Pouring My Art Out

Yes, that is a nice photo of the Golden Gate Bridge, but this post also has cute dogs and my lovely daughter in it…

Posted on December 30, 2018 by pouringmyartout

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A view of the Golden Gate, across the waters of the San Francisco Bay.

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And my sweet, smart and kind younger daughter, Mollie.

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And that is Winston, a very nice dog that Mollie and I met. Because we were at a dog park… by the bay.

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Winston was a good dog.

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San Francisco. That is the view you want while you are petting numerous dogs.

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Just sayin’.

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Mollie is with us… here, and back in San Diego… for a whole month, on break from her college pre-med courses. Hey, I said she was smart.

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She is also a little silly. I wonder where she gets that from?

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But nobody who ever met Mollie didn’t like her. Is that good English? Maybe not. But it is true.

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A cute puppy that I didn’t even get to pet. He was too busy running around. Hey, you can’t pet them all. Believe me… I have tried it.

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And I really wanted to meet that one.

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And one last shot of my new friend Oso, with the awesome ice-blue eyes.

Posted in dogs and other animals, My travels, Stories of my life | Tagged animals, art, dogs, family, golden gate, golden gate bridge, humor, kids, people, pets, photography, san francisco, san francisco bay, san francisco bay area, the bay area | 2 Comments

What the heck is that?; A micro-photography guessing game… part 1…

Posted on December 30, 2018 by pouringmyartout

I am going to put up a few pictures I took with my new digital microscope. Try to guess what they are of. I will have the answers at the bottom, and photos of what I was examining. If you enjoy this series, join me later for: ‘Does this look malignant to you?; A micro-photography self-examination medical guessing game’ where I show you pictures of my moles and other bodily growths, and ask if you think I should be worried…

HINT- These are all natural things, not man-made.

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HEY!

No looking ahead at the answers…

…ooo000ooo…

9090909090909090909090

()()()()()()()()()()()())()()()()()(()()()))()()(

…………………………………………………..

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

““““~~~~~~~~~~““““~~~~~~~~

Even if you did cheat…

so did I…

One thing from above isn’t in the pictures below…

and there is more than one image of one object up above…

HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously… does this mole look funny to you???

And now…

the answers:

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Posted in Everything Else | Tagged games, humor, micro photography, microscopes, nature, photography | Leave a comment

Just more pictures of Christmas time in the Bay Area… and dogs…

Posted on December 30, 2018 by pouringmyartout

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Sometimes… often for me… you just meet a dog and fall in love. It was like that with Oso. He belongs to a nice couple that my daughter Mollie and I ran into down at the dog park by the bay. He had awesome eyes and a sweet personality.

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And very soft fur… you know… in case you were wondering.

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Every time I come from San Diego to the Bay Area to visit my mom, I end up at the dog park at least once. I miss my dogs after a day or two.

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Yeah, that’s right… I cheat on my dogs with other people’s dogs.

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That is how I roll.

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I like dogs… and horses… and babies.

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Why is my 95-year-old mother out on her front balcony?

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It is the goodbye ritual. There she is, hugging Jason, my son-in-law, after hugging Jessica, my older daughter.

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Just as a side note, this year, I hung some really big ornaments on the back of my mom’s tree, so people out on the street could see them. Ha!

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Anyway, mom watches from the deck as whoever is leaving gets in the car. This time, my younger daughter, Mollie, and I were dropping her sister and brother-in-law at the train station.

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That is a pretty good picture of my mom.

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But after we dropped them off, we went to the dog park by the San Francisco Bay!!!

Posted in dogs and other animals, My travels, Stories of my life | Tagged art, bay area, dogs, family, humor, moms, people, photography, san francisco, san francisco bay area, travel | Leave a comment

A city by the bay, and a daughter by the bay, and some dogs by the bay, and some birds in the bay… part 1…

Posted on December 29, 2018 by pouringmyartout

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My younger daughter, Mollie, and I went down to that dog park by the bay yesterday. You know I do that when I miss my dogs back in San Diego. I cheat on them with other dogs.

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It was a lovely day, and the view of San Francisco was phenomenal.

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A cormorant, looking for dinner.

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I couldn’t help taking a few photos of the water birds.

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Is that a Coot?

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I will just show these to my mom, and she will tell me what they all are.

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She is that good with birds.

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But this week isn’t all about birds.

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It is about being in the Bay Area for Christmas.

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Back in the place where I grew up.

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Back in the place that I love the most.

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With the people I love the most.

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And dogs… it is always about dogs. This is Oso. I have more photos of him for later posts. He had the most awesome eyes, and he loved to be petted.

See you soon.

Posted in dogs and other animals, My travels | Tagged art, birds, dogs, family, golden gate bridge, humor, kids, love, people, san francisco, san francisco bay area, the bay area, travel | Leave a comment

Some birds, and me and a dog…

Posted on December 28, 2018 by pouringmyartout

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A Golden Crowned Sparrow.

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I have a few pictures of them.

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I say ‘them’… these were taken over two days, and I assume it isn’t all the same bird.

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But I could be wrong.

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But that is a pretty good shot of his golden crown.

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I will now intersperse some pictures of a turkey vulture, who, technically isn’t in my mom’s garden, so much as he is flying far above it. So he doesn’t count for the game my mom and I play where I take photos of birds in her yard and we look at them together.

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Once again, at the age of 95, she can’t see the birds as well as she used to.

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So she loves these zoomed-in shots.

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I crop away all of the photo except for the bird in each one.

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It is just a thing we do.

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Bird watching in the digital age.

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High tech bird watching.

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A hungry Towhee.

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And an adorable Titmouse.

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And just a couple more photos, taken by one of my daughters, at my friend’s house.

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Dutch, the chocolate lab, snuggling with me while gnawing on his bone. He lay down on my arm.

Posted in dogs and other animals, Pictures of me | Tagged animals, art, birds, dogs, humor, nature, photography | 2 Comments

Scrub Jay…

Posted on December 28, 2018 by pouringmyartout

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Some random pictures of a Scrub Jay, taken in my mom’s garden in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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I mean, these probably aren’t all the same Scrub Jay.

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There are more than one visiting the feeder. I have seen at least two at the same time.

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I figured that identifying them by species would do… unless we want to name them…. then, I suppose, we would have to identify them as individuals.

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That one looks like an Irving to me.

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But anyway…

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Okay, I know, it is overexposed and not in good focus, but I love that picture. I tried to correct it in Photoshop. I couldn’t get it any better than that. But look at his feet! He is doing Ballet, or River Dancing… or skipping… or something. I think I caught him at the moment he was taking flight, but he hasn’t put his wings out yet, and it just cracks me up.

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Lunch time.

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Okay, see you soon for… whatever I do next.

Posted in dogs and other animals | Tagged animals, birds, humor, nature, photography | Leave a comment

Micro photography, the next step after macro photography… part 1…

Posted on December 27, 2018 by pouringmyartout

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I have been playing with my new digital microscope that takes pictures. That is a hard candy.

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Another candy.

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More candy. Maybe, in the future, I will take some regular photos of the objects I am taking micro photos of, for some context.

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But for now, just enjoy a really close look at candy…

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And my mom’s crazy 70’s-era rugs. There is a red and orange one…

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And a blue and green one. I bet if you go back a few posts to the Christmas pictures, the rugs are in some of those.

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But I am getting better at the focus thing.

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Hardwood flooring.

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Now that is an antique Persian rug, and you can see that the material and the weave are completely different.

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The top of a small Italian table. It is highly varnished. It also plays music when you open the top.

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That, believe it or not, is a fancy leather chair.

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And I took a few shots of the top of the old chess table.

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These are small pieces of inlaid marble.

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I might take more of these. I like them.

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But you can really see the scratches.

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That, and the one below, are of bricks, fronting the fireplace.

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You can see how the firing process actually melted the material.

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That is the top of the ledge on my mom’s china cabinet. You can see tiny bubbles that got locked in when the varnish dried.

Posted in Everything Else | Tagged art, bricks, digital art, glass, humor, marble, photography, rugs, wood | Leave a comment

It’s an Arthur thing… (or); dogs, cats, birds, and stuff…

Posted on December 27, 2018 by pouringmyartout

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Maybe you would understand, but if you do, seek psychiatric counseling immediately. Also, evict the crack squirrels from your head as soon as possible.

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I guess these are just some random pictures I have taken since I got to my mom’s house in the Bay Area for Christmas.

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They have three semi-feral outdoor cats living in the yard.

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Technically, these two, the males, live in the backyard. The female, who is the sister of the black one, lives in front and eats on the deck.

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She still hunts. These two don’t. They sleep and eat. Which is good for me, and this post.

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Because I am back doing that game for my mom… who, once again, is 95, and doesn’t see as well as she used to. She loves bird watching. So I fill the bird feeder, and sit outside in the garden, with the zoom lens, and try to get as many good bird photos as I can.

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And then I blow them up on my laptop, and she identifies them, and we like the game.

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The game would not work if the two large male cats had any desire to feed themselves.

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But they don’t… and the birds know it. They will hop around, picking up seeds that spilled from the feeder, and they and the cats just ignore each other.

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After I have been here for a day, they ignore me too.

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So just prepare yourself for some more bird pictures, that’s all I’m sayin’.

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Wait… sorry… that isn’t a bird.

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We went to visit my friend Chris last night. I have known him since we were little kids. We grew up on the same street, the street where I am sitting right now. What are me and my older daughter doing?

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Hey, in the title, I promised you at least one dog in this post.

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And underneath that pile of love is one very happy Chocolate Lab named Dutch.

Posted in dogs and other animals, Pictures of me, Stories of my life | Tagged animals, birds, cats, dogs, family, humor, love, nature, photography | 4 Comments

Christmas stuff…

Posted on December 26, 2018 by pouringmyartout

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My daughters, Jessica, on the left, and Mollie. Christmas Eve. I love those two.

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My mom still has the vase I gave her last year, the one I made in the glass blowing class, on top of one of her pianos. I mention this because Jessica got me another session of glass blowing for this Christmas.

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I also mentioned it because I love to show off my art. Hello tiki I carved for my mom!

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Hello other tiki I carved for my mom!

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And hello ornament I made for her years ago.

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My mom still proudly displays the books I write, and tries to sell them to anyone who comes inside. a 7

I got a little digital microscope. So far, I am not impressed with the resolution, but I think it was pretty inexpensive. It does take pictures slightly more close up than the macro lens on my good camera.

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As an example, that up there is a pair of leaves. Below is part of the center runner on the table.

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I will keep playing with it, and see what it can do.

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And now, the girls, with no flash.

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Jessica, having a quiet moment with a book beside the tree. Okay, see you soon for more Bay Area adventures.

Posted in Stories of my life | Tagged art, books, family, humor, kids, people, photography, tikis | 2 Comments

A fancy table and a more-or-less-traditional English Christmas dinner…

Posted on December 26, 2018 by pouringmyartout

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Christmas is a little subdued this year. Normally, there are a lot more people at my mom’s house in the Bay Area, but due to many reasons, two brothers are not here. That means that nieces and nephews are also not here. Usually, the house is full of people.

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But that does not mean that we let things slide, or slack off. All the joy is still here. And the traditions carry on. My daughters, preparing the table.

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Keep calm and Christmas on!

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Okay, we are almost ready!

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My mom, whom, I remind you, is 95-years-old, is ready to be served.

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Time for some mood lighting.

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Jessica and her husband, Jason, here from New York, enjoying the ambiance.

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And we have ambiance aplenty.

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Yeah we do.

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We just needed the food.

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Like the Yorkshire Puddings… not the big, single pan this time, but little, individual ones!

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Mmmmmm… roast beef…

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And potatoes, roasted in bacon fat… or not, if you prefer.

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And, to finish it all off, a plum pudding, set tastefully alight with a high-octane adult beverage.

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I have tried to explain plum pudding here before. Maybe you should just Google it.

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It is an interesting English dish.

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My favorite part of the plum pudding is the hard sauce, which my son-in-law and I whipped up before dinner.

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It is just butter, powdered sugar, and booze… which explains the ‘hard’ in hard sauce. It takes a lot of stirring. But a pudding, soaked in booze and lit afire, and then covered in frosting made with more booze… oh yeah.

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