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

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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.

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

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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.

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Christmas stuff…

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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.

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

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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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And there you have it, the perfect ending for a long Christmas day… if your relatives come from England… or even if they didn’t.

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Let the Christmas festivities commence!!!

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That was me, two days ago, at my job as a private security officer at an upscale gated community. I was trying to feel the Christmas vibe, but it was hard.

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Now, I am at my mom’s house in the Bay Area. The cats are chillin’.

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It rained all of Christmas Eve.

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The tree was attracting gifts like a magnet.

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And this morning… Christmas morning… the sun was out, and the presents had magically multiplied.

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Oh yeah.

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Instead of a bunch of photos of people opening gifts, I will post photos over a few days of people enjoying the gifts. Here is my son-in-law, Jason, playing with the electric travel guitar we got him.

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I got a pair of socks… with my face all over them…

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I mean, come on…

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This is the perfect gift for someone as self-absorbed as I am.

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All of a sudden, in the middle of opening gifts, an ornament fell from the tree and broke. It was an American flag-themed globe. If this isn’t a commentary on Trump’s effect on our country, I don’t know what would be.

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I took a picture of my older daughter, Jessica, as she took a picture of the tree. Okay, see you later for more stuff.

 

 

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Pugly girls… the final chapter…

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Yes, that is a baby Pug looking at herself in a metal mixing bowl. I just have a few pictures left from when my daughter babysat the two baby Pug girls belong to my wife’s sister over the Thanksgiving day holiday.

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I am actually at my mom’s house in the Bay Area, after a long drive yesterday. It is Christmas Eve.

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It is also pouring rain here.

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Our dogs really wanted to meet the puppies.

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I leave you with this last shot of me snuggling with my dogs. And now, we can move on to some Bay Area adventures and the Christmas madness!

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A Christmas gift for my wife…

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I used my last real Mexican Fan Palm log, not to make a tiki, but to make a present for my wife. It looks small, but it is about three-and-a-half-feet-tall. It has our initials carved into it with a plus sign between them, and the initials of both our daughters. Also, my older daughter’s husband’s initials, which happen to be the same as his wife’s.

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A piece of romance is born of a yule log.

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I did the whole thing in three days.

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I love that moment when you begin to add colors to art.

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That is when it really begins to come alive.

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And there it is, before three coats of varnish.

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Good gift wrapping is essential at Christmas… but I can’t do that, so I settle for creative.

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Yes, I know it isn’t Christmas yet, but we did an early San Diego Christmas with some of my wife’s family and some friends. Because of course we are going to the Bay Area to do the big Christmas, and I will share photos of that as it happens. So, see you soon.

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Christmas reblog party… part 2… oh yeah, Christmas ninja!!!

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Sorry, but that might just be the coolest thing that I ever Photoshopped!

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Christmas reblog party… part 1…

I am reblogging this because it turns out that people have finally realized how creepy this song is. Here is the original post:


Baby It’s Cold Outside… my ass… the anatomy of a date rape song…

I was going to do a scathing rewrite of this creepy Christmas song, to try, in a funny way, to highlight just how creepy it really is… but when I Googled the words, I realized that I didn’t need to bother. The song speaks for itself. This song was written in 1944. You have to remember to take it the context of the times. Women were still expected to be virgins when they got married. Reputations could be ruined if a lady spent the night with a man, let alone actually slept with him. But even if we forget that fact and place this in a modern context, it is never alright for a man not to take no for an answer. And pouring drinks into a woman to get her to sleep with you is not okay… then or now or ever.

So, instead of rewriting the woman’s part of the song… (the part in the parentheses)… I am going to add some comments and observations into the song in red letters… because that just seems Christmasy…

Baby It’s Cold Outside

(Original Dean Martin version)

(I really can’t stay) But, baby, it’s cold outside

Ladies, trust your first instincts…

(I’ve got to go away) But, baby it’s cold outside

He doesn’t really care how cold it is…

(This evening has been) Been hoping that you’d drop in

Oh, he is just full of hopes…

(So very nice) I’ll hold your hands, they’re just like ice

Smooth move…

 

(My mother will start to worry) Beautiful, what’s your hurry

She is being so classy about all this…

(My father will be pacing the floor) Listen to the fireplace roar

Yeah, she has a fireplace at home, too… and it is obvious she still lives at home with her parents, so how old is she, anyway? Did you even ask, you weasel? (I mean, yeah, we all know that Lady Gaga is of legal age, but once again, am I the only person who is grossed out by the fact that Tony Bennett is singing this song to her and he is, once again 89 years old!!!???)

(So really I’d better scurry) Beautiful, please don’t hurry

Uh, she is in a hurry because you are making her nervous…

(Well, maybe just half a drink more) Put some records on while I pour

Oh come on, lady, I was so proud of you up to this point. Don’t put some records on while he pours, keep your eye on him!

 

(The neighbors might think) Baby, it’s bad out there

Imagine what the neighbors will be thinking when you stagger out of there in the morning with messed up hair and wearing the same clothes.

(Say, what’s in this drink) No cabs to be had out there

Okay, I am fairly certain that the ‘what’s in this drink’ line isn’t referring to an actual date rape drug, which probably didn’t exist in the 1940’s… but somebody should Google that. I think she just realized that he poured extra booze in her drink to loosen her up… but still… eeewww… we are getting awfully close to Bill Cosby territory here… and, dude, can’t you let her use your phone to call a freakin’ cab???

(I wish I knew how) Your eyes are like starlight now

How many women did you use that line on, you douche-hat?

(To break this spell) I’ll take your hat, your hair looks swell

Your hat is just the fist bit of clothing he is going to try to take, just so you know…

 

(I ought to say no, no, no, sir) Mind if I move in closer

Yes, you really ought to say no, no, no, and then knee him in the nuts and make a break for the door… screaming at the top of your lungs…

(At least I’m gonna say that I tried) What’s the sense of hurting my pride

Okay, lady, that is just the booze talking… and, dude, your pride? Are we supposed to worry about your pride? What about her reputation?

(I really can’t stay) Baby, don’t hold doubt

Baby, don’t hold doubt? When you say… or sing… that line out loud, it comes out: Baby, don’t hold out. That means the same thing today as it did back then…

[BOTH] Baby, it’s cold outside

He could just drive you home, if he really cared about you at all…

 

(I simply must go) Baby, it’s cold outside

Yes, we have established the temperature…

(The answer is no) Baby, it’s cold outside

There! She actually said it… and no means no… NO!!!

(The welcome has been) How lucky that you dropped in

Yes, he has been polite and charming, while pouring drinks into you, hinting that you might die of exposure or at least lose your toes and your nose if you left… and he is still hoping to get even luckier…

(So nice and warm) Look out the window at the storm

He doesn’t give up, does he?

 

(My sister will be suspicious) Gosh your lips look delicious

Ladies, if a guy ever says your lips look delicious, take that as a warning…

(My brother will be there at the door) Waves upon a tropical shore

It would be nice if your brother showed up at his door… right about now… and that ‘tropical shore’ line is just sad…

(My maiden aunt’s mind is vicious) Gosh your lips are delicious

I guess he is a lip man…

(But maybe just a cigarette more) Never such a blizzard before

Oh, great, now he has you smoking too… and, dude, seriously, what are you, a meteorologist???

 

(I got to get home) But, baby, you’d freeze out there

You know, freezing might not necessarily be the worst thing that could happen to her…

(Say lend me your coat) It’s up to your knees out there

So lend her your boots too…

(You’ve really been grand) I thrill when you touch my hand

He hasn’t been grand, he has been a cad and a bounder. He is no gentleman. He is a smarmy, creepy bastard!

(But don’t you see) How can you do this thing to me

How can you do this thing to me??? Are you f#@*ing sh*##ing me? How can you do this thing to her?

 

(There’s bound to be talk tomorrow) Think of my life long sorrow

He has gone right into the begging, pleading phase of date rape…

(At least there will be plenty implied) If you caught pneumonia and died

So now he’s a doctor…

(I really can’t stay) Get over that old doubt

That old doubt is there for a reason…

[BOTH] Baby, it’s cold… Baby, it’s cold outside

The coldest thing on the planet right now is your heart, you walking, talking, life-sized phlegm statue!!! 

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Fun with windows… see, it’s a computer joke… sort of… part 1…

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I am such a pane in the glass!

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