flowers, humor, photography, seasons

Goldenrod

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Ah, such a cheery yellow graces the month of September.  Alas, ragweed flowers out of sight at the same time, giving goldenrod a bad rep among some people with hay fever.  While ragweed sheds pollen to the whims of the wind, goldenrod holds pollen that will be picked up and transported by insect pollinators.  You’re not likely to inhale any goldenrod pollen unless a bee crawls up your nose.

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birds, haiga, haiku, humor, photography

Teenager

Too old for childhood;

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too young for raising children.

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Blurry persona.

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Like many juvenile birds, this male cardinal sat still and looked befuddled, then changed position a little, and then sat still and looked befuddled.  With his face centered in the focus frame and a moderately fast shutter speed, he should have been in focus.  My camera’s autofocus probably got distracted by the twigs all around him.  While my camera has good manual overrides for most of its automatic choices, its manual focusing is a lame joke.  So I made lemonade from lemons with the final line of my haiku.

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haiga, haiku, photography

Abandoned Temple

The haiku here is a 5-7-5 version of the last 3 lines from a poem by Patrick Jennings.

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Memories linger
tho nobody is still here
to remember them.

Visit Lingering to see the inspiration.

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haiga, haiku, photography

Basking Snake

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I glanced down and broke stride just in time to avoid stepping on this snake, then took some photos.  I was briefly puzzled that the snake seemed to have chosen dappled sun for basking when full sun was available, but the whole driveway may well have been in dappled sun when the snake chose a spot earlier in the morning.  It’s more fun to imagine that the snake had to rethink choosing looks over practicality.

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growing old, life hacks, photography

Repurposed Spoon

A big serving spoon can be a better shoehorn than a shoehorn.  Looks better too.

While shoehorns with short handles make me bend over too much, those with long handles slip off my heel prematurely.  The intermediate length of a big serving spoon’s handle works well.  The bowl of the spoon cradles my heel and stays there until I want it to move.  Shoehorns are too flat for cradling.

Tho slow at learning physical skills, I got the hang of using the spoon as a shoehorn quickly.  The trick is to tilt the handle forward while lifting the spoon out from between heel and shoe.  (Pulling straight up would scrap the edge of the bowl along the Achilles tendon.)  The lower leg is in the way, so a slight tilt to the side is needed along with the forward tilt.  This is simpler than it sounds.  If I can do it easily, so can most people w/o specific disabilities.

Does the spoon really need to be brushed stainless steel like mine?  No, but it does need a thin bowl that is smooth on the outside as well as the inside.  Go for metal to be sure.  The spoon will last forever and be seen often, so it’s worthwhile to get one that’s eye-friendly.

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