Neighborhood Walk Shots - Palm Frond Bookmarks

If you go where yesterday's post was captured and swing the camera to the right of the tree in the foreground, you'll find these palm fronds.  The points and sharp lines make for decent Glowing and Found Edges effects in Photoshop, thus are included here also:

Neighborhood Walk Shots - Waller Park Bridge

This bridge crosses the pond at Waller Park, and is a good place for graduate portraits, etc.  Made it into a bookmark but wasn't satisfied, so am posting it here in its larger extent.

Neighborhood Walk Shots - Weed Bookmarks

 

Neighborhood Walk Pics - White Flower Bookmarks

 

Neighborhood Walk Shots - White Flower with Gradient Background

Still playing with gradients, I decided to use more muted colors here in order to make the brilliance of the white flower stand out a little more.

Neighborhood Walk Shots - Serendipitous White Flower

I remember learning the word serendipity.  While a college freshman I was a member of the Lutheran Church on North Street across from the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University, which is now a law outfit called Fairchild Price Haley & Smith.  If memory serves, the building was originally the home of Thomas J. Rusk, but don't quote me on that.  At the very least it was evidently at one time a very stately mansion, with brick pavement leading to the original carriage house in the back.

One evening we had a youth group activity, and the pastor built a pretty good lesson around the concept of serendipity with some examples of how it happens occasionally in science and society.  Remember it to this day, and I think of him and that lesson every time I make a serendipitous discovery.

Such as the one we see above.  It looks like a beautiful white flower, doesn't it?  Well, it wasn't a white flower at all, but a yellow one.  After I'd copied the flower itself into a new layer, on a lark I clicked on the Autocolor tool in Photoshop, and the relatively drab, yellow petals turned into this!  Naturally I went to town doing other things with it, which will be posted tomorrow and perhaps the next day.

Original image below, cropped to square dimensions:

Neighborhood Walk Shots - Two Reflection Shots

The above was captured at Waller Park; below is a bookmark facing the other direction across the pond:

Neighborhood Walk Shots - Flowers on Fence

Thought this made a pretty good bookmark.  Did a little repair work on the fence...

Neighborhood Walk Shots - Blue and Red Flowers

One of your more traditional flower shots, this was just off the sidewalk trail next to a playground.  Amazing what a little sharpening will do...in spite of the fantastic clarity offered by the D850's sensor combined with the walkabout lens normally attached, I routinely increase the sharpness by 50% at 4px radius in Photoshop.  The exception would be portrait-type stuff, which gets only 25%, and architecture shots, which are increased 100%; both still at 4px.

Neighborhood Walk Shots - Waller Park Viewing Dock

Reminiscent of this post from Kickerillo, which was also a picture of a viewing dock through trees.

Neighborhood Walk Shots - Rabbit

Now for a little wildlife, animal-wise.  As noted in this post, these guys are everywhere around the neighborhood, and are skittish only when dogs and hawks get close.

Another view below of same:

Neighborhood Walk Shots - Indian Blanket Bookmarks

If you'll also note from the post of 09/26/20, it says and I quote, "Think I see a bookmark in the future of this guy".  Well, here they are...

Neighborhood Walk Shots - Indian Blanket with Psychedelic Gradient Backgrounds

Still playing with and learning about gradient backgrounds in Photoshop.  Think these two give it a 60-ish, psychedelic look, when the flower children had posters like this up on their walls...

Walk Shots - Indian Blanket Flower, Again

Do you see the difference between this flower and the one posted on 09/26/20?  Yes, the one posted a couple of years ago was missing a petal, and I repaired it for today's post.  Of course, since the colors are so vivid and bright I had to replace the foliage with a black background:

Also played with gradient backgrounds some to create the frame below, as well as the two to be posted tomorrow:

Houston Back Yard Landscaping - Swiss Char (I think)

As a last post of our back yard landscaping and yard shots, this is one from the venerated garden described a few days ago.  Some of the leaves are a little under the weather, but decided that they were intact enough to make this a keeper for a bookmark.

Next we'll be moving on to some neighborhood walk shots that have been resurrected and dusted off to be made into blogworthy pics...

Houston Back Yard Landscaping - Flower with Ruffled Petals

As in the pics posted just a few days ago (on the 10th and 11th), the symmetry of this one made it a candidate for a square picture.  And also as in the pics posted just a few days ago, decided to apply both black and gray backgrounds:

Houston Back Yard Landscaping - Bean Flower Against Dark Background

Another perspective of a long bean flower - color-saturated a bit to bring out the purples and yellows.  Am pretty sure some of these have been posted before, so here's another one...

Houston Back Yard Landscaping - Long Bean Flower with Garden Decoration / Chinese Produce

Now moving into the inner garden of our back yard - that sacrosanct space maintained by my wife and my wife alone.  The background was kept deliberately dark to provide contrast against the bean flower.

And when I say bean, I mean looonnng bean.  This whole business of how seriously Asians take their gardens, and the things that grow within them, are still fascinating to me, even after being married to the culture for 34 years.  In fact, this expands into the whole of their produce and what would seem strange to us, but perfectly normal to them.  Take these long beans...they grow to a length of two feet or more if cultivated correctly!  On more than one occasion Chenjean's gone out there to pick a mere five or six beans, which suffice to serve as the vegetable for an entire meal.

Same can be said of the loofa.  Those things can grow to a gargantuan size, and take over anything nearby that's vertical.  Ours climbed a tree and used the roof of our garage as a platform from which they would hang.  Occasionally on walks around the neighborhood we'll see a loofa plant crawl up the entire height of a telephone pole, then down the wire enough to hang some of those things, suspended as if bombs waiting to be dropped.  One can bet a million dollars that it originates from the back yard of an Asian homeowner.

So these things are still interesting to me, and I've benefited not only from a healthier diet, but very much enjoy the education I get of the fascinating cultures from which they originate.  Especially when we go to the supermarket...

Pic below is posted to demonstrate the awesome clarity captured by the Bigger Cahoona.  This was a Christmas gift given to the wife some years ago, so am glad that its still in her garden to enjoy:

Houston Back Yard Landscaping - Yellow Hibiscus with Red Stigmata

Threw this one in simply because it's so pretty, and because the red stigmata provide contrast.  Would make a good 5x7 card someday...

Houston Back Yard Landscaping - Centered Pistil Flower with Solid Backgrounds

While working on this one, discovered that a gray background looks pretty good too, per the pic below:

Houston Back Yard Landscaping - Centered Pistil

Many times I've striven to place the pistil directly in the center of the bowl of one of these, and think the pic above is as good as it's going to get.  Gotta be there at just the right time, before the flower is in full bloom, yet after the parts are fully formed.  And because the symmetry was so good decided to crop it into a square picture.

A couple of effects tomorrow...

Houston Back Yard Landscaping - Beaded Leaf Bookmarks

 

Houston Back Yard Landscaping - Beaded Leaf and Menorah Plant

Was fortunate that one morning it had just rained (or the sprinkler came on), and was able to capture a photo reminiscent of this one taken in Taiwan.  We'll see this leaf again in two bookmarks to be posted tomorrow.

One more of the Menorah plant below:

Houston Back Yard Landscaping - Mehorah Plant Bookmark (vertical)

 

Houston Back Yard Landscaping - Menorah Flower Bud Bookmarks (horizontals)

Pretty easy to see why I called this one Menorah Flower Buds.  Additional horizontals below:

Houston Back Yard Landscaping - Menorah Flower Bud Bookmark

Very similar to the bookmark in yesterday's post, when this guy caught my attention I snapped close to a hundred pictures, then winnowed the collection down to less than ten keepers.  Since it was used to create several bookmarks, tomorrow's post will feature all of those that are horizontally oriented, then one or two of the verticals. 

This whole process of going back to resurrect previously unposted blogworthy pics is a little slower now, as more than 4,000 pictures have been featured in the blog, in more than 3,100 posts, since 2008.  In order to avoid redundancy, I now have to do a search in a folder containing all of the pics from day one...several times discovering that something's already been published.  Quite all right, though - keeps me a little busier doing something I really enjoy.

Houston Back Yard Landscaping - Another Twirly Flower Bud Bookmark / Dreams of Retirement

While I'm at it with bookmarks, here's one from the back yard that reminds me a little of this one, posted in October of 2020 during the pandemic.

_______________

Well, it's hard to believe but I am quickly approaching the age of retirement.  Didn't used to think I'd want to retire at all, as I like what I do for a living, but there've been some changes and now I'm counting the days.

Which leads to the obvious question when discussing this with friends:  What do you want to do after you retire?  First of all, I'll need to overcome the angst of not working.  It's merely a psychological thing, as we're positioned for a comfortable retirement, but I've been either working or going to school non-stop since the age of 13 - with a hiatus here and there for the kids when they were little - and the idea of not having a job and not looking for a job either is a little scary.  Suppose I'll get over it.

But to answer the question:  Naturally I wouldn't mind taking my photography to the next level.  Already have the necessary equipment, so won't have to spend a lot of money on that unless there is serious printing involved.  I'm not a businessman by any means, but the seed's been planted to develop a wall-mounting system that's versatile and unique, and I could use that to either sell my own prints or mount the prints of others for home use.  And even though people don't use bookmarks much any more, think I could do something with those, as some of the 600+ that I've created should be marketable.

Another - and probably more important - skill to use and develop is writing.  For the kiddos and those that come after them I'd like to get into a routine of writing a memory every day.  If that grows into something cohesive over time perhaps there is a book in there somewhere... after all, don't they say that everyone has a book to write?

So those two activities would both be fulfilling and keep the synapses operating.  But there is a problem with that: Too much screen time.  The wife is absolutely correct in that we both spend too much time staring at a screen, so it's best to mix in an activity that takes us away from the computer.  And she, being the more sensible of us two, recommends that we do volunteer work someplace that will be beneficial to the community at large.  Exploring possibilities there in advance.

Then there's flight simulation.  Albeit this would entail more screen time, I'd like to pursue that a little more.  It's amazing how many adults of all ages enjoy the hobby.

So there we go.  Never forgetting that other plans may be in the works... (James 4:13-15)

Houston Side Yard Landscaping - Another Mushroom Bookmark

As can be seen in these posts, I like to take pictures of mushrooms.  And scrolling through them you will see some of my favorite bookmarks featuring this species.  This is another one that just felt right...

Houston Front Yard - Baby Bluejays

...and alas it was not alone, seen here with its nestmate experiencing the same fate.  Later that day one of them had made its way into the next-door neighbor's driveway, where they gently coaxed it into their garage as protection from the hot sun.  It eventually came up missing, however, probably falling victim to one of the neighborhood cats.

Houston Front Yard - Baby Bluejay

Still digging into the past to glean something blogworthy from previously unprocessed pics.  Found a couple of folders in which there were more than 1,200 pictures that were unsorted, so began sifting through, one by one.  Fortunately, there were a few keepers.  These are shots from both our yard and our walks around the neighborhood, so after these bluejay pics are posted today and tomorrow, get ready for a LOT of more traditional flower and plant shots.  Well - coming from me - maybe not so traditional...

This little guy was captured in the spring, on May 3, 2020.  Obviously fell out of a nest in our live oak tree out front.  Being so little and unable yet to fly, all it could do was stand still when movement was detected nearby, rendering him a perfect subject for the Bigger Cahoona.  So I stayed busy for a few minutes snapping away while Chenjean was busy keeping Koko from noticing what was going on.

Two more chosen keepers of this guy are below, the favorite being the one at the bottom:

Lord knows it looked like it was going try and fly away, but just plopped to the ground at first attempt.  Sort of pulled at our heart strings, knowing it was so vulnerable and probably doomed, but we kept our distance and let nature take its course.