Thursday, October 10, 2024
New Orleans at Night

During our river cruise on the steamboat Natchez in New Orleans, I snapped this picture looking upriver to the skyline of New Orleans and its reflection on the water. It was a very pleasant evening.

Tuesday, March 26, 2024
The Kemah Boardwalk

It's September, and I'm getting tired of the heat, humidity, and rain, and the pictures of storm debris on the Welcome Page that remind me we're still in hurricane season. So I decided to take a step back in time to reexperience some nice weather for a change. Here is the famous Kemah Boardwalk on a pleasant Spring afternoon. Definitely looking forward to Fall, if it ever arrives.

Monday, July 8, 2024
After the Hurricane: Tree Limbs Everywhere (part 2)
Here's another photo of the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl, showing all the tree branches and leaves strewn across the front yard. All the debris got carted off, eventually, and the street is now back to normal. (Maybe I'll show that in an upcoming Picture of the Week.)

Monday, July 8, 2024
After the Hurricane: Tree Limbs Everywhere
Hurricane Beryl stripped a lot of leaves and branches off the trees in the neighborhood, leaving debris scattered across yards and streets. We took pictures of the carnage before we rolled up our sleeves and raked up the mess.

Monday, July 8, 2024, around 11:45 a.m.
Another Hurricane, Another Dismembered Fence in the Back
Hurricane Beryl partially disassembled the back fence, and scattered tree limbs everywhere. We have a 24-foot gap in the fence, seen here, plus another 8-foot gap on the other end (to the left of the photo). The fallen sections are still relatively intact, and just need to be reattached. However, we lost one fencepost, behind the black diamond crepe myrtle at center-left; it snapped off at ground level. At the time this picture was taken, it was still pretty windy.

Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Looking Across the Bayou from Bay Area Park
Another picture from the photosafari to Bay Area Park shows Mud Lake on a nice Spring day, tall grasses on the near bank, and dense trees on the opposite shore.

Thursday, May 30, 2024
The Meyer Lemon Tree Bears Fruit
Although the sapling was planted in 2020, this is the first year that we've seen fruit on the tree, and it seems to want to make up for lost time. Some of the branches are so heavy with fruit that they are hanging straight down. Looking forward to making limoncello come harvest time.

Tuesday, March 26, 2024
A Pleasant Place to Sit
A nice Spring afternoon prompted a photo safari to Bay Area Park, where I found a nice park bench somewhat in the shade near the gazebo and garden. No time for me to enjoy the seat, however; I had more pictures to take!

Saturday, February 24, 2024
Birthday Morning(s) Breakfast
Family members, in town for Lauri's 60th birthday pizza party, enjoy breakfast of Mornings Kolaches on the patio on a very nice day. From left, Janet, John, Mark, Lauri, Jill. (Eileen is not in the shot because she took the picture.)

Monday, July 4, 2022
Firth of Forth Railroad Bridge
Our cruise in the summer of '22 brought us to Queensferry, Scotland (near Edinburgh) on Independence day, where our tender sailed under the famous Firth of Forth Railroad Bridge, a Victorian-era monstrosity that was, as you can see, way overengineered. (Probably in response to the previous bridge's collapse while a train was on it.) On the right edge of the photo, you can see the bow of our cruise ship at anchor in the firth. Incidentally, the bridge is listed on the registry of Unesco World Heritage Sites, so we were able to cross that one off the list.

Saturday, October 14, 2023
Partial Solar Eclipse
We were too far east to witness the annular eclipse, but were treated to 89% coverage at maximum just before noon, which is right about the time this picture was taken, using our makeshift card-stock pinhole viewer in the back yard. Fortunately, we had clear skies (unlike the rest of the family). The solar disc is a bit blurred, as we opted for image size over clarity, but the camera is in focus, as you can see by the sharpness of the edge of the card stock.

Thursday, July 13, 2023
In the Outfield at Minute Maid Park
The highlight of our day in Houston was the 2-hour tour of Minute Maid Park. As we neared the end of the tour, we made our way down the third baseline toward the fence, where I shot this panorama (later stitched together from 3 photos) of the field, showing everything from center field to the Crawford Boxes. Lauri can be seen at far right, trudging along the foul line. (We weren't allowed on the grass.)

Thursday, July 13, 2023
Exploring Discovery Green
One of our "staycation" excursions took us into downtown Houston. In the morning, we walked around Discovery Green, the park immediately west of the George R. Brown Convention Center, enjoying its many tree-lined walkways, recreation areas and entertainment venues. Here, oak trees shade a wide sidewalk leading east to the GRB.

Monday, May 15, 2023
More Backyard Color
The middle of Spring offers up opportunities for capturing color in the back yard, whether from the yellow hibiscus, pink petunias, or the garden flag hanging above the back bed. It also helps that we had just weeded the area.

Sunday, April 16, 2023
Dinner on the Patio
The weather was nice enough on Easter Sunday that we could eat on the patio. Not that this was our 'official' Easter dinner; that meal—grilled lamb kebobs—had been served the day before, to avoid having a big Easter breakfast and dinner on the same day. On the menu: Alaskan halibut in an Alexander sauce with shrimp and crawfish, served over Cajun rice, along with haricots vert sauteed in garlic butter, and all of it accompanied by a nice Italian white. It's too bad we don't have more days like this.

Sunday, April 16, 2023
A Spring Day in the Back Yard
A brief spell of nice Spring weather had us working in the backyard on Easter weekend when I captured this view looking roughly west from the eastern corner. There was still some work to do, but overall the yard and beds were in pretty good shape. We just needed some more weekends like this one (which we didn't get).

Monday, March 27, 2023
Asian Lilies in Bloom
The arrival of spring usually means a shot of some recent planting or blooming, and this year is no exception. We ran across these colorful lilies at Lowes, and just had to snag a few to add some much-needed color to the front of the house. I like the little streaks of vivid red against the bright yellow.

Wednesday, June 29, 2022
The Gold Falls
One of our stops on the tour of Iceland's "Golden Circle" was the spectacular waterfall known as Golfoss, or Gold Falls. Not sure why it's called that, but it's quite a sight, with a torrent of water plummeting into a steep, narrow chasm then making a hard left turn. It's another example of the fractured topography of Iceland, and why that country is so interesting to visit.

Saturday, June 25, 2022
Heading to Our Excursion Bus
It was nearly impossible to bypass (or ignore) the crazy ship's photographer each morning as we filed off the cruise ship to catch the bus for our excurion. Here, he catches Lauri, me, and Jill on the pier at Molde, Norway, before our ride to the Atlantic Ocean Road (part of which is shown in the inset at bottom center). Yes, it's Norway, and yes, I'm in t-shirt and shorts (although I did regret that a few hours later).

Monday, April 18, 2022
The New Trellis Installed
Okay, the trellis wasn't all that new. We'd picked it up a while back, and it had been on its side against the back fence long enough to get dingey looking. So I cleaned it up, fixed the loose slats, and repainted it. Then affixed it to the fence using just 3 eye screws and 3 small tie-wraps, so that it can be easily removed or relocated if needed. It now sets off the crepe myrtle quite nicely in the center of the yard.

Sunday, May 1, 2022
New Hibiscus Blossom
Not only was Lauri experimenting with a new variety of hibiscus (after The Big Freeze took out the previous plant), but was also trying out the camera features of her new smartphone. Here, a close-up of the blossom from a "Hawaiian Sunset" hibiscus shows the striking colors in the gradiation from bright yellow fringe to deep red at the center.

Tuesday, February 8, 2022
The Woodpile Replenished
We used up our supply of firewood during The Big Freeze of February 2021, when the power was out and the fireplace was the only source of heat. So the woodpile has been looking a bit meager for a while. Cue the landscaping crew, who came by on February 8 to prune the pecan tree. I asked them to cut the tree limbs into segments sized for the firepit, and they stacked the wood in our new log holder seen here. Bring on the cold; we're ready!

Tuesday, October 5, 2021
The Fence Replaced
The previous picture showed the back fence torn down by the tropical system in mid-September. Here, the contractor has finished construction of the new fence on a cool, clear October morning. Looks nice. The most noticeable difference between the old and the new is that the pickets are attached on the outside, so the railings are no longer visible to the folks on the jogging track. Which provides extra security as well.

Another September 14, another storm damage assessment. Hurricane Nicholas took out a good portion of the back fence overnight, giving us a view of the runoff in the gully. That's okay; the fence needed replacing anyway. It was on the to-do list for Spring 2022; we just have to move the date up a bit. The rest of the house and yard were unscathed.

Our first day of fishing near Glacier Bay, Alaska, saw gorgeous weather as brother Terry and nephew Jason park on the transom during the transition from the halibut area to the salmon grounds. We bagged 5 halibut, 3 coho (silver salmon) and a sockeye (red) that day. The rest of the family fared even better in the other fishing boat.

May 11 marked Lauri's 20th anniversary at First Class Child Development Center. To commemmorate the occasion, her boss put up this huge sign at the side of the road for all to see. (There was also cake and balloons, inside.) Lauri poses behind the M, giving a pretty good idea of just how tall the letters are.

When the wind is from the north, our back yard provides a clear view of the planes on final approach to Hobby, the vast majority of which are Southwest Airlines 737s like this one. At certain times of the evening, when the sky is clear, the dark blue of the Southwest livery all but disappears into the background, making for an interesting photo. (We didn't get a picture of that, alas.)

Signs of Spring are everywhere, with the bright new leaves of the neighborhood live oak trees the most obvious. Live oaks drop all their leaves at once in late winter, then bud furiously. This picture was shot looking essentially straight up while lying on my driveway, on a fabulouly clear, cool morning.

The Polar Vortex brought us snow on my birthday! This shows the flurries in early morning (around 8 a.m.), before it calmed down and cleared up. The power outage came later in the day, lasting 41 hours. We pretty much depleted our supply of wood for the fire pit, burning it in the fireplace instead, while huddling under blankets in the living room. An inconvenience to be sure, but others weren't nearly so fortunate.

I've been wrapping the pillar in the front entryway for decades to evoke a candy cane. This year, after looking at various styles of striping on candy canes, I chose a slightly different scheme, which also took advantage of the ribbon widths I ordered online (because all the wide ribbon in the stores is too glitzy or kitschy). This view shows a close-up of the pillar with the decorated fireplace and Christmas tree in the background. Our best pillar yet!

This might look like a standard drink cooler, like those found on the sidelines of a football game, filled with Gatorade. But it isn't. This is actually a turkey briner. This vessel not only holds a large turkey with brine, but it does so with a minimum of volume (no more trying to submerge a turkey in a trash bag in a big cooler), and with more efficient thermal retention (i.e., it stays cold longer). How's that for an ingenious idea?

Feeling somewhat nostalgic for the Halloween parties of old (especially with the pandemic curtailing all social interaction), we decided to throw ourselves a little Halloween party featuring the 'classic' party food we used to serve at such things. Clockwise from lower left: spinach-ricotta mini-pastries topped with pine nuts; chili-lime shrimp; beef and scallion cheese ball with crackers; more pastries (behind the wine goblet); crudité platter with ranch dip and roasted red pepper hummus; meatballs in marinara. Wish you could be here.

The rain abated just in time for the setting sun to illuminate the roiling clouds, framed by the neighborhood trees as seen looking S from the back yard.

July 14, 2015
At the end of our dinner cruise along the Intracoastal Waterway, the sun finally decided to peek out from the clouds, bathing the high-rises in golden light.

April 3, 2015
It being a Friday night on a holiday weekend, the tour boats plying the San Antonio River were doing a booming business. This shows the loading station at the Marriott Rivercenter just before 9 p.m., underneath the walkway that connects to the Rivercenter Mall.

March 28, 2015
Late afternoon sun highlights the bright spring colors of oak trees lining the walking/jogging trail that surrounds the neighborhood runoff gulley.

February 16, 2015
A vibrant sunset over Lake Washington, with a bit of the Seattle skyline showing in the background. Picture taken from Juanita Bay, Kirkland. (Photo: Jason Thonssen)

December 25, 2014
Christmas morning in Kirkland, Washington. Presents are under the tree and waiting to be opened.

October 11, 2014
The contractor poured the new front sidewalk on Tuesday, October 7. The new walkway is both wider and longer. It looks nice, much better than the old, broken one.

Sunday, August 10, 2014
We spent a Sunday evening out on a wine-tasting cruise on Clear Lake and Galveston Bay. There were just enough clouds in the west to make the sunset interesting.

The Big Move
Follow the link for pictures of the relocation of the NASA Shuttle Carrier Aircraft from Ellington Field to its new home at Space Center Houston.

Saturday, February 22, 2014
John and Jill enjoy Lauri's 50th Birthday Pizza Party. Jill's visit was expected; John's wasn't. Lots of pizzas were made and devoured. Everyone had a good time.

Saturday, November 2, 2013
At Jennifer's Mom's ranch in Navasota on a very nice fall day. We had lunch at the ranch before driving over to the Bernhardt Winery for a tasting. The weather could not have been better.

July 23, 2013
Looking up the beach from the window of Lauri and Jill's hotel room at the Royal Sunset in Cancun, Mexico, during our summer vacation. Late afternoon sun casts long shadows of hotels across the sand and surf

Sunday, April 17, 2011
Taking advantage of an unusually pleasant Spring, we sat outside after dinner one Sunday evening and enjoyed the fire blazing in the fire-pit at the corner of the patio.

Friday, January 30, 2009
Bobby snapped this picture of me when he, Shannon, and I were on the Vogue run on the first morning of the trip. The zoom setting really captures the elevation of the run above the base.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008
A rare snowfall for the Houston area. Cold temperatures gave way to rain, then sleet, and finally wet snow as the afternoon turned to evening. It was still snowing when I snapped this picture of the patio furniture at 10 p.m.

From the backyard - Sunday, October 19, 2008
A long run of decent fall weather gave us an opportunity to spend some time in the yard. Here, the results of our labors showing the middle of the bed along the back fence, with new mulch and some new potted plants.

From the backyard - Saturday, September 13, 2008
Hurricane Ike barreled through in early morning, a direct hit. We went out to check for damage after it got light enough to see. Taken just before 10 a.m., this shows fences and tree limbs down in the backyard, damage typical of the whole neighborhood. My neighbor's back fence is also in pieces, but my back fence survived intact. At the time this photo was taken, it was still pretty windy (25-30 mph) and still raining slightly.

The Waterfront of Porto Cristo, Majorca - Wednesday, May 14, 2008
After visiting the Caves of Drach, the bus stopped at the clean and colorful town of Porto Cristo, on the east coast of Majorca. The weather was perfect. I snapped this shot of the walkway and park adjacent to the small beach and boat harbor.

Austin - Friday, July 14, 2006
A long-weekend getaway in mid July took us to Austin, our first trip to that city. We spent Friday walking around downtown and took the tour of the capital. After a little cropping (too much driveway in the original) this turned out to be quite a nice shot.

Mandevilas blooming on the new trellis arch in the backyard. July, 2003.

The pool complex at The Woodlands Resort, taken in June during our weekend stay. The tower houses a waterfall and two water slides.

The back yard, as of Sunday, May 18, following the addition of the new rock bed and arch along the right fence.

The Walla Walla docks in Bremerton. I was next door, getting ready to board the foot ferry to Seattle. Yeah, it was raining a little. Friday, March 14, Puget Sound, Washington.

Yes, the picture is a bit blurry. That's because it's snowing, and the photographer (whoever he was--we snagged him coming off the lift) was facing into the wind to take the photo. Me, Helen, Mel, Terry, Jenn and Richard pose at the top of the Prospector lift, with the Jack Kendrick run in the background. For Jenn, Helen and me, this was the last ski run of the trip.(Sunday afternoon, February 2, Winter Park, Colorado.)

Two-thirds of the ski group gather in front of the artificial bonfire at Zephyr Mountain Lodge, before hitting the slopes. Pictured: Richard, Albert, Gayle, Jennifer (barely visible behind Bobby), Bobby, Shannon, Allison, me. (Bob, Helen, Terry and Melanie were still in their room.) Taken Saturday, February 1, 2003.