Groundhog Sports Black and Gold Beads

Happy Groundhog’s Day. A friend sent an email of a groundhog finding a Lombardi trophy as a shadow.

You can click here for all the serious information from the official website in Punxsutawney PA.

I hear there are some competitors around the country but Phil lives close by ….   “If Candlemas be fair and clear, there’ll be two winters in the year.”       or this poem from Wikipedia “In Scotland the tradition may also derive from an English poem:

As the light grows longer
The cold grows stronger
If Candlemas be fair and bright
Winter will have another flight
If Candlemas be cloud and rain
Winter will be gone and not come again
A farmer should on Candlemas day
Have half his corn and half his hay
On Candlemas day if thorns hang a drop
You can be sure of a good pea crop

not sure about the shadow. Will find out in the morning. Spring or more winter?
One year(1990) my sister and I went to Punxsutawney to see Phil the groundhog. Pre-Groundhog Day movie.

2010 in Review from wordpress

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

Featured image

Madison Square Garden can seat 20,000 people for a concert. This blog was viewed about 69,000 times in 2010. If it were a concert at Madison Square Garden, it would have performed about 3 times.

 

In 2010, there were 352 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 451 posts. There were 633 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 2gb. That’s about 2 pictures per day.

The busiest day of the year was May 31st with 18,398 views. The most popular post that day was My Bookshelf .

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were reddit.com, mail.yahoo.com, mail.live.com, jimmyr.com, and facebook.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for disco ball, new york city, city rooftops, new york rooftops, and new york city at night.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

My Bookshelf May 2010
11 comments

2

New York City Rooftops by Night Light July 2009
4 comments and 1 Like on WordPress.com,

3

Furry Convention in Pittsburgh June 2010
11 comments

4

Their Eyes Looked at Me as I Walked By- I Had to Photograph Them June 2010
8 comments

5

Memories Sparked by Disco Ball Reflections? November 2009
1 comment

Homestead Smokestacks at Night

You see images of these stacks often. This one from the parking lot by the movie theatre.  All that is left of the US Steel Homestead Works- a dozen smokeless stacks.

Former steel mill site now a shopping complex, restaurants and movie theatres.

How to Put on a Swim Cap Before Your Event

Experimenting with the settings on the camera from across the pool.  The swimmers have to wet the cap before putting it on! Caught the cascade of pool water with a 70-200 L series lens(Canon). Converted to black and white as the color was a distraction from the water splashing.

The swim cap held a lot of water.

The Water Balloons at Field Day

Red teams, blue teams. Hot, muggy weather. Friday at school was Field Day. Tricycle races, tug-of-war, scratchy burlap potato sacks. My station was Golf Ball Relay- balance a golf ball in the bowl of a spoon,walk  the course without dropping it. Such concentration!  The station after mine, run by my colleague Erin,  was the water balloon toss. Take a step back and lob it across to a partner.  The filled balloons like swollen jelly beans, waiting in the giant garbage can, told me to run upstairs to my locker, get the camera out and photograph them between morning and afternoon sessions.  The students were so excited to go to the water balloons when Mr. Miller blew the whistle three times.

Water Balloons reflection
Noticed my reflections in the balloons, like a cameo.

Pointe Shoes Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre

Using an India Ink Artist Pen, I wrote ballet terms in French on the right shoe, and on the left shoe, all the ballets the Pittburgh Ballet Theatre has performed the past 40 years.  This pair of pointe shoes is on display at the Benedum this weekend and ballet goers can bid on them in a silent auction. The call was for artists to make an artwork using a pair of used pointe shoes, which you could pick up in the strip where they practice.  Just before I turned them in I took a quick photo of them in the car. They are in an acrylic box for display.  Update Saturday afternoon:  Just got a call that the shoes were selected to be in the top five! Chosen by Eric C Shiner, The Milton Fine Curator of Art at the Warhol Museum! Invited to a Swan Lake Soiree Cast Party tomorrow afternoon.  I am excited!

Artwork for the Silent Auction Fundraiser at Swan Lake
Ballet terms in French on right shoe, Repertoire on the left shoe

Kite Flying

Uncle Robert was an avid kite flier.  He had all shapes and sizes of kites and would fly them  expertly wherever he traveled. Family and friends see a kite and he comes to mind.  He was with us today.  One time he and Aunt Rhea visited us in Clarion (1982)and we drove to the football stadium parking lot.  He pulled a cool looking kite out of the trunk of his car. He had it soaring in no time at all.  Mark was just about the age Michael is now. I remember how excited Mark was to see the kite sail in the sky. Today the wind was strong  and Laura had the idea to try the kite with Michael and Jack.  They loved it!  Mark told me we bought Uncle Robert a kite in Bibione, Italy– a paratrooper and we mailed it from Germany.

Michael and Laura fly a kite in the backyard,
Another first. Today it is flying a kite. Michael tried to fly it too but Laura kept in the air the longest.

Christmas House Lights at Night

Last year I used this house as my Christmas Card- From Not My House to Your House greeting.  Photographed it again last night, a year later. No snow this time, though. It appeals to me, even if it is over the top!

Last year a 24-70L Lens This year a 50-1.4LSeries ( Canon)