STL DPB On The Road - If 6 Was 9

Now if 6 turned out to be 9
I don't mind, I don't mind . . .
Dig, 'cos I got my own world to live through
And I ain't gonna copy you.

Jimi Hendrix, 1967

A memory of being young on my sixty-ninth birthday. The first two lines are profound if you think about it a bit. I've had a privileged life that lately has seen some, uh, physical wear and tear. Walking on sand with a cane is not advised. (Maybe there are snowshoe-like canes?)

Went into town to look for a place for a drink with sunset views. Bingo. Way better compared to the condo, which has nothing interesting in the foreground. Still, I had to throw in a Playa Langosta picture with Mrs. C. doing the beachcomber thing.

STL DPB On The Road - Tough Day In Paradise

Shot almost nothing yesterday. I feel too much like I did in France last year - weak, sleeping way too much. Many pharmacies here have a physician attached to them so if I don't get better soon I'll check one out.

Got down to the pool before sunset and tried to take some handheld shots. They were awful. This one is tolerable. Lots of people go down to the beach for the show. We will try to get down there today, where there is always something to shoot.     

The Darkest Days

Gloomy around The Lou these days. Mostly overcast, bare trees, getting colder. This is Forest Park near sunset a few days ago.

Thursday Arch Series

Taken last weekend with the new Fujifilm X-T3 and a wide angle lens (note, VJ) at the equivalent of 25mm on a full frame camera. Quite a lot of luck here but I think this is one of my best Arch pictures ever, IMHO. The four people standing at bottom center were a gift. They make the picture.   

Sentinel

Standing quietly in an autumn sunset, the ventilator (I think that's what it is) on the old barn watches the prairie in all directions. A sneak attack by Nebraska would be impossible.         

STL DPB On The Road - Day To Night In Monteverde

Some people go on vacation to relax. We tend to beat ourselves up to get new experiences. Saturday was a good example. After we watched the hummingbirds at Selvatura Park, we hiked their mountainside trail with eight bridges across the canopy: up and down and through the treetops. In the rain. Not so good for the cameras.

Back to Hidden Canopy Treehouses for drinks, snacks and sunset. Then out for a night walk in the forest with the hotel's superb guide, who goes by Koky. He has Superman's x-ray vision, allowing him to find the tiniest bug in pitch blackness.

The day was exhausting. Now we are in Tamarindo.  I plan to do as close to nothing as possible today.    

Short Days

The length of days is creeping forward again but sunset is still early. Our city isn't very far north, about on the same parallel as Washington and Rome. Still, the calendar gives lots of opportunities for dramatic shots like this. It's called a pagoda, although it doesn't look Oriental, in a pond in Forest Park.

We had our first snow overnight. Not much but enough to cover the grass and cars. Ellie will be out making snow angels as soon as the sun is fully up.            

Delta

I could tell while editing that this is a Delta jet passing behind the Civil Courts building. It is approaching our airport from the southwest so it's probably coming from the airline's hub in Atlanta.

We almost always fly American. It took over TWA, which was based in St. Louis. We play the frequent flyer points game with a vengeance, so we stick with the carrier that gives us the most freebies.        

Winter Trees

Near sunset, looking out from Kiener Plaza towards 10 South Broadway.       

Abstraction

Downtown buildings: shape, color, wiggly mirrors, sunset.

Sitting here Tuesday evening watching the Alabama senate results come in.  I can't hold my breath long enough.       

Broadway Line Up

Same light, different view. Looking north on Broadway, the Old Courthouse, 100 and 200 N. B'way. My office building is three more blocks behind.    

Nice Light

Out of the office late yesterday afternoon . . . must - shoot - something. Felt like Frankenstein staggering around downtown in the cold, looking for something, anything. Turns out the sunset colors were gorgeous, the light as good as it could get. It hit the north wing of the Old Courthouse with perfect framing and the new lamps in Kiener Plaza added a nice touch.          

Not Quite As Grand As We Hoped

We arrived at the Grand Canyon yesterday and, I'm sorry to say, are a bit disappointed. Sure, it's one of the great sights of the world, but it is crowded (I can't imagine what it's like during school vacations). We are staying at the moderately priced hotel inside the park. The room is worn and the food is mediocre. No wifi in the rooms and very weak in the hotel lobby. You aren't getting away to commune with nature in this place anyway so why not? 

In particular, the air is very hazy. We don't know if it is from pollution, dust or wildfires. The top photo was the only usable one I could get at sunset last night and it is heavily Photoshopped. Hoping for better conditions today.         

Witness

This picture sort of reminds me of the shots you see of people watching a terrible event or even a bomb test. It was taken at the Theatre Crawl, where the first event started outdoors and the audience had to stare into the sunset.

Bonne fête nationale française!

 

    

A Town So Nice They Had To Name It Twice

New York, New York, a helluva town.

The Bronx is up, but the Battery's down.

The people ride in a hole in the groun'.

New York, New York, it's a helluva town!

From Leonard Bernstein's 1944 Musical, On The Town. You might say that this was the pre-show on our hotel terrace before the fireworks started.

The top picture is the Queensboro Bridge, sometimes called the 59th Street Bridge for the latitude where it enters Manhattan. Us geezers will remember the song made famous by Simon and Garfunkle. The bottom one looks straight into midtown at about 55th and 56th Streets. 

Nebraska Sunsets

Seen after dinner at the Salty Dog Saloon in Steele City, Nebraska (population 86). The state line is near Mrs. C's family farm in Kansas. She was born in Nebraska because the nearest rural hospital was in the town of Odell, NE.

The sunsets aren't all good in the Cornhusker State but there were more storms in the area, creating drama. The wind farms, of which there are many these days, add to the strangeness.

I had my picture taken in front of the saloon.       

Urban Sunset

The Civil Courts building late in the afternoon. A photography teacher once told me that the light is good enough to shoot if shadows are at least 45 degrees from the source.  

How To Return To Costa Rican Sunsets

We could always play the lottery. Or not, and count our pennies. No high voltage electric lines in your view in Langosta.

And the churches here don't have stone lattice-work sides to let the breeze through. 

We'll have a Madeleine Monday tomorrow. And the pre-Mardi Gras dog parade is this afternoon, always worth trolling for images. It's freakishly warm, with a forecast of 74F/23C today, in mid-February. Should be a big turnout.              

Time To Move On

All good things must come to an end. (And, if you think about it, bad things, too. It's helpful to have at least a bit of a Buddhist attitude.) Time to wrap up the images from another trip to enchanting Costa Rica, with many thanks to our hosts, Dave and Julie. We hope we can go back next year. I'd really like to bring our daughter and granddaughter Madeleine (who will be back here on Monday). I can imagine her delight while observing the critters in the tide pools.

I don't have a single frame of new local material. Better get back out on the streets of St. Louis today and see what's going on.                

Adios

Sunset at Playa Langosta. I hope this little movie is viewable. Don't know a thing about video editing and I've been wrestling with getting this done and uploaded.

Leaving Costa Rica today. Back to reality, which looks pretty heavy this week. Lacking any other material, I may have some more from here in the coming days.