Carnations, curbside. Found Sunday morning as I parked the car on Sedgwick Street. Millvale PA. I was headed to Holy Spirit Church for a First Communion.
Category: What I Found
Magi With Gift on Vending Machine and the Ice Cream Sandwich Vacuum
What I found after lunch at the inservice today at Pittsburgh Filmmakers-
Sure this King has been shot a thousand times but it was my first sighting and he made me laugh out loud when I looked up and saw him.
I did attempt to purchase an ice cream sandwich ( I know, I know….) from the frozen vending machine and the lid of the freezer compartment opened and the vacuum hose was at the ready to suck up a sandwich but the machine was empty and rejected my dollar bill. Waaaaaaaaah!
The man at the equipment desk with the retro Pirates hat came to assist and told me that sometimes, if you are lucky, the ice cream sandwiches get stuck together and he has actually seen as many as FIVE get sucked up and dispensed. Several colleagues waited with me, hopefully. EMPTY!
And here is the shot I got when I left my driveway on the second day of back to the school year. Just had the iPhone camera once again.
I Swear This ’57 Chevy Has a Face
(At least I think it’s a 1957 from the images I could find on google.
If you think I’m wrong, let me know)
You can see why they made the Pixar movie CARS. Two eyes and a nose and a mouth are perfect and lend themselves to being humanized, animated and given the ability to talk.
Just in case you need a little something to keep you busy on weekends.
It’s only a mile from my house and I keep seeing her look at me when I drive by. Cars are female, right? Like boats? (Except in the movie CARS there are a lot of guy cars) But do you still hear comments like, “She’s a real beaut!” or ” I got her up about seventy on the straightaway.” when referring to a car. How did boats and cars get designated female and is that something old fashioned that is totally out of style? Here’s some debate I was able to find on the subject at English Forums.
Shoot Where You Are
Culled from the day’s catch- didn’t photograph any food making today but here is what I photographed on Saturday.
School’s out for the summer so I’m not in my home territory. Most days I shoot photographs as I drive around the city. But I am seeing different scenery these days. We went to a T-ball game on Saturday morning.
Four Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies fell out of the van onto the pavement and their bright orange caught my eye but I thought, nah, four bitty snack crackers are not worth a photograph since we have to get to the game and haul the fold-up chairs and the bag of snacks for the team. I mean another day I could do a Snack Cracker still life but we were in a rush.
Imagine my surprise when we returned to the van. The neon orange obliterated. Ants working hard to live.
and a close up detail
and then as we pulled out of the school parking lot by the baseball fields, there was a church parking lot and a scene I wanted to photograph. This is when you are probably annoying to your daughter-in-law but she doesn’t mind and pulls over by the dumpster and I got out and took about 4 quick shots on the gray day.
and the detail. My DIL asked if I wanted to come back and pick it up to take back home since it wasn’t broken!
A quick trip to the zoo and the reptile house. The kids got a chance to touch the Rosy Boa. I photographed the Pythons devouring rabbits but it is too graphic.
The Columbus Zoo has a lovely 1914 Carousel, restored. The youngest 3 grandkids took a ride.
and youngest granddaughter Maura in a quiet moment
What I Found on the Sidewalk by School
I walked on by-
nearly passed it up-
even thought it caught my eye.
It’s a rush and a hike between schools.
Time’s always short.
But after I stepped past, I turned around
got down on one knee and shot this little gift
to me- hard boiled yolk, a bit dried,
rolled in sandy crumbs,
abandoned on a sidewalk, fell from a lunch bag
or on the way to the nearby dumpster, missed.
Easter is over.
Didn’t make it to the egg salad bowl.
I drove by after school, to see if it was smashed
maybe rolled an inch, more dry, but still there
all those hours later, just not in as good a light!
Two Upright Sweepers Wait for Pick Up
My family always called these vacuum cleaners but in Pennsylvania you “run the sweeper”. These two are in Clintonville (Laura’s Neighborhood) when we walked on Saturday. The sun shone down on them as they stood at attention.
A portfolio of my work would be incomplete with the garbage studies.
Formerly Nick’s Fat City, Byzantine Church Reflection and a Ghoul
What Would You Rate It? C+
Saw this across the street from the church where I shot a wedding. No way to avoid the reflection. Looked like a rating to me. 
Stale Blue Peeps Still Life
What would you do if it’s June and you found an opened box of Marshmallow PEEPS® on top of your daughter-in-law’s washing machine in the laundry room? My son’s washing machine, too but there they were, sitting there, already opened. Someone had eaten half the double box of the little chicks. And true, Easter was the end of April so how hard and dried out must they be by now? Then I thought to myself, I like them with a bit of stale crust, not fresh. When was the last time you ate a Marshmallow Peep?
Darn, they’re BLUE.
I’m always going on and on about how I don’t like to eat anything blue. Wah Wah Wah. Blue food grosses me out I always say. Blueberries are really deep purple not blue. I never liked those raspberry popsicles, either. Blue food seems so fake, like the frosting on a Smurf Cake!
HA! Okay, I won’t eat one but– there was some great light streaming through their foyer windows, even with the new UV protection film they had put on last week. What to photograph? The older kids at dive team, youngest sleeping, Jack watching Tom and Jerry. I took the box of blue PEEPS, put them on the stone tile floor, turned them a bit, let the light catch on the cellophane and reflect from their sugary skin. Oh yes, I was photographing the stale blue peeps, how interesting the light was. I could see a bit of sparkle from the sugar coating. I wondered if they were still moist inside? When was Easter, I calculated the degree of freshness. That stale factor seemed attractive to me and I what does it matter anyway because remember I don’t eat anything BLUE.
I’ll just separate the one from the herd, flock, group, family, row…..yes, there it was, the white marshmallowy interior of a PEEP. \
The guts exposed.
Let me adjust the white balance on the camera settings with the white insides showing now. See how the light reflects on the white?
Oh I remembered the Mother Goose Rhyme about old Hannah Bantry or maybe she was young.
Hannah Bantry,
In the pantry,
Gnawing at a mutton bone.
How she gnawed,
How she clawed it,
When she found herself alone.
And you know what happened next. I broke the cardinal rule about Don’t eat anything BLUE. I ripped off the tail end of that PEEP and it was chewy and very stale. Dried to perfection. Just seasoned not raw or gushy. Totally disgusting. Delicious. Childhood remembered, but they were yellow then. I ate it, chewed it, swallowed the sweet sweet sweetness of the sugary confection. And photographed the evidence. PEEPS® and I are about a year apart in age.
I put back the other ones in the still opened, airing-out-box of PEEPS®, right back on top of the washing machine in the laundry room.
I confess.
I ate it AND enjoyed doing so but limited consumption to a lone PEEP. Honest. Even though it was BLUE!!
There are all sorts of shapes, recipes and crazy info about PEEPS® and the Just Born Manufacturers.
What will you admit to eating when no one is watching?
Lost Sole
When I find these things I know there’s a story behind the scene. The light seemed perfect, causing the edges to reflect the setting sun. Anna, 7, said, “I wonder whose shoe is that.”
*Taking the wordpress challenge to postaday2011.*