AllanThinks

Happy 4th of July

I hope you have a blast!

Crypt

Taken in the crypt of Saint Martin Church, Île de Aix, France. As always, the photo is clickable.

Grounded

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We got home last night after spending 9 days in the Charente Maritime. The trip back was exhausting. It involved three plane trips for a total of around 14 hours in the air. Plus the rushing through airports/customs/passport control/security. Multiple times.

And then I only slept for about 4 hours.

I need a vacation.

Twins

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New Toy

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I've been accused by a friend of buying this solely to take photographs of it.

I really am going to learn to play.

Foot Hills

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Taken in Berea, Kentucky last Thursday. A view of the Appalachian foothills.

Under the Bridge

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Taken in Pittsburgh, PA, Saturday, April 11, 2009.

Untitled

This is a photo of Emily Hagihara, a member of the Lexington band Chico Fellini, who played the Beaux Arts Ball Saturday night.

I am slowly, but surely, working my way through the close to 500 photos I took Saturday. There are a few already up on my Flickr stream.

As always, you can click on the image, and see a larger version on Flickr.

Kind of meta, don't you think?

I took this photo Saturday night at the 40th annual Beaux Arts Ball in Lexington. There was a photo booth set up where attendees could have their photo taken for free.

Sometimes photographs compose themselves.

As always, if you click the photo, you will be taken to it's page on my Flickr photostream, where you can see a larger version of it. And I think it looks even better in the large version.

Having a Beer With Spiderwoman

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Taken yesterday afternoon at Pazzo's Pub. That's our friend Rebecca.

Mother Nature is kind of a bitch this time of year.

The weather has been glorious the past two days. Sunny, warm, an barely a cloud in the sky.

Yesterday Alison and I took our cameras, and went for a long walk down to the University campus, where we took photos and did some shopping. We ended up stopping at Pazzo's Pub, one of our favorite watering holes, where we sat out on their patio, drank a few beers in honor of St. Patrick, and enjoyed an appetizer of pesto bread.

We ran into some old friends of mine, and were later joined by some more friends who shared a couple of pitchers of Kentucky Ale, and some more appetizers with us. They were kind enough to give us a ride home five hours after we had set out on our adventure.

Today, we rode our bicycles downtown to Third Street Stuff Coffee and Gift Shop, where Alison had iced tea, and I had iced coffee. We haven't had the bikes out of the garage since last fall. It was great to ride again, despite having to navigate the terrible traffic in this town. The ride home was during rush hour, and my knuckles were white by the time we got home.

It would be nice to do it again tomorrow, but the weather is expected to be rainy, and the temperature some 25 degrees lower than it was yesterday and today.

This winter has seemed twice as long as usual for Kentucky. I am so over it. But it looks like it will be a while before the spring weather will be here to stay.

Asleep

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Mr. Jones poses, once again, for the Friday Ark.

I will be so glad when winter is over.

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Despite being able to take photos like this.

The ice is gone from the trees and power lines, but there is still ice on the lawns, and on some sidewalks and streets. Our street was plowed the past two days, and is more or less free of ice.

I spent a lot of time last night and today trying to get the three inches of ice and packed, frozen, slush off the back porch. I finally cleared it, only to have the water left behind refreeze into a thin layer of black ice. And ice melter is in very short supply in town.

This afternoon, while downtown with Alison, I slipped on ice, and fell like a sack of potatoes. On my right side this time, unlike just before Christmas, when I skated off the porch and landed on my left side.

When we got home, I took some Advil and arnica, but I have a feeling I am going to be very stiff and sore in the morning. I'm already aching all over.  I wonder if bourbon would help.

And to top it off, there is snow forecast for overnight and tomorrow.

Happy Groundhog Day.

Weather Update

As many of you know, Kentucky, along with a large part of the midwest, was hit by a very severe winter storm this week. Snow, followed by 24 hours of freezing rain, followed by more snow.

From what I have read, and heard, it is as bad as, or worse than the storm in 2003.

I have been stressed out about it all week, wondering if the power was going to go out here like it did then. That was a very traumatic few days for me, and I have had flashbacks all this week. Many of my friends have as well.

Luckily, Alison and I have not lost power to our house. Many around us have though, and many might not have their power restored for 2 weeks or more. With the trees and power lines coated with a half inch of ice, we could still find ourselves in the dark.

The precipitation ended yesterday morning, and in the afternoon, we went for a walk around the neighborhood. Conditions were bad. Trees and utility lines were down everywhere, and many streets were blocked.

Tuesday night, and yesterday, I took a lot of photos. It was one way I tried to keep my fears at bay.

I also tried to find some beauty in the destruction.

You can view a brief slideshow of my photos after the jump.

One more before I try to get some sleep

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This Afternoon

And this evening.

As always, the photos are clickable. If you do click them, you will be taken to their Flickr pages, where you can see a larger version of them.

Stand In The Place Where You Are

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Safe Place

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Posted for The Friday Ark, etc.

The Road (so far)

Not as bad as it could have been.

When I awoke this morning, there was about one and a half inches of snow on the ground, but the precipitation had changed back to a very light rain. Unfortunately, it was 25 degrees outside.

This wasn't nearly as bad as the half inch of ice and four inches of snow that the weather service had predicted at one time yesterday.

The current winter storm warning, which is in effect until 7 p.m., calls for a mixture of sleet and freezing rain today, with as much as a quarter inch of ice accumulating.

Right now, it is not raining, sleeting, or snowing, and the temperature is up to 28 degrees.

The radar seems to indicate the storm has moved to our northeast. I hope there isn't anything else coming in from the southwest.

Oh. Crap.

...WINTER STORM WARNING NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EST /6 PM CST/ TUESDAY... AN AREA OF PRECIPITATION WILL MOVE BACK INTO THE REGION TONIGHT WITH THE HEAVIEST AMOUNTS EXPECTED TO FALL AFTER 4AM.

ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL INDIANA AND NORTH CENTRAL KENTUCKY A MIXTURE OF SNOW AND SLEET IS EXPECTED... CHANGING TO SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN LATE TUESDAY AFTERNOON. ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL KENTUCKY A MIX OF SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN WILL LIKELY OCCUR WITH THE PREVALENT PRECIPITATION BEING FREEZING RAIN.

OVER THE BLUEGRASS REGION OF CENTRAL KENTUCKY A MIX OF SNOW AND SLEET IS EXPECTED TONIGHT... CHANGING TO ALL FREEZING RAIN BY MID MORNING TUESDAY. THE FREEZING RAIN WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE DAY AND GRADUALLY CHANGE TO RAIN TUESDAY NIGHT.

THE MIXED PRECIPITATION WILL GREATLY AFFECT THE TUESDAY MORNING AND AFTERNOON COMMUTE. FREEZING RAIN MAY ALSO SNAP POWER LINES AND TREE BRANCHES. REMEMBER... DO NOT TOUCH A DOWNED POWER LINE.

THIS WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS SLEET OR FREEZING RAIN ARE EXPECTED. THIS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR IMPOSSIBLE.

Unfortunately, the mix of snow and sleet expected over our area tonight is actually a mix of freezing rain and sleet.

This could get ugly.

Oh Snap!

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LOUISVILLE HAS ISSUED A WINTER
STORM WARNING...EFFECTIVE FROM NOON EST /11 AM CST/ TODAY TO 7 AM
EST /6 AM CST/ TUESDAY. THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN
EFFECT.

ONE TO FOUR INCHES OF SNOW AND ICE ARE EXPECTED TO ACCUMULATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. THIS WINTRY MIX WILL AFFECT THE MONDAY AFTERNOON AND TUESDAY MORNING RUSH HOUR.

I don't mind the snow. It's the ice part that scares me. It's only been 5 years since the last cataclysmic ice storm here.

That's just too soon.

I hope they are wrong.

They're Here!

We finally received our wedding photos, and we are very pleased with the results.

Alison is posting a few at a time in a set on her Flickr photostream.

Up late.

I'm counting my blessings, which are many. I am very fortunate. Life is good.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Bonnie "Prince" Billy

Fresco

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Another shot from the Palace of Versailles. I think I am about done with the photos from the trip. I'll take one last look and see if there is anything else worth posting.

So keep checking the Flickr set.

Arched

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Another shot from Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris. I've added a few more to the Flickr set.

All of these have been post-processed in Adobe Lightroom 2. I downloaded a 30 day trial of it before we headed to France. I need to contact Adobe about doing a cross platform upgrade from Photoshop CS2 to CS4, now that we have made the switch to MacBooks.

I might buy Lightroom too, when I purchase the PS upgrade. It has taken some getting used to, but it has some nice features. But still lacks the more advances PS tools I like to use some times.

Last time I looked, though, Adobe was offering a discount on Lightroom when purchased with a PS upgrade, so I will probably take advantage of it.

Big Ass Balloon Dog in the Palace of Versailles

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More art appreciation. Doesn't the balloon dog look like he is gazing at the painting?

This piece, by Jeff Koons, is called Balloon Dog (Magenta), and was one of about a dozen pieces by the artist on display throughout the Palace of Versailles.

The juxtaposition of these neo-pop pieces with the classical art of the palace was, to say the least, intriguing.

It turns out there are 5 Balloon Dog pieces, in different colors. I've been told that the red one is currently on display in Berlin.

I am still not done processing photos from our trip, but what I have done can be seen here.

This one's for my art appreciatin' brother.

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I hope you had a great election day, and I hope you voted.

Our trip to Paris is winding down. We've had a pretty good trip, despite some cold and rainy weather. But I kind of wish we were already home, so we could follow the election returns.

We can't stay up all night to keep track of things, as Ali and the kids have to get up early to catch a train to La Rochelle. So learning the outcome will have to wait until our morning.

Have fun tonight, however you plan to spend it.

I have only one thing to say...

...after our visit to the Palace of Versailles.