Monster Beetle

I've been in Georgia for nearly 14 years now. The size of the insects here still amazes me, as does their boldness. This beetle sat perfectly sill as I moved closer and closer to get this photo.

Impatients At Night

The long, dry, hot Memorial Day weekend provided a wonderful opportunity for a little yard work. We took the chainsaw to a few trees that had fallen in the yard. Cut the grass, trimmed some bushes. My wife Teri planted impatients, bringing a little added color to the yard.

Mobile Nest

My youngest grandson, TJ, has a birthday coming up next week. He's asked for a new scooter. When his dad reminded him that he already has a scooter, TJ replied, "But a bird made a best in the basket and there are eggs in it."
"As soon as the birds hatch and learn to fly then you can ride it again," his dad told him.
So now the waiting and the watching begin.

Just Up The Street

Back in 1844 a local resident bought a plot of land, Lot #16 in Fayette County, Georgia.  The next year he buried his infant daughter there.  Through the years the family laid the remains of loved ones in this little family cemetery.  It still stands, 168 years later.  The area around it has changed during that time.  A residential sub-division, offices, restaurants, a theater and the JOY FM studios now surround this lonely patch of ground.  Its markers and benches tucked into the shade provide an opportunity to pause and reflect on what once was.

Lookin' Up

Every once in awhile I feel the need to take an aimless stroll.  Just to clear some of the cranial cobwebs.  On today's walk about I was once again amazed at the simple beauty of the sky.  Light blue with mountains of white fluffy clouds.  It provided a nice change of pace from the photos of the last two days.  Hope you enjoy the view as much as I did.

Time Is Relative

Remember when we were kids and the summers seemed to last forever?  Seems the older we get the faster time flies by.  Maybe it something to do with what Peter talks about in 2 Peter 3:8; "With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day."  Maybe our perception of eternity has something to do with it.  Of course, none of that really addresses the issue of time in the Prevenings studio.  Within 60 seconds I took photos of five of the clocks we have in there, no two displaying the same time.

Social Media Overload

Here's the thing.  I'm not much of a "joiner".  But when I do get into something new, I tend to go all in.  So when I got my first Android powered smart phone last fall I really got into downloading apps.  Particularly social media apps.  So now I'm on social networks that no one else I know has even heard of yet, like Diaspora and Path.  Think I'm going to have to scale it back a bit.  It's gotten so bad that I had to download a new app just to be able to squeeze in a shot of most (not even all!) of my social networks on my TWO monitors!

Snowballs In May

It had been a wet weekend.  Too much rain to do much outdoors for Mothers Day.  But as I walked to my car this morning I got a glimpse of some of the fruit of all that rain.  Our "snowball" bush has a number of large flowers.  Makes the dampness a little easier to deal with.

Rain, Rain...

The weekend held such promise.  Two days.  Two wheels.  Open roads.  Then the rain came.  And stayed.  All weekend.  The bike stayed parked in the shelter of the garage.  Maybe next weekend will be drier.



A Bad Sign

Just as I'd passed the last gas station on my way home, the low fuel light popped on.  So much for saving time and mileage.  I'll have to allow a little extra time, and go a little out of my way on the next trip.



Saving Seats

Empty chairs.  They can imply a number of things.  Traditionally a chair and place setting are left empty at a Passover Seder for Elijah.  There's a certain amount of anticipation associated with an empty chair.  There's the expectation of a soon-to-arrive guest.  Hope can also be attached to a seat without a sitter, such as those chairs at a restaurant, set out in hopeful expectancy at the prospect of yet to be seen hungry patrons.

Sometimes that empty chair is a reminder of a loved one no longer present.  It's set out and left unoccupied to honor the time and memory of someone we hope to yet again see, if not in this life, then in the next.

An empty chair can also be an invitation to sit awhile, chat with friends, neighbors, loved ones.  Or simply take a load off and enjoy the view.

Class Clown For Life

You might think that the people who wind up on the radio were very extroverted as kids, that many of the class clowns from your school days are now doing yuck-yuck radio shows.  That is not the case.  Many (if not most) of us were not the extremely out going types or jokesters in school.  It takes someone who is pretty content on their own to spend four or more hours a day cooped up in a little room talking to people that they can't see. 

Radio does have its share of those class clown types of people, but they're normally not the type who end up on the air. Those folks end up in sales or underwriting or more behind the scenes areas of programming, like producers.

Two cases in point are pictured below in today's National Photography Month entry.  Ken, who's part of The JOY FM underwriting team, and Matt, who's the producer for the Morning Cruise.

If Barnabas Collins Had A Smart Phone

I remember rushing home from school in the late 1960s to watch "Dark Shadows".  The Gothic soap opera surrounding the Collins clan and vampire Barnabas Collins.  The new movie based on the show opens this Friday with Johnny Depp in the role of Barnabas.

I was wondering what it would look like if Barnabas had a smart phone and took a picture of himself standing in front of a mirror.  Here's my impression of how such a photo would turn out.

Barnabas Collins self portrait.  (Vampires cast no image in a mirror.)

What Is That?

I went for a little stroll around the building at lunchtime today.  I saw a car pull over and a woman get out, holding what looked like a cell phone at arms length as she walked towards a stand of trees.  She'd glance from the phone into the trees as she walked.  She was soon joined by another woman, the driver of the car.  Both women ventured into the fringes of the trees, examining the ground, then the sky, then the ground again.  After about two minutes they walked back to the car and drove off.  I have no idea what they were looking at or for, but they provided me with an interesting distraction for a brief moment.

Mesmerizing March

Perspective can determine how you think or feel about things.  Take ants.  On a picnic they're nothing but pests.  But if you simply stop to watch them as they scurry, in a most orderly fashion, they can be down right mesmerizing.  I spotted these ants outside my office, marching along in near perfect formation.

A Little Thunder

Thunder, lightening & rain tonight. This combination renders Casey, our big Lab-something mix, incapable of rational thought, as far as dogs are capable of rational thought. He parks himself directly in front of your feet or in the middle of a household high traffic area until the storm passes.

Can't See The (Super) Moon For The Trees

I've been waiting for the super moon all day.  Once it showed up it hid behind the trees in my back woods for hours.  Below is the best shot I was able to get of it (so far).
EDIT: I went back out and got a slightly clearer shot.

Poor House Bread

I know I may be treading on thin ice here, posting a picture of food on only the four day of National Photography Month, but I have (what I think is) a good reason.  I had lunch today at Maguire's Irish Pub in Senoia.  I've been in Senoia hundreds of times, but this was my first time at Maguire's.  Lunch was with Shannon Steele, Matt Fields and Jayar (all of the JOY FM).  I ordered the Boxty, something I've never had before.

Boxty, or Poor House Bread at Maguire's in Senoia

Boxty is a potato pancake wrapped around meat and cheese.  It was delicious.  And it seems simple enough that I think I may be adding it to my household menu repertoire.

Moving Towards Decay

There's a law or theorem in physics that states something to the effect of everything is moving towards decay.  Of course, that's my paraphrase.  That would explain why screws never work themselves tighter and why the Christmas tree lights always end up tangled, even though you know you put them away neatly last year.

This third photo of mine for National Photography Month is another example of that principle.

Rob Langer struggles against physics.

Morning Reflection

There's something special about the early morning.  Sitting on my back porch, I spend time with the Lord, praying about and reflecting on the day to come.  The only sounds the robins and redbirds.  The sun from the east warms the breeze that passes through the pines and pin oaks as I prepare for another day.

View from my back porch.  National Photography Month, Day 2.