My World

I don't participate every month is P.J.'s Monthly photo blog, but this month's theme (Your World) made for a fairly easy set of photos. I know I really should attempt them every month, so I'll try to do better in the coming months. I've picked up my DSLR again since I've been in "shelter and place" and I have a lot of photos to choose from this month. I think I could probably come up with at least 10 different shots, just from my walks around the neighborhood over the past month, but here's my 5 that captures my world this month.

1. Weathervane

I'm a sucker for cool things like sundials and weathervanes. This particular weathervane is located on top of a house north of me, but in the same general neighborhood. Since I don't take the same route, I don't see this every day, but I noticed it early in the month and thought I really should take a photo of it, since it represents some interesting architecture, especially for Southern California. You don't see too many of these and I like that it gives off a New England kind of vibe. The only give away is the palm tree in the lower left hand corner of the shot. I could have edited that out, but that would have meant cropping some of the cupola out and I wanted that to be the main focus of the shot, and so the palm tree remains.

I remembered the next time I was out to take a photo of it, but the quality of the iPhone shot wasn't what I considered good enough, so I ended up throwing those shots away. I don't take the DSLR out every day, so the next time I walked around the neighborhood with the DSLR, I made sure to walk up that particular street. Because the weather had changed, we had some clouds in the sky which made for a more pleasing background to the shot.

2. Amusement Park

Twenty years ago, I was really into Roller Coaster Tycoon and particularly, Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 (RCT2). The game is one of many out on the market that allows you to play amusement park scenarios, while creating an amusement park, maintaining a budget, building roller coasters of various kinds and making sure your peeps are happy. The thing about Tycoon 2 that made it so good as you could also create buildings into your park and really make your park look like the real deal, with interesting architecture and themed areas.

There are other programs out on the market now, but there's also OpenRCT2 which emulates RCT2 perfectly as long as you have the original disks, however it also comes with enhancements that allow you to play in Sandbox mode. In other words, instead of playing scenarios, you can just create your own landscape and build your own park. Needless to say, I've been playing a lot of OpenRCT2 the last couple of months and this is a screen shot of a flying roller coaster (one where the peeps lay down and it makes it feel like they're flying) that I built in one of my sandbox mode games.

3. Family FaceTime

Our immediate family is spread out with some in the Bay Area of California and the rest of us down here in Southern California. Under normal circumstances, I probably would have visited my daughter when she had her birthday at the end of last month, but couldn't due to shelter in place, so we FaceTimed. That has grown into a weekly event so that everyone can touch bases with each other and enjoy each others' company. My daughter suggested that we have weekly themes. Last week, it was crazy hats, this week, it was Toga. It's amazing what a couple of actual olive branches from the tree in the back yard and a sheet will do to help you win the theme for the week. 

This image got posted on Facebook earlier this week and everyone has had a good laugh at my expense, but it was worth it. I got my wife to smile/laugh in the background of the photo as well, so it's all good.

4. Ornithology

I don't claim to be an expert on birds, but I do have an interest in them and with spring here, there are lots of birds out and about, probably more due to the lack of people out and about. If the theme for the month had been birds, I would have been able to have five different kinds of birds with ease. I have a book that was published by the National Geographic Society entitled Field Guide to the Birds of North America and it has been quite helpful in letting me identify most of the birds I've seen while out on walks around the neighborhood. This spring, I've seen California Towhees, Spotted Towhees, a Cooper's hawk, hummingbirds, scrub jays, two different kinds of sparrows, two different kinds of finches, and several Western Bluebirds, such as this one who posed ever so nicely on a branch in the park just north of my house. 

I'm pretty sure the Spotted Towhees and the Bluebirds are both nesting in some trees in the park. A friend of mine says that I've been lucky with the Spotted Towhees as they are usually heard and not seen, but I've been able to spot them on two different occasions. There are more than just a couple of bluebirds in the park. I've seen at least three different ones, which is why I'm fairly certain they're nesting somewhere in the park as well.

5. Earth Day

This year was the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day. I was in 6th grade at the time, so yeah, I know I'm old. Once again, under ordinary circumstances, I probably would have celebrated in some other way than sheltering in place, but there's not much I could do at this particular time. And so I take photos.

Besides birds, the insects are also out in force, particularly, the ladybugs. Insects and creepy crawlies give me different sorts of challenges, as unlike birds, you can usually get quite close to insects. I've been using a variety of lenses to take photos of ladybugs, honeybees, bumblebees, butterflies and other assorted insects and arachnids. This particular shot I used my 250 zoom macro lens to get up close and personal with a couple of bugs doing what nature intended them to do. I'm very pleased with the focus on this particular shot.

And that, my friends, is my interpretation of the theme, "Your World" for P.J.'s Monthly Photo Blogging challenge. Please click on the link and see how other people interpreted the theme of their world. As always, please feel free to comment. I won't bite.

Where did April go?

A couple of days ago, or perhaps weeks, since everything seems to be blending together at the moment, my son came up to me and said, "The year 2020 is rather unique.  February has 29 days, March lasted 5 years and April lasted 5 days." That pretty much sums up this "shelter in place" that many of us have been experiencing due to the COVID-19 virus.

I suspect that it feels like his sentiment because when the shelter in place first started, it felt like it would last forever, but now it's become rather routine and so the days are moving much more quickly. Whatever the reason, I felt like this photo was rather comical. 

Most of the trails are closed and much of the parks are also closed, only allowing passive recreation. In other words, walk, don't run, unless you can run by yourself. I get that, but if the city doesn't want people playing soccer on the fields because of social distancing, then wouldn't it be smart to remove the soccer nets? Just asking.

What to do in my spare time?

All of us, if we're practicing social distancing and following the leads of our governors, have a lot of spare time on our hands these days. I even have more spare time, because last week, I re-injured my knee that I sprained late last summer. So for the past five days, I been resting it and not overdoing it to aid in the healing process. That has given me more time to explore things that have gotten away from me, one being computer games, particularly Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 (RCT2).

RCT2 is a simulation game where you manage and develop an amusement park. The second version, hence the 2, is probably the best version of the game. More than just creating rides, it also allowed for enhanced scenery building to create an all immersive experience. The old game doesn't work on newer computers, but there's a new version of it called OpenRCT2 which is a reconfigure of the old game with new enhancements. Last week I downloaded the game and have started to play it. My particular interest is in the Sandbox mode, which allows you to just develop your own park without having to win any particular scenario.

The screenshot above is from one of my old parks using the old RCT2 game. From time to time, I'll post screenshots of my new park creations. With the OpenRCT2 format, there appears to even be a way to link up via the Internet to create collaborative park efforts. I'll have to explore that later on.

Paths

Because of the recent viral outbreak I haven't been able to do any kind of hiking. All of the trails nearest me have been closed down either because of lack of workers to keep the trails clean, or because the lack of social distancing has become a problem. This means my main way of walking and getting any kind of exercise is walking the sidewalks in the neighborhood.

When I retired last May, a very dear friend of mine gave me a retirement T-shirt with a message on it. For those of you who know me well, this T-shirt pretty much sums up my approach to life in general. On the shirt is a large bootprint and in the tread of the boot is the saying, "Of all the paths you take in Life, Make sure a few of them are dirt." 

Sidewalks are not dirt, but today I was able to take the message to heart by walking this exercise path in the park north of my house. I walked five laps and it made all the difference in the world today.

Are You Talking to Me??

I recently got a pretty decent shot of an Eastern Fox Squirrel while on a walk in a local park. California has basically three types of tree squirrels, two of which are imported and obviously considered invasive species. The Eastern Fox Squirrel and the Eastern Gray Squirrel were both imported during the early 1900s and have flourished in this area, pushing out the Western Gray Squirrel. For more information on how you can tell them apart, check out this website.

While on my walk on a short nature path in the park, I spotted this Fox Squirrel eating on the path. It immediately scurried up the closest tree and sat in the crook of the first large branch of the tree to continue its snack. Most of the shots I took of it consisted of two paws on the branch and two paws holding and eating the nut, typical squirrel posture. Then it paused, put one paw down and clutched the nut with its one paw. The look made it look like it was pointing at its own chest. It then looked directly at me and that gave me the title of this blog entry: Are You Talking to Me??

Bluebirds

We have several kinds of blue colored birds here in Southern California. The most common one that I've seen where we live is the California Scrub Jay, a brilliantly blue colored bird with a raucous screech. They inhabit the foothills of our local mountains and are found in abundance. As you move upslope in the mountains, you'll start to encounter the Stellar's Jay, which is similar to the Scrub Jay, except that the Stellar's Jay has a crest on its head and its head is colored all black.

A couple of days ago, I was wandering around in the park just north of my house, keeping my social distance from others enjoying the nice spring weather. I heard first, then saw this pair of Western Bluebirds. There were actually two pairs of them and I ended up getting shots of both females and one of the males. There are three types of bluebirds in the United States, Eastern, Western, and Mountain bluebirds. Eastern and Western are similar looking, but the Mountain bluebirds are almost totally blue, which is how I knew these were Western bluebirds because of their orange tinged belly feathers. I was able to get several really good shots of the females, but this is the best one I could get of the male as he was playing hard to get with my camera. Sometimes that happens when you're dealing with the natural world.

Sidewalk Art

Most everyone is practicing shelter in place and keeping their distance from each other. That doesn't rule out walks, as long as we keep our distance. It's about the only thing we really can do at the moment, until we develop a good herd immunity to this disease.

Yesterday, while out on a walk, I encountered in front of several houses, some sidewalk chalk art. Most of the artwork was in the form of inspirational messages, hellos to the neighbors who walk by and other cute photos. 

At this particular spot, however, there was some serious talent residing within the house. I hope, whoever created this piece of art, continues to be inspired and continues to hone their craft. The sad part about this is that it rained last night, heavily. I actually walked by the spot again this morning in the hopes of getting a before and after photo of the artwork, but it was not to be since there literally wasn't even any streaks of chalk on the sidewalk.

But looking at it another way, the rain gave the artist a blank canvas to work with in the near future.