Daily Photos

< January 2013 >

January 1, 2013
It`s rough being a bird in winter. Parties. Noisemaking. Celebrations. Not my life. Solitude. Reticence. Equanimity. That`s my life. Oh, what those Chinese factory workers must think of us. The birds wouldn`t eat these berries last week, but now they fight over them. It`s rough being a bird in winter.

January 2, 2013
Hurry up and melt before it snows again. I don`t drive my car much, but at least I can when I need to. Winter is fleeting. Weeds are forever. I have to walk an unusually long route home to avoid the icy sidewalks of my more inconsiderate neighbors, so my `commute` takes five minutes instead of the usual three. Philately in America takes a nosedive with the latest stamps from the broke-and-getting-broker Postal Service.

January 3, 2013
Missing something? About ready to fall on some unfortunate passerby. Unfortunately, he saw his shadow. The most dangerous thing I did today was take this photo. Another misbehaving couch had to be discarded today (see August 8, 2012).

January 4, 2013
It`s a bad day when a test shot makes it onto the Web. Instinct said `Don`t go up there,` but destiny was waiting. Actually, it was a very excitable dog that was waiting, and she controlled my destiny for about the next half-hour. Whenever the dog decided to look at the camera for a brief moment, I had to hope her humans were smiling. Wireless Internet remains an elusive dream.

January 5, 2013
It all went downhill from here. WHOOSH! Halftime. WHOOSH! This was a rare occurrence for one of the teams.

January 6, 2013
Kind of late for the first picture of the day. Not a good sign. How ironic it would be if I failed to take five photos on the same day that a newspaper article appeared praising my eight-year unbroken streak. The article has prompted a lot of visits to this Web site. After a two-hour technical support call to India, and visits to a couple of stores, wireless Internet is finally mine. Wireless Internet certainly involves a lot of wires.

January 7, 2013
Christmas is over, kiddies. Back to school. This building is melting. Contrasts. These leaves will never leave each other. The New York Municipal Archives just sent me a certified copy of Paul Laurence Dunbar`s marriage certificate.

January 8, 2013
Christmas really is over, kiddies. The hot seat. What is there for them to eat at this time of year? How to get run over at an intersection. Hoping they won`t be needed again soon.

January 9, 2013
This picture captures speed but can`t convey the SOUND! Are you sure it`s a good idea to go sledding here? Quittin` time. The ornate scrollwork enhances the beauty of this scene. Another early evening window.

January 10, 2013
This evening I had another adventure with the Springboro school board (see March 20, 2012). I thought that the hard part would be finding the library to take their group photo. Turns out the group picture will not be in the quiet library. It`s in the auditorium with hundreds of people looking on. I got there early and set up my camera. Later on, five TV news crews arrived, looking at me like, `Who`s this guy?` An ordinary school board meeting turned into a spectacle when the topic of guns for teachers got onto the agenda. Thirty seconds before the meeting, in full view of everyone, the school board members posed for the photo right here. I fled the auditorium; they had to stay and face the public.

January 11, 2013
The snow and ice are melting into a toxic-looking sludge. This picture clearly violates the Rule of Thirds. It had door-like surfaces on three sides. I didn`t get close. It might have been a trap, or a portal to another universe. The snow and ice are melting into a peaceful-looking lake. I said to the cashier, `I`m looking for a booklet called `A History of Race Relations in the Miami Valley.` She said, `What`s it about?`

January 12, 2013
All the cops in the donut shops say, `Way-oh-way-oh-wayeohway-oh!` THE BANGLES I made an effort to get outside today and take some good pictures to make up for the trash I`ve put online here lately. Despite my good intentions, it was still winter and there wasn`t much to see. Look what I saw. My only companion in the garden.

January 13, 2013
Thirsty? In the bleak midwinter. MFG`D BY THE DAYTON IRON FENCE CO. To view Photo No. 4, please enter your membership ID. The detached flash in my left hand added a bit of sparkle.

January 14, 2013
Weekend over, back to putting trash online. Here`s more advanced technology at work (see February 29, 2012). Alphabetical and color coded. What could be better? This is what my walk home from work normally looks like (unlike November 23, 2012, or January 2 above). De folks wid plenty o` plenty got a lock on de door, `fraid somebody`s a-goin` to rob `em while dey`s out a-makin` more. What for? IRA GERSHWIN Honey, I`m home.

January 15, 2013
The ides of January. I moustache you a question, but I`ll shave it for later. Facetnating. Decisions, decisions. I planted some bird seed, but it didn`t grow a bird.

January 16, 2013
Exercising their hair. Chicken soup is very healthy -- unless you`re a chicken. Pretty shot (see March 28, 2012). I should get it framed. The extra knuckles in my fingers are often embarrassing. The flash shoots into a mirror to my left, the camera is pointing to the wall on my right. I create a profile with a stray appendage and take lots and lots of shots.

January 17, 2013
Sailor`s delight. Let`s see . . . turn two times right, one time to the left . . . Gotta polish it every day. They`re performing surgery . . . on a side of beef. I hang out with the artistic crowd.

January 18, 2013
I`m in good shape since I spend so much time at the gym. Why there are three referees. A coach, standing far away, disputed the foul call made by the ref standing nearby. Don`t encourage him. Payback for photo #2. IT`S FRIDAY!

January 19, 2013
Just because they don`t get the Weather Channel doesn`t mean they don`t know what`s coming. Stay warm, birdie. Dayton: the birthplace of aviation. Hey, uh, when you get run over, can I have your camera? This place is NEVER open, at least not when I`m awake. It`s the SHADOW of the tree that I find so remarkable.

January 20, 2013
When the ground is cold, every squirrel is a flying squirrel. What does one do to commemorate the death of a rose? Send roses? Emergency exit only. As the train passes, I`m glad to see the driver isn`t texting. I took this same photo yesterday, but deleted it since I had many other fabulous shots to choose from. Not so today.

January 21, 2013
A dedicated photographer would`ve done a better job of capturing the snow, but I just wanted to get home quickly. It`s snowing! Shoe`s untied! Great timing. Enigma. Taking pictures of other people working is EXHAUSTING. Many breeds of spiders do not live through the winter, but they have left behind their next generation in egg sacs.

January 22, 2013
It was seven degrees as I walked to work and when I got there I found the sun just starting to defrost the front door. It was a bad day to run out of gas. Later, it warmed up to twelve degrees. Jogging weather! I like to look at my photographs. Other people should too. See August 24, 2012, and May 25, 2011. The struggle for life. On a day like today, some will lose.

January 23, 2013
Okay, now I`m literally putting pictures of trash online. Don`t you have a Kleenex? Alleyway eloquence. About my speed. No coworkers were harmed in the making of this photo.

January 24, 2013
Could be grizzly bear. They come down from the mountains in the winter when their food runs low. Can I have some chocolate syrup and sprinkles on mine? Making the sidewalk safe for joggers (see January 22 above). Could be morlock. They come up from underground seeking Eloi. I suppose if I stood still long enough, a patch of snow shaped like me would be preserved in my shadow.

January 25, 2013
I leave work earlier than my fellow employees, giving me time for mischief in the parking lot. At least the snow ought to help next year`s corn crop. Black and white photography. Kold kitty. After a bit of neglect, winter has remembered its duty.

January 26, 2013
Winter is a difficult time for birds, and for photographers. Below this was a shrub with second-generation icicles. If it were being constructed today, the building would be made of steel with fake bricks attached to the exterior. Scenes from the frozen tundra. As I took this, standing warm and dry in my boots, a girl walked past through the snow and slush wearing flip-flops.

January 27, 2013
I spent the night in an abandoned Quaker Oats grain silo. The silo has been turned into a very nice hotel. My balcony window had been cut using a massive drill. Inside my little round hotel room, I felt like a hobbit. Let`s see: 92 TV channels, or a book? CHAPTER ONE ...

January 28, 2013
The hotel shampoo promised to increase the volume of my hair, but I didn`t want to wake people in the next room. She`s getting rather old, but she still looks good and carried me 400 miles safely and smoothly. I am grateful. It`s always winter in Narnia. I didn`t intend to capture falling rain in this photo. Far Hills Avenue at quitting time.

January 29, 2013
Want some chips? Sock it to me. RICHARD M. NIXON Believe it or not, Dayton appears on a globe of the world. And Cincinnati doesn`t. Here`s the chopper. Here`s the steeple. Have a nice trip.

January 30, 2013
Wet and windy Wednesday. It`ll leave you in stitches. Will this be enough to paint the town? Ambiguity. Hard-boiled, soft-boiled, deviled: what`s the difference?

January 31, 2013
Some photographers don`t know when to quit. Thankayou boyz, that wuzza wunnerful, wunnerful! LAWRENCE WELK This is a real place. Thinking ahead to graduation already. I don`t have a photo for this caption.

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