It is interesting to me how people react based on how I look. Being African-American I may in some ways be overly sensitive to how some people react when they see me. That may be a reason I chose to wear suits even in high school. Now I am in a profession where I have some flexibility in my dress. I choose to wear suits mostly but sometimes I "dress down" to business casual or what I call my street clothes. I find it interesting how people react to me based on how I dress on a given day. I definitely get more smiles and nods and even utterances when I am wearing a suit than when I am not. When I am wearing "street clothes", even when I smile, nod or utter first, very often my friendly gesture will not be returned.

Growing up in a small city in upstate New York it wasn't unusual for two people passing each other while walking to be the only ones in that block. I always spoke to the person whether or not I knew them - somehow I felt compelled to be courteous. It never ceased to amaze me when the other person would not speak or even give a passing glance. I cannot for the life of me understand how and why people pass each other without speaking. I am not talking about being in a crowd and trying to speak to everyone you see. But if I am walking down a hallway for example and I am the only other person besides the person approaching me I feel compelled to speak. For as many times as the other person returns the acknowledgment (Ack) there are at least as many that they don't (No Ack). Sometimes I find it funny (funny "ha ha" as well as funny "curious") when I see people intentionally looking away because, I guess, they don't want to have to say hello. Other times it just hurts.

Anyway, enough ranting for today...

This is an interesting subject for me. Blogs are a place to share information with the world. That being said, if it s a blog about your personal life and thoughts, the question of what and how much to share are questions that must be answered. Before I go much further, let me say that I have no deep dark secrets. I would share almost anything in the right context and to the right people. But the question of what to share with the world is one I frequently ponder. On more that one occassion I have started to write something and have decided not to because I felt really uncomfortable about it or wondered what the repercussions would be in the long term.

I remember reading an article about what not to do in an interview. The audience for this article was professionals who were candidates for fairly high level positions. For the kinds of positions I am talking about there is a fair amount of background research done on candidates which may include some basic web searches. What stood out was the author said some candidates have no idea the blogs they have written would be evaluated. In some instances the writings were the deciding factor in disqualifying a candidate. I have also read some blogs where I could not believe what I was reading. Some of the things people will disclose about their personal lives just amazes me.

So just how candid, open and honest should one be when blogging? I say is you decide to write on a subject and your blog purports to be serious and "real" then candidness, openness, and honesty are a must. Being selective about what is written is a different story. I wouldn't tell everyone about everything in my life. Some things are too personal and some are just not appropriate to write about. But then there is that gray world of rants. There is a lot of stuff that concern or annoy me and I may want to shout to the world. Some may be about my job, my church, and my friends. But I'll be careful! Don't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

I am so happy NASA has decided to save the Hubble Space Telescope. I mean, how can we let something that takes beautiful pictures like this die? I just hope this is the last reversal that NASA does on this subject. I have long been a fan of Hubble. I love exploring and contemplating the mysteries of the universe around us. The Hubble gives us only a glimpse of what is out there. But what a glimpse it is! We have seen things that we could not even imagine prior to Hubble. Everything from close-ups of the planets in our solar system to peeks at distant galagies whos light has been traveling millions of years to reach earth. For just a sample of what Hubble can do check out this link. I can hardly wait for the Kepler Mission!

I love the details of all that is around us. Many times I miss some of the beauty of creation because I am either not paying attention or I am distracted by something else. I discovered this leaf while walking in a garden in Ireland one July morning. On any other morning I would have just gone about my business and would not have found anything special about dew on a leaf. But, when I have a camera in hand I become much more attentive that I normally would be. Images like this reminds me how much I love God's creation! We can find beauty in the most ordinary places if we just pay attention.

Looking very closely at something may reveal a beautful form and subtle tones that may otherwise look quite boring. While walking through Alice's Garden after a light rain I came upon this image. I was looking at the green on green and was just trying to see how well the leaves would stand out against a background. I was very pleased when I saw the picture. I love the way the leaves gently twist and their scalloped edges. The raindrops add another aspect of nature to this image that we see so often. This is a favorite of mine. I would like to see this as a very large picture maybe 6'x5'.

This past summer my wife and I visited Ireland. It was a great opportunity for me to take a lot of pictures. I have been taking detailed pictures of flowers for my wife. She paints with watercolors and wants a catalog of flowers for reference. So I took quite a few pictures of flowers while I was there. But I also took many other pictures. I can almost hear the water falling on this rock. We were visiting some of the sacred places in the area of Ireland where we were staying. The water is flowing over a man made dam. We walked several miles of Saint Kevin's Way and this is the end of of the walk in Glendalough. It was nice to be out in the countryside. I felt like we truely got a sense of the land.

 

 

 
This picture reminds me that there times in my life when the waters are still. It is a time to reflect upon where I am in life without the turmoil that so often surrounds us. I often dwell on the turmoil so much that I move through the calm waters without even recognizing it. Sometimes I long for peace without realizing that I am in the midst of it.

There were a number of discoveries for me on this trip. These pictures reminds me that there is a persistence to life that endures through everything that pours down upon us. And that although sometimes thinks seem stormy and we can't seem to get out from under the storm there are other times when we can just be. Some of things invigorate us and help us to grow. Other things just wear us down. Through it all we persist and we endure.

For some time now I have been thinking about writing about Alice's Garden. It is actually "our" garden but all of the labor to make it what it is has been done by my dear wife Alice. And so the name... Alice's garden. It is a small garden that occupies the back yard of our house and has evolved over the time that we have been here. The roses were the first to go. They were replaced with several different kinds of irises. While Alice was working she found working in the garden to be therapeutic. She would say to me that working with the earth was honest and clean and it helped her keep a perspective on life. My contribution to the garden to build a bower in the rear of the yard. It is a tribute to Alice and stands as a testament of my love for her.

Peonies are one of my favorite flowers. Our garden has beautiful white and red peonies. The flower of the Peony plant has always fascinated me. And I have always been fascinated that ants love the buds of peonies.? Ants have a special relationship with the peony. The bud of the peony secretes a fluid that is very attractive to ants. In return for this tasty delight, ants protect peonies from other would be pests. Often times the flower is so large and heavy that the stem will bend so much that the flower touches the ground. The flowers are so intricate in the way the petals interweave with each other and yet they are very delicate at the same time. I am glad we have peonies in our garden. If it were up do me I would have a garden full of many different varieties of peonies. Fortunately, Alice is able to balance the varieties in our garden so it is not as one dimensional as my garden might be filled only with peonies.

Iris is one of Alice's favorite flowers so we have several varities in our garden. This is one of my favorites because of the depth and beauty of the colors. They are at the same time delicate and majestic. And, as a bonus, they grow well without the care and attention that roses need. Isises have 3 petals called the "fall" that act as a landing pad for pollinators and often has lines that lead them to the pollen. Georgia O'Keefe paints really wonderful pictures of irises and is one of Alice's favorite artists. I was not familiar with irises before I met Alice. I am pleased that she has introduced me to this flower.

Daisies always seemed rather ordinary to me until Alice added them to our garden. I love looking at the detail in flowers. This one was almost perfect in it's color and the evenness of the petals. This one was captured right after a light rain. I have found that when the entire section of daisies are in bloom it is quite a stunning site. Even though they are plentiful—some even consider them to be akin to a weed—daisies are no longer just an ordinary flower to me.

I recently purchased a Nikon D50 with an AF-S DX 18 - 55 mm F3.5 - F5.6G ED lens and an AF-S DX 55 - 200 mm F4.0 - F5.6G ED lens. I really love this camera. It is the first high quality digital SLR camera I have owned. My other digital camera is a Casio Exilim EX-Z50. Even though it takes decent pictures it has always felt like a toy to me. The very first digital camera I owned is a Kodak DC3200 that I got free when I purchased a computer. So I am very pleased to have a digital SLR that is on par with my Minolta X700 SLR film camera. I am really disappointed about the demise of the Minolta camera line. But, that is another story...

I am having great difficulty with this camera. Actually, it isn't the camera at all, it's me. I have taken about 100 pictures so far. I have managed to delete all but 8 of them. There were several that I really (really!) liked. But through a series of errors I have managed to delete them. I think I am getting used to the camera now and I truely hope there are no other stupid things I can do to delete pictures.

The pictures this camera takes are really excellent terms of resolution, clarity, and color rendering. The camera pretty much allows the user to point and shoot if you want to but also allows significant control over exposure setting too. I am just getting to be friends with this camera and I'm liking it a lot.

It is a beautiful spring day as I walk home from work. Syracuse University has a nice campus. Unfortunately, the university has succumbed to a landscaping style that I don't care for. I call it "Buried Roots". That is, the common practice of clearing a circle around a majestic tree and then mounding mulch like an inverted cone at the base where the tree enters the ground. It is beyond me why people find this attractive. It is as if the tree in its natural surroundings isn't good enough for us to admire. Some landscapers seem to have this need to add mulch, sometimes in fake colors (red or black), I guess to "enhance" the appearance of the tree. Feels to me like its origins are being buried.

It occurred to me that we do the same to ourselves sometimes... bury our roots. As if our origins aren't good enough to expose to the world. We often long to be something we are not; something the world might tolerate but isn't really who we are if left to our natural surroundings. Oh well... just makes me wonder. It is a beautiful day today.

Every year I play this little nature game. Each day I check the trees and watch the buds as they develop. I am particularly interested in trees. Inevitably there comes a day when I look and am startled the leaves have somehow appeared. It is as if you blink and one moment there are no leaves and then voila! the trees are fully dressed in their finest. So, I am again on my spring vigil to see if I can capture that special moment... when the leaves appear and the wonder of creation overwhelms me once more.

There are things in life that have the characteristic of both being both a benefit and a detriment. For me driving is one of these. For the first 28 years of my life I didn't have a driver's license. I walked or rode a bike everywhere or took a bus when I needed to travel longer distances. I was pretty fit in those days - burning as many calories as I consumed. And then I got a license. For a few years it was ok. My wife (girlfriend at that time) had a car and would let me use it some. But the some became more as I decreased my walking/biking and began driving more.

Fast forward to today. If I need to go to the store 2 blocks away, I drive. I live 4 blocks from the campus of the University where I work. Parking is very expensive too. But, do I walk? No, I drive and pay the outrageous parking fees while each year vowing to not renew my parking permit. I don't even take the dog for walks now. I used to love going for hikes but now getting out means going for a drive. At least I haven't reduced myself to taking my car to the end of the driveway to pick up the empty trash cans. Driving undoubtedly has its benefits but like anything else it can consume you and change your life in ways that are not so good. Walking allows you to see things you miss in a car. Trees budding in spring, your neighbors, children playing, houses take on a different character when you pass them on foot, you notice how everyone seem to be rushing here and there in their cars, the beauty of the sky, the birds that inhabit your neighborhoods and you can actually feel your body. I mean, walking helps put me tune into what is happing with my body. I feel the legs moving, the increased cardiovascular activity, the weight of whatever I'm carrying.

Driving is nice, but I need to do more walking.