Reason #173 to do yoga

I'm a big fan of yoga; I try to do it at least once a week. Tonight, I figured out reason #173 to continue making it a part of my routine.

Sometimes I see things that just call out to me to be photographed, and I can't walk away. Tonight, after watering my herb seedlings on the deck, I looked down and saw this maple leaf covered in misty droplets that was practically screaming my name.

I couldn't have staged it any better myself if I'd had a hose and a spray bottle full of water.

The bright green underside of this leaf practically glowed against the dark, soaked deck.

But how does yoga figure into this post? Well, getting these photos -- without getting soaked from sitting or lying on the deck -- required some serious maneuvering: 1) squatting as low as I could go, without my butt hitting the ground, 2) leaning over, between my knees, to get the macro shot, without my elbows hitting the ground, and 3) holding variations of that position long enough to shoot 80+ shots of one little leaf. Hooray for flexibility.

Sure, I could have gone back inside to get a towel and plop down, but where's the fun in that?

92/365 Teasing with the threat of rain

It. Is. Dry.

Dry, dry, dry. August ended up as the driest on record for central Indiana, as we got only 0.37 inches of rain over the whole month. That hurts! The grass is brown, my garden has certainly suffered, and events are being canceled (like fireworks) because of it. We're not technically experiencing drought conditions, but you can see on this state drought monitor that it won't take much more of this to push us into that category.

We've had a couple days here and there during which clouds have rolled in and teased us with the threat of rain -- including this day last week when I made this photograph -- but it hasn't amounted to anything at my house.

I sure hope this breaks soon! Have you been experiencing the same thing? Have you had to do anything to make up for the lack of rain?

Camera: Canon 40D, 1/125s, f/5.6 at ISO 100 at about 6:00 p.m.

29/365 Heavy poppies

Surprisingly, I find poppies to be a difficult flower to photograph. The main reason is that they tend to weigh heavily on their slim stems, meaning they end up falling forward and facing the ground.

So yoga-enhanced flexibility comes in handy when it comes to photographing poppies!

I love how unique the color is. Whereas I see purple and pink flowers everywhere, there are a lot fewer rich oranges.

I think this photo is another improvement on a previously captured subject. One thing hasn't changed in two years -- I still think of my beloved dog, Poppy, when I see these flowers!

Camera: Canon 40D with 60mm macro lens, 1/125s, f/2.8 at ISO 320 in shade at about 7:15 p.m.

28/365 Thirsty clematis

At this time last year, this very same clematis caught my attention. Can you blame me?

It's climbing a wooden fence post at the corner of Mom and Dad's backyard, and boy oh boy is it a healthy plant that is absolutely loaded with big purple blossoms. Its location near the pond probably doesn't hurt.

And there's nothing like a good rainfall to make it thrive even more! Drink up!

Camera: Canon 40D with 60mm macro lens, 1/125s, f/2.8 at ISO 320 at about 7:00 p.m.

360/365 New theme: movement

Time for a new theme, and this will be the final theme in Year 2 of my Project 365!

The theme is: movement.

Why does it seem like gas stations often have the largest American flags? In comparison to the bit of  roof you can see at the bottom right, you can tell this one is huge -- meaning it took some seriously strong wind to get this flag blowing horizontally.

I'd call that movement, wouldn't you?

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD1000 at about 6:00 p.m.

347/365 New theme: something seasonal

Time for a new theme! This one is "something seasonal."

It reflects my optimistic state of mind lately, because signs of the arrival of spring have been popping up all over the place. And that makes me very happy.

Even though we've had some dreary days filled with rain and gray clouds, it's easier to feel good about it, because at least now we know that rainfall will breathe life back into everything green.

And spring in Indiana does mean we're going to get rain. A whole lot of it.

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD1000 at about 8:00 p.m.

104/365 It's Independence Day

Independence Day for me this year was going to largely be spent like any other weekend. And really, the day itself dawned gray, rainy, and the temperature barely reached 70°F. That weather alone is enough to make you forget what day it is.

And sure enough, Mom and I headed to Brownsburg for some errands, not realizing until we saw flashing lights ahead that we'd run straight into the town's parade.

Oops.

Well now that we're here, we might as well catch some of the parade, right? Looks like a photo opportunity to me!

I told Mom that in about 20 years she should join this group of ladies. They call themselves "Red Hats and Purple Chaps." It made me laugh, but honestly looked like a great idea.

I worried for the band's instruments when the sprinkling rain started to intensify. They didn't seem phased, though, and they had a captive audience of little kids.

This spectator and her pup made me smile. The poodle was really cute, one of the cutest poodles I've seen, and teeny tiny. And of course she was sporting a red, white and blue scarf around her neck!

We watched the parade for a while then left before it was finished in order to beat the traffic. That may not be patriotic, but it sure saves some time.

Happy Fourth of July!

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD1000 at about 10:30 a.m. under overcast, rainy skies.

53/365 Stream along the road

Water has a way of finding its own way to lower ground.

This strip of road near my house always turns into a mini stream when we get a significant rainfall.

It's out of the way and doesn't spread across the road, just makes its way to a creek bed, so it doesn't cause any trouble. It always catches my eye, though, because I like seeing the water flowing gently downhill, reflected in the evening sun.

We received several inches of rain on Wednesday night, so this little stream was flowing consistently when I got home from work. I waited until closer to sunset to photograph it.

Camera: Canon 40D, 1/125s, f/5.6 at ISO 100 at about 8:00 p.m.

37/365 Collecting rainfall

I've found collecting rainwater to be a fun pasttime throughout my life. [This goes hand-in-hand with both my fascination with meteorology and the way I was raised -- no video games allowed, just entertain yourself. So you get creative.]

As a kid, I loved setting bowls and buckets in scattered locations outside during a rain storm, then waiting to see which ones (if any) collected more than the others.

Now I enjoy having a visible rain gauge at home to monitor our rainfall. And in the future, I'd like to merge the kid in me with the conservationist and begin collecting rainfall for watering plants.

It's the best of both worlds!

Camera: Canon 40D with 60mm macro lens, 1/60s, f/2.8 at ISO 1250 at about 8:00 p.m.

29/365 Raindrops on tables

I'm always intrigued by the way water molecules stick to each other.

Yes, this is my nerdy side coming out.

I also love water rivulets. When I see a little puddle of water, say, on the edge of a sink or a bathtub, I like to create a path for it to run down. And it works every time -- the water goes where I want it to.

It reminds me of a scene in Jurassic Park (I've searched on YouTube and can't find it) where Jeff Goldblum's character demonstrates the way water will follow the path of least resistance on the back of someone's hand. The fact that I remember this particular (insignificant) scene should tell you a little about how much I notice this phenomenon.

The water droplets clinging to the underside of this table, and the rivulets above, were what caught my eye for this photo. We were between rain showers, and I stepped out to the deck to capture a few shots.

In the words of Dr. Spock: "Fascinating."

Camera: Canon 40D, 1/125s, f/4 at ISO 200 at about 7:30 p.m.

327/365 A February deluge

I've heard that one inch of rain equates to ten inches of snow.

If we'd had temperatures in the 20s instead of 50s on Wednesday, we would be buried under 40+ inches of snow today.

But instead we got 4+ inches of rain and are now dealing with standing water and washed-out roads. Talk about a miserable day!

The clouds broke for about an hour in the afternoon, during which the sun shone brightly before being obstructed yet again by rain clouds. I stepped out on the deck to get this shot of the dark clouds moving in.

Camera: Canon 40D, 1/250s, f/8 at ISO 200 at about 4:00 p.m.

173/365 A drop of relief

It seems ironic that after the torrential rain we had in June, a good dose of rain is exactly what we need now.

You can hear the dry crunch of grass blades dying when you walk across the yard, trees are shedding their leaves prematurely, and the garden, which was doing so well, is desperately crying for relief.

The effects of Hurricane Gustav have reached us, so we had our first brief downpour yesterday evening.
When I was a kid, I loved to have the garage door open, and either sit in the dry garage just watching the rain, or if it was warm and not storming, go out and play in it.

One of my favorite things to do was run out with old plastic bowls in my hand, strategically place them on the driveway, and periodically run back and forth to see how quickly they filled up.

I don't remember what the idea was behind this activity, but I still like to watch the level of water in the rain gauge slowly fill.

Camera: Canon 40D 1/125s, f/4.5 at ISO 640 at about 6:30 p.m.

120/365 Water droplets

After the first round of rain we had last night, I found these gathered droplets on a table in the screened porch. It has a perfectly smooth glass top, so it is ideal for collecting the water this way.

In some ways it reminds me of shiny bubble wrap.

Camera: Canon 40D 1/125s, f/4.5 at ISO 800 in natural light at about 8:00 p.m.

5/365

The clouds cleared this evening -- finally! -- and Buster was glad to get outside and enjoy it. Spring starts tomorrow!

Camera: Canon Rebel DSLR 1/200s f/5.6 ISO400 at about 7:15 p.m. this evening. Converted to black and white in Photoshop CS2.