not seeing the moon for the bush flowers

can you find the moon in this picture? (and click on the picture to enlarge it.) it's not that easy to find. below, i'll include a closeup of where it is.

this was such a lovely day. i rode down the hill and took pictures of aeolian (that is, windblown) shapes & patterns of snow on the frozen reservoir, then more snow-shapes on a hillside (near Starbuck's) below the rising 1st Quarter moon. on the way home, i'd bicycle a little ways and then stop to photograph the moon against various backdrops. these pictures are from a beautiful section of the Sudbury Reservoir Trail that passes by the road at this point.

have also been re-arranging furniture in my apartment to make a more inviting space for me to sit down and actually do some work on Python (and C) programming; i'm such a procrastinator.

and i'm considering moving out to Amherst, both to maybe do some more grad school at UMass and to be in a livelier town again. Southborough is all right, but even *i* start to miss spending time with people.

here's the closup of the bush flower scene (it's a tiny bit to the right of the upper-middle of the above picture):

i just love the optical zoom on my camera.

me and my shadow

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Dreck & Dross Media Productions!

i invite you to get to know someone today (and in so doing, let them get to know you).

and the question of the week -- What parts of past relationships (friendships, romances, whatever) do you remember fondly? If you like, relate a pleasant memory.

i'm your Venus, but not your fire. your moon instead.

here's a recent conjunction between the waxing crescent moon and Venus, near sunset (a few days ago); i took the shot from my bedroom window, as i was too lazy to go outside with the tripod in the cold.

a little more snow expected tonight -- just enough to be pretty.

hip still sore because i'm not disciplined enough not to overdo it. it starts to get better, but then i'm on it too much (for a full moon or too many bicycle rides or whatever) and hurt it again.

just got a dvd of The Godfather on interlibrary loan. never saw it before; should be fun. hah, fun. ok, good. entertaining. blah blah blah.

more new apple tree seedlings going -- three from the seeds of one (organic) apple, and i've just started sprouting the seeds from another. their grandmother, a tree sprouted a year ago and still growing strong, towers over them.

last year's love

here's last year's Valentine's moon. such a beautiful shot, but i hardly knew what i was doing with my camera (and didn't even have it set to capture the highest quality image, nor did i take enough other pictures at that location, rushing off to try to compose other shots at other places, which is a bad idea with an extremely limited time window).

am at the library today, re-recording last week's Essential Mix, since the original got somewhat messed up by me doing to much on the internet while recording.

have been spending quality time with some old friends -- Mary Ann and Michael C. -- writers, of course. THE MILL ON THE FLOSS (which i haven't read before, at least not to the end) and SPHERE (which is much fluffier, but still a lot of fun and a great ride).

with MILL, it's the first time in *years* that i've found myself really caring what happens to people in the story. i really don't want Maggie to end up marrying Stephen, but Phillip instead. i still have the last chunk of the book to go.

also just finished Daniel Dennett's SWEET DREAMS: Philosophical Obstacles To A Science Of Consciousness. great great stuff. my hero. makes me want to go back to grad school.

the only Valentine i'm sending out this year

another moon shot from the morn of 03 February. difficult to compose much of a picture at that magnification (and keep a fixed-position object like the moon in the frame), but i generally like anything with the moon visible.

another day in the library, recording another Essential Mix. this week it's John Askew -- wonderful trance techno; not much vocals; definitely a keeper.

tomorrow we're forecast for a snowstorm, but i'd bet we don't get more than 6 inches here in Southborough. any takers? ;-)

i've just been down to see what kind of shape my bookstore is in, only to discover that the library trustees have carted off all the books. (btw, they're having the room repainted & recarpeted, if i haven't mentioned.) so it doesn't look like i'll be re-opening for a while.

on the anatomical front, my hip still hurts some, but is improving.

on the book front, i'm still happily wading through The Mill On The Floss, trying not to rush it but to stop and admire certain especially praiseworthy bits of phrasing (which are the main reasons i'm such a big George Eliot fan).

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY, ALL!

more moon

this was on the golf course in Southborough, on the morning of the 3rd. a little artifice with the moon -- it was overexposed, so i photoshopped in one with a little contrast.

i feel like something of a cripple again, although i'm probably walking better than i have in a while; i put a 1/2" heel lift back in my left shoe, hoping that my pelvis & hips will fare better with the adjustment prescribed by an orthopedic specialist fifteen years ago (but that i stopped wearing after a couple years).

blood drive this afternoon; bid me bleed well. :-)

c'mon now -- big smile, everyone

ok, so i'm in a silly mood. but i encourage you all -- relax, have a drink (or not), and watch some classic Tom Baker 'Dr Who' episodes; it always does me a world of good.

still cold as sin out there, and no end in sight; i'm getting tired of wearing my hood when i bicycle down the hill. April, come she will . . . and soon, i hope.

and somebody tell George W. to get with it and hold talks with the president of Syria -- it's about time he swallowed his pride and tried to elicit some co-operation in the region, instead of just intensifying the mess in Iraq.

do you prefer artifice or nature?

so, artifice or nature? can anyone tell the difference? or does it even really matter? the picture in my last blog entry was somewhat faked -- the moon in it was overexposed, so i pasted in another image of the moon properly exposed. today's picture is authentic & natural (just shot at a lower exposure level).

is it better not talking to people much? i don't anymore, and i find it to be a lot easier -- they don't expect anything of me, and i don't expect anything of them. the new statistic buzz these days seems to be that we spend more time with our computers than with our spouses -- a good thing, or a bad?

just watched the movie 'Crash' again. disturbing, but with some redemption. maybe the best film of 2004 (or whatever year it came out).

the moon on the breast of the newfallen snow

it was snowing when i went to bed, but i woke at 5 o'clock this morning and looked out the window -- it was clearing, and the moon was perfect!

i broke fast and went outside for some great predawn & dawn moonset pictures (though it was *cold* out there); the entire landscape glowed from the moon -- it was magic.

if you didn't get a chance to see the moon in person, here it is secondhand.

Boston bomb scare -- duh!

ok, here's a picture of the device -- NDR found me one. must run; my laptop's running on reserve power.

Department of Homeland Hysteria

did any of you *see* the devices that were mistaken for bombs in Boston? a circuit board with LEDs and a fairly simple control circuit, four D batteries, and a light sensor (to turn the device on after dark). it was about as sophisticated as a 3rd grade science fair project. no explosives. it bore no resemblance whatsoever to a bomb.

i mean, what are they -- idiots? maybe i'm no expert in electronic hardware, but even i could see within a few seconds of seeing a picture of the device that it wasn't a bomb. how could you have a bomb with no explosives? and these are the people supposedly overseeing our security?

someone should tell them if there's snow forecast to fall overnight; otherwise they might wake up and think they've stumbled onto a major cocaine distribution ring and close down the city again.