knocked that out of my memory. First one was when I was 8 or so and I got run over by a neighbor while we were playing kickball in the street. I was knocked unconscious and lay there for a long time. I have no recollection of this incident outside of what my parents have told me about it. The second time was between 8th and 9th grade in a bicycle incident. Not saying I wouldn't have gotten a concussion had I been wearing a helmet, but I wish they had been mandatory back then, especially with all the evidence coming out recently over head injuries in sports.
4. I have broken my right pinkie finger twice and my left arm once, all between February 1972 and July 1972. Let's just say that the last part of my 8th grade year, I was always splinted up in some way. I broke and dislocated my pinkie playing basketball. Three days after the doctor took the splint off of my finger, I bumped into a friend of mine and broke the finger again in a different place. That splint lasted until the end of the school year. My left arm was broken in the above mentioned bicycle accident. As an aside, I am still very good friends with the girl who I bumped into when I rebroke my finger. She doesn't know about the incident, unless she figures it out by reading this. Also, when I hold my palm up on my right hand, my right pinkie doesn't meet with the other fingers. These are the only bones I've ever broken.
5. I have cool looking eyes. They are bluish gray with gold flecks in them. Looking at some photos of my youngest son, he has similar eyes.
6. I do not read very many blogs. In fact, I don't think I could tag 11 other bloggers to get them to repeat the process, so I won't be doing that part.
7. I used to do counted cross stitch. I entered several of them in the Los Angeles County Fair and one year, my design took home a first place ribbon. Our home is decorated with many of my designs, most from patterns that I used to buy. When people visit and see them for the first time, they always compliment my wife over her stitchery and she always has to refer them back to me. I don't do this anymore because it aggravates my carpal tunnel syndrome. My hands go to sleep in minutes after starting to stitch.
8. There has been a teacher in my family since 1896. I consider myself a fourth generation teacher. My dad was a teacher as were both of his parents. I have a newspaper clipping from 1896 that shows my great aunt as the teacher in a one room school house. There is a little doe-eyed kindergartener sitting in the front row - my grandmother. She was being taught by her oldest sister, who was basically a full generation older than she was. My daughter has continued on the tradition.
9. If I wanted to recreate my proposal to my wife, I couldn't. I proposed to her as we floated over Fantasyland in Disneyland on the skyway. That ride doesn't exist anymore. Why Fantasyland? It was too noisy on the Tomorrowland side, so I waited until we rode through the Matterhorn into Fantasyland where it was a little quieter and then popped the question.
10. My favorite painter is Pablo Picasso and my favorite photographer is Ansel Adams. I could look at paintings by Picasso or photographs by Adams for hours on end. When we go to the Los Angeles County of Art, I always head to the Picasso area first. After Adams died, I went to a showing of 100 of his photographs. He is a fine landscape photographer, but I don't think he could do portraits very well. In my opinion, they lacked something that the rest of his photographs had.
11. My favorite singer when I was in high school was John Denver. I saw him in concert twice, once at the Universal Amphitheater and once at the Inglewood Forum. The concert at the Forum was in the round and he was on a revolving stage, so he faced the entire audience at one time or another. He put on a very good show both times.
Well, those are my random thoughts about me. P.J. also posted 11 questions that I'm supposed to answer too, so here those are.
1. What is your dream vacation spot and why?
One of the national parks I have not visited is Arches National Park in Utah. I would like to go there, spend an entire day sitting near Delicate Arch and watch the light play over it, all the while taking photos. I guess, in the long run, any place I haven't been to yet would be a dream vacation for me. I love to travel and going somewhere new would be incredibly fun for me.
2. Where did you come up with the name of your blog?
At the time, I was doing my 365 project, taking at least one photo every single day. So this is another part of it - A Photo a Day.
3. How do you define blogging success?
I think success is dependent on the blogger. What some people would consider success, others would consider failure. As long as I continue to write here, I consider that a success however.
4. What is your favorite type of "going out" entertainment?
Getting outdoors and hiking with someone, or geocaching with a friend is what I enjoy the most.
5. How many states have I lived in?
I was born in Indiana, lived there until I was 3 and a half, then my parents moved us out to California where I've lived ever since. Interestingly, it wasn't until I was in my 20s before I stopped thinking about Indiana as "back home."
6. What is my favorite holiday and why?
This may sound selfish, but I like President's day. It happens right around my birthday which usually means I get a three day weekend out of the deal. I kind of like that.
7. What your favorite number and why?
13 My favorite football team is the Miami Dolphins and my favorite football player is Dan Marino who wore 13 during his career. I also like the fact that most people view 13 as unlucky. That makes it good for me.
8. What would be your dream vehicle to own?
Pretty much anything from the 1950s would be really cool to own.
9. What is your favorite hobby?
Geocaching. Some would say it's an obsession of mine, but I enjoy participating in the silly game. It keeps me busy and out of trouble for the most part.
10. How do you try and keep your blog fresh?
My first blog was entitled Electronic Breadcrumbs and it was solely about geocaching. After awhile, you can only talk about geocaching for so long before you end up repeating yourself. I found I was doing that and started to write less and less on that blog. That's one of the reasons I started to write this blog. It's about anything I want it to be, which keeps it fresh. I don't think I'd write a specialty blog again.
11. Where do you do your best thinking?
When I'm out mowing the lawn. Mowing the lawn is pretty mind numbing, so I think about all sorts of things while I'm mowing the lawn. It keeps me occupied and seems to shorten the process of getting the grass cut.
Well, there you have it. That's probably way more than you ever needed to know about me. I'd love to hear your feedback, preferably here as opposed to on Facebook, but I'll take it either place.
It probably isn't very significant, but last Friday, my Toyota Corolla rolled over 100,000 miles on the odometer. I know lot of people that have cars with way more mileage than that, but it's actually the first car I've ever owned that had more mileage than the zip code I had growing up (92704 - Santa Ana, CA).
Our van is quickly reaching that same number as I noticed it was about to roll over to 89,000 miles. It's a year younger than our Corolla, but either way, we really don't put much mileage on our cars. It took us almost exactly 11 years to go over 100K on the Corolla. It will probably take a little bit less than that for the van, since we use that for major trips.
So, what's the most mileage you've gotten out of an automobile? I'd love to hear your stories.
It's a gorgeous day outside and what am I doing? Sitting inside suffering from allergies. We've had a high pressure system that' has formed over the desert and it pumps wind through the mountain passes. This also kicks up a lot of dust, pollen, and just general crap that is not good on my sinuses at all.
I was supposed to go geocaching today, but at 1:00 this morning, I felt like I'd been run over by a truck, so I sent an email to my friend telling him I wouldn't be coming out his way. It's just as well, as he said that it's been blowing a lot out his way, so it would have been more suffering anyway.
Earlier in the week, I got a flat tire. That's the second flat tire I've gotten in five months. I haven't had one in years, so I guess I was due. I noticed it Thursday morning, but wasn't able to do anything about it until Friday afternoon as I had parent conferences on Thursday and was tied up until 7 o'clock in the evening.
So Friday afternoon ended up being a learning experience. The youngest learned how to change a tire. I showed him what to do and he helped me with all of the things that needed to be done including loading the flat into the trunk so I could take it to our mechanic.
Our mechanic didn't take too long to repair it, however I got a nice photo experience because they had two classic cars sitting in their parking lot, a Ford and the Oldsmobile pictured. I think this is a 56 or 57. They just don't build cars like this anymore.
