Foggy Mornings

As the cold weather began to settle into the Madison area, the temperature of Lake Mendota, the largest of the Chain of Lakes in Madison, was significantly warmer than the surrounding air resulting in some foggy mornings. Here are some photos from those foggy mornings.

Here is a photo of Maple Bluff (about 3/4 mile [1.2 km] across the lake from where I took this photo and about 120 feet [36.5 meters] above the lake at this point) shrouded in the fog.

Here is a photo of part of the City of Madison shore (foreground) with fog on the lake.

Here are two views of the Tenney Park breakwater in the early morning with the fog in the background.

 

 

 

 

Ese’ s Weekly Shoot & Quote Challenge – Celebrate (speculation on explosive celebration before Jim Hendrix intercedes)

I find it absolutely fascinating that in a number of places around the world a common way of celebrating something is to fire one’s gun off into the air and yet here in U.S. where we are more or less awash in guns this form celebration is quite uncommon. Instead of that joyous sense of personal violence, we celebrate with the joy of sharing spectacular explosions. Both approaches to celebration have a subtext of danger – people are injured and killed by both forms of celebration, though much less so as a result of the reasonably well-regulated local fireworks display than through those pesky raining bullets that are a consequence of the individual with great celebratory enthusiasm, an automatic weapon and money for ammunition.

Now that I have finished with my pompous pontificating, it is time to turn to a different kind of celebration, one of a gentler sort and for that, a riff from Jimi Hendrix would never work, but this quote from him seems to me to be perfect support for my contribution to Ese’ s Weekly Shoot & Quote Challenge – Celebrate. The photo is of our local (Maple Bluff) fireworks display which, for extra safety, is launched from a barge in Lake Mendota. For perspective. the Wisconsin State Capitol Building is in the background on the right.

 

Excuse me while I kiss the sky. ~ Jimi Hendrix

Post Number 366 – The War of Fog (or My first year of photo blogging)

I have had this blog for less than one year and recently I posted my 365th post so I decided to memorialize the occasion. Point-of-View.com has been pretty difficult for me. I suffer from a chronic disease that makes it hard to concentrate and to stay focused and I am often in pain and quite tired (thus the “fog”). When I started this blog I had no idea how much energy it would take and what a challenge it was going to be (thus the “war”).

I started this photo blog in part because the writing that used to come so easily to me now comes slowly and messily like the last bits of toothpaste squeezed out of the tube. Until relatively recently, I was able to work at least part-time in the career I had long pursued (I was an attorney working with intellectual property and technology law). That work is no longer available to me because it requires more energy, a better memory, and greater nimbleness of mind than I currently possess. I tell my friends that I am not dumber, but I am slower.

During the early days of my illness, boredom was a constant companion. Then, a few years ago, my wife bought me a new camera. While I had always enjoyed photography, suddenly I had a lot of time available in which to pursue it. So off I went on a photo binge. Many of my photos are taken of things very close to home – typically in our yard or neighborhood; indeed I have a category in my blog for “Photos Taken within 100 Meters of Our Home.” Many others are taken on the way to visit or at my in-laws. (My wife has a great family!)

As the years went by and the shutter clicked, hundreds and then thousands of images filled up space on my hard drive(s) and I began to think about sharing my photos. I am and always will be an amateur photographer. I do not have the energy nor do I have the desire to sell any of my work (although I do donate my work to non-profit auctions and the like).  Eventually I decided to try blogging and started start Points-of-view.com.

Keeping up with this blog has been difficult for me. What has made this easier is that many of you who have visited this blog have been extraordinarily generous with your thoughts about my photos. I am not too proud to admit that when someone says a photo of mine is “stunning” or “wonderful” or “amazing” it makes me feel good. That isn’t the sole reason for the blog, but it sure doesn’t hurt! More important for someone who had spent all too much time just sitting at home is that my blog brought me into a community of people from around the world whose blogging about their lives and travels has made boredom impossible and made frustration, fatigue and pain more bearable. While it is still so very much more difficult to write than it used to be, I have all of the time I want to do it and so it is okay.

This post contains some of my favorite photos from my first 365 posts. When I was looking through the posts to put together this collection, my biggest thought was how thankful I am that I have had this opportunity. Mostly I thank all of the people who have visited my blog. I also want to give a shout out to WordPress because I really doubt I would have had a “Post 366” had I not been blogging with WordPress, which has made setting it up my blog and keeping it going so much easier for me than would otherwise have been the case.

I hope you enjoy this collection.

Lake Mendota Shore

Monarch

On Edge

Reflections

Dragonfly on Grass

Minot Flood 2012

Show stopper

Ministers .

Winter sunset

Foggy Morning

Maple Bluff Sunset

Embrace

Blooming.

Ready to bloom.

Fall

Windy Day.

We’re hungry!

How did I get here?

Foggy Night

Black-eyed Susans

Bleeding heart

Puff

Yellowtail on Verbena

An unwanted visitor

Sandhill Cranes2

Sandhill cranes landing

Self-Portrait

Tenney Park Bridge

Winter Scene

Mimic

Arrow

Crazy

Cookie and Cronkite

Esther Mae

Fight and Flight

Two sparrows spar

The Trombone Section

Waunakee Village Market

Angel flower

Christmas in the Capitol

Sunset on the prairie

Canola field and hay rolls

The Passed

De-icing

Swirl

Asleep at the keyboard

Tulip

Young Bleeding Heart

Governor’s Mansion

Cannon Beach Surfer

Female Cardinal

Field of Flowers

Self-portrait #2

High plains desert

Fog on the Mountain

Timeberline Fireplace

Magnolia Blossom

NSA

Train in Columbia Gorge

Lilies

Rural North Dakota Church

Lightning

Sunset on Crystal Lake

Feeding Grandpa

Downpour

Train on Span 27

Hooked

Iris

A Dog’s World

Sunflower

Spider Web

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron Takes Off

Digital Art

Spider Web 2 – Cherokee Marsh

Back of Dinner Plate Dahlia

A “Herf”

Farm in the drifless region

Gils Rock Sunset

Martini Glass

Slats and Shadows

Joy2

Hauling Pipe in North Dakota

Wonder

The Star

Yellow Sulphur on Verbena

Fireworks on Lake Mendota

Bald Eagle and Prey

Canola and Thunderhead

Sunset on Lake Michigan

Late Bloomer

On the Tarmac

Flight

Bald Eagle 3

Souris River Valley

Madison Protest

Cascade Mountains

Cirque du Dragonflies

Tango

Ese’s Weekly Shoot & Quote Challenge – Direction (Choice)

Ese’s Weekly Shoot & Quote Challenge – Direction is provocative, as always.  Direction can take the form of a street sign, a trail or path or even personal guidance from another.  One thing implied by direction is choice. Left or right along the street or the path, accept or reject the advice.

My photo represents choice about direction. The boat is moving, but the direction is uncertain. Our choices about the direction in which we are going are important, as my quote below illustrates.

“We are our choices.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre

I took this photo during the 2013 “Parade of Boats” on Lake Mendota in Madison, Wisconsin. It unofficially marks the end of the summer boating season.

A Word A Week Challenge – Favorite

The Word A Week Challenge – Favorite is indeed a challenge because what my favorite photo is changes from time to time. Paralyzed by indecision, I finally decided to post several of my favorites, which as you will see comprise quite an eclectic group.

   

Ese’s Weekly Shoot & Quote Challenge – Desire (Nothing More to Say)

Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire. ~ Confucius

 

Thursday Special – Earthly Paradise (Home in Maple Bluff, Wisconsin)

I just discovered this non-challenge challenge and having invented the game of “not golfing” it seemed that a non-challenge challenge ought to be a good fit for me. I am lucky to have both visited and lived in places that I consider pretty darn close to an earthly paradise. Here is one of those places – Maple Bluff, Wisconsin, where my wife Kim and I live.

The first photo is of the sun setting on the bluff of Maple Bluff. The second is of our house.

I’m sure lots of people will find that my response is one of those “Oh sure, he just has to say this” kind of things. Not so. If you look through my blog you’ll find dozens of references to Maple Bluff (or Lake Mendota, which is one side of Maple Bluff; or Madison, which surrounds the rest of Maple Bluff). A shortcut to see this is to  look at my Menu Bar and you check out Landscapes and Places > Wisconsin since pretty much all of that is from the Maple Bluff area (although there is more on the site that isn’t tagged or categorized properly yet). In that menu, you’ll eventually get to “Photos taken within 100 meters of Our Home,” which will give you an idea of why I might think this is a pretty unusually nice place. So as goofy as it may sound to lots of folks, Maple Bluff (while not perfect (no paradise is perfect)) is a pretty good vote for an earthy paradise, especially if you have to live there.