I have mentioned that one of the virtues of my home town of 25,000 people is that I can get in my car and drive north and be a place as rural as any one could look for. This photo is evidence. I found this scene looking for sunrise shots. The color has not been manipulated or enhanced - this is what my camera saw. I guess the golden light and fog are "real."
The FLW Outdoors walleye fishing circuit came to Lake Oahe and brought pro fishermen looking for The Big One(s). I was watching the pros get ready on one of the mornings of the tourney and captured this photo. I was trying to get a candid shot but instead I got a friendly wave. The winner won close to $38,000 for his efforts. If you are a walleye fisherman, you may be interested in the tournament story. Try going here.
We were packing our rental car and getting ready to leave our little cottage in Aldeia da Mata Pequena, Portugal, when the two resident peacocks walked up and started to look at themselves in the dark reflection. I thought they were admiring themselves, but when they started to peck at our car, I concluded that they thought they were looking at two other peacocks that somehow posed a threat. They moved on amiably when I opened the passenger car door.
I had heard of the famous English delicacy "fish and chips" long before I had been to London the first time. And so, when I had the opportunity, I ordered the combo from a street vendor. It was served in a cone of paper that was soon drenched with the oil from the deep fat fryer it was cooked in. For a person with a cholesterol problem, this is not the best cuisine.On our recent trip to London, it was Deb's turn to order fish and chips. I sampled it and it seemed better than what I had had. Better fish? Better potatoes? Maybe better presentation? Who knows.
I have posted another photo from this same area - of a little stone wall. I wanted to post this because it shows (with a little imagination) the small village 40 miles north of Lisbon where our stone cottage was. In the near distance is a walled cemetery. Moving up from that you see a fairly large town. And then above that and a little to the right is the small village we called home
The Elgin Marbles are the beautiful carvings that decorated the famous Parthenon on the acropolis of Athens. But to see these carvings, don't go to Athens. Instead you'll need to visit the British Museum, as we did on our recent trip to England.They are wonderfully displayed. But if you are a native Greek, you probably want them back. In fact every time I've been to the Acropolis there is someone passing out pamplets arguing for their return. The British, though, aren't giving them back any time soon. They maintain that they were never stolen but instead purchased fair and square. And they also say they are taking good care of them.
The line that I'm stradling is 0 degrees longitude, aka the "prime medidian." It is the point from which our clocks are indexed and also all the lines of longitude. How Greenwich got to be the 0 point and how building the perfect clock became THE engineering goal of the era is an interesting story. But I'm not going to tell it here. This is a photo blog. But if you are interested, "Longitude" by Dava Sobel tells it all.
I don't mean to make fun of the mendicant who sat right next to the entrance to the Cathedral in Evora, Portugal. Nor would I want to make light of the circumstances that lead to poverty. We gave money to the man as we walked in but I really didn't know if he was poor and disabled or if he was a college professor earning his summer income.One of the things that strikes me about the beggar is that there is no doubt a centuries old tradition of mendicants positioning themselves on these very steps and asking the wealthy for money and they walked by.
This may look a bit like the lavender is growing in a rustic walled garden. But it is actually growing in plots that were established over 500 years ago on the island of Hvar, which is part of Croatia. The lavender continues to grow but the people who harvest it are long gone.This photo is from several I took of the lavender fields on Hvar a few summers ago. Inspired by my daughter-in-law Katie (who loves purple) I went looking for purple pictures.
Once again, I am shooting reflections in European traffic mirrors. And once again, I think I've come up with a very attraction self-portrait! This was taken at a little visited walled fortress in Evoramonte, Portugal.
You may have noticed that I post more photos of things than I do of people. When traveling, I rarely ask permission to take photos of people who are aware of my camera. - generally prefer candid, un-posed photos.This is true of this photo, though it's not exactly candid. In this case we we strolling through a public square in Lisbon and the gentleman who is looking at me saw my camera and encouraged me with gestures to take the photo of his friends. The man in the red shirt has two aces in his hand but I don't know what game he is playing.